Atlanta Hawks: Practice report: Joe Johnson on mend
The Hawks got back to work today and their moods seemed noticeably improved from last week. They had a spirited scrimmage session near the end of practice (Kirk Hinrich, Joe Johnson, Tracy McGrady and Erick Dampier were among those who looked to have more pep).
“I can see our guys needed [the break] not just from a physical standpoint but from a mental standpoint,” Larry Drew said. “It’s good to get away from everybody. I’m sure they were glad to get away from me, and now we will look to finish up the second half of the season.”
Notes
–Joe practiced with soft braces on both knees and said he “feels great” after a “much-needed” physical and mental break. But he stopped short of declaring himself ready to play tomorrow after sitting out two games last week and failing to finish the Bulls game: “I think so. I don’t want to get everybody’s hopes up.” Drew: “Game-time decision. He was moving pretty well.”
–Zaza Pachulia watched the end of practice with a wrap around his left calf. That’s the same calf he hurt during last summer’s European Championships and again while playing club ball in Turkey. Pachulia said he tweaked it during the third quarter of the Orlando game last Thursday. He said he plans to play tomorrow: “It was bothering me a little bit. It looks like it’s not a big deal. I just pulled I guess a little bit. Bad thing was it happened, good thing was that I had four days off.”
–Yesterday Al Horford ditched the sling he’d worn since he had surgery Jan. 17 to repair a torn left pectoral: “It feels a little weird. It’s good to at least have it off. Tomorrow I see the doctor to make sure he fully clears me to start doing rehab. I’ve been doing cardio and stuff pretty consistently and a couple excercises he told me to do. I need him to tell me I can start expanding on my range of motion and then lifting with my legs and building [up] slowly. The most important thing for me is to get the range of motion back.”
–Does Horford think he can return before the end of the season? “I would say after I do [rehab] for two weeks, two weeks from Wednesday, I will be able to get a beter feel for where I’m at. He’s been pretty strict with me not moving my arms in [certain] ways so the muscle can heal. I’m hoping right now I will be back befor ethe end of the season. That’s my exepectation but I want to see how I feel once I start rehab.”
– Drew on the season so far: “Right before the break we were trying to finish up on a strong note. It didn’t go quite as well as we wanted to on the road trip. But given the schedule and the [injury] situation, I was very pleased with the first half of the season. One thing I wanted them to do during the break was get away and clear their heads out and get a chance to rejevunate. It looked like it helped a little bit.”
–Drew on his biggest concern going forward: “Injuries. We’ve been a little banged up. As we move into the second part of the season, the schedule doesn’t get any lighter. We have got to go out for another 10 days. If you are healthy, you give yourself a good chance. When you are a little banged up, a little nicked up, it kind of puts a damper on things. We’re a little short-handed, a little limited. That’s my biggest concern right now. But we will be competitive in every game we play. We will go out and put our best foot forward everry game. We won’t use injury as an excuse because it’s part of the game. We’ve already talked about that as a team.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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179 comments Add your comment
Melvin
February 28th, 2012
10:15 pm
After watching Kaman play against the Bulls tonight, I wouldn’t mind trading for him even if the Hawks had to include ZaZa…
The sound of silence
February 28th, 2012
10:16 pm
Sautee id like to take credit for the Grandad post, Looks like damn good trolling to me… However I can give credit where its do. Either Grandad said it or another troll besides yourself or drmaryb posted it. Either way my hats of to who ever said it.
Enjoy your evening Sautee
Truthful Thompson
February 28th, 2012
10:35 pm
To me, this has been the most disappointing season for the Hawks since before they made the playoffs in 07-08. The Hawks are basically just beating up on the poor teams in the conference (there are a lot of them this season), and having nice games against Orlando, meanwhile coming up short or being abused by just about any competitive winning team they face. I know this has happened for quite a few years, but at least the Hawks used to actually beat good times and have huge upsets over “contenders” from time to time in the past. We haven’t beat an impressive team since we beat the Bulls early in the season. In fact, our wins over the Bulls and Heat were probably the only impressive wins we’ve had. No Horford, a banged-up JJ, and a shrinking Jeff Teague makes this season look very disappointing to me.
I don’t really enjoy going to the Hawks games to watch Josh chuck up and brick 20 jumpshots, while our role players just keep shooting 3’s until one goes in. Maybe that is interesting to some of you, but it’s not very entertaining to me. Sometimes, it’s more entertaining to root for the other team. I had high hopes for the Hawks this season, but after Horford went down with injury and Teague lost his confidence, this season has been very disappointing.’ Joe looks like he’s starting to battle with Father Time, meanwhile Josh has become a volume shooting big man, kind of like Antwan Jamison is for the Cavs. Our 3 best players are all in bad situations. One is injured, another is declining, and the third is getting out of control thinking he’s some kind of elite scorer. I don’t like what I see with the Hawks right now. I just hope that maybe a personnel change is on the way for the Hawks.
Truthful Thompson
February 28th, 2012
10:36 pm
beat good *teams*
Sautee is Truthful Thompson
February 28th, 2012
10:39 pm
and Illusion
haystacks
February 28th, 2012
10:42 pm
Did yall hear that sorry ass AL hoeford say hes been on the couch for months. No plans to come back this year. Pass the beer please.
haystacks
February 28th, 2012
10:42 pm
Al Hoeford is about the laziest rascal i ever seen.
Truthful Thompson
February 28th, 2012
10:43 pm
I doubt that I’m as optimistic as Sautee lol.
haystacks
February 28th, 2012
10:46 pm
How in the hell do you gets some work out of that varmint?Al Hoeford is about the laziest rascal i ever seen
Truthful Thompson
February 28th, 2012
10:47 pm
Yea, im not me T.s. Im not Sautee.
Truthful Thompson
February 28th, 2012
10:49 pm
“We will be competitive in every game we play”
QUOTE OF THE YEAR FROM LD. ROFL…. And “Charlie Sheen will be sober the rest of his life”, “Joe Johnson is the most underpaid athlete in the league” and “Josh Smith needs to shoot more jumpshots”.
LOL. Best comment of the day. Actually, best comment of the month. This one really made me laugh.
Truthful Thompson
February 28th, 2012
10:53 pm
I don’t know what kind of crush “T.S.” seems to have on Sautee, but trying to pull me into whatever pointless argument you two have going on is not going to help you win that argument. You can impersonate me all you want, but it’s not going to do anything to help your cause.
Truthful Thompson
February 28th, 2012
10:55 pm
I hope T.s learns that Sautee is mine. We are lovers. T.Thompson – heart – Sautee.
ag
February 28th, 2012
10:56 pm
looking at the box score and michael beasley is in the doghouse. i would trade for that crazy kid in a minute for marvin.
Sautee
February 28th, 2012
10:57 pm
Sautee – heart – Truthful Thompson
BFF
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
February 28th, 2012
10:58 pm
Brook Lopez 38 points tonight! Only 6 boards but I’ll take it.
So glad I signed him right before he returned
FIRE SUND
ARE WE REALLY TRYING TO GET ANOTHER CRAPPY PG?
haystacks
February 28th, 2012
10:59 pm
Yall two weird ass lovers need to get the fck on.
michael beasley
February 28th, 2012
11:01 pm
Yall aint got enough weed for me to come there and sit on the couch like Al “smoke weed everyday” horford.
Grandad
February 28th, 2012
11:05 pm
Ditch~Weed
I appreciate the fact – that you know me well enough -
that I would never try and impersonate you.
-nor-
Am I smart enough to mimick myself. ?
_____________________________________________
As for yourself;
try and behave … I quite enjoy your presence on this here board.
If you keep on gettin` kicked off;
they may suspect me an accomplice and dispose of myself as well.
____________________________________________
I will assist you in exposing the imposter.
Ronjo
February 28th, 2012
11:06 pm
Wow, the blog is kind of dead today. Anyway, nice update, MC. I’m glad to hear that Horford is likely to start rehabbing soon. I wouldn’t expect him to be back by the end of the season. Even if he can return by then, he’ll probably be extremely rusty. It takes time to get your timing and conditioning back up after an injury. His jumpshot will probably be off when he first comes back and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a bit tentative to re-injure the area for a while. Horford probably won’t be back to playing like himself until at least a couple of weeks after he returns, and by the that time, the Hawks will probably be out of the playoffs. Anyway, it’s still good news that he’s recovering.
As far as Joe, I would give him all the rest he needs to make sure that he doesn’t aggravate his knee and be forced to miss time down the road. It’s not like the Hawks are fighting for playoff positioning right now, anyway. The East is very weak beyond the top 2-3 seeds, and even if the Hawks drop a few games resting players, I don’t see them ever dropping out of the playoff picture in the East. There simply aren’t enough competitive teams to make the Hawks potentially fall out of the playoff picture.
Rest Joe until he’s ready to go and experiment with some different lineups. Of course, I don’t trust L.D. to actually utilize any effective lineups that don’t include his favorite players, but at least we can still get an idea of who can produce offensively with Joe out. We don’t play another winning team until Saturday, either, so it’s not a huge liability to rest Joe in that respect either.
Grandad
February 28th, 2012
11:11 pm
I have watched game film [collegiate] of young D.Morris;
and was not impressed.
On the other hand,
a future [young] trade asset [D.M.] is more value prior to the draft
than Cap`n Kirk’s [useless] expired contract.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
February 28th, 2012
11:15 pm
Marvin will not hit 10 points with Monta guarding him. Might not break 2 points with the way he’s playing lately.
haystacks
February 28th, 2012
11:17 pm
Well dang, yall, I just can’t figure out why I hate Al Hoeford so dang much. Beats me with a hammer, yall. What do y’all reckon? That conflabbed rascal is just so doggone lazy. I reckon it shouldn’t bother me so much, but there ain’t much for a man and his hound to do on a lonely old farm these days. I reckon all the dang termites in my house might be gittin to my brain. Just ain’t the same here after ole redneck billy passed. I ain’t got no one to talk to now. Ah shucks
TMACfan
February 29th, 2012
12:46 am
How much will it cost to get Michael Beasley?
TMACfan
February 29th, 2012
12:47 am
He is ballin’ out right now versus the Clips
doc
February 29th, 2012
1:36 am
got to laugh at ya slim …. revised? 10-3 to 4-9. heh heh. chief that is serious reality check. warned ya bro.
Big Lou
February 29th, 2012
1:52 am
If P. Gasol is a no go then…
How about Marvin William and Kirk for Matt Barnes? He would add rebounds, snappiness, and consistency to our SF position.
vava74
February 29th, 2012
2:27 am
From NBA.com:
Washington (7-26)
Pace: 96.3 (4), Off: 94.7 (29), Def: 104.8 (25)
A stat: JaVale McGee has the second-lowest raw plus-minus in the league: minus-281. Only Charlotte’s Kemba Walker (minus-323) is lower.
A question: ………
The guy that “everyone” wants around here has the second worst ± of the league and has his team ranking 25th in points allowed.
Blocking shots and playing D are not exactly the same.
Obviously, the other guys also have to contribute, but “raw” does not even start to describe JaVale.
vava74
February 29th, 2012
2:28 am
On the other hand:
New York (17-18)
Pace: 96.4 (2), Off: 97.9 (24), Def: 97.2 (8)
A stat: No team has improved more defensively than the Knicks, who are allowing 9.7 fewer points per 100 possessions than they did last season.
A question: Isn’t Tyson Chandler the Knicks’ most important player?
A combination of Woody and Chandler seems to have made a huge impact on the Knicks.
drmaryb.[*_*].
February 29th, 2012
2:36 am
vava dear pumpkin, nice work on the stats research – love that! uggh … what does PACE stand for?
Buddy Grizzard
February 29th, 2012
3:18 am
“This following statement makes no sense: “If the Hawks can actually get a 1st rounder for Kirk and don’t do it, that would really be throwing in the towel.””
Makes perfect sense to me. Kirk has had enough time to get in shape, get his timing back, get his legs under him, etc. What we’re left with is a player who is in Bibby-esque decline. Get anything for him and get Teague back to playing big minutes.
vava74
February 29th, 2012
3:26 am
Pace is – I believe – the number of possessions a team uses per game.
Basically NYK is playing at the second fastest pace in the league (short possessions) behind Denver.
The Hawks are 22nd and free falling, which means that we eat up a lot of clock – should be related to the motion offense and the search for the “open jump shot”.
However, it is also related, IMO, to a derivation of the motion offense which is Marvin not wanting to shoot most of the time and Teague being ordered not to shoot.
It appears that we are a lot worse since February 1st – which could be related to 2 things: tougher schedule which ends up with JJ pounding the rock more – with bad results – and Hinrich on the floor playing at much slower and less aggressive pace than Pargo.
Hawks’ report:
Atlanta (20-14)
Pace: 92.3 (23), Off: 99.6 (18), Def: 97.2 (7)
A stat: The Hawks had the ninth-best offense through Jan. 31, but have the 29th best offense this month, scoring just 93.4 points per 100 possessions.
A question: How the heck do the Hawks keep beating the Magic?
A prediction: The Hawks keep sinking in the Eastern Conference standings, but make the playoffs, thanks to that initial 9-2 stretch after Al Horford got hurt.
drmaryb.[*_*].
February 29th, 2012
3:29 am
vava very very nice work. thanks bruh
Dawg
February 29th, 2012
7:40 am
In the HISTORY of the NBA, how many championship teams have succeeded at being a jump shooting team?
O'Brien
February 29th, 2012
7:46 am
FTPB,
Ra’mon,
One trade I was open to last year was Jamal for Dalembert.
Najeh, Melvin,
Stephen Jackson is only shooting 36% from the field, 28% from 3 this year, and he is due to make $10 mil next year. However, if we can get rid of Marvin, I would do that deal (assuming we use Kirk to get another piece).
Stephen Jackson can be traded next year at the deadline if he doesnt work out, whereas we would be stuck with Marvin for an extra year.
Anyways, I see no reason for Rick not to seriously explore trading Hinrich. And I hope LD and Rick are not counting on Al coming back this season (or for the playoffs). The last thing we want is for Al to come back too soon, and possibly get injured again.
However, somebody made a point on another blog, and I think there is some validity to it. When Al got hurt, he was in the post going up against Hibbert. Will that strengthen his desire even more to get away from playing Center full time?
O'Brien
February 29th, 2012
7:52 am
Wilson Chandler has been cleared to return to the NBA. As a SF, he averaged 15 pts, 6 rebs with the Knicks last year. It will be interesting to see who his suitors are, and where he ends up.
Good offensive game from Brook Lopez last night, putting up 38 in a victory at Dallas. But he only had 6 rebs in 38 minutes. Will the Magic hold onto Dwight through the entire year, or trade him at the deadline…
vava74
February 29th, 2012
8:12 am
Thanks for the props but it was simply a rather basic cut n paste job!
Walt Frazier
February 29th, 2012
8:23 am
It’s official: America’s worst sports cities: Atlanta is number 1.
vava74
February 29th, 2012
9:07 am
Chandler will not sign with us, but if he did, I would love it.
I would immediately use the amnesty on Marvin to sign him long term.
Buddy Grizzard
February 29th, 2012
9:10 am
Vava the schedule is a lot easier the rest of the way. I like this habit the Hawks have developed of consistently beating bad teams. In past years the Hawks would beat contenders then turn around and lose to scrubs. I’m also not worried about the blowouts because we did the same thing last year and come playoff time we gave CHI a run for their money.
I don’t know what’s going to happen with Horford but I don’t see the Hawks slipping below 6th, and 3rd may be within our reach.
drmaryb.[*_*].
February 29th, 2012
9:26 am
Horford will not be cleared to play this season, period. That was a football injury usually seen on the lines, just brutal. Get Well Soon + Boss!
drmaryb.[*_*].
February 29th, 2012
9:29 am
Copied!
Vava! Ha Ha … You copied and pasted some stats I had never seen before. I love empirical data, it’s very helpful to the conversation. (she winks!)
Another GM
February 29th, 2012
9:46 am
The first round pick from the Lakers is crap. If you dont get a top three pick in the draft its just a crap shoot. Hinrich is a proven vet player who has a good BBIQ, which is missing from most of the Hawks players. The biggest problem Atlanta has is no legitimate NBA head coach. The Hawks have a NBDL coach and him being the lowest paid coach in the league speaks volumes. In addition it is really sad that the ASG/Spirit has screwed this franchise up so much that Dwight Howard doesnt even want to play for his home team.
O'Brien
February 29th, 2012
9:55 am
From the ajc.com “Hawks at the break”;
Chemistry: The core group of Hawks players always have seemed to like each other and generally get along. They’ve shown the ability to band together when outsiders doubt them, such as their playoff series victory against Orlando last season or their initial surge in the wake of Horford’s injury.
But when things go bad for the Hawks, they can go really bad. And when that happens, players seem more focused on scowling and fussing at each other than bearing down to get back in games. The bickering bleeds over into their effort and execution...
Getting along when you’re winning is not a good example of chemistry. It is how you work together as a team in times of adversity that defines chemistry (imo). And the Hawks don’t respond well to adversity, and they start pointing fingers, so I would not describe them as having Chemistry (although they do like each other off the court).
Offense: The Hawks rank 18th of 30 teams in points scored per possession (a better measure than points per game because it takes pace into account).
Some slippage was expected since Horford is their most efficient scorer, but the Hawks still have enough offensive talent to score better than that. Drew offers a simple explanation for how the Hawks can improve the offense. “We just have to make shots,” he said. “That’s what it comes down to.”.
But the Hawks might find it easier to score if they were better at generating more efficient shots. According to hoopdata.com, only two teams in the league attempt more long two-point shots per game, and those are the least efficient shots..
LD makes it sound so simple. “We just have to make shots.” Really LD? That’s the best you can come up with it? And once again, LD puts it all on the players. Nothing about what he can do, it’s what the players need to do. Make shots.
For a guy who is supposed to be an offensive coach, I dont think he gets it.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 29th, 2012
9:57 am
“Stephen Jackson is only shooting 36% from the field, 28% from 3 this year, and he is due to make $10 mil next year. However, if we can get rid of Marvin, I would do that deal (assuming we use Kirk to get another piece).”
I really think Stephen Jackson is the kind of player who will play better when he has something to play for. As a starter on a playoff team, I think he is going to give more effort and play better on both ends. Maybe that makes him a jackass, but he would only be a short-term rental here, and since he would get steady minutes and be on a playoff team here, I think the Hawks would get the most out of him. Jackson played fine last year, so it’s not like he’s on some kind of steady decline or something.
He has never been a great shooter from the field, but he has also not been in a truly complementary role in several years, and has spent most of the last five or six years miscast in a primary offensive role. Maybe being the 3rd option on this team will allow him to be more efficient. It’s not like he hasn’t played on winning teams before — he’d be the only Hawk with a ring on his finger if he came here (unless Vlad got a ring for the half a season he played in LA in 2008-09).
The other benefit to trading Marvin and replacing him with Jackson is that Jackson’s contract expires a year earlier, which would give the Hawks more cap space in the summer when they try to re-sign Josh (assuming they haven’t traded him by then). As frustrating as Josh can be at times, it would be incredibly annoying if Marvin’s $8 million was the reason the Hawks had to let Josh walk.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 29th, 2012
9:58 am
“We just have to make shots.” –LD
“Guys just gotta go out and make a play.” –Jim Moron
Sounds awfully familiar.
Just Joe
February 29th, 2012
10:53 am
Obviously, Marvin for Ramon Sessions sounds a lot better than Marvin for Stephen Jackson, but really, either is an upgrade (especially for salary cap management purposes).
As far as the Lakers are concerned. Not sure they can trade their own 1st round pick because Dallas’s pick is top 20 protected, and the Lakers have to have at least one first round pick this year since they were without one last year. So, Dallas’s pick is the trade bait. Top 20 protected until 2017 (I think).
Rod from College Park
February 29th, 2012
11:05 am
“Offense: The Hawks rank 18th of 30 teams in points scored per possession (a better measure than points per game because it takes pace into account).”
Wait until the playoffs. If we make it. We might not get out of the 70’s with this bunch. We need another scorer badly.
“Marvin will not hit 10 points with Monta guarding him. Might not break 2 points with the way he’s playing lately.”
Everyone who has faith in Marvin Williams please watch closely tonight. They will let Monte Ellis, or Steph Curry guard Marvin, and neither one will have to exert themselves at all on the defensive end of the floor. Then the Marvin lovers will talk about how Marvin stepped up because he scored 12 points, not understanding that Marvin should be a mismatch all night long in the post. Marvin, and Joe (if he plays) should live in the post tonight. Knowing the Hawks, we will still be launching long jumpshots, and knowing Marvin has not post up abilities, he will still be standing on the perimeter, passing the ball like its a hot potato.
Melvin
February 29th, 2012
11:17 am
MC,
I noticed that you mention Diamper was at practice. I thought his 2nd 10 day contract has ended. If so, does this mean the Hawks signed him for the reminder of the season? I was thinking they would leave a roster spot open prior to the trade deadline in case of a trade.
bamaboy
February 29th, 2012
11:26 am
100