Hawks have (internal) moves to make
New York – Joe Smith. Drew Gooden. Luther Head.
With all these players suddenly showing up on the waiver wire, someone emailed today asking where the Hawks were in their pursuit of one of these soon to be (they have to clear waivers first) free agents.
Maybe someone lost the memo, but it’s the same situation as before the trade deadline last month, the Hawks are simply not in a position to make any moves.
They already have 15 men on the roster and under contract, so there aren’t any moves to be made. The team that took the floor against Cleveland Sunday night and then again last night in Washington will be the same one that hits the floor come playoff time.
Whether or not that’s good enough to get through a first round playoff series against the likes of Miami, Detroit or Philadelphia remains to be seen. I don’t know why it wouldn’t be, especially if those teams are set roster-wise, as well. But no one can be sure right now.
That means the Hawks (Hawks coach Mike Woodson to be exact) have to find some ways to tinker and tweak what they already have to give this team a boost. It certainly helps when they can fend off teams like Washington with a shift in production like they had Monday, when Marvin Williams assumed the alpha-dog role normally played by Joe Johnson.
But what about when the big dogs come calling, as will be the case in later this month? Solid playoff teams and playoff contenders won’t be as easily vanquished as the lowly Wizards were at Verizon Center.
Over the course of the next six weeks it would be nice to see Al Horford, Josh Smith, Mike Bibby, Flip Murray and even Mo Evans or Zaza Pachulia try that costume on for a night or two. Anything to throw off the masses before the playoffs, when a team’s every flaw is magnified a million times under the spotlight of the postseason crush.
The more the Hawks spread the wealth the better. And is it me or does Johnson always seem more effective when someone else cranks it up and he can sneak up on a team and smash them with big shots late (as he did to the Wizards)?
There are just too many defenses designed to stop him these days. The two- and three-man pressure sets like Denver used last week are going to be the norm between now and April 15. The Hawks’ best recourse is to spread the responsibility around and allow Williams and others to assume more of a scoring load or at least run the offense through someone other than Johnson for stretches.
The best move the Hawks can make at this point is to stretch that roster out (I know teams normally shorten the rotation this time of year, but the opposite could work in this case) and throw a few trick plays at teams scouting them.
Because up to this point they’ve been an open book. Teams know it’s Joe Johnson left, Joe Johnson right and Joe Johnson up the middle on nearly every play. An advance scout for a team the Hawks could meet in the playoffs told me as much before Sunday night’s game against Cleveland.
“They’re like one of those three yards and a cloud of dust football teams,” my scout friend said. “Clear out this side and clear out that side and we’re going to run that sucker right up the middle and dare the other team to stop us. That’s the way they play offense under Woody. When it works, you can’t do anything to stop them. But when it doesn’t, they have a hard time. And in the playoffs, teams are going to do whatever they can to take away your main stuff and try and force you into your alternative options. Right now, I really can’t tell you what those other options are. When they’re at home they feed off their crowd and they run more, they share the ball more and they play more up-tempo. But on the road, it’s not as easy. And correct me if I’m wrong, they beat Boston all three games at home during that series last year but couldn’t find their footing on the road, right?”
That’s exactly right.
So it turns out that the Hawks do have a few moves to make. Just not the kind that seem so sexy right now with all the talk about contenders adding players for the playoff push.
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263 comments Add your comment
Astro Joe
March 4th, 2009
9:21 pm
Wow, Sekou looks just like Childress. Who knew?
Ray, I was shocked when Woody’s first substitution tonight was Evans for Smith. I thought Marvin was the one to ALWAYS come out first.
Just our luck, Sund will trade Smith for one of those 7-foot busts that he enjoys having on the squad. Oops, that’s right, we already have RandMo.
Melvin
March 4th, 2009
9:21 pm
THe Knicks commentators are killing Joe for holding the ball….
Sautee
March 4th, 2009
9:22 pm
I’d LOVE to see somebody / anybody other than Flip at the end of quarters.
His success ratio has to be lower than Josh’s last 15 free throws. Ugh.
TskOoOo
March 4th, 2009
9:22 pm
Why aren’t Sekou’s posts in blue?
mo
March 4th, 2009
9:24 pm
i mean it sounds as if nique is the knicks announcer, really kinda annoying
TskOoOo
March 4th, 2009
9:24 pm
Old Hawks Old Hawks. Scrubs beating us agian. This time the Italian scrub who was supposed to be out all year.
Anyone else remember that game (might’ve been last year) where Bibby told our guys early in the 4th that the other team was tired and it was time to make a run? Does he pull our guys together and tell them anything like that anymore?
dmortone
March 4th, 2009
9:27 pm
These games are so frustrating. The Hawks have just as much talent as anyone in this league, but they just play down to their opponent. It makes these games so hard to watch.
Melvin
March 4th, 2009
9:27 pm
I mean these Knick commentators are all over Joe everytime he touches it..
TskOoOo
March 4th, 2009
9:27 pm
Someone should’ve woken up Sund this whole season. Where the hell was he during the AS Break? Hey Josh why dont you try block a shot for once you overpaid POC. You are immature trash and will be traded this offseason. Your FTs have cost us 10 games
Blast
March 4th, 2009
9:27 pm
Hawks are gonna lose this game.
Big Ray
March 4th, 2009
9:28 pm
Well here we are AGAIN. Down by double digits.
Got away from feeding Al and Marvin, and went on a shooting spree from the perimeter. I guess the guards didn’t want the forwards to get too far ahead of them in the scoring department. That, and no defense. Yeah, we’re going to lose another game we should be winning, unless we tighten it up. This is what happened towards the end LAST year, and we almost didn’t make the playoffs (good thing Indy choked more than we did).
This year, we could slip to the 6th seed if we’re not careful (and if the other teams don’t keep losing the way they have).
Big Ray
March 4th, 2009
9:29 pm
Dmortone,
But they have a “COY”. If only they would listen to him…
mo
March 4th, 2009
9:29 pm
hey melvin at least the knicks announcers are doing thier job, the hawks announcers are pulling for the knicks wtf? i thought i was watching the YES network in new york. Can we bring back steve smith?
mo
March 4th, 2009
9:30 pm
uga 65 ky 62, the damn dawgs are showing more heart than these hawks
Astro Joe
March 4th, 2009
9:32 pm
Way too many 3 pointers from a team that was killing early in the paint. Got to blame Woody for allowing the team to play in such an undisciplined fashion.
TskOoOo
March 4th, 2009
9:33 pm
Great job woody. Let us get killed, but leave our starters in so they can have dead legs plus we get the L
Melvin
March 4th, 2009
9:33 pm
I’m with Ray. It so convenient to blame/single out Josh went he plays badd. But look at Joe and Bibby. When will Woody show some you know what and bench those guys…. I wish so of you all could hear the Knick broadcast. They are ridding Joe to no end. And alot of it is good analysis…
Reggie
March 4th, 2009
9:33 pm
Wow we look absolutely horrible right now.
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:34 pm
yea josh a lil reckless right now… ill advised 3
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:35 pm
melvin,
you must have a personal vendetta against Joe or something… seems like you at him every game..
Melvin
March 4th, 2009
9:37 pm
Knicks crew just mention that the scouting report on the Hawks is Joe Johnson will hold the ball too long and the offense becomes stagnant..
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:39 pm
shoot ourselves out the game… yet again..
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:40 pm
thats a scouting report on your coach bruh… he schemes,allows, and refuses to change this…
Astro Joe
March 4th, 2009
9:40 pm
Knicks are trying to give us the game but we keep shooting 3s.
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:42 pm
4 3’s in 5 possessions…
TskOoOo
March 4th, 2009
9:42 pm
Great plan to get back in the game. Shoot as many contested 3’s as possible
Blast
March 4th, 2009
9:42 pm
Ballgame!!!!!! Off the blog y’all.
Sekou K. Smith
March 4th, 2009
9:43 pm
You get back in the game attacking and then start settling for long jumpers to try and rescue the day. Bad business Hawks. And Al Horford gathered everyone up to tell them to start driving the ball and go to the basket to catch up and slow the game down. More foolishness from America’s favorite train-wreck!
Astro Joe
March 4th, 2009
9:44 pm
Sekou, if any of the Hawks mention anything about not shooting too many 3s and playing Hawks basketball and not playing the other team’s style, please slap them silly on behalf of the blog community. And if Woody says that ish, just drop your tape recorder on the floor and walk away in utter disgust.
Melvin
March 4th, 2009
9:44 pm
Bigdave, I’m only telling you what I’m hearing. Like i said, i wish you all could hear this. I bet if I was dogging Josh you wouldn’t have a problem with that. The fact remain, Joe does not have his A game tonite…
Big Ray
March 4th, 2009
9:45 pm
Bigdave,
Yeah, and isn’t he supposed to be the unequivocally best player on this roster? So he’s above criticism. See, this is what I’m talking about…
Josh and Joe are in a turnover race, but you won’t hear about Joe…
Melvin
March 4th, 2009
9:46 pm
The wheels are off the wagon…
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:47 pm
not exactly…wrong guy…
im always vouching for Josh…
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:49 pm
“melvin,
you must have a personal vendetta against Joe or something… seems like you at him every game..”
where did you get that from big ray?
Astro Joe
March 4th, 2009
9:49 pm
ACIE!
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:50 pm
ball game…
tiger woo
March 4th, 2009
9:50 pm
I hate to bring up an old topic, but couldn’t we have just kept Al Harrington and drafted Chris Paul instead of Marvin? Jus’ sayin’.
Reggie
March 4th, 2009
9:50 pm
Melvin you are absolutely killing me. I couldn’t care less about what the Knicks announcers are saying. The fact is that Joe make us a much better team. His net points when on the court is better than anyone else for us except Horford with -3. Smith’s is -12. JJ hasn’t missed about 75% of his free throws since the break. Joe has also probably out rebounded Smith every game since the break. It’s also not Joe’s fault that when he gets the ball the entire team stands around looking at him. Smith has been way out of control on the offensive end with running down the court like a fool with the ball. JJ is consistently gettingus 7 boards and dimes a night lately and hasn’t had his shot quite one but still kills Smith game in and out with his performance. Let’s be real now.
Melvin
March 4th, 2009
9:51 pm
Acie comes into the game with less then 3mins remaining and the Hawks score 8 straight points. I wonder if he was eligible to play earlier in the game..
niremetal
March 4th, 2009
9:52 pm
JJ is still not playing like himself. And Bibby clearly still isn’t 100%. And Woody *still* runs our entire offense through them. It’s so predictable – there’s no offensive scheme at all. No one moves, and JJ just dribbles around a lot. I certainly don’t absolve JJ because he isn’t making any adjustments, but you KNOW he wouldn’t be doing this if the Hawks actually ran a play every once in awhile that wasn’t ISO or the occasional pick and roll.
Marvin is still playing a little clumsy, but Al and to a lesser extent Marvin are the only ones who are playing like they care tonight. Smoove is still afraid to take it to the rack (presumably because he still can’t hit a FT to save his life) and isn’t patrolling the lane at all.
Acie actually made it a game once he got in. But I wouldn’t even take 10:1 odds on him playing meaningful minutes in the next game.
So predictable. So sad.
Ed
March 4th, 2009
9:52 pm
Until there is a coaching change we will never rise above where we are now…a 40+ win team that goes out in the first round most likely, but never past that if we do make it to the second round. The play is so ragged & inconsistent from game to game…that is where the coach comes in. Somewhere between Woody’s oversized ego & his infamous doghouse we have lost our way & show no signs of turning it around. The question is whether or not Sund will have the power to make changes or will the ASG once again rear its ugly head.
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:52 pm
cosign Reggie… guess we watching the same thing…
Big Ray
March 4th, 2009
9:53 pm
Wow. So I wonder what Acie is supposed to learn here in the last 2 and a half minutes? How to lose with some semblance of dignity? There he goes right down the lane, gives to Marvin for a dunk.
Yeah, he’s definitely a bust…
Well, Josh didn’t play well. So I wonder why we lost? It must be a combination of his two missed free throws and the fact that he refused to outrebound sick ol’ Bibby. Yep, that’s the ticket.
Da Real Real
March 4th, 2009
9:54 pm
Embarrasing, just a horrible game all around. As far as I’m concerned NOBODY showed up to this ball game especially on the defensive side of the ball. Can’t go to sleep on these kinds of teams…this shoulda been a 3 win road trip. Last week was somewhat acceptable against the west but this is unacceptable for the team to come out and play like they did tonight.
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:54 pm
look at Acie.. like a damn jack rabbit…
will be a good point for someone…
guess Woodson didnt think he could have contributed with that speed… and ability to penetrate…
dumb ass..!!!
niremetal
March 4th, 2009
9:54 pm
(I guess I should say Law made it interesting…but as long as the Knicks hit their free throws, it won’t be a game…)
TskOoOo
March 4th, 2009
9:54 pm
Nique is busy raving about Law.
So where was he the whole game?
What exactly did Bibby accomplish in his 30 minutes?
And why are Nique and Ratman not even mentioning Acie playing earlier in the game?
Reggie
March 4th, 2009
9:55 pm
Acie looks real solid. Why don’t we bring him off more just for a couple minutes a quarter for some quick offense and energy?
jhan
March 4th, 2009
9:56 pm
Acie breaking the Knicks down with ease. If we had played him 20 minutes we couldn’t have done any worse – lose. At least he would get some experience.
bigdave
March 4th, 2009
9:56 pm
jump ball ref… well, i guess it wasnt Lebron with the tie up…