Why the Hawks are a rare NBA road favorite worth backing against the rebuilding Hornets

The Atlanta Hawks are one of the teams that have a bit of excitement behind them coming into this year.They revamped their roster quite a bit over the past few years, but now it seems like they have decided to build their team around Jalen Johnson.
It also helps that they have two really good defenders - Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels.The team moved on from Trae Young last year, who was a facilitator and scorer for them, but also a parking cone on defense, and it never seemed like the team worked with him.This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners.
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(Mike Stewart/AP)This team is now a little more athletic and younger, but still grounded with a couple of key veterans like CJ McCollum.In their opening game against the Magic, I was most impressed with their shot selection.
As a team, they shot 50% from the field and 40% from deep.You really can't expect that to happen consistently, but they did create the good shots.
Defensively, they really weren't impressive.They still gave up 125 points to the Magic, which is a lot for an Orlando team that isn't known for being offensively efficient.The Charlotte Hornets remain one of those teams that I really can't understand.
They have been terrible for years, and the one time they sniffed success, they decided it was time to trade away their (arguably) best player.They sent LaMelo Ball over to the Timberwolves, but that's probably because they have Coby White, and they seem to want to invest in Kon Knueppel.
Unfortunately for them, Knueppel is out with an injury right now, so the team is missing a major player.Brandon Miller of the Charlotte Hornets handles the ball during the second half ag...