Hawks update, heavy on Jason Collins
Greetings, Hawks fans-
Ken Sugiura sitting in again for MC, as he recovers from a lengthy road trip. No charter planes and fancy hotels for MC. (So much as I know, at any rate) He’s a straight road beast.
Anyway, a few tidbits from Hawks practice.
1) Larry Drew said he would probably sit down with Rick Sund Saturday to talk about possible 10-day contract guys. Apparently, El Sund was not feeling well Friday.
2) Marvin Williams came in early for treatment, didn’t practice and was to talk with Drew after practice. I saw Marvin in the locker room after I spoke with Drew but didn’t get to talk with him.
3) Drew positively raved about Jason Collins, which is the focus of the story for Saturday’s paper. I asked Drew if it’s possible the big lineup could become the de facto starting five and he said, “I can certainly see it.” Basically, the pros and cons with the big lineup are better than pros and cons with the heretofore regular lineup. Change may be a-comin’.
4) Drew acknowledged Williams’ previously mentioned less-than-giddy reaction to being dropped out of the starting five. Said Drew, “Anytime a guy goes from a starter and he has to come off the bench, it’s just been my experience most guys are not going to be jumpin for joy about it, but Marvin’s a professional and I’m sure he sees exactly what it is we’re trying to accomplish.” Drew also noted that as a bench guy, he has a chance to be the No. 1 or 2 option on the floor with the backups rather than 4 or 5 with the starters.
5) I thought this was some interesting background, and I apologize if MC’s already mentioned it. Drew said that when he got the job, he sat down and wrote down a list of things he thought would make the team better. First was, as you might guess, an offense in which players would be forced to move the ball rather than playing isolation.
Said Drew, “I also kept saying Al is not a 5. Al is a 4. I wanted to have him playing more 4.” He wasn’t sure if that could happen, though, because he didn’t want to start Zaza Pachulia because he thought he helped the team the most coming off the bench, which left Collins, whom Drew knew from his one year as an assistant with the Nets.
6) A funny Drew observation about the other Hawks big men: “Let’s say they can’t guard Dwight (Howard). They think they can guard him now because of what Jason is doing. He’s going out there and battling and banging. So it’s a little bit of a ripple effect.”
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70 comments Add your comment
Boooo!
January 8th, 2011
10:29 am
If only marvin were cool enough for an intro like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etPQJvM8IvI
Smh…it just wasnt meant to be.
Boooo!
January 8th, 2011
10:30 am
Wow @ Randolph. Only in China lol. And whats wrong with steve francis smh. Some PPL never learn.
ET
January 8th, 2011
10:43 am
[quote="Melvin:"]Watching the Bucks/Heat game. Bucks up by 4 with 4mins remaining. The Heat players are whining and crying on every play. Very ugly to watch. Those Heat players are a bunch of cry babies…[/quote]
Geemack
January 8th, 2011
11:22 am
Wow Marvin off the bench….it only took 5 years.
Rufus1
January 8th, 2011
12:23 pm
HOOPINION reporting Damian signed a 10 day contract
The Truth
January 8th, 2011
12:24 pm
LD said “I also kept saying Al is not a 5, Al is a 4. I wanted to have him playing more 4”
LD unintentionally makes a mockery out of Sund master plan of making Al a center. The acknowledged side-effect however is Marvin going to the bench.
In all fairness to Marvin, if anyone can handle a demotion and be professional about it, Marvin can. Imagine if Josh had been demoted in this fashion? Imagine what that distraction and rant would look like? The history with Woody has shown it would have been unpleasant. I could see Josh repeatedly displaying his discontent in public regardless of the consequences. Certainly this will put more pressure on Marvin to produce as the 1st or 2nd scoring option, but also puts pressure on Josh to prove he’s not the new weak link at the 3. However, I do like the lineup adjustment by LD because the chemistry will improve more than then anything. The bulky but smart Collins is the perfect 5th scoring option. He has his weaknesses, but the positives out weigh the negatives. Bibby will probably be the 4th option but with his ability as a deep scoring threat will pose the first problem defending the Hawks. No doubt Josh and Al will rotate between being the 2nd and 3rd scoring option as currently constructed. Clearly Josh could have an offense advantage in the interior against his defender if he’ll exploit the mismatch but at the expense of losing his inside help-defense. Al will continue to pose a problem at the 4 scoring on the perimeter. And, as usual, Joe will be a problem as the 1st option with his size advantage against most SG. Marvin as the new addition to the bench could potentially elevate the bench to an elite level if he’ll embrace the move and assuming the other role players continue to gel including my least-favorite Zaza. However, with the east overall improvements, these changes still may not be enough to move to the next level. But certainly, this could potentially make the Hawks the new juggernauts in the playoff.
Tyrone
January 8th, 2011
12:26 pm
Again, my cousin BooBoo says word is the Hawks are holding up the deal. Let’s exaime Pheonix wants Jamal, Bibby(State Legend), Mo, and the #1 pick, they want rebuild. The hold up is Josh Childress; BooBoo says Pheonix will not trade Nash without dumping Childress and his contract. In order for the Hawks to be involved a third team has been included. Portland is most often mentioned because they to want to rebuild plus they need SF..
I guess Marvin is the piece Portland may wants; hopefully, the Hawks are not holding up the deal because Marvin!
drmaryb (*_*)
January 8th, 2011
12:43 pm
Tyrone … Shut Up! and stop trolling this blog.
Joe D
January 8th, 2011
12:53 pm
In the Knicks’ trade rumor for Nash, Pheonix will take the big sorry guy (his huge expiring contract), W. Chanlder, and two #1 picks, but the Knicks have to take Josh Childress. And before anybody writes back, there will be filler players added!
Tyrone,
January 8th, 2011
1:23 pm
drmaryb and everybody else, BooBoo reported this trade discussion over a month ago. Now that Hoopsworld prints it, all of a sudden it has merit. BooBoo is an inside player in Pheonix. Again, Nash aint going nowhere without Childress going, too!
The Hawks need to move, period!
Ken Sugiura
January 8th, 2011
2:58 pm
FYI, Drew is going with the “regular” lineup for the Pacers, who Drew thinks will go small. Horford, Smith, Evans, Johnson, Bibby.
Also, Damien Wilkins has been signed to a 10-day deal. My guess is that this might last only as long as Marvin Williams’ absence.
O'Brien
January 8th, 2011
3:20 pm
So We had Marvin and mo Evans both out with injury earlier in the season, and they did not sign anybody. That made no sense to me.
Hopefully Damien will get a chance to show what he can do. I can see him signed over the offseason when mo Evans contract expires.
Ken,
When can we expected Marvin back?
drmaryb (*_*)
January 8th, 2011
4:40 pm
hauncey Billups (G) – Denver Nuggets
(Fri, Jan 7 – 9:42pm ET)
The Nets, Nuggets and Pistons are reportedly discussing a deal that would send Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Carmelo Anthony to the Nets.
Melo is going to be traded, but after watching the Nets tonight, it’s questionable whether he’ll really want to go play for Avery Johnson in Jersey. Then again, Johnson doesn’t exactly have a stranglehold on the job. These are just preliminary talks, but the sources (Bergen Record, Marc Stein) are good ones. ESPN’s Chris Broussard chimed in and says the trade isn’t happening, at least in its current form.
Source: Chris Broussard on Twitter
drmaryb (*_*)
January 8th, 2011
4:43 pm
Chauncey Billups (G) – Denver Nuggets
(Fri, Jan 7 – 9:42pm ET)
The Nets, Nuggets and Pistons are reportedly discussing a deal that would send Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Carmelo Anthony to the Nets.
Melo is going to be traded, but after watching the Nets tonight, it’s questionable whether he’ll really want to go play for Avery Johnson in Jersey. Then again, Johnson doesn’t exactly have a stranglehold on the job. These are just preliminary talks, but the sources (Bergen Record, Marc Stein) are good ones. ESPN’s Chris Broussard chimed in and says the trade isn’t happening, at least in its current form.
Source: Chris Broussard on Twitter ç
drmaryb (*_*)
January 8th, 2011
4:46 pm
I copied that last post from RotoWorld.
My question is, the part that says after last night, there is doubt that Melo would want to play for Avery Johnson. Anybody knows what happened last night in that New Jersey lost. I see Devin Harris, thigh contusion out again. Is Devin ever healthy?
Ken Sugiura
January 8th, 2011
5:20 pm
O’Brien – he’s considered “day to day.” he put some shots up and has been running on the treadmill, and he said he was improving. it wouldn’t surprise me if he missed the tuesday-wednesday games and came back next saturday. speaking of which, they’ll be up against the falcons that night. yikes.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2011
6:22 pm
“The one concern is Nash was never known for defense and he is 37. Come to think of it, we don’t get much from bibby anyway so Nash can’t be any worse defensively.”
That’s the reason I didn’t mention Nash as a defensive liability — the guy he’s replacing is a defensive liability himself. Basketball-reference indicates through its defensive rating stat that Nash is actually a worse defender than Bibby, but I would imagine the Hawks would use the same methods to hide him that they do with Bibby, and obviously Nash’s positive offensive impact would easily exceed Bibby’s.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2011
6:23 pm
“speaking of which, they’ll be up against the falcons that night. yikes.”
This is at least the 3rd or 4th time the Hawks have gone up against the Falcons this year. I don’t know if someone at the NBA or the DASG are responsible for this, but whoever is needs to be fired. How stupid can they possibly be, seriously. There are maybe two cities in America that have both the NFL and the NBA in which the NBA trumps the NFL as far as fan popularity. Why the hell would they schedule games at the same time as the local NFL team?
ant banks
January 9th, 2011
9:10 pm
poop, like the people who make the nba schedule knew back in july, that the falcons would have a 1st round bye and will play saturday night and not sunday night, when they made the schedule. lol. the dome only holds 70k, so if you don’t have tix, go support the hawks baby.
ICECOLD
January 10th, 2011
12:03 pm
We should get involved in this huge trade that’s about to happen, we should try to get nene, or Chris Anderson, from them for Marvin Williams, and send Marvin Williams to the nuggets because they will need a small forward if they trade Al Harrington and Carmelo.
or try to get Brook Lopez for Marvin, Zaza and next years first round pick. and send them that money that we are holding too for brook lopez.
or get Jason Maxiell for marvin to go to the nuggets or something.
I know it sounds confusing, but it doesnt hurt to try something to help this trade go through and come out a winner!! rather if its nene, birdman, or brook lopez, for marvin williams will help put this team over the top. especially if we got brook lopez for marvin williams!! we wouldnt have to keep changing the lineup because that is good enough to run with anybody or out power any body.
starting lineup would be
Mike Bibby
Joe Johnson
Josh Smith
Al Horford
Brook Lopez ( or nene )
coming strong off the bench at anytime
Jeff Teague
Jamal Crawford
Mo Evans
Josh Powell
Jason Collins
I also think we should get Al Harrington because they dont want his contract, and he could play powerfoward or small foward off the bench at anytime. to replace both Marvin and Zaza Stats offensively and defensively. and he plays good defense and has a lot of energy off the bench. but i dont think they would get him since he was on the hawks before already and they traded him to start josh smith!!
make a move Sunds!!