Big shoes to fill
What’s up, Sekou readers?
Hope you are all doing well. Thanks for your patience in waiting for this blog to get churning again. My name is Ken Sugiura, and I have the unenviable task of following up the master. Sekou, if you weren’t aware, took a job down the street at nba.com after five years of excellent Hawks coverage for the AJC. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, but Sekou is a great guy, a great reporter and we will miss him plenty.
I’m going to be filling in on the Hawks until a full-time replacement is hired. I’ve got a good bit to learn, but I’m looking forward to it. As Sekou shared with me, it’s a good group to cover and the team, obviously, is on the way up. Hopefully it’ll be a fun ride, however long it lasts.
Anyway, I’m here for you guys, so fire any questions at me you’ve got, either on the blog or e-mail. I don’t have the wealth of NBA knowledge that Sekou does, but I’ll do my best to get you answers.
Enough blathering – on to the two-game trip to New York tonight and Boston Friday.
From Mike Woodson on down, the talk Monday and Tuesday was about defending better, which obviously will be a factor in both games, against the “Seven seconds or less” Knicks and then the three-headed monster in Boston.
Different guys were saying they need to get back to defending the way they did last year. The sample size for this season is small, obviously, but some numbers for comparison – 2008-09 – 96.5 points per game, 45.4 FG percentage from the field, 35.3 percent from three-point range. This year, 102.1, 46.0, 40.0.
One thing I heard a few different times was that the players aren’t doing a good job of communicating – calling out switches and the like.
Said Joe Johnson, “When we’re guarding our man and we’re supposed to switch, we’re not calling the switch. I think we’re assuming more than anything. It’s just guys not on the same page. Therefore, two guys are going on one man and another guy’s laying it up.”
Al Horford also mentioned the communication lapses, but added that “I think it comes down to effort.”
So, something to be watching for tonight (Wednesday) and Friday.
You may find this interesting …
Jamal Crawford, Jeff Teague and Horford all mentioned looking forward to playing at Madison Square Garden. For Teague, it’ll be his first trip. Horford said it’s probably his favorite place to play, citing the arena’s history.
Said Crawford, who played a little over four years there, “It’s like you’re on stage. … The court’s lit up and the crowd’s kind of dark. It’s like you’re on a stage performing. So it’s really cool.”
Crawford also mentioned that over his time there, he became friends with Knicks fans such as Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Adam Sandler and Fat Joe.
Said the rookie Teague of going on the road, “Flying from city to city, you’re getting on planes, carrying bags and having so much luggage. It was kind of difficult at first, but now I think I know how to pack a lot better. I took too much stuff last time.”
One big difference between college and NBA road trips: “No homework at all. That’s a good thing.”
Your take
Anyway, let me hear from you, readers – Is 1-1 a successful road trip? Woodson has mentioned multiple times that he wants the team to go .500 on the road, so he said that the West Coast plus Charlotte trip was good, because it was 2-2, despite the trip-ending disaster in Charlotte.
What do you want to see from the Hawks?
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460 comments Add your comment
BONE
November 11th, 2009
8:20 pm
They put douglas out there but dumb woodson doesn’t wanna put teague out there. this is why I can’t stand him.
J.J.M.
November 11th, 2009
8:20 pm
omgggggg joe what are you doing
Grandad
November 11th, 2009
8:20 pm
Bone: We struggle because it’s an 82 game season. It’s a grind. They cannot be expected to give total effort at all times. Woody only expects them to win half their road games anyway. I suppose he decided
to coast tonight and go all out against the Celts. I’m sorry Daniel I couldn’t resist.
Mac-Town'z Finest 478
November 11th, 2009
8:21 pm
Only thing the hawks have shown me so far this is poor defense….and we still look horrible on the rude even against the WORST of teams like the bobcats and the knicks,,,,
we dont look like a good team right now…..
hopefully that changes……
we cant lose this game….i mean come on
rms
November 11th, 2009
8:21 pm
Dang Woodson, maybe Teague and Crawford would have been a nice change of pace. Bibby aint giving us much anyway. Why is he so infacuated with our starters!!
J.J.M.
November 11th, 2009
8:21 pm
joe clearly doesnt wanna be in the game
Najeh Davenpoop
November 11th, 2009
8:22 pm
The Hawks, and Joe Johnson in particular, look like they would rather be anywhere else in the world right now.
The fact that the Knicks are only up by 10 speaks to how bad that team is. Any contender would be doubling up the Hawks by now.
BONE
November 11th, 2009
8:23 pm
Grandad a team that doesn’t give effort every night is not a championship team. When the Celtics won 2 seasons ago I remember hearing how KG wouldn’t let anyone take nights off. Thats a champion.
Mac-Town'z Finest 478
November 11th, 2009
8:23 pm
Hawks road woes = The curse of Mike Woodson’s bald, gleaming cranium
Sautee
November 11th, 2009
8:25 pm
NY 58% Good thing we worked on defense.
terrell barron
November 11th, 2009
8:25 pm
Wher in the hell is Jeff Teague. Damm you Woody! Give the kid some min. Dont wait until there’s 1 freakin min left in the quarter. I’m tired of this nonsense.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 11th, 2009
8:26 pm
If there’s any consolation for the Hawks, the Knicks (in particular Al Harrington and Larry Hughes) have taken and made a lot of low-percentage shots so far, and many of them were pretty well defended. This tells me that as the game goes along the Knicks are going to cool off. But there is no way the Hawks win with Joe Johnson playing like DerMarr Johnson. It’s just not going to happen with the number of minutes he gets.
DrewCat
November 11th, 2009
8:26 pm
Two things I’ve noticed so far:
1) We play horrible defense! All the switching we do is allowing New York to exploit mismatches. And doesn’t help that Bibby can’t guard anyone on the floor right now.
2) We don’t rebound well either. There’s too much standing around when the ball goes up in the air. Too many second chance points and dead balls. We need to rebound and defend! We are looking below average against a cellar dweller like NY.
You gotta blame Woodson for our flaws
BONE
November 11th, 2009
8:26 pm
JJ another turnover
Grandad
November 11th, 2009
8:27 pm
Bone: I agree wholeheartedly. my last post was tongue in cheek. See page one and you’ll understand.
Big Ray
November 11th, 2009
8:27 pm
“Every starter has a turnover so far except for Smoove, funny.”
Ramon , I agree. It IS funny.
terrell barron
November 11th, 2009
8:28 pm
Tony Doglass can start over Hughes, but Teague cant get any min backing up Bibby? Wtf? What has Bibby done in the 1st half to warrant not giving Teague some time?
DrewCat
November 11th, 2009
8:28 pm
Oh yea, and where’s Teague. All this talk about us being 10 deep is going out the window as the season progresses. We don’t see nearly enough of Joe Smith or Teague. Woody is using Crawford jus like Flip last year, and by the end of the year we will be down to an 8 man rotation again. UGGGHHHH! I’m so sick of woodson
Mac-Town'z Finest 478
November 11th, 2009
8:28 pm
LMAO..LOL.. im sorry but this defense is a joke..
BONE
November 11th, 2009
8:29 pm
Bibby couldn’t guard a statue
Big Ray
November 11th, 2009
8:29 pm
Good lord. I hate to pile on, and the team is not doing well on defense….but on offense , JJ is literally killing us.
Mac-Town'z Finest 478
November 11th, 2009
8:31 pm
Hey guys, it’s obvious all that “tough guy”…”leader” talk from Joe really hasnt done anything
same lack of effort, still no defense….
Some kind of other change(s) must be made…
Ramon
November 11th, 2009
8:32 pm
Terrell, its not Bibby who’s killing us. Bibby is actually doing decent on offense. He’s playing better than 2 other starters. Right now it is JJ and his superstar wannabe attempts and drives that are messing this team and game up. The problem that I have with it is, if the team is needing ball movement, and Joe is still trying to play ISO, what’s going to happen Friday and Saturday?
bigdave
November 11th, 2009
8:32 pm
im sorry but nobody looks good offensively right now… i dont know if its a good or bad thing that we are missing shots at the rim…
BONE
November 11th, 2009
8:33 pm
WTF WAS THAT. WHY DIDN’T JJ PASS THAT TO JOSH
Melvin
November 11th, 2009
8:33 pm
Joe intentionally didnt pass the ball to Josh on the fastbreak…
bigdave
November 11th, 2009
8:34 pm
this is madness…
Big Ray
November 11th, 2009
8:35 pm
One of the players said the problem with the switching defense is that they aren’t communicating. I don’t even know what that means, since this switching defense doesn’t make much sense to me anyway.
Heh. Josh makes a jumper, Joe misses a shot inside. What are we in, the twilight zone?
Grandad
November 11th, 2009
8:35 pm
Guys, you shouldn’t be upset…we can’t be expected to give 110% effort
each and every night. we must save something for the playoffs. Once again Daniel; I couldn’t help my facetiousness.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 11th, 2009
8:35 pm
It’s the off nights where the difference between Joe Johnson and a true franchise player become obvious. On his best days, Joe can look as good as any 2 guard in the league. But players like Kobe, even on their off nights, find some way to contribute — either by passing, getting to the free throw line, playing lock down defense, or something. On Joe’s off nights, he looks like a D-League player.
Melvin
November 11th, 2009
8:36 pm
I cant help but think that Joe comments may have cause more damage than we believe (i could be wrong). This team are playing like they have issues thats bigger than basketball…
Big Ray
November 11th, 2009
8:36 pm
Heh. Josh and Bibby are playing okay on offense, and so is Mo Evans.
After that , I’d say nobody looks good….
Ramon
November 11th, 2009
8:37 pm
Tonight, I’m so glad Joe didn’t sign that extension in the offseason. If he continues to play like this, he may be a lot cheaper than what he would’ve signed. And may get something good in a sign and trade for the Hawks.
BONE
November 11th, 2009
8:37 pm
Once again Teague gets 0 minutes in the 1st half. ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOO
bigdave
November 11th, 2009
8:37 pm
a D- League player… wow.. its halftime…
Najeh Davenpoop
November 11th, 2009
8:37 pm
Yeah, co-sign Big Ray. Three Hawks showed up to play tonight. The rest of them look completely out of it.
BONE
November 11th, 2009
8:38 pm
Enter your comments here
Ramon
November 11th, 2009
8:38 pm
Josh 11/5/3 with a steal and a block, on 5-7 shooting. Right now who’s looking like the player playing with in the system?
Mac-Town'z Finest 478
November 11th, 2009
8:38 pm
Even with as bad as the hawks have played…we are still only down 7 at the half
GOOD teams will fight back and win this game like they are supposed to against such weaker comp…
BAD teams roll over, complain and look equally as bad in the 2nd half….
lets see what these guys can do….
BONE
November 11th, 2009
8:39 pm
I say we trade Joe to Toronto for Bosh. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna walk this summer. We don’t wanna let him go without getting something back for him.
Big Ray
November 11th, 2009
8:40 pm
Don’t know what’s happened to Marvin. He was consistently a guy who could get you 12-14 points and 5 boards a game, along with some decent defense.
Here lately, he’s stunk it up, and Mo Evans has done better than him on both ends of the court.
Questions: Where was Teague, and WHY didn’t Crawford get more minutes?
Ramon
November 11th, 2009
8:43 pm
Big Ray, the answer is because we don’t have 2 more games in the NEXT three days, that’s why Woody is playing the starters so heavy. Oh, Wait! We do! lol…. Who knows why. Playing like this is a perfect night for Joe not to get more than 31 min.
BONE
November 11th, 2009
8:43 pm
Big Ray blame Woodson. Once again he doesn’t know what he’s doin
Blast
November 11th, 2009
8:43 pm
Only Mo and Josh brought it offensively tonight.
Al can’t buy a bucket unless it’s a dunk. Crawford got shy and would not shoot the ball. Joe is forcing things and turning the ball over. Marvin can’t make a basket…On top, they are allowing NY to shoot a great %…
Hawks should win this game because I don’t see the Kicks shooting that high percentage in the 2nd half, and I don’t believe Hawks can play as badly as they did in the 1st, but you never know.
Bibby is actually doing a decent job on the defence. He is doing his best to stay with his man.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 11th, 2009
8:44 pm
While we are all wildly speculating as to what could be the Hawks’ problem, could it be that the players have tuned out Woodson?
Clearly many of us — myself included — have been critical of Woodson for a long time, but for most of that time I haven’t gotten the sense that the players ever actually tuned him out. Sure, Woody and Josh had their dust-ups and what not, but whatever his shortcomings were Woody did manage to get this team to the second round of the playoffs, which tells me the players were willing to listen to him and play for him. Now I’m not so sure. Joe was clearly taking shots at Woody in his comments a few days ago by pointing out how players didn’t know their roles within the scheme. When I see efforts like this one and the game against the Bobcats, it tells me Woodson may have lost his ability to motivate these players. If that’s the case, firing him may be worth it even if the team can’t find anyone better than one of his assistants to take over for him.
Whatever the case may be, there’s no denying that Boston will beat this team by 50 on Friday if they play like this. And if that happens, I think the media rumblings calling for Woodson’s head will start.
Mac-Town'z Finest 478
November 11th, 2009
8:44 pm
can someone explain to me how the hawks can have these defenses lapses over and over and over and over again???
I mean, I dont even think ANY team on ANY level that has ATLEAST decent enough talent to compete (let alone win) should make these mistakes over and over
you mean to tell me an NBA team, with the capability and talent to be a playoff team….cant even keep guys from gettin open every other play…after it has happened over and over in other games…..why the h3ll cant they fix this????
Grandad
November 11th, 2009
8:45 pm
Three (3) days to prepare! I reckon they are tired from the cross country fligh… oh, that can’t be it. I know – they don’t know their roles… oh yeah, 3 days to get that straightened out. Could it be ?
Naw. Well just maybe, could it be shhhhh coaching.
cp
November 11th, 2009
8:46 pm
Man flat out pathetic. This switching d just does not work. We are standing around instead of defending and rebounding. We are not sharing the ball. The Knicks have no shot blockers yet we are not attacking the rim the way we should. Too much one on one play. Where the hell was Teague? Once again they come out sluggish against a bad team. No adjustments. Marvin with another invisible man performance… Bibby has only taken 4 free throws so far this season? Woodson is not known to fire up his team at halftime so I don’t know if the guys continue to play poorly or realize that the Knicks suck.
Big Ray
November 11th, 2009
8:47 pm
Najeh ,
I am heeding your words, bro’.
Ken Strickland
November 11th, 2009
8:48 pm
Some things will never change. It’s the same old Mike Woodson when it comes to Bibby and a young PG. After a good gm, Woodson refuses to play them significant mins, if at all, the following gm. There’s absolutely no excuse for him not playing Teague a single min. He certainly can’t do any worse that Bibby’s done so far, especially on DEF.