Bring on the King!
The last time the Hawks saw King James (March 1 at Philips Arena) they came up short.
HAWKSVILLE - The last time the Hawks lost a home game it was at the hands of LeBron James.
The last time King James and his crew lost a home game was before the All-Star Break (Feb. 8 to the Lakers and the Cavs’ only home loss of the season).
The Hawks have won seven straight games.
The Cavs have won seven straight as well (and they are an outlandish 31-1 at home).
Something and somebody has to give Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena when the two teams square off in a rematch of a March 1 game at Philips Arena the King won 88-87 with a last second free throw.
It’s too bad the NCAA Tournament will keep most folks from tuning in to see the two hottest teams in the NBA and the Eastern Conference go at it.
Both teams are fighting for playoff position, the Hawks for home court in the first round and the Cavs for home court throughout the entire playoffs.
It’s a perfect storm for hoops lovers, particularly those that love to dive into the NBA’s version of March Madness. The brackets for the NBA’s tournament can’t be filled out just yet. There are too many variables still in play. But it’s clear right now that the Hawks won’t go into the final weeks on the playoff bubble.
If they did nothing else on this recent homestand, they stamped their ticket to the postseason.
In addition, they rebounded from a potentially devastating few days of internal turmoil between Mike Woodson and Josh Smith to show that winning truly does cure all.
Pounding out wins against teams like Detroit, New Orleans, Utah, Portland and Dallas (all likely playoff bound teams) sent a strong message to the rest of the league.
Not getting popped against Indiana and Sacramento, however, sent an even louder message to me. Because it proved that maybe now, I said maybe, the Hawks are free from the mental letdowns against lesser teams that has shadowed them the past two years.
“They’ve got this thing rolling right now man,” an advance scout for an Eastern Conference powerhouse said to me as the Dallas game ended and we were walking away from the court. “If you’ve got to come in here and deal with this team in the playoffs it’s going to be tough. Now I see what Boston had to deal with last year.”
Paul Pierce and the Celtics know just how tough it is to win at Philips Arena.
Since that playoff series with the Celtics, the Hawks are a jaw-dropping 30-7 on their home floor.
So it’s clear the Hawks are going to formidable on their home floor no matter the opponent.
The challenge now is to prove they can get it done away from home.
And that’s why Saturday’s game looms so large.
What team doesn’t want to join the Lakers as the only teams to go into the castle to defeat the King?
But if the Hawks are in the business of staring down their demons the way we think they are, winning a few more games on the road would certainly do the trick.
They’ve already surpassed last season’s road win total of 12 (they are 14-21). Inch closer to .500 on the road, though, and home court advantage and that magical 50-win season both come into clearer focus between now and April 15.
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318 comments Add your comment
Astro Joe
March 21st, 2009
8:07 pm
I wonder who is guilty of this (quote from Mo Evans) “The first thing we have to do is learn how to stop complaining about the officiating and understand that when you’re on the road, you’re going to be at a disadvantage. If we can ever conquer that mentality I think that’s when we’ll become one of the truly elite teams in the league.”
doc, I’m not accusing Smith of any of those things, just saying that the relationship between coach and player is based on more than what happens during game time. If Woody feels he has to “coach/motivate” a player differently, those factors I mentioned may play into his selection of tactics.
Hawks have played at least half of their road games without either Horford, Smith or Marvin. After watching the Hawks get away with several felonies agains the Mavs, there is no doubt that the home team gets the benefit of many calls in this league. You HAVE to have a deep bench when on the road. At the same time, you can’t reasonably expect inexperienced players to respond well in a hostile environment. I’d like to think that with a healthy starting crew plus vets like Flop, Mo & Zaza, that we can be a better road team than we have shown most recently.
Sautee
March 21st, 2009
9:16 pm
Joe, you’re right about Josh complaining. I told Ray after the Dallas game that if I could change one thing about Josh’s game, it would be for him to just hush and play ball. He’s wasting a lot of mental energy being aggravated about things beyond his control. And it affects the entire team if he misses assignments while arguing with refs.
Road wins will HAVE to start with Joe and Bibby. It’s on them to get the bigs involved (which will open the floor for their jumpers). Without that, we’re at the mercy of the shooting gods, which on the road is a losing game. On top of that, Joe needs to set a better example on defense on the road. He all too often takes possessions off, particularly after he’s made a turnover. Do you EVER see KG taking a possession off?
Ariose
March 21st, 2009
9:29 pm
The problem is, Cleveland is ALWAYS having a good shooting day…..
Reggie
March 21st, 2009
10:09 pm
Why is the blog so quiet?
ray
March 21st, 2009
10:17 pm
Astro Joe,
“I wonder who is guilty of this..?” followed by “I’m not accusing Josh Smith of any of those things..”
…is about as thinly veiled as it gets. I agree with Sautee that Josh is guilty of this, but to throw that out there, THEN say you’re not accusing Josh (while not mentioning anybody else’s name, oddly enough)? LOL! At least Sautee comes right out and SAYS it.
By the way, I got a chuckle out of something you said near the very beginning of your blog. You said that you usually took things (like criticism) better from somebody with proven performance (and love for the team). Well, I don’t know about love for the team (as much as I do love for the paycheck), but proven performance? How long has he been a head coach? What’s his record, again?
Pardon me, but I believe it was the veteran pg Anthony Johnson who walked away from Woody. I think it was the veteran pg Mike Bibby who (and this was quoted by Woody in a Sekou article) gets Woody calmed down when he’s out of control.
This is the same Woody who is okay with Mike Bibby talking back to him. But not Josh.
Yeah. Proven performance. By what comparison, I wonder.
Oh. Do you mind if I borrow your alibi for a moment? I’m just being a natural contrarian to your argument….
ray
March 21st, 2009
10:22 pm
Rod,
If Marvin were here and starting, and Mo Evans only played 6 minutes, that says something about WOODY, not Marvin.
But I suppose there’s no point in saying that, since it doesn’t translate to “Marvin sucks” or whatever. Suffice it to say, I am agreeing to completely disagree with your point of view.
Reggie
March 21st, 2009
10:54 pm
Ray: Rod won’t comment back to you if he knows something you said is right. Then he will be back Monday night (or his twin Sam) once again saying “another win without Marvin”.
rms
March 21st, 2009
11:07 pm
Ok so we’re not as good as we thought we were! Good teams win at home, elite and better teams win at home and on the road, something the Hawks clearly are not.
RaJaH
March 22nd, 2009
12:21 am
Should Bibby not return next season, will the hawks find a pg through the draft to back Acie or go through free agency?
Tagurit
March 22nd, 2009
1:17 am
who knows but wiht Billy boy gone we at least have a chance to draft a good one. but we need to fire the hell out of this fool for a head coach cause he only wants broke down old point guard. bibby can shoot but he cant d up a two dolla ho.
kgbsfinst
March 22nd, 2009
2:14 am
I think when you get a game like this, when its 40-18 at one point, you can throw stats out the window. You cant tell me the Cavs were as aggressive as they were to start the game when they were up by 20. Lets be honest, we didn’t put a great effort out there when it mattered, and that’s all that matters. If you want to evaluate a player on tonight’s game, lets look at the effort and hustle, not if they put up good numbers against a team that was on cruise control for the second half.
MAC-TOWN
March 22nd, 2009
6:05 am
We are a rollercoaster team. Of all the teams, we probably have the biggest gap in the league as far as the team that shows up on the road vs. the one that shows up at home.
We are a team where no matter who we play in 7 game series nothing would be shocking because of this.
We could play the Knicks in a 7 game series and it would go to 7 games with the winner depending on where game 7 was played……same thing with the likes of the cavs, celtics and magic.
We can beat anybody at home and lose to anybody at home.
thats just the type of team we are.
MAC-TOWN
March 22nd, 2009
6:08 am
lost to any body on the road* I meant to say
and by the way I still say josh smith’s offensive game needs a major upgrade. Very poor excuse for jump shot and low post moves. He has so many ugly wild shots that he appears to just toss at the rim. It looks awful.
Has he REALLY improved that much offensively over the years, I dont see it.
Rod from College Park
March 22nd, 2009
10:51 am
Ray,
I agree. That’s part of the point. It’s like Woody has some sort of obligation to the guy. I don’t like Woody either. I don’t know how many times you want me to say it. Again he does not suck, but he is replaceable. We can win on on consistent basis with or without him.
doc
March 22nd, 2009
11:03 am
right on kgb!
Astro Joe
March 22nd, 2009
11:25 am
Ray, no, I wasn’t suggesting that Woody is the proven performer but he is the coach. Some players with a prestine resume can question their head coach but frankly, the Hawks don’t have those kind of players. So a D-level coach shouldn’t be challenged by a C-level player (IMHO). And the “I’m not Josh accusing of those things” was in reference to an earlier post to/from doc, not the quote from Evans.
Do I think Evans was referring to Smith? I hope not. Dude has been in the league for 5 years, surely he understands the difference in officiating at home ve. the road. He must have been referring to Horford, since he has only 140 games of NBA experience (vs. over 400 for Smith). Acie or maybe even Marvin could have been candidates but they didn’t play yesterday. We know he wasn’t talking about the crew of West, Gardner, Hunter or Morris… those guys may not understand but they don’t make much of a contribution to the team. I kind of doubt that it was Joe, he should complain but never does. Bibby? I think he’s our most experienced player and while he whines, he’s also pretty savvy (team’s best actor for drawing fouls). Flip? Maybe but I don’t see too many camera shots of him whining to the ref while the players run to the opposite floor. So Evans had to be speaking about the two-time NCAA champion and mature-beyond-his-age leader who is still learning the NBA game, right? I mean, who else could he have been referring to if not Horford? Huh?
richbrave
March 22nd, 2009
12:00 pm
SEKOU and LOS REGULATORS:
“Regulators, let’s dance.”(YOUNG GUNS). I see the “KING” (self-anointed) brought loads of questionable calls last night as evidenced by the plethora of T’s on both players and coaches. Make no mistake, this is not whining on the part of the HAWKS. Even I have noticed and complained on this blog about the preferential treatment LaBRON gets from NBA officiating. That kind of crap destroyed LES BOULES chances in the NBA playoffs three years ago. So be prepared HAWKSDOM, it will be necessary to not only beat the CAVALIERS, but the referees as well come playoff time. STERN wants to be certain the ratings stay up and JAMES is his meal-ticket.
Astro Joe
March 22nd, 2009
12:25 pm
rms, did anyone really think that we were an elite team based on that home stand? Without Marvin? With a coach who is about to be terminated for such a ish-poor season? Seriously, we are the best of the second grouping of teams in our league.
darrell starks
March 22nd, 2009
12:50 pm
Why is the hawks so inconsistent on the road and why do josh play with a lack of determination on the road i dont no but at the end of the day the finger is pointed at coach WOODY. GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ariose
March 22nd, 2009
12:58 pm
AJ, I knew you were talking about coach……..unlike everybody else Ha!!!
darrell starks
March 22nd, 2009
1:12 pm
One thing about JOSH on what he have to realize is that he hurt the team when he is always standing around the three point line like he his a three point shooter how can you be a three point shooter and you cant even shoot free a throw WOODY need to tell JOSH get his butt down low and help horford on the boards HE SHOULD NO THIS BY NOW. THATS WHY SOMETIME I CAN SEE THE HAWKS TRADING HIM BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE HE JUST WILL NEVER GET IT.GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
doc
March 22nd, 2009
1:14 pm
aj, upper crust second tier not the best. still cant beat our counterparts when we split home and home’s to declare we are the best of the rest.
really doubt your tongue in cheek reference to seeing woody go.
Elijah
March 22nd, 2009
1:58 pm
JOE AND WOODY NEED TO COMPLAIN TO REFS AND GET A FINE.. ITS THE NEXT STEP. NO WAY WE WILL BEAT CLEVELAND WITHOUT COMPLAINING TO REFS. BLAST THEM IN THE MEDIA AND LETS GET A FAIR SERIES IN THE 2ND ROUND
terrell barron
March 22nd, 2009
2:46 pm
It’s starting to look like we might see Philly in rd 1. Yikes! I’d much rather play Miami. We seem to play better at home when we play against a superstar. The Sixers will more than likely come in here and steal one.
James
March 22nd, 2009
3:06 pm
Now everyone saying the hawsk are better without Marvin will shut up now and realzie they are not. Because I admit, I haven’t been a fan of Marvin until this year. You can see he has the talent, when he is aggressive and not being passive and the one thing about Marvin is he doesn’t do dumb stuff. Imagine if the hawks would have had marvin instead of flip in the game, when they were making their run, the game might have ended differently. You can’t compare records, you have to look at the teams the Hawks played while he was out.
niremetal
March 22nd, 2009
3:28 pm
tb,
There are two guys that I don’t want to see in the playoffs – LeBron and D-Wade. Philly is good, but they don’t worry me nearly as much as Miami simply because they don’t have anyone who even has the potential to be the type of “take over the series” player that D-Wade could be. I’ll be doing handsprings if we draw a first-round matchup against Philly and will do backflips if Boston or Orlando somehow surpasses Cleveland for the #1 seed.
richbrave
March 22nd, 2009
4:58 pm
tb:
IGUDALA. The little engine that could.
Ken Strickland
March 22nd, 2009
4:58 pm
AFter reading the article on the Smoove/Woodson fued, one thing stood out to me. Woodson simply doesn’t have a clue and is totally incapable of honestly critiquing his own attitude, actions and behavior. It became apparent in the part of the article that dealt with Woodson’s attitude and action towards Bibby when he took a pull up jumpshot on a 4 or 1 break. Woodson was unable to distinguish the difference between yelling his displeasure at Bibby’s mistake from the sidelines, from calling a timeout and openly berating Acie on the sidelines, and/or taking him out of the gm and not allowing him to play another second. He refuses, or is incapable of distinguishing the disparity in his treatment of Bibby and Acie in simular situations.
In the gm against Dallas, Acie was pulled after 1:04mins for allowing himself to get picked off, which allowed his man to score. If Bibby was held to that same standard, he’d play only about 1:04 mins a gm. Bibby is slow and his DEF is so bad that Woodson ususally assigns JJ to defend the player that usually defends Bibby.
AND WOODSON IS EITHER TOO BLIND, STUPID, ARROGANT AND/OR DEEP IN DENIAL TO SEE THE INEQUITY IN HIS TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PLAYERS.
jhan
March 22nd, 2009
5:47 pm
I enjoyed watching the Hawks press defense at the end of the game. This worked very well & I would like to see it more. I believe it sparked our 12-2 run in the 4th.
Why don’t we try this BEFORE we are down by 20? How about when we get up by 4-6, bring in some subs & let them press away? Instead of trimming a lead by 10 – we increase our own lead by 10.
Just a thought.
ray
March 22nd, 2009
7:56 pm
Jhan,
In-game adjustments. Some people make them in time. Some don’t until it’s too late. But hey, the guy’s only been coaching for 4 1/2 years now. We shouldn’t hold him to the same standard we hold guys like Josh….
Rod from College Park
March 22nd, 2009
8:48 pm
James,
No Comment……..
MJ3
March 22nd, 2009
9:25 pm
Rod,
That’s the most intelligent comment you’ve ever made on this blog. Keep up the good work.
rms
March 22nd, 2009
9:54 pm
Astro Joe, I agree, but the point I was trying to make was IF we want to be an elite team we must first of all be consistent and then win on the road. I just dont think the ownership group are going to get rid of Woodson. I wish they would but I just dont see that happening. I think Woodson can only take us so far, then we need to bring in somebody that can take us to the “next level”.
niremetal
March 22nd, 2009
11:24 pm
I hate to say it, but the talk about Woody is academic at this point unless the Hawks collapse out of the 4 seed (which is unlikely). A coach who leads his team to an 10+ game improvement and a home court advantage placement in the first round using a roster that before the season was deemed thin and unbalanced is not getting fired.
Trust me, it brings me no joy to say that. But Woody’s ticket is punched through at least December.
doc
March 22nd, 2009
11:27 pm
manny t, going tomorrow? still in need of tix for the lakers?
kgbsfinst
March 23rd, 2009
1:46 am
Rod,
Great point. You can even look at it from the other players perspective. If I was seeing Woodson yelling at other players, but a certain few got away with everything, it would be very difficult for me to have any respect for him, both as a coach and a man.
Maybe that’s what Josh sees and is the right one to call “bullsh!t!” Lets think about this, you know Acie cant call Woodson out on it, none of the bench players can, but Josh can. Maybe we are seeing this wrong, and wouldn’t that be funny (even a little ironic)! “JOSH SMITH IS A THUG WITH NO RESPECT” Maybe hes just sticking up for the little guy who cant stick up for themselves.
ray
March 23rd, 2009
6:13 am
Niremetal,
Yeah, no sh!t. You can say that it’s ALL academic for the remainder of the season, at least. Woody haters won’t get rid of Woody. Marvin haters won’t get rid of Marvin. Josh haters (even the ones who CLAIM they aren’t…) won’t get rid of Josh. Fortunately, player haters will see some action before any coach stuff goes off (if it does at all), like it or not. Who cares…
Astro Joe
March 23rd, 2009
9:11 am
Ray, didn’t Woody get a two year contract and Josh and five year contract? Is there a better measure of “who is being held to a standard” than the length of their employment contract with the team?
Ken Strickland
March 23rd, 2009
9:41 am
The idea of calling Smoove a THUG is irresponsible. The definition of the word THUG is, “A PERSON, USUALLY A CRIMINAL, THAT TREATS OTHERS VIOLENTLY, USUSALLY FOR HIRE”. WE ALL KNOW THE WORD IS NOW BEING USED MORE AND MORE AS A RACIAL CONNOTATION.
I remember a simular irrational comment that a fan made following the Letrell Sprewell choking incident, where he choked his HC, PJ Carlesimo, during practice. The fan’s comment was, “WHERE ELSE BUT THE NBA CAN AN EMPLOYEE ASSAULT HIS EMPLOYER AND GET AWAY WITH IT”. There was definitely some underlying feelings behind that comment. First, PJ Carlesimo was his HC(manager/supervisor) not his employer. Secondly, where else but the NBA can a person holding down a manager/supervisor position physically grab, loudly and openly yell at, berate, demean and curse an employee in front of his fellow coworkers and bystanders?
I don’t remember anyone ever making such a major issue over Bobby Knight’s legendary assualts on his players, assistants, officials and Univ. personnel etc. And his escapades went on for decades. PJ Carlesimo was known for grabbing his players and launching cursing tiraids against them in practice and on the sidelines during gms. HOW MANY OF US WOULD PERMIT THAT TYPE OF BEHAVIOR FROM ANY OF OUR SUPERVISORS/MANAGERS?
I don’t know how many ways DOC can explain the difference between Woodson exercising his AUTHORITY as opposed to exercising his RESPONSIBILITY.
yetta
March 23rd, 2009
9:53 am
Finally!!! Beginning to see that Josh has been the escapegoat for the mistakes of the entire team. Focus has been on Josh to take the heat off of JJ, Bibby, Al and Woody. Josh needs to stay on the backboard where he is at his best. Al is good only with JSmoove’s help. Glad fans are waking up!
Go Josh, MVP!
ray
March 23rd, 2009
10:05 am
I like how the caption for the main pic is
Hawks coach Mike Woodson — who missed the end of the game in Cleveland after he was ejected — is adamant about the team brushing off the loss before meeeting Minnesota
Yet Woodson does not have 1 quote in the article and was ejected in the last game.
Nice job Sekou
ray
March 23rd, 2009
10:05 am
I like how the caption for the main pic is
Hawks coach Mike Woodson — who missed the end of the game in Cleveland after he was ejected — is adamant about the team brushing off the loss before meeeting Minnesota
Yet Woodson does not have 1 quote in the article and was ejected in the last game.
Nice job Sekou
doc
March 23rd, 2009
10:24 am
uh thanks ken. heh heh. luv ya bro.
ok i must admit i am a malcontent when it comes to coaches and what they do to explore the inner sanctity of people to get them to play harder.
lost ALL respect for one of my coaches who to “motivate” me and my fellow high schoolers in the mid sixties before a game with the local catholic school brought out to posters of the other teams guards who were black (if that offends i am from the i am black and proud era). what he wanted to lead us in was to chant what we were going to do to the n-word here in plural. kill them we were to say. ultimately he took his azz to a local county school and had three blacks that ran the 40 in less than 4.3 and won the state championship and is now in the high school hall of fame. i didnt participate in the rally and made up my mind that this was the end of my football career.
second story comes up after reading kgb above. i played on a local college team as a starting pitcher during a disastrous season after all funding had been taken out of the system but we were left with walk ons and a lame duck coach who was a great athlete himself and the basketball coach as well. he was in the phillie system but couldnt control himself and after going into the stands one too many times after hecklers was let go at the level of aa.
it was my jr baseball season and all of a sudden he has the funny idea to bring out some of his nasketball players who hadnt practiced and played in their careers to play when illness and injury struck. it didnt affect me but it sure flew in my face and seemed to mock the guys who and been through the grind. at some point when a foul ball went into the rock pile behind the backstop we were to manage when not playing he yelledrom the third base coaching box to me to go get it. i was on the bench and threw the bat down i held and went on to get the ball and sit. after the inning who shows up really pissed bt coach who grabbed me by the collar and was in my face. i thought it was over. he asked me who i thought i was and i said enought to let him know that the third baseman who had served him for three years as a back up should have been playing and he had showed him up. fortunately he put me down and didnt start something i couldnt come close to finishing.
yup sometimes coaches are worng as is management and we only have to look at the economic collapse from power hungry and greedy people in power decision making where the lower guys on the totem pole were accosted if they tried to make a point about there way ward thinking. those that keep quiet deserve their fates even if speaking brings adversity. yeah i was insubordinate but there were no bballers on the team again and it was fine for me to pitch with the guys who had been with me all along even if they were walk ons.
incidentally the next year we had a respectable coach and fielded essentially the same team except with one of the great baseballers ever from druid hills high that didnt go into the majors playing second base. we surprised a whole lot of folks. coaching makes a difference. after not winning a game one year we finished over .500 and had many teams doing extra laps because their coaches were aware of what we had to work with. that coach was and is an insurance man and only year he coached but he also knew the game and wasnt a rube there. managing people is where it is at.
Melvin
March 23rd, 2009
10:31 am
Doc, if MannyT doesn’t need them let me know. I can put them to good use….
kgbsfinst
March 23rd, 2009
11:32 am
Ken,
I hope I didnt give you the impression that I think Josh is a thug. If I did, it was misconstrued. I want to clarify that the quote was to quote the many people that have come on this blog that make those stupid comments.
Rod from College Park
March 23rd, 2009
11:50 am
kgbsfinst,
They will act like those comments were never made. They will just argue with me about how good Marvin is, and never remember how they were ready to get rid of Josh for a bag of hot fries a month ago.
Astro Joe
March 23rd, 2009
11:50 am
doc, good stuff. It sounds like those coaches had some personal issues. We’ve read many stories about Woody taking the guys to view the damage left by Katrina, the tour with David Robinson of his school/progam in Texas, the locker room visit from Andrew Young and probably a few other stories that I have forgotten. I’ve never read a quote where he bad-mouthed a player. The radio interviews I’ve heard, he’s pretty consistent about praising players by name and citing the need for the team to improve in key areas. Even when he kept Tony Delk on the bench, played Royal Ivey for 5 minutes per half, benched players with 2 fouls for the entire first half and numerous other bone-headed decisions that drew my ire these many years, I never doubted that he is at his core a good guy. While he learned at the knee of Knight and LB I don’t think he has subscribed to their least appealing coaching tactics. And he joins a very, very, very long line of coaches (across all teams sports) that is much harder or younger/inexperienced players than on vets. In fact, that seems more the norm than the exception.
Hawks are playing 6 games against of the league’s 5 best teams in an 8 game stretch. Can we go 3-3 against the truly elite?
Astro Joe
March 23rd, 2009
12:03 pm
Rod, why must it be Marvin or Josh? Why can’t we keep them both and add a back-up center (like Rasho or a Kwame Brown-type)? If anything, the decision will come down to Marvin or Bibby, as I can’t imagine the ASG will spend the $20M to bring them both back. And in that scenario, I’m choosing Marvin and I’m making Mark Price an Assistant Coach (as opposed to a Shooting Consultant) and mandating that he spend every waking moment with Acie during the off-season. Actually, I guess I would have to ask Price politely to work with Acie…. for fear of being criticized that I’m bullying an underling.
ILL-logical
March 23rd, 2009
12:28 pm
At issue at this juncture of the Hawk’s most successful season in 10 years is where do they go from here and how?
The discussion has to be placed squarely within the context of the economy as well as the financial condition of the team’s owners. There is no money for marketing the team and there are going to be fewer paying customers. At the current stage of the NBA, the Hawks may not be able to afford a first round draft choice,let alone re-sign some high priced players.
With respect to management, Mr. Sund does not have a very good track record of acquiring quality bigs. So his quest this summer for a big,either through the draft or free agency(veterans exception slot) has to be viewed with extreme skepticism.
Coaching. The short and simple answer is : without a change the Hawks won’t compete for a champoinship. Saturday’s game was a case in point. Period.
Players. We have the talent now but a change in philosophy regarding better/ optimum usage would go a very long way. I would love to see a 7′ 260+ lbs, athletic shot blocker and rebounder in the Hawk’s starting line up to go with Josh at 3 and Al at 4 with Marvin and Solo as their primary back-ups.And having a healthy and motivated Acie pushing the ball and playing solid defense to run this type of team would be great.But the chances of any of the foregoing happening any time soon is statistically insignificant.
But hope springs eternal in the human breast. Here’s hoping that the changes that are needed ( Woodson as Assistant GM-get out there and expand the customer base)(Big acquired via free agency) and the team plays consistent, exciting basketball, come to pass. Soon.
Sothron
March 23rd, 2009
12:41 pm
Hey everyone,
It’s Sothron, formerly of Hawksquawk. I have a few updates for the team:
1) Speedy is enraged he can’t play and has reportedly asked to be released in the next few weeks so he can play for a contender in the playoffs.
2) Solo and Othello got tangled up in practice yesterday after Solomon said something wrong about Othello’s pet pig
3) Bibby gained 20 pounds yesterday and now is even slower and more bow-legged than before
4) Josh Smith, in shootaround this morning, completed a 720 dunk from the 3 pt line.
More to come later.
-S