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
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254 comments Add your comment
Astro Joe
October 15th, 2012
4:10 pm
Melvin, I was waiting for you to post that excerpt. Good for him. My motto, if John Lucas-trained, let another team serve as the rehab lab.
vava74
October 15th, 2012
4:41 pm
AJ,
If he does break out as a bona fide NBA player we can always consider signing him next season.
There aren’t too many teams with our cap space.
Melvin
October 15th, 2012
4:54 pm
Vava,
I was thinking the same about Blatche for next season. It sitll would have been nice if we could got him for the vet min and put him in the rotation along ZaZa and Ivan. He’s sure worth the risk at vet min than Petro at 3.5mil.
Astro,
I did say I didn’t have knowledge of Woody and LD playbook. However, from my couch. Iso Joe looks like Iso Melo. When was the last time we seen Amare catching alleys/passes from Melo cutting to the rim.
Astro Joe
October 15th, 2012
5:07 pm
Melvin, Melo and Amare are about as compatible as oil and water… and tht was one of the main reasons D’Antoni is watching the NBA from his coach. It isn’t as much the iso play in and of itself as much as the criticism that Joe was poorly executing the play by doing to much dribbling only to pass it to Josh with few seconds left on the shot clock. That is what I patently dismiss… except the part about opposing teams leaving Josh open to serve as the lone outlet for Joe. Maybe he was doing all of that dribbling while praying for someone else to get open.
Melvin, if all goes well, the 5th big man on this team will appear on the court fewer times than the awful drummer crew that got $50 to open the games.