Atlanta Hawks practice report: More defense, tweets
Vivlamore reporting from Hawks practice.
The Hawks spent the majority of Saturday’s practice working on defense as coach Larry Drew and staff seek to correct the mistakes made in the exhibition loss to San Antonio Wednesday.
“We’ve got a lot of things that we need to put in but there were a lot of things that we didn’t do a good job of in San Antonio,” Drew said. “These last couple days we spent a lot of time watching film and coming out on the court and working on it. I want it to have a carry-over effect in our next game.”
Drew said he wants to be satisfied that the defensive concepts and philosophies already installed have taken grasp before moving on to new ones.
*The Hawks leave for Memphis Saturday afternoon for Sunday’s 6 p.m. game against the Grizzlies. (I will not be attending).
* Drew said he has yet to decide the starting lineup for the game, but expects it to be different than the ones used against the Heat and Spurs.
* Drew, unsolicited, praised the practice of forward Ivan Johnson Saturday.
“I thought Ivan Johnson was really good today in practice,” Drew said. “He brought a lot of energy, a lot of intensity. He brought a real physicality to our practice and I really embrace that about him because that is what toughens your practices up. Obviously we want that to have a carry-over effect to our games.
*DeShawn Stevenson (knee) was a limited participant in Saturday’s workout.
* Stevenson took to Twitter Friday night to apologize to former Nets teammate Deron Williams. Stevenson sent out some tweets earlier in the week blasting the unnamed Williams, who in an interview with ESPN The Magazine questioned teammates who laughed in the locker room after losses last season.
On Friday, Stevenson sent out three tweets:
-“I Talk 2 My X Teammate 2Day And He Told Me That He Wasn’t Talking About Me And They Mis-Print What He Said”
- “So I’m A Real Dude And Want 2 Say Sorry 2 Dwill For Spazzing And A Real Dude Would Say Sorry! So Sorry Dwill”
- “Takes Alot 4 A Man 2 Call A Man And Tell Me The Truth!! I Respect That!!”
Earlier in the day, when asked about the tweets obviously aimed at Williams, Stevenson told the AJC, “I’m done with it. I’m worried about the Atlanta Hawks right now. This group of guys. What I said is done with. If you know who I’m talking about, you do; if you don’t, you don’t.”
Stevenson did not want to discuss the issue following Saturday’s practice. I assume the situation has been resolved.
- Chris Vivlamore
THE LATEST NEWS
* Williams kept eye and ear on Hawks
* Three players vying for two roster spots
* Hawks serve it up at The Varisty
* Practice report: Defense, cuts and tweets
* Hawks changing offense without Joe Johnson
* Spurs win exhibition game on buzzer beater
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254 comments Add your comment
ntrigue
October 14th, 2012
12:12 am
Just watched Hawks vs Spurs game Teague looked good I dont know what everybody else saw. Also Anderson and James look like good additions on offense and defense. Lou looks real good at point as well which is a plus especially if Teague gets in foul trouble. Id rather start Jenkins t the 2 guard and let Lou and Devin run with the 2nd unit.
ntrigue
October 14th, 2012
12:20 am
With Joe Johnson gone not hogging the ball anymore I expect big year from Teague think he also gets more calls this year and will spend more time at the free throw line!
ntrigue
October 14th, 2012
12:50 am
No way Benson shouldve been cut Petro is pure garbage! Hopefully we can pick him up later in the season.
corporate tv ball sux
October 14th, 2012
1:45 am
big ivan, al, jsmoove, zaza ……i am glad these guys are on my team. d12, i am glad he is not. some things money cant buy! GO HAWKS!
Buddy Grizzard
October 14th, 2012
2:58 am
“Ivan knew he better keep cool cause he ran into one guy who could break him in half! lol!”
Break him in half? The only break Eddie Curry took part in was the break he deserved today at McDonald’s. This is the only guy to ever make $100m in his basketball career and spent it all on super size fries.
Buddy Grizzard
October 14th, 2012
3:00 am
“I also believe that Petro will get better with more minutes.”
He got more minutes last season when Brook Lopez was out. Did he play better? No, stop trolling.
Najeh Davenpoop
October 14th, 2012
3:06 am
Apologizing is classy. Telling someone else about your beef with them to their face instead of airing it out on Twitter in the first place is much classier.
High-sider
October 14th, 2012
5:05 am
The Hawks shouldn’t have let Jamal Crawford leave [Atlanta]. He’s been ballin’ this preseason with the Clippers. Check out Crawford’s “patented” crossover [to free himself for a jumper] and sweet drive to the basket [for a layup]. Crawford also got a steal near the end of the highlights. Who said Jamal [Crawford] couldn’t play defense? [That was a rhetorical question.] Please refer to the link [copied and pasted] below.
P.S. The Clippers “cooled off” the Heat 99-89. Jamal Crawford came off the bench to score 15 points on 5-8 shooting from the field [1-3 from 3pt. range] and 4-4 from the free throw line. Hey, northcyde, is that [FG% of 62.5%] “efficient” enough for ya [sic]? [That was another rhetorical question.]
http://www.nba.com/video/games/heat/2012/10/14/0011200043-lac-mia-recap.nba [@0:42-0:48, @1:53-1:58 and @2:16-2:22]
lewis
October 14th, 2012
6:04 am
jamals great when it doesn’t mean anything
ag
October 14th, 2012
6:35 am
“Smoove fa President. Trade Al start Zsa Zsa acquire legitimate wing and solid back up C” – Sanity
Naw, this still is steven a smith. Again a few guys on the blog unhappy with Al who will post under different names daily. Trade Al , start ZaZa? Truthfully, Al must have took this guys lady or took his lunch money in school. To say start ZaZa is about as bright as… well no comparison – it is flat out dumb! The experts ranked this guy the top player, but now you want him traded!
I guess if you change your name, then people don’t automatically scroll through your name.
High-sider
October 14th, 2012
6:52 am
@lewis
lewis
October 14th, 2012
6:04 am
jamals great when it doesn’t mean anything
——————————————————————————————————
Did Games 6 and 7 [both elimination for the Hawks] of the first round of the 2010 playoffs vs. the Bucks mean “anything” when Jamal Crawford led the Hawks in scoring with 24 points and 22 points, respectively? Did Games 1-6 of the first round of the 2011 playoffs vs. the Magic mean “anything” when Jamal Crawford led the Hawks in scoring by averaging 20.5ppg as a reserve and scored 23+ points [off the bench] in four consecutive playoff games of that series? Did Game 1 of the 2011 EC Semifinals vs. the Bulls mean “anything” when Jamal Crawford scored 22 points off the bench? Did the 79 regular season games Jamal Crawford played in [all as a reserve] during 2009-2010 NBA season mean “anything” when he [Crawford] averaged 18.0ppg, won SMOY and was instrumental in helping the Hawks finish [with a win-loss record of] 53-29 and secure a No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference standings? [All (questions) were rhetorical questions].
P.S. For the record, the Hawks advanced past [or won] the first round of the 2010 and 2011 [NBA] playoffs and won Game 1 of the 2011 EC Semifinals vs. the Bulls.
ag
October 14th, 2012
6:57 am
now steven a smith through all of his alias says give Petor more time on the court and he may average 10 pts, 1- rebound and 2 blocks…. yeah if hee game was 90 minutes long and he was on the court the entire time!
What an idiot!!! Everybody who watched the preseason is scratching their heads wondering why scrub is on the team. he is posting solely to get other bloggers attention.
High-sider
October 14th, 2012
6:58 am
^Correction: “Did Games 6 and 7 [both elimination (games*) for the Hawks] of the first round of the 2010 playoffs vs. the Bucks mean “anything”….”
doc
October 14th, 2012
7:19 am
tmac fan, you might as well say f@ck the nba as much as ld if you are still whining about more play time for tmac. the guy is done, done done unless he can find some drugs over the border to rejuvenate him and his work ethic. he was about as effective as twin collins in their limited roles. both were the typical stop gaps that the asg brought before DF.
limited thinking, limited purse and limited results for those guys the league ended up paying significant portions of their contracts. personally tired of these types on the team. how many players played their lat games with the hawks over the past few years?
doc
October 14th, 2012
7:27 am
ag mentioned in a recent blog that DF HAD HIRED A NEW MEDIA AND PUBLIC RELATIONS GUY AND IT WOULD AND COULD BE A HUGE HIRE. THAT SHOW AT THE VARSITY WAS PERFECT AND DIDNT COST THE HAWKS A THING EXCEPT THE COST OF A FREE DRINK TO ALL THAT CAME. IT PUT A GOOD TASTE IN PEOPLE’S MOUTHS FOR A CHANGE. HEH HEH
sorry about the caps.
WPL
October 14th, 2012
9:08 am
The question, somebody stated was, is the players listen to Drew, when he is trying to teach defense. Keep in mind, that during the summer D. Ferry and Drew hired some very good and successful development and assistant coaches, so is not all about L.D.
Last yr the hawks ranked sixth in nba in defense and that’s before Ferry arrived.
Ten of these players will be free agents next yr, so to answer your question, HELL YEA THEY’RE LISTEN!!!!!!
ag
October 14th, 2012
9:12 am
Is Nick Van Exel on the staff? I did not see where he left, but when I saw the assistants, they did not mention him.
Lir(Dominican)
October 14th, 2012
9:13 am
C-viv someone is stealing names again to agree with what their saying….
Big Ray
October 14th, 2012
9:47 am
High-Sider,
Jamal is a hired gun, and he’s good at that. BUT…there’s a reason he went from the Hawks to the Blazers, to the Clippers…all basically within the space of a year. Hired guns are a known and available commodity.
Having a great preseason means what? If Jamal gets to start in Clipperland, it will only be because Billups is backing up CP3. Jamal isn’t better than either guy. And he didn’t do jack with the Blazers.
LOL….Jamal getting one steal and rhetorically then becoming a defender is like Al Horford blocking a shot and suddenly being called a premiere shot-blocker…just sayin…
Big Ray
October 14th, 2012
9:49 am
AJ ,
I’ll give ya credit – it’s the first time I’ve heard you blame it all on the coach…where was all that when poor defenseless Teague was being mercifully underplayed?
Big Ray
October 14th, 2012
9:50 am
Lir(Dominican)
October 14th, 2012
9:13 am
C-viv someone is stealing names again to agree with what their saying….
It’s the same person it always is….
ag
October 14th, 2012
10:23 am
Like I said.. It Was Not a Bad Pick .. was Marvin Williams or someone really close to Marvin. I guess as a professional athlete, you may not read the blogs, but certainly friends and family do. That is how Josh had a good perception of the fans and thought we did not want him hear. JC1 pretty much admitted he read or knew what the fans were saying about him.
ag
October 14th, 2012
10:29 am
If the Hawks could have kept Jamal last year, I am sure they would have tried. Our entire bench last year were vet minimum guys. Jamal signed a very friendly contract in Portland that the Hawks just could not match – without going into the luxury tax.
corporate tv ball sux
October 14th, 2012
10:53 am
” Again a few guys on the blog unhappy with Al who will post under different names daily. Trade Al ” – ag
Yea, its been more than a few and its been sustained over 3 years, the same voices that wanted woodson gone, marvin gone, also want Al gone. This has been going on for quite a while. The point is pretty clear. Al aint cutting it.
The best way I would suggest to help Al get his ‘Enforcer’ mentality back is to only let him watch game footage from his rookie season – Ra’mon
LOL very much LOL
I dont know that Al ever had an enforcer mentality. Is this some kind of joke? Zaza is more of an enforcer than Al ever was or will be. Al is just not that kind of player. Al is better suited as a role player. If he could come off the bench and provided 20-25min of high energy every night he could best help the hawks team.
Or if we found another team who believes that Al is a Franchise type to build around then we can trick them to take Al’s 12,000,000.00 salary and funk out of the first round like we did and. Those are the only two (2) ways I can see Al can help this team.
corporate tv ball sux
October 14th, 2012
10:59 am
THAT SHOW AT THE VARSITY WAS PERFECT AND DIDNT COST THE HAWKS A THING EXCEPT THE COST OF A FREE DRINK TO ALL THAT CAME. IT PUT A GOOD TASTE IN PEOPLE’S MOUTHS FOR A CHANGE. HEH HEH – Doc
Doc, you are an idiot, the hawks do that every year. WTF is your purpose?
Lir(Dominican)
October 14th, 2012
11:01 am
yea, Big Ray (or is it fat nasty ray?) well I guess I dont mind others using my name. Im a troll, you troll and lot, plus you give blow job so WTF?
Lir(Dominican)
October 14th, 2012
11:03 am
Big Ray I wish your troll as would get off my dick.
Big Ray
October 14th, 2012
11:04 am
So I suck a little dick, so what?
Big Ray
October 14th, 2012
11:08 am
doc
October 14th, 2012
12:25 pm
corp tbs
think that is exactly my point. maybe i missed it but having been here since its start i have never seen it nor heard of it. so the new look pr department seems to be on the ball getting some press for it.
if i have missed it in the paper each year, then so be it.
vava74
October 14th, 2012
12:50 pm
stephen a smith,
that one of Petro being a sleeper is the epitome of your basketball knowledge
Petro if anything, is an embalmed corpse with roller blades on his feet and two guys pulling from either side of the court to get him to offensive and defensive position.
jhan
October 14th, 2012
12:55 pm
I have to laugh at people still saying Horford is the weak link on this team. If you put him on the Heat or Thunder they still make the finals. The weak link on this team is we don’t have Lebron or Durant.
soullrenaissance
October 14th, 2012
3:03 pm
Slimjr
October 13th, 2012
4:20 pm
Greyhound leaves on the hour..
Is that a shot at me? Please let me know.
soullrenaissance
October 14th, 2012
3:05 pm
vava74
October 14th, 2012
12:50 pm
Petro if anything, is an embalmed corpse with roller blades on his feet and two guys pulling from either side of the court to get him to offensive and defensive position.
A vision of that old movie ‘weekend at bernie comes to mind’ LOL
Ken Strickland
October 14th, 2012
3:07 pm
I see the ANAL MINDED HORFORD HATING MORONS are still an issue one the blogs with their ANAL MINDEDNESS. You have to give STEVEN A SMITH and his counterparts credit for consistently making one absolutely stupid comment after another. I don’t know if there’s a dumber football fan alive today.
With injuries that have definitely slowed his progress so far, I doubt if DHarris has enough time, or the conditioning, to seriously challenge JTeague for the starting PG spot. With DStevenson still being unable to participate in full practices, it doesn’t look like he’ll even make the team, especially if we carry fewer than 15 players.
At this point in the exhibibion season, it looks like PG(JTeague) and SF(DJames) have these spots locked up at this point. That leaves SG as the only position in question. With injuries holding DHarris and DStevenson back, it looks like the SG battle will boil down to AMorrow and JJenkins. Even though Jenkins is a rookie, he seems to be a more consistent shooter with a more defined midrange gm.
Astro Joe
October 14th, 2012
3:38 pm
Big Ray, the difference was folk were defending Teague after maybe 10-20 decent games? Not quite the same sample size as Horford in 3-4 seasons. Plus, we have Josh’s reduction in offensive rebounding and blocked shots to also support the theory. But here’s the thing, LD’s defensive philosophy has actually resulted in better team defense, even if some of the individual results have decreased. Woody’s teams were more efficient and LD’s defense have been more efficient. I guess that means that LD is a good offensive coordinator and Connor is a good defensive coordinator.
Astro Joe
October 14th, 2012
3:55 pm
http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-sunday-the-josh-smith-contract-reality/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nba-sunday-the-josh-smith- contract-reality
jhan
October 14th, 2012
4:38 pm
AJ – that article talks about using common sense. Don’t expect the majority of this blog to understand that concept!
Big Ray
October 14th, 2012
5:17 pm
Here’s to the Hawks playing better than the Falcons just did….though I’ll always take a win…
Big Ray
October 14th, 2012
5:20 pm
Woody’s teams were more efficient and LD’s defense have been more efficient.
Huh? Oh never mind…
Astro Joe
October 14th, 2012
5:24 pm
Oops, Woody’s teams were more efficient on offense and LD;s more efficient on defense.
Assho Joe
October 14th, 2012
5:38 pm
Oops, Woody’s teams were better than LD’s.
Assho Joe
October 14th, 2012
5:52 pm
Here is the reality of the situation regarding Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith entering the 2012-13 campaign.
Smith will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Smith will be among the select few considered to be the most coveted members of his free agent class.
Smith will not sign an early extension with the Hawks, not because he doesn’t want to play in Atlanta, but because the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) makes it foolish business to give the franchise an early autograph.
If Smith were to sign an extension before June 30, the deal could only be for a maximum of three years. By simply waiting until the start of free agency Smith would be eligible to sign a five year contract with the club. The simple math in this instance shows if Smith signed early he’d be leaving at the very least $25-30 million on the table.
Expect Smith’s contract situation will play out in the media on a nightly basis similar to the way Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard’s have in recent years. Note Howard and Paul are also in the same position as Smith this season.
Smith played the majority of last season with a trade demand looming in the air, but according to several teammates, the forward is comfortable with the direction the Hawks are heading after the hiring of president of basketball operations and general manager Danny Ferry. Shortly after being hired, Ferry traded six-time All-Star guard Joe Johnson to Brooklyn and longtime starting small forward Marvin Williams to Utah in deals which netted the team close to $30 million in salary cap room next summer.
Although Johnson is still an elite shooting guard, the Hawks will now have the flexibility to become active players in free agency or trade, which wasn’t the case with his deal on the books.
Smith has said in the past he wants to consistently contend with the league’s elite. The Hawks have reached the playoffs for five consecutive campaigns but it’s hard to envision the current team being better than last season’s edition which won 40 games in a lockout shortened schedule filled with injuries.
While the mainstream storyline will center on Smith’s signing an extension during the season, a question that hasn’t jumped to the forefront is how the franchise will deal with the forward near the trade deadline if it becomes apparent he’s leaning toward departing in free agency.
But for now when you’re reading reports about Smith not wanting to sign an extension with the Hawks, please understand the math and how the CBA is structured. It is more advantageous for Smith to play the waiting game and isn’t a reflection of his long-term plans with the organization. It all comes down to dollars and common sense.
vava74
October 14th, 2012
5:57 pm
soullrenaissance,
Bernie had better hands than Petro…
Slimjr
October 14th, 2012
6:00 pm
Sorry Soul, that was meant for LD. I should have worded differently…My apologies Sir.
Once Devin heals up. All bets are off…
Slimjr
October 14th, 2012
6:03 pm
jhan
October 14th, 2012
12:55 pm
“I have to laugh at people still saying Horford is the weak link on this team. If you put him on the Heat or Thunder they still make the finals. The weak link on this team is we don’t have Lebron or Durant.”
Talk about a leap of faith. LOL!
Ken Strickland
October 14th, 2012
6:08 pm
Let’s try to figure out why our total DEF improved while JSmith’s blocks went down. Do you think drastically improving our perimeter DEF by getting rid of 2 of the NBAs worst perimeter defenders, in PG/SGs JCrawford and MBibby, had anything to do with it? Do you think the ditching of Woodson’s beloved switching DEF, which was designed to compensate for relying so heavily on these 2 DEF liabilities, also contributed?
AG
October 14th, 2012
6:12 pm
link to watch game?
Buddy Grizzard
October 14th, 2012
6:18 pm
Yeah any stream? Not finding anything.
Melvin
October 14th, 2012
6:20 pm
Ivan scored 8 of the Hawks 10pts. No Josh and AL tonight.