What’s in your profile?
There's no identity crisis for Hawks swingman Marvin Williams. He knows exactly who he is. But what do other think of the starting small forward? Find out inside.
HAWKSVILLE – The questions rolled off the tongue much easier than the answer.
I asked Marvin Williams the other day, “Who are you as a player, what’s your profile around the league?”
After rubbing his head for a second and smiling, Williams looked me dead in the eye and said, “I don’t worry about stuff like that. You’d have to ask someone else about that.”
Good idea Marv.
A quick phone call to a friend (a NBA All-Star turned pundit these days) offered up an interesting answer.
“Marvin Williams is their x-factor,” he said. “He’s the key to their season if you ask me. I think Marvin has to be the guy because he’s a 6-9, 240-pound guy that plays what I think is the most crucial position in the league these days. Whatever position the best player in the league plays, every guy on every other team that plays that spot becomes even more important. When MJ (Michael Jordan for you Y2K babies) ruled the league every shooting guard in the league instantly became more important. The same goes for all the small forwards now that LeBron is the man. So if Marvin can get to another level this year, the Hawks really have a chance to make some noise.”
That’s fine. And it’s a great discussion for another day. But it didn’t answer my initial question about Marvin’s game, which to me seems like an interesting mix of inside and out (more mid-range than post with a little 3-point wrinkle added last season) with a chance for so much more. So I pressed on, asking again for a definitive statement about what kind of player Marvin is in the eyes of a guy that’s played the game at a high level.
“Well, his game is hard to describe because I don’t know that he’s that easily categorized. The Hawks have never really asked him to fit into a specific hole as a shooter or rebounder or whatever,” my friend said. “I always felt like he had a chance to be a Jamal Mashburn-type player, a big guy that could work you off the dribble from the wing and finish with a jumper or push his man closer to the basket and finish there. But his handles have never impressed me. He was more of a situational shooter before last season, and those guys tend to drift in and out of games depending on who they’re playing with. But he opened my eyes last season with the 3-point shooting. I saw him early in the year when the Hawks started 6-0 and he was shooting the lights out and I felt like he had a chance to really break out, but he gradually eased up from out there as the season went on. He has to keep attacking from all over the floor offensively and hold his ground defensively. As far as who he is as a player, I think the jury is still out on him. And that’s a good thing. He’s still in the early stages of his career where he can define that for himself. This is a huge year for him individually. He can answer a lot of questions by showing he’s more of a consistent force than he’s been in his first few years.”
Most everyone I’ve spoken to about Williams since the summer, when he signed a new five-year deal with the Hawks, has echoed similar sentiments, the gist being that Williams still has room to grow and improve. I just wonder if how much of that we’ll get to see on a team where he’ll remain a third or fourth option on the offensive end of the floor.
KG IS WELCOME, TOO
Now that Zaza Pachulia is in the restaurant business, I expect the culinary jokes to become commonplace around here (fire away, Zaza’s thick skinned and a good sport).
Naturally, I kicked off the clowning last week while we sat in his spot (Eno By Zaza) for an interview.
“So is Kevin Garnett welcome here?” I asked, wondering aloud whether or not their nose-to-nose playoff dance from a couple years back was still a sore spot for both men.
After laughing for a few minutes, the always gracious Zaza welcomed not only Garnett but anyone in the world named Kevin or Garnett to frequent his spot. ”On the court, I’m always going to compete and fight hard,” Pachulia said. “Off the court, is another story. I hope Kevin Garnett comes to eat here. It would be great to see.”
Spoken like a true entrepreneur.
HOOP DREAMERS BEWARE
Utah Flash coach Brad Jones dropped in for a training camp visit last week and will return to Atlanta next week on more business. The Flash, the Hawks’ D-League affiliate, will be holding a one-day tryout at Athletics and Fitness Center at Clayton State University Oct. 24 at 10 a.m.
The flash have selected at least two players from the open tryout to attend their training camp in each of the past two seasons. Jones said Wednesday afternoon that as many as 17 players will attend training camp with the team in Salt Lake City.
Jones said the one-day tryout is open to all comers, provided they register (the fee is $150 in advance and $175 on the day of camp) as well as a player release and eligibility form. Registration can be completed online (and the forms can be found on the team’s official website).
The Flash will begin preseason training camp Nov. 15 before traveling to Tulsa for their first regular season game on Nov. 27.
OSCAR BUZZ
Who knew Josh Smith was the funniest NBA player of his time? He’s always kept me in stitches, but now he’s finding his way to the web in one hilarious video after another. He actually shows off some real acting chops in his new one-man spot that’s popped up online. His latest (courtesy of our friends at adidas, via a nice assist from my main man MS):
NICKNAME MADNESS
The nickname game is heating up with the regular season just around the corner.
OG member Big Ray is campaigning vigorously to tag rookie point guard Jeff Teague with the moniker “JT0″ (pronounced “Jay Tee Oh,” in reference to his initials and uniform number while also paying homage to the classic Pontiac sports car [GTO], per Nire).
Nire has taken it a couple steps further with a pre-made theme song (which I think needs a hip-hop edge for a youngster like Teague):
I’m more inclined to watch this Teague mix:
Hawks and Grizz tonight at 8 from the Bluff City, in case you forgot.
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419 comments Add your comment
Peeved
October 14th, 2009
9:44 pm
J-Quick not playing too hot. Gottastp his game up….
niremetal
October 14th, 2009
9:49 pm
Start calling him JT0 and he’ll do better.
Mz. Hawkdafied
October 14th, 2009
9:50 pm
The Hawks are in heat check mode right now. Gotta get back hot.
Melvin
October 14th, 2009
9:51 pm
Highlight from the 1st half of tonite’s game. Mario shoots a 3. Siler block a shot without jumping. Too Funny….
http://www.nba.com/video/games/grizzlies/2009/10/14/0010900056_atl_mem_1h.nba/index.html
MannyT
October 14th, 2009
9:56 pm
nba.com has 1st half highlights.
MARIO HIT A 3 PT SHOT!
I think crazed flying monkeys are coming next.
BWAF
niremetal
October 14th, 2009
9:58 pm
And Mo had as many points as Joe, Josh, Bibby, and Marvin combined…haha.
Melvin
October 14th, 2009
10:00 pm
Juan Dixon may be a tougher cut than many have expected….
Peeved
October 14th, 2009
10:02 pm
Dixon is trash. Don’t be fooled. He’s not even worth JJ jock strap…what has this clown done is his career other than underacheive and keep the seats warm for the real NBA players on the pine?
niremetal
October 14th, 2009
10:05 pm
Well Woody does love guards who don’t know when to stop shooting…
Peeved
October 14th, 2009
10:15 pm
Mario West > Juan Dixon
The kid has done more in 2 minutes than dixon could ever hope to do in 20…..If that wasn’t the case, he would’t be fighting for the 16th spot on our roster…..oh wait?
Najeh Davenpoop
October 14th, 2009
10:30 pm
I’m not as down on Dixon as many of y’all seem to be… he has been a pretty decent scoring guard off the bench throughout his career. But on a team like the Hawks who are loaded at the guard positions, there’s really not much room for him. An energy guy like Mario makes more sense as the 5th guard than Dixon. I’d rather see that roster spot go to keeping both Siler and Sims.
hawks_4_life
October 14th, 2009
10:30 pm
Right now Im finding it real hard not to be impressed with Simms.
hawks_4_life
October 14th, 2009
10:31 pm
Najeh
Im not too impressed with Siler but its still early but man what if Sims turns out to be a baller.
Big Ray
October 14th, 2009
10:31 pm
peeved ,
So was I…no love for Smoove or the Hawks.
Najeh ,
Morris was doing his best Lo Wright imitation.
niremetal
October 14th, 2009
10:32 pm
I’m sorry…what exactly has Sims done to be impressive? Those last two posts are the first times I’ve heard his name mentioned in a positive light since camp got going.
Melvin
October 14th, 2009
10:33 pm
Peeved, is that you Ariose???????
niremetal
October 14th, 2009
10:37 pm
I’m gonna go with yes. SalimFan, Ariose, Jin Rummy, Peeved…dude’s gotta stop going chameleon on us
The Truth
October 14th, 2009
10:38 pm
A breakout game for Sims tonight; the plot thickened.
hawks_4_life
October 14th, 2009
10:40 pm
niremental
Check out his work from the game. Yes I know its preseason but people post about Siler just based on his size yet he hasnt really produced anything. All Im saying is I wont mind seeing Sims coming off the bench providing depth for us.
The Truth
October 14th, 2009
10:41 pm
Mo Evans makes a statement tonight. Game ball goes to him.
hawks_4_life
October 14th, 2009
10:41 pm
Courtney Sims, C 12 4-6 0-0 4-4 2 3 0 0 2 2 0 +6 12
bigdave
October 14th, 2009
10:42 pm
i thought the word was Sims was playing well all camp…?
hawks_4_life
October 14th, 2009
10:42 pm
Truth
Hands down Mo gets the game ball, would like to see some consistency from him during the season.
niremetal
October 14th, 2009
10:46 pm
Sorry, but I can’t check out his work from a game from the box score. And to be blunt, everyone can have a big game in the preseason. Mo Evans just scored 27 points in 26 minutes for crying out loud. The highlight clips from NBA.com are the most enlightening thing coming out of these games, because at least on them we get to see the players in action.
On that note, I liked how Siler stayed on the ground defensively on the highlight reel. That’s a sign that he won’t be a walking foul in case he ever does get called on to play “real” minutes. On the other hand, it was not pretty to watch him try and run the floor after that. In any case, I honestly feel I found out more about Siler just from watching that 10-second clip than I could from reading the box scores for the whole preseason.
The Truth
October 14th, 2009
10:47 pm
hawks_4_life
Definitely agree with that. Perhaps that is my biggest knock on him is consistency. Yoda would say: A streaky shooter he is.
rms
October 14th, 2009
10:47 pm
Hey Sekou….. What are your comments on the game tonight??
niremetal
October 14th, 2009
10:51 pm
That being said, you can’t tell much at all from the video clips either. This is, after all, the preseason. This is a point I’ve made before, but it’s worth repeating that the odds of any of these undrafted free agents becoming rotation players is remote – and “remote” is being quite kind. And you can check out our training camp rosters from past years if you don’t believe me. Nothing ever became of Cedric Bozeman or Andreas Glyniadakis. In fact, the only undrafted invitee from past Hawks training camps who I can think of that ever became a rotation player is…wait for it…
Mike Wilks.
hawks_4_life
October 14th, 2009
10:52 pm
niremetal
Ok boxscores dont tell the whole story but what this says about Sims is he can score, block and rebound enough to warrant a spot as a back up. What has Morris done? If thats your best defense of Siler I ask why is he not getting more minutes in your opinion ( I know your not the coach). I think he is out of shape and is destined for the DL.
niremetal
October 14th, 2009
10:52 pm
(And even with Wilks, to describe him as a “rotation player” is to be VERY generous)
hawks_4_life
October 14th, 2009
10:53 pm
Preseason to me is about establishing depth
Big Ray
October 14th, 2009
11:09 pm
http://www.nba.com/seasonpreview/2009/ATL/
Heh. Pundits still don’t believe Marvin is the game-changer, but that it’s Josh, still say we don’t have any real stars (JJ is labeled a “legit talent”), and they still state the very painfully obvious when it comes to CP3. Yes. THAT again. Won’t go away until the Hawks win big….
Big Ray
October 14th, 2009
11:11 pm
“Well Woody does love guards who don’t know when to stop shooting…”
Now you KNOW where I could take that…
swatguy
October 14th, 2009
11:16 pm
With guys like Sims, Silar and ‘Rio, we really need a 15 player roster. We have had it before. I do not want a Sims, Silar or/and Othello to “Blow up” with another team because we kept JSmith and Jason Collins. Both of the latter will not be on this team next season.
Ramon
October 14th, 2009
11:24 pm
Smooth was 2-2 from the line. Best stat for the night to me lol. Seriously, Evans played great.
niremetal
October 14th, 2009
11:24 pm
Alright, let me lay out a bit more starkly the odds of any one of these guys “blowing up” on us if we cut them. I’ve managed to cull together what I think is a comprehensive list of every Hawks undrafted rookie or second-year training camp invitee from 2000 onward. As you’ll see, not one of them has come back to bite us in the ass for cutting them:
I managed to find everything from 2005 onward just by Googling “atlanta hawks training camp roster [year]” and then I Googled all the players except the ones who I knew had been drafted. I reconstructed the rest by looking at who we signed and/or waived in August-October from the below link and then Googling the players:
http://www.nba.com/hawks/news/Hawks_Transactions_Archive.html
2000
Dan Cross
Michael Hawkins
Stephen Howard (? – can’t figure out if he was drafted)
Rick Hughes
2001
(None, it seems – we had veteran FAs Ivano Newbill, Ira Newble, and Pepe Sanchez and second round draftees like Scoonie Penn, but not undrafted free agents)
2002
Maurice Carter
Fred House
Paul Shirley
Mike Wilks
George Williams
2003
Tierre Brown
Randy Holcomb
2004
Reggie Butler
Jeff Myers
Saddi Washington
2005
Esteban Batista
John Edwards
Anthony Grundy
Ajani Williams
2006
Cedric Bozeman
Andre Brown
(Actually, Matt Freije, Lionel Chalmers, and Andreas Glyniadakis were drafted, so they weren’t technically UFAs)
2007
Antywane Robinson
Steven Smith
Jamaal Tatum
Mario West
2008
Thomas Gardner
Marcus Hubbard
Othello Hunter
Frank Robinson
So…why do we need to fill up all 15 roster spots to sign these guys again? Why wouldn’t leave 1 or 2 of those spots open in case we’re hit by a rash of injuries and have to go out a find someone who can fill in right away? That happens all the time in the NBA. That’s why it makes no sense to burn our last 2 roster spots on guys who are far more likely to never see an NBA floor than they are to become a rotation player.
Ramon
October 14th, 2009
11:26 pm
This is a WARNING! DO NOT GO ADD EVANS TO YOUR FANTASY TEAM! I REPEAT DO NOT ADD EVANS TO YOUR FANTASY TEAM AFTER TONIGHT’S PERFORMANCE! PLAYER MAY BE WORSE THAN THEY APPEAR! THANK YOU.
Big Ray
October 14th, 2009
11:39 pm
Y’all just had to goad Niremetal into yet another obscure stat adventure, didn’t you? I swear…
Catch y’all later. Gotta work on a new blog…(y’all love my creative shameless plugs, dontcha?
)
Big Ray
October 14th, 2009
11:40 pm
Ramon ,
That was funny…
swatguy
October 14th, 2009
11:44 pm
nire, you make a good arguement.
An Othello and a Mario are good,healthy, young players with abilities and promise. JSmith and Jason Collins Probaly will not be Hawks in 2011.
If not 15 perhaps 14 helps my mind. Also Juan Dixon is the type guy that seasons the bench too.
Nire, who makes the team(from the invitee’s)
Sekou Smith
October 15th, 2009
12:00 am
It’s the preseason rms, what do you want me to say? I’ve learned my lesson. Good teams don’t show all their stuff in the preseason. The hawks are finally handling the preseason like a real team (like the Spurs do). That’s a good thing, btw.
cp
October 15th, 2009
12:10 am
I would keep Dixon over Mario. Other than this energy people keep bringing up, Mario does little else. Dixon can handle the rock and knock down the J. Simms had his first good game. If I had to guess right now who would make the team it would be Hunter and Dixon. Siler hasn’t shown anything and Mario had one decent game and that’s about it.
rms
October 15th, 2009
12:19 am
Thats what I wanted to hear Sekou!! Good thing you aint drinking the kool-aid cause it is only preseason and who shows their hand this early?? Hopefully Teague turns out to be a good pro that can not only take over the team but one day take over the league with the likes of Parker, D-Will, CP3, and Nash etc….
Big Ray
October 15th, 2009
1:53 am
rms ,
That’s some high company. Teague will have to put in some serious work to reach that level.
JSS_62
October 15th, 2009
2:06 am
Not to go off subject intentionally; but has any seen or brought this up…
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/ian_thomsen/10/14/olympiakos/index.html?eref=sircrc
The House is possibly going to look into the relationship between Olympiakos and the NBA… If this has been covered, I apologize for rehashing it…
jj
October 15th, 2009
4:25 am
I believe we would know more about Marvin if JJ and Bibby would include him in the offense.Josh has to steal his touches,but Marvin just waits to see if it comes his way.I am waiting to see this year if it’s still a guard show or if the Bigs are included this year.I believe with Teague and maybe Crawford playing more,Marvin,Josh,and Al will be more than rebounders and stand arounds this year.Time will tell and I remember how Marvin played when JJ was hurt and how he became a ghost when JJ returned.
welikehockey
October 15th, 2009
5:22 am
enter your comments here
welikehockey
October 15th, 2009
5:23 am
what do you mean? the offense is all about mike woodson. jj never does anything wrong he is a perfect player and does everything right. it is all mike woodson fault. everybody knows that.
J.J.M.
October 15th, 2009
5:41 am
espn are bias against the hawks they didnt even show their highlights
dap01
October 15th, 2009
7:47 am
Excellent point JJ. Perhaps Teague and Crawford will help spread the offense. With more people involved and improving, the Hawks can become a special team. With more of iso Joe, we will not improve.
Daniel
October 15th, 2009
8:24 am
Thanks Nire for the props!!
Hey Sekou, why can’t I get no love?