If Hawks are moving forward, it’s time to show a sign
Mike Woodson may have a headache trying to figure out his team.
After a 19-6 start that led us to wonder about a ceiling and a post-slump, 8-2 run in January that seemed to indicate resiliency, the Hawks are back confusing us again.
Maybe this should be expected. Maybe this is still a team still trying to figure out what it is with a star (Joe Johnson) still trying to figure out how and when to take charge and a coach (Mike Woodson) still trying to acclimate himself to his team’s pieces (Woodson admitted to under-utilizing his bench the other night after a loss at Phoenix). But when it’s almost March and contending teams should be establishing direction and the Hawks still resemble a car tooling around a perimeter highway — 6-6 in the past 12 games, 16-14 in the past 30 — you start to wonder.
The Hawks open an important stretch of games Wednesday night at home against Minnesota. Five of the next six games are at Philips Arena. This would be a fine time for clarity. Following this stretch, the team plays five of the next six and seven of 11 on the road, when playoff positioning figures to be set.
Yes, there is a comfort in assuming the postseason at all. You’ve probably noticed: We don’t get that a lot in Atlanta.
But should the expectations be limited to one playoff series win again? Because it’s starting to look like that.
Cleveland has the best record in the Eastern Conference. They’ve added Antawn Jamison, and might wind up getting him for nothing if center Zydrunas Ilgauskas re-signs there. Orlando has the second-best record in the East. But the Magic dropped the Cavaliers in the playoffs last season, and they just beat them again Sunday.
We can debate all day which team is better — just not that they’re far and away the two best in East.
Hawks general manager Rick Sund chose to stand pat at the deadline. If the playoffs opened today, the Hawks would open at home against Toronto in the first round and then probably travel to Cleveland in the second. But what tells us it will be a different story from a year ago, when the Hawks were swept?
Sund said he never seriously considered any trades at the deadline. As he put it, “Now is not the time to shuffle the deck.” Big-picture decisions come after the season.
Nor is he concerned about any perceptions that the team has leveled off since a 19-6 start.
“I wouldn’t take anything from that,” Sund said, “just like I wouldn’t take anything when Boston goes 3-7 or Cleveland loses three in a row. It’s a marath0n. Y0u’re going to have those type of situations. What they’ve done is they’ve shown the ability to bounce back from things, like [Monday] night in Utah. Of course, you want to be able to win every game y0u play. But going into that [four-game] trip, you think: A playoff team wins one game, a good team wins two, a great team wins three. We won two.”
Sund’s concern now isn’t expectation, but whether the team is ready for the postseason, whether they’re seeded second or fifth.
Others are looking for a more tangible sign. Two weeks ago, some Hawks players spoke enthusiastically about the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl and how that showed anything could happen in a postseason. But it’s safe to say the Saints didn’t lack believers in their town. Not the case here. The Hawks (35-20) have the fourth-best record in the East and seventh-best in the NBA. But their home attendance ranks 20th. That’s barely ahead of the Clippers (and that’s believing the announced average: 16,036). For whatever reason, the city hasn’t fully embraced this team. That all can’t all be explained by the economy.
On this trip, the Hawks won at the Clippers but then fizzled in Phoenix. The team started well at Golden State, but blew an 18-point lead and lost. The win at Utah ended the trip on a high note, even if the Jazz were missing starters Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko.
From one night to the next, we’re still not sure what we’ll see from Johnson. Marvin Williams floats in and out. Mike Bibby has been MIA most of the year. Josh Smith and Jamal Crawford have been the team’s best and most consistent players.
Fans are still at a prove-it-to-me stage. The team seems to be going in circles. This would be a good time to establish direction.
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95 comments Add your comment
ken
February 23rd, 2010
9:55 pm
THE THING ABOUT ANNOUNCERS AND ANALYSTS, THEY WILL NOT CALL A SPADE A SPADE, REMEMBER MOST ARE FORMER PLAYERS TOO. IT’S NOT COOL TO BLOW UP ANOTHER FRAT MEMBER PUBLICY. SO THE DUMMIES BUYING TICKETS WON’T KNOW THEY SELL A FALSE PRODUCT. DEMAND MORE FANS. DID YOU KNOW SINCE 12-25-09 TO NOW THE HAWKS ARE A .500 CLUB BELIEVE THAT
ken
February 23rd, 2010
9:58 pm
I SPELLED PUBLICLY WRONG. SEE IT EASY TO TELL THE TRUTH. I DON’T SEE THE HAWKS GOING NO DEEPER THAN A CHIPPER JONES FLY BALL. NO POP. BUT PEOPLE WILL TELL YOU HE CAN STILL DO IT. B.S. THE HAWKS GOT MORE TEASE IN THEM THAN CANDY AT MAGIC CITY, ONCE SHE GET YOUR MONEY………….
BITCH
hawkfan
February 23rd, 2010
10:34 pm
What you’ll see from Johnson? Try 21 ppg, 5 asst, 5 rebs. If you look at his stats since he has been here, pretty consistant. So consistant the he is taken for granted. We’ll see if there will be regrets this summer.
Thekid2Kill
February 23rd, 2010
10:42 pm
I like the way JJ has been playing lately, getting closer to the basket and taking less jump shots.
Harpie
February 23rd, 2010
10:48 pm
this team will not do squat with that half -assed coach…
Proper form
February 23rd, 2010
11:00 pm
Theoretically speaking, if you were doing squats properly, you wouldn’t be half-assed.
northcyde
February 23rd, 2010
11:17 pm
I’m convinced Schultz merely reads the recap to games and looks at the box scores. He might go to a BIG GAME every now and then, but he doesn’t follow this team.
Not sure what you’ll get from Joe Johnson? Have you been freaking paying attention to JJ’s play in that “30 game stretch” that you cite in which we’ve gone 16 – 14? Here’s what JJ has done in some of those 14 losses:
40 pts @ Chicago
35 pts @ Cleveland
31 pts @ San Antonio
19 pts – 7 asst – 6 rebs @ Orlando
37 pts @ Oklahoma City
31 pts @ Golden St
He’s not going to have great games every night, but JJ has been the one guy who has been bringing it on most nights.
LOL @ trying to frame the Hawks season as being stagnant, by citing a 30 game stretch of games. Why not tell it right? Why not say that we may have been playing WELL BEYOND EXPECTATIONS when we started 19 – 6. No one predicted that.
The Hawks lost 6 of 8 games during the Christmas/New Year’s holiday during that “30 game stretch”. Since then, the Hawks are 14 – 8. Hardly struggling, winning over 60% of their games ( like most good teams do ).
You Atlanta writers are a trip. Maybe the reason the city doesn’t get behind the team, is because the sportswriters are always questioning the team . . . even when most people consider them an “elite” team.
If you haven’t noticed, which I’m sure you haven’t, seeing that you probably don’t even follow the NBA . . the Hawks play exactly like the Denver Nuggets. Denver can beat a great team one night, but drop a game to a horrible team on the road. It doesn’t diminish how good they are, it just means that they may not be championship material.
The same goes for the Hawks. We’re losing because we’re playing more road games, and this team hasn’t learned to consistently bring the effort out on the road. The goal, however, is to win 20 – 25 road games. If the Hawks do that, there’s not a problem.
But you, or anybody else, should act like that we were a championship caliber team. You yourself probably predicted 45 wins for us, instead of the 50 – 55 that we’re going to end up winning.
LOL @ saying that Smoove is the most consistent player on the team. Da hell have you been watching?
niremetal
February 23rd, 2010
11:40 pm
That was the giveaway, Northcyde. Jamal and Josh have been the most consistent? Really?
Schultz, stick to baseball. You know, a sport you actually care enough to about to follow more than the nationally televised games.
northcyde
February 24th, 2010
12:07 am
That next to the last sentence should’ve said:
(( “But you, or anybody else, shouldn’t act like this was a championship team”. ))
And truth be told, one of the main reasons why we haven’t kept winning at a .760 winning percentage ( which is what 19 – 6 is . . . . we’d be the #2 team in the league if we were still winning at that clip ), is because Mike Bibby’s jumper has disappeared. Mike was the guy who could hit 2 threes in a row, and start a run or blow a game open. That threat from him lately is non-existant.
jhay610
February 24th, 2010
4:33 am
Northcyde, Nire — you tell him, sqawkers. It’s obvious Jeff is a casual observer and that’s fine — but that means I’m going to take the Hawks opinions he submits every other month with a few tablespoons of salt.
GTFan1
February 24th, 2010
7:24 am
Is team chemistry overrated? Be sure to check out the comments section and see what a reader had to say about Dominique on that end.
http://thesportsdebates.com/2010/02/23/the-chemistry-in-sports-debate-%E2%80%93-chemistry-the-excuse-when-there-are-no-real-excuses/
Nique
February 24th, 2010
7:33 am
I’m still mad the Hawks traded Dominique!
Section 303
February 24th, 2010
8:29 am
This is such a typical Jeff Schultz stance. Though I agree, it is fair to question the Hawks right now. Especially after the Miami game before the break and the loss to the D-league team on Sunday night. Schultz has no credibility here, however. He has ripped this organization from the start and now that they have turned into a legit threat in the East, he has to critize something to avoid looking like a complete clown.
Also, never see these articles for the Falcons. I know you can’t wait to be the first guy Demitroff pats on the head every morning, but come on…..you told us the Falcons are the city’s #1 team. No, they aren’t. The city’s #1 team plays tonight, at Philips Arena.
too expensive
February 24th, 2010
8:32 am
The reason the city has not embraced this team is that it’s just too damn expensive to go to a game…it’s over 100 bucks to get a decent seat…and a decent seat is the only way to enjoy a NBA game….
ant banks
February 24th, 2010
8:32 am
when you run your starters 36min thru the 3rd qtr. they run out of gas, case and point in the golden state game. golden state used 8 man rotation (that was all that they had) and we used a 6 man rotation. you do the math. we ran outta gas.
i think that we will be alright. these home games will help. i hate ringling bros circus, because they always come to atlanta in the 2nd and 3rd weeks of feb and the hawks go on a 10 day west coast swing.
the next 15games will determine our seeding. if we can go 10-5. we will be good.
Section 303
February 24th, 2010
12:05 pm
too expensive, that is not true. There are plenty of decent seats inside Philips Arena. I have sat all over that place. Philips has great, not good, great sightlines.
All I'm Saying...
February 24th, 2010
4:51 pm
Hawks are vastly exceeding expectations. No one at the AJ/C land of computer keyboard sports hacks thought the Crawford signing was going to turn out as huge as it has been and all of you sportswriters were praising Sund for resigning Bibby, ZaZa, Marvin, etc. which, by doing, meant we were very limited as to what we could do at the trade deadline without fundamentally breaking up the team. Schultz, Bradley, etc. also thought it a good idea to not re-up Woody until after the season. So all in all you guys have bought what Sund was selling.
The team’s regular season performance thus far is as I stated above expectations. Whether we finish any different than last year, when we were one of the last eight teams in the playoffs, remains to be determined. In order for the season to be deemed successful, Hawks must secure no worst than a #4 seed, win their first round playoff matchup, and be competitive (ideally win it but at a minimum take it to seven games) in the next round no matter who they play.
Playoff basketball is different and it won’t matter that we swept the Celtics or were swept by whomever in the East.
Woody will need to show some smarts hinted at but largely unseen in the playoffs with creativity in who he puts out on the floor and he has the pieces to make it interesting:
GO BIG & PLAY HALFCOURT with Collins, Horford, J-Smooth, JJ, and Bibby on the floor together with Marvin on the bench, Crawford as the sixth man and ZaZa, Randolph, & Joe Smith active in the rotation or
RUN THE FLOOR & STRETCH THE DEFENSE with Horford, J-Smooth, JJ, Bibby, and Teague fast breaking at every opportunity, Marvin on the bench, Crawford as the sixth man and ZaZa, Evans, and Joe Smith active in the rotation.
I like our chances. And anything can happen in the playoffs as the injuries to the Hawks, Chicago & Denver playing out of their minds, and the Magic upsetting Cleveland showed last year, none of which was expected.
LET’S GO HAWKS!
Big Ray
February 24th, 2010
6:32 pm
Have to agree with Northcyde. Bibby’s shell has to be broken or something else has to give. We can’t keep playing 3 on 5 with our starting lineup…
Snowman
February 24th, 2010
10:14 pm
Jeff is just simply a “clown” (see definition below)!!! Oh and by the way, Around the Horn or PTI would NEVER have him! Why would they? He is terrible (seriously, am I the ONLY one that notices that?). WHY DOES THE CITY OF ATLANTA TOLERATE THIS GUY?? Somebody, anybody give me a good reason…one!!!
Clowns are comical performers, stereotypically characterized by their grotesque appearance: colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, red-nose, etc., who entertain spectators by acting in a hilarious fashion. The types of their acts varies greatly. Although some find clowns to be scary, their intended purpose is to entertain people!!!
Great post Jo Bling!!!…Another good post Hawkfan and great, great post NorthCyde (smile)!!! Jeff ONLY writes negatively. For example when they were 19-6 he did not write one good article at all about the Hawks and/or anything at all positive about coach Woodson. Hey Hawk Nation don’t take him too, seriously!!! We should boycott the AJC site until they eliminate him from his role of at least writing about our Hawks…Go away, I’m begging you!!!…Just win baby, Go Hawks!!!
Snowman
February 24th, 2010
10:17 pm
Section 303, you notice I put the definition of a clown in for you (smile)
Snowman
February 24th, 2010
10:20 pm
All I’m syaing…pretty good comments!!!
Jeff Schultz
February 24th, 2010
10:59 pm
Niremetal — I just said MARTA was convenient to the arena, trust me I know about it’s lack of covg. Wish I didn’t have to drive 7 miles to get to closest station.
Jeff Schultz
February 24th, 2010
11:01 pm
Ken — A five-part comment! That might be a record. Not sure I agree with all of your comments but I like the passion.
Jeff Schultz
February 24th, 2010
11:08 pm
Hawkfan — I’m not calling JJ a bad player at all. He’s a very good player. But I think if you look at his game by game point totals just in past month you’ll see what I mean: 37-34-18-11-16-18-19-31-28.
Jeff Schultz
February 24th, 2010
11:16 pm
Northclyde — Just copy what I said to Hawkfan. Also, you just picked out some of his best games. I’m not going to pick out his worst for balance. Suffice to say, it’s not fair either way. And for what it’s worth, yes, I actually do watch games. Shocking, I know. As for fans not showing up because they may read something negative about the team, I think you overstate the impact of a story. People show up when they’re excited enough about a product to spend money. I have people agree with me all the time, and I have people disagree with me too. Just look at the comments in any blog. I give people enough credit to make up their mind about things.
Jeff Schultz
February 24th, 2010
11:20 pm
Too expensive — Hoops and hockey have always been expensive, baseball cheap. But with all the two-for-one nights, you can get through the doors with a friend for a pretty reasonable price.
Jeff Schultz
February 24th, 2010
11:21 pm
Ant Banks — Yes, 10-5 would be good. That would say something.
Jeff Schultz
February 24th, 2010
11:23 pm
All I’m Saying — Dude, you lost all of your credibility with the remark about the “Crawford signing.” First of all, it was a trade, not a signing., Second of all, here’s a link to a blog I wrote:
http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2009/06/24/crawford-for-claxton-and-law-is-this-heaven/
Jeff Schultz
February 24th, 2010
11:24 pm
Snowman — As always, it’s been a pleasure. How’s the campaign going?
niremetal
February 25th, 2010
12:15 am
Schultz,
And you actually think Jamal and Josh are MORE consistent than what you just said? Why don’t you look at their game-by-game stats this year. And while you’re at it, try to do it by looking at a stat other than just points scored. People who actually follow basketball more than casually don’t just define consistency by the number of points a player scores.
PS: Your overreliance on box score stats is another sign that you don’t bother to watch games that aren’t nationally televised. And your idea that the Hawks must have decent local TV ratings indicates that you don’t bother to read the annual Forbes rankings of pro sports teams’ values, which shows that the Hawks consistently have among the lowest TV ratings in the league. As I said, give it up. Or at least have the intellectual honesty to admit that you don’t follow pro basketball as closely as the other sports you write about.
northcyde
February 25th, 2010
4:03 am
You cited the point totals for this month, but did you notice what he shot in those games?
The lowest point total of the month was the 11 point game @ Memphis. If you’d forgotten, that was the game in which he probably shouldn’t have played . . because he had the flu. But he did play, shot 5 – 9 FG, and deferred to Crawford to carry the team.
In fact Jeff, JJ had only one bad game this entire month . . . the 7 – 21 FG stinker of a game that he and the rest of the team played vs Miami right before the All-Star break.
I picked out his best road games during that stretch. Games in which the rest of the team played sorry, but he had to carry the team . . and we still lost.
You talk about consistency from JJ? He’s only had 2 sub 40% FG shooting games in the last 20 games. Meanwhile, he’s shot 50% FG or over in12 of the last 20 games. Dude has been balling lately, yet, you talk about which Joe Johnson that we’re going to get?
JJ in February: 23 ppg – 51% FG – 47% 3FG
Gotta watch the games man. Gotta watch the games.
J
February 25th, 2010
7:12 am
Yeah, i’m an Atlanta Native and i agree that the fans in this town are more bandwagon than anything else. Even when the Braves were making the playoffs all those years, they still couldn’t sell out b/c most of the people had the mentality to think “well, they won’t win the World Series anyways”. In order for any team to go above and beyond, the fan support has to be there … the players feed off those large crowds, and the revenue generated helps bring in more pieces. But what do i know, i’ve only lived here all my life
The traffic downtown has alot to do with it as well. You can literally get within a mile of the Arena with 45 minutes before game time, and you’ll still be in traffic by the time the game starts. I blame it on the cops who have no clue how to direct traffic downtown. Just a thought …
J
February 25th, 2010
7:18 am
And the Hawks ARE moving forward Schultz, not sure if you just wrote this to fire people up or what but don’t knock the best team this city has right now … loyal season ticket holders don’t appreciate it … hopefully we’ll soon add the big Z to our rotation. Looking forward to a healthy line-up come playoffs … lets do some damage! Biggest game of the season coming up on March 24th (vs Magic). Lets hope we can finally put an end to the win-less drought against them. I think that will give us a good sign of how far the Hawks have come. I’m still pissed that we got robbed against the Cavs on the road …
ant banks
February 25th, 2010
8:31 am
JEFF OR ANYONE,
can you explain WHY illgaskus would want to come to atlanta versuses goin’ back to clev?
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February 25th, 2010
9:48 am
[...] If Hawks are moving forward, it's time to show a sign | Jeff Schultz [...]
northcyde
February 25th, 2010
10:46 am
I mean, even when Jeff talks about how Cleveland swept us last year, he KNOWS that we were hurting big time as a team. He KNOWS that. Horford was a shadow of himself. Marvin was maybe 60%. ( and back then, that was a big deal, seeing how we did depend on Marvin for timely jumpshooting and on the ball defense against Lebron ).
To even keep that Cleveland series respectable, we needed to be at full strength. But when your best rebounder is only 50% physically there, and your main defender vs Lebron is battling injuries himself, that basically kept us from even making that series competitive.
But I bet you this . . . . I bet that if Atlanta meets Cleveland in the playoffs this year, that they don’t sweep us. Matter of fact, we at least win 2 games.
Hawks are 15 – 8 in their last 23 games. With a win vs Dallas or Milwaukee, the Hawks would guarantee another month of .500+ winning percentage basketball. Win both games, and we go 8 – 4 for the month ( .667 winning percentage )
Oct: 2 – 0
Nov: 10 – 5
Dec: 9 – 5
Jan: 9 – 6
So if they go 8 – 4 in Feb., they’ll be right on line with what they’ve been doing all year. But I’m sure that people will expect us to lose to Dallas, seeing how they just beat the Lakers.
The fans and the sportswriters in this town need to simply stop overreacting to every bad loss, or a mediocre week or two stretch of games this team has.
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11:54 am
[...] dropped the Cavaliers in the playoffs last season, and they just beat them again Sunday." If Hawks are moving forward, it's time to show a sign | Jeff Schultz __________________ [...]
N-Trigue
February 26th, 2010
8:11 am
I agree a lot yall probaly dont watch the Hawks if you think Josh and Jamal are two of the most consistent Hawks on the roster you pretty much know what their gonna give you each night. In Josh’s case it can be spread over 5 categorys. Josh is our MVP right now!!!
hawks move
February 28th, 2010
7:18 am
Problem is if owners would get a GM n coach to get top notch players we inproved but no Trades no help same team get there 50+ wins lose in 2nd round…as for cleveland big deal they not make finals again…labron james can’t find his jock strap.If u want a be it will be Orlando vs LA Lakers in rematch for NBA finals again….as for thrashers they be in winnipeg in 2012!
Peter
March 1st, 2010
10:48 am
Jeff in my mind we are limited by Marvin Williams…easily the most over paid and under productive spot on our roster…..Mike Bibby would be the second choice.
Also Why did we get the Point guard Teague, if he is not going to play ?
Apparently who ever is doing the drafting is really terrible at it !
SaulRunigan
March 1st, 2010
11:19 am
The milwaukee game shows the hawks can close out a tough opponent. Joe Johnson showed in the OT yesterday why he is the fourth best closer in the game behind Kobe, LaBron and D-Wade. Ive said it all along, Joe proved it last night and I hope the JJ haters will finally disappear because he showed his worth to the nba and to the hawks last night. Hes one of the best and he should be paid like it.
AveryBrooks
March 1st, 2010
4:21 pm
I guess most Joe Johnson bashers are in “SHOCK” over the performance he had in o.t. of the milwaukee game on Sunday. Joe is capable of doing that ‘EVERY SINGLE NIGHT’. The HOF superstars: Carmello, Kobe, Labron, D-Wade; Joe Johnson, guys like that can perform like that basically at will and on demand. They call on an xtra gear (’sort of a high gear’) that the average players dont necessarily have and they reach deep down for that resilience that causes them to perform like that. What ya’ll saw on Sunday afternoon was vintage Joe Johnson. Maybe now some of you wont be so anxious for him to leave town and you might want to see him get resigned again and stay in a Hawks uniform. Joe is absolutely awesome and he showed you why, so you critics out there I hope you have finally seen the light on Joe Johnson because he showed you the NBA game at its best on Sunday afternoon.
dhamm
March 3rd, 2010
9:58 am
If the hawks are seriously going to make some noise they have an 11 gm schedule that they could easily go10-1 if not 11-0 but they need not to loose no more than two games and to me that will still be a disappointment.
dhamm
March 3rd, 2010
10:07 am
@ Mr Brooks, you can’t possibly believe that Joe is of that caliber as the names you named! Joe is a allstar and the guys you named are SUPERSTARS! Joe needs to be more aggressive, not meaning taking more shots but getting to the free throw line. When joe is not making his jumper then he is very limited to scoring which explains a lot of his bad shooting nights.
H3
March 3rd, 2010
11:32 am
I think you can’t underestimate the economy….Especially in Atlanta……I’m the biggest Hawks fan, and I cannot afford 100 a game to see the Hawks with my family… Shoot even the movies cost almost 50 when you include snacks….it’s just too expensive, no family wants to attend the game without snacks….so times are different than the Dominique years! I love the hawks…I agree Bibby is struggling, and so I say start Teague and Evans …and set a Defensive Tone….then bring Marvin Bibby and Crawford off the bench for offensive sparks…. And yes Big Z would help….he’s a good passer, and has what we don’t have “SIZE”. We need any rebounding and blocking 7 footer… That would make the game easy for Horford and Josh…..I hope they don’t split this team up…..(I wish we had traded Caron Butler for Marvin tho….) Go Hawks!!!!!