This blog has moved! Yes, already!
As of Thursday, Feb. 12, this little blog has relocated to a new home on AJC.com. It’s the same newspaper, the same Web site and the same writer (feel free to groan) — there’s just a new URL.
New features: Bigger type, more graphics, comments that load 10 times faster and a larger and more recent photo that makes me look pretty doggone old. I think you’ll like it (the blog, not the photo). But I am, as we know too well, often wrong.
Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > October > 16
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Acie Law fearless once again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
His name is Acie Law IV, and the Hawks haven’t yet seen one-fourth of what he can do. At Texas A&M, he was fearless. As an NBA rookie, he played scared.
He was afraid he’d mess up, afraid he’d get benched, so afraid of doing the wrong thing that he didn’t do much of anything. This isn’t uncommon with rookies, rookie point guards especially, but Law knew even as he was hesitating how hesitant he’d become.
“I was tense [last season],” he said Wednesday, following the Hawks’ exhibition loss to Phoenix. “I wasn’t aggressive. I was real passive. I was kind of trying to play mistake-free and not to make coach mad.”
Over the summer he watched video of himself and barely recognized the guy he saw. Had he left his collegiate persona — Captain Clutch, as he was known — in College Station? Whatever became of the daring young man who’d starred in a series of televised Big 12 instant classics?
“I’ve got to get back to that,” Law said, and he does. “Last year was a learning experience. I was trying to play for coach and I had a lot of injuries.”
Mike Woodson, the Hawks’ coach, points to the latter as the cause of that forgettable rookie season. (Law sprained his right wrist in November and again in February.) Said Woodson: “Last year he was hurt, and when a young player gets hurt and misses time you’ve got to go through a month of reprogramming. He was on and off so much he never got in the flow.”
It’s also worth noting that Woodson’s coaching mentors are Bobby Knight and Larry Brown, neither of whom is renowned for patience with younger players. When Law did play extended minutes, he all but forgot about his jump shot for fear of missing one. (When a veteran misses a jumper, the typical coach says, “Oh, he’ll make the next one.” When a rookie misses the same shot, the same coach says, “Get him out of there.”)
“I was in between,” Law said. “The coach says he wants me to be aggressive, but I’d be afraid of being aggressive and making a mistake. … I lost confidence. Some games I could feel it — I didn’t want to miss a shot. And I knew I could always get to the basket, so I tried to do that.”
What made Law special at A&M was his capacity to hurt an opponent either way: Play him tight and he’d drive; back off and he’d nail the trey. He all but abandoned the latter part as a Hawk, more than halving his effectiveness.
And now for the good news: He’s again starting to dance with what made him a lottery pick. He’s thinking less and playing more.
It was Law’s layup with 4.6 seconds left that beat Charlotte on Monday, and he drove again at the end of Wednesday’s game with the Hawks down two. This time Louis Amundson blocked the shot, but even Woodson conceded, “Acie made a great play at the rim.”
Would Law have been so bold a year ago? “Probably not,” he said. “I’m not going to lie. I probably would have passed off.”
Some folks have forgotten about Law. They shouldn’t. His development will be a major consideration as this franchise moves forward. If Law matures quickly, the high-salaried Mike Bibby could be dealt at the trading deadline. Granted, there’s a wide gulf between doing mop-up duty, to which Law was relegated in the playoff series against Boston, and starting at the point for a playoff team, but he’s skilled enough to negotiate it.
“That won’t be the last time we make the playoffs,” said Law, speaking of those seven games against the Celtics. “And, God willing, I’ll be leading the team.”
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Would the Braves let Manny be Manny?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The local team needs a big bat and a left fielder. Manny Ramirez swings a big bat and plays left field and is a free agent. If you’re the Braves, do you chase him?
Yes, he’s a Scott Boras client, and the Braves regard Boras as the root of all evil. But Manny is also the kind of professional run-producer they lack, and his work with the Dodgers in the final two months and especially the postseason, during which he reached base two-thirds of the time, indicates he’s a young 36.
Yes, but he’s also Manny Ramirez. He loafed his way out of Boston, the same adoring city that toasted Manny the 2004 World Series MVP to the max. He’s as strange a character as there is, and the Braves have an aversion to strange characters. (John Rocker wore out his welcome in about eight seconds, Kenny Lofton in 10.)
Yes, but the Braves need a Manny in the worst way. This has become a team without oomph and without personality, and Manny, for better and worse, would supply both. He’d enliven the clubhouse, energize the batting order and re-ignite the fan base.
Yes, he’ll cost a fortune. That’s why he loafed his way out of Boston: He wanted to be traded to a team that would waive his option for 2009 and thereby left him be a free agent. The Braves’ way isn’t to pour big money into any one player, and they’ve already stated their intention to import two starting pitchers. Is there any way they could afford Manny on top of that?
The guess is that they won’t even try, and in any other case I’d applaud their prudence. But these past few months have only underscored what has been evident for years now — that there are a lot of big hitters but only one Manny. The imperial Red Sox wanted him gone but have been lessened by his absence. (Ask the slumping Big Papi if he misses his old buddy.)
Ordinarily I’d want no part of a guy who loafs and whose mind wanders so conspicuously. (You might recall a young Manny getting picked off first base by Javy Lopez in Game 2 of the 1995 World Series.) But Manny, being Manny, defies ordinary classification. He’s one of a kind. Me, I’d take the chance. Me, I’d chase him to the ends of the Earth.
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