The 2010 off-season was a revolving door for most teams in the NBA’s Southeastern Conference. As the heat of August winds down, the winds of change in Atlanta, however, fell short of the gale force blasts sending franchise altering reverberations through cities such as Miami and Washington D.C. Not to say Atlanta’s summer was without addition or subtraction, after all, the past three months have seen a coaching change and entry draft, not to mention some free agency afterthoughts (i.e. Josh Powell). Still, the thinking among many Hawks fans is that this off-season served more as a reaffirmation of the team’s current strategy rather than the strategic overhaul some say is needed. By most accounts, the Hawks have hit a plateau as far their potential performance with their current core roster. Despite the fact that the Hawks have continued to improve their regular season win total in each of the last 5 seasons, the team is yet to move past the second round of the playoffs, stuck somewhere in between the upper echelon of Eastern Conference contenders and safely above the lottery bubble. Virtually every preseason forecaster will find the Hawks somewhere in the same playoff field, but with the same certainty they will guarantee Atlanta players are at home (as in watching on TV, not home-court advantage) when the conference semifinals roll around.The most potentially game-altering paradigm shift underway in Atlanta is the coaching transition from Mike Woodson to Larry Drew. While Drew is promising an offense full of moving parts and light on the iso situations that have defined Hawks basketball throughout the Woodson era, how much of a difference actually shines through on the court is up for debate, especially considering Drew has been a member of Woodson’s staff throughout his tenure in Atlanta, without a head coaching gig of his own to reference. The biggest move of the off season was to re-sign shooting guard Joe Johnson, a highly scrutinized deal that made JJ the highest paid player of the free agency period. Though it is certainly refreshing to see the Atlanta Spirit ownership actually take out their checkbooks, the fact is that signing Joe all but guarantees a similar good-not-great Atlanta Hawks product on the floor.