Breaking the silence
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - Welcome to the alarmist’s paradise.
I know you’re in a panic about what comes next, or better yet who comes walking out of or through the door next.
I know it scares you, the prospect of what good is to come or what evil fate is set to befall your beloved Hawks.
(I received over 100 emails in the past 24 hours wondering if, and I’m paraphrasing here, the Hawks are going to blow this GM thing the way the Thrashers have their coaching search and GM situation? - a legitimate question and concern without a good, clear-cut answer right now.)
That loud noise you hear is every wanna-be NBA GM knocking on the Hawks’ door (in the backdoor fashion these things are usually conducted in when there is an opening that everybody seems to want but nobody seems to want to be known as openly campaigning for).
While other team’s hire and fire people with a list of successor’s always at the ready, the Hawks are actually doing the digging themselves.
They’re vetting candidates on their own for the open GM position (for those of you fresh out of the Fulton County lock up, Billy Knight resigned last week after six years on the job effective July 1).
And that means surrogates for each and every hopeful is working hard to push their guy.
No one is willing to break the silence on a list of potential candidates (though you might have already seen a preliminary list of six somewhere around here http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/2008/05/07/hawksnext_0508.html). I can confirm that there are more than a dozen legitimate candidates poking around this opening and probably twice that many guys with no shot doing the same.
Many of the legitimate names you already know. Several others, including the likes of Walt Perrin in Utah, Randy Pfund in Miami, John Gabriel in Portland to name a few - have yet to emerge … welll, until now.
Instead of making a mockery of the two dozen or so wishful thinkers trying to squeeze their way into the mix, I’ll show the respect they haven’t and keep their names away from here (someone has to wear the thinking cap this summer).
But that’s the dilemma we’re all facing here. With so many perceived quality candidates, I said perceived, there is no clear guideline for a process like the one the Hawks are embracing right now. It’s really a subjective thing, where the Hawks can’t rely on any quantitative data to show them which person is the best candidate for the job.
It’s going to come down to the feel the Hawks’ ownership group gets from each candidate they consider/pursue/interview. All you, as fans, can do is hope (or better yet, demand) that they get it right (insert superstitious lucky charms here) this time. That they are listening to the right people and not the folks with loaded agendas. That they are attacking this GM search with the zeal it deserves (and not the wait-and-see-who-falls-out-the-tree indifference that’s been afforded the hockey coaching search).
Because the wrong choice here, on a position so crucial and this pivotal to the Hawks’ immediate and long-term future, could be fatal blow for a franchise that is still basking in the glow of that surprising 7-game playoff run.
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Whatever you do, do it now!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - Now that the Real World Boston is over (no offense Beantown, but I’m good until next season), we can all return to our regularly scheduled program here.
It’s decision time now that the Hawks’ magic carpet ride has ended with a thud. It’s the only remaining question surrounding this team, where do you go from here?
And that includes Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Mike Woodson, Billy Knight, the franchise, the fans and just about anybody else (but in no particular order) connected to this team. I’ll address the status of Smith and Childress later.
(A brief aside - I know you were wondering why I’d abandon ship during the playoffs of all times, but the workload and travel load were so great that I wasn’t able to devote the usual time to this forum that it deserves. Rather than short-arm you with one of those cheap, three-graph joints I wanted to wait until I could do it right, the way I’d want a cat to do it, if was taking my time to come here and read and react. And kudos to Mark Bradley, D. Orlando Ledbetter, Matt Winkeljohn, Curtis Bunn, Steve Hummer, Thomas Stinson and all the other cats who dove in on this Hawks coverage during the playoffs. It was good stuff all around and a fun time trying to bring it all to life).
Much will be made in the coming days about the status of both Knight and Woodson, two men whose relationship has clearly taken a turn toward the darker side. No one I’ve spoken with is sure things between the two of them can be patched up (a peace broker would be ideal right now for the sake of all involved but don’t hold your breath).
Whatever the folks in power plan to do, they need to do it now. And I mean like, NOW! My old man always used a saying on me when he wanted to get me moving, “He who hesitates is lost forever.”
I called him a few minutes ago to find out where he lifted it from and he couldn’t remember if it was from his Army days in Vietnam or from one of the dorm philosophers he cooled out with back in the day (this cat has dropped so much wisdom over the years I’ll forgive him for, as Roger Clemens might say, “misremembering” where that one came from). Either way, the words resonated with me more this afternoon than ever.
Studying the moves and non-moves this franchise has made during the nearly four years I’ve covered this team reinforced that point to me. Indecision in the NBA often leads to bad decisions. I’m not suggesting the Hawks rush into anything. But I want to believe that someone has a detailed plan of action in place long before now as to how the franchise plans to proceed from here.
I’m all for the proper planning and all, but leaving all these folks (players, coaches and especially the main two guys) in limbo about the future only bolsters this franchise’s reputation for not acting decisively.
Whatever’s going to be done needs to be done and done swiftly so the next phase of whatever plan is being scripted and hatched can be put into place (if changes are going to be made, don’t drag it out. And if not, put the people that need to know at ease so they can continue to do their jobs and gear up for a critical offseason. Remember now, he who hesitates is lost forever).
Now, for my quick hit thought on two of the people in the crosshairs mentioned above (the other two will be the subject of a later post). And we can make this quick and easy based on the subject:
— Josh Smith and Josh Childress. I’m combining these two cats since the bottom line is the same. PAY UP! Just go ahead and pay these cats and get it over with. I’ve maintained since last summer that the Hawks should have paid both of these guys and locked them up early when they could set the price instead of playing out a season and allowing the market to do so. One other thing I feel necessary to mention is this, while some folks spend all their time nit-picking what these two can’t do, smart talent evaluators around the league are busy studying what it is they can do (quite a bit for both guys) and realizing that both of these guys have found a way to weather all the Hawks’ mess the past four years and thrive. They also found a way to help this team make the playoff run that kept the basketball world buzzing the past three weeks. But as often happens, teams don’t value their own players properly because they’ve overanalyzed their games and decided they can do better with someone else’s (the Suns are still trying to replace Joe Johnson in their lineup, a dilemma they could have avoided before he became a restricted free agent by paying the man what he was worth).
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Hawks last stand
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BOSTON - The Hawks must be in love with this city.
Why else would they blatantly play for a return trip here the way they did Wednesday night?
Was it just me or were the Hawks lacking the necessary fire and energy necessary to win a potential series clinching Game 5 on the Celtics’ floor?
There’s no way you can take for granted that you’ll get another crack at running down the Celtics on their home floor - not after 23, 19 and now 25 point losses at TD Banknorth Garden.
After eight straight quarters of fast-paced success against the Celtics, eight quarters of dictating tempo and forcing them to chase you up and down the floor, the Hawks reverted to familiar road philosophy of taking punches instead of delivering them.
It started in the first quarter and continued all the way until the final buzzer.
Sitting here at Logan International Airport this morning, I’m still trying to figure out why it is they didn’t press the issue. You have to knock the champ out if you want the title (and I know the Celtics didn’t win anything other than the best regular season record). Dancing with him for 12 rounds and putting up a decent showing, for a while at least, never gets you anything other than a tail whipping and a long flight home.
Yeah, the Hawks have Game 6 to bank on Friday night. The last stand, if you will, comes a little more than 24 hours from now - hopefully the shot clocks and buzzers are all in working order.
But I wouldn’t have allowed my season to come down to a win or go home game on my home floor. Not if I had the momentum on my side for Game 5 and a chance to go for the jugular against a supposed juggernaut with a weak stomach (and make no mistake, the Hawks exposed some chinks in the Celtics’ armor that future opponents will exploit during these playoffs - namely their inability to defend in transition anywhere close to the way they can in the half court).
It was there for the taking, all of it, Game 5 and a legitimate shot to win this series. And the Hawks stood around and watched the Celtics snatch it away without so much as a forearm shiver to stop them - it worked in Games 3 and 4.
They’ll regret it later.
They probably do now, having watched the film and realized how things gradually slipped away in the second half Wednesday night.
Because they won’t get another shot like the one they had Wednesday. And once the moment passes … well, it’s just gone.
If there is a Game 7 here Sunday afternoon, and there is no guarantee of that, it will be nastier than anything these young Hawks have seen thus far.
Of that you can be sure.
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Suspended animation …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
PHILIPS ARENA - Just when this series was really starting to get interesting Stu Jackson and the NBA Secret Police have to get involved.
It hasn’t happened yet. But the suspensions resulting from the pushing and shoving that went on during the second quarter of Game 4 is certain to cost at least a couple of guys a chance to compete in Game 5 Wednesday in Boston.
The Hawks could lose Marvin Williams, whose foot was barely touching the floor during the fracas. The Celtics could potentially lose much more - not only did Kendrick Perkins set foot on the floor, but Kevin Garnett shoved Eddie Rush when Rush tried to keep Garnett from going after Zaza Pachulia.
If the league follows the same letter of the law they did last season, when Phoenix lost both Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw in a crucial playoff game against the Spurs, then Williams and Perkins have to be gone for Game 5.
Garnett’s case is a bit tricky, though, in that someone will have to determine the severity of his actions and whether or not it was a blind reaction to the craziness going on around him or if he knew exactly what he was doing when he looked over at Rush, shoved him away and then went back to jawing at Pachulia and the other Hawks on the floor at the time.
Both Jackson and his boss, NBA Commissioner David Stern, were in the building Monday. So they shouldn’t have to spend much time checking the footage to make these decisions (though the league is notorious for waiting a day before rendering a verdict).
My guess, and it’s only a guess, is that they take both Williams and Perkins away and try and justify Garnett’s actions, if only to appear fair to the folks in Beantown.
But if, as Doc Rivers suggested before Game 4, Al Horford’s taunting of Paul Pierce deserved some sort of discipline from the league (didn’t happen), Garnett needs to be tossed for Game 5 for his actions.
Either way, someone will cry conspiracy. The punishment has to fit the crime here, so the sooner the action from the league the better.
What say you?
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Finger pointing (and other stuff)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA -The catalysts for the Hawks Game 3 turnaround Saturday night can’t stop pointing the finger at one another.
Josh Smith swears it’s Al Horford’s fault.
Al Horford insists that Josh Smith is to blame.
No one, it seems, can decide who deserves more of the credit for energizing the Hawks in a must-win situation that could come to define their season.
Horford provided the inspiration video (and his second double double of the series), while Smith provided the explosive opening quarter (27 points, nine rebounds and six assists when it was over) that set the tone for the evening.
What should be clear by now is that the Hawks are a totally different team when they both play the way they did Saturday.
“I really think it starts with Josh,” Horford said. “He’s such an impact player. He just makes great plays. And I think when he makes those types of plays it gets everybody fired up. So I really think it starts with him.”
Smith said seeing the usually reserved Horford talking smack and playing to the crowd is what makes it so fun for him. “That’s how I try to play every night,” he said. “So any time he wants to join me and get things fired up, it’s always a good thing.”
I’ve been yapping about this since last week, to anyone that will listen, but I felt like the only way the Hawks could stir things up was to play through these two guys. With the Celtics locked in on guarding both Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, there has to be an opening to play through these two young monsters and see if there was any way to shake things up a bit and catch the Celtics off guard. It worked Saturday but imagine things will be noticeably tougher for these two Monday night.
A few notes, a quote or two and several other random observations from a wild and crazy weekend in Hawksville:
— According my counterparts in Boston, and one of my spies stationed in and around the visitor’s locker room, it appears that the Celtics had it out after the game regarding the focus necessary to finish off a team like the Hawks. “We didn’t help each other on offense and we didn’t help each other on defense,” Celtics All-Star guard Ray Allen said. “We still had plays, we made plays. But just the typical Celtic basketball that we played all year, we always helped each other on both ends of the floor. Tonight, we didn’t do a great job of it.”
Even Celtics coach Doc Rivers sounded a bit miffed at his team’s sudden impulse to finish off the Hawks man-to-man rather than as a group. “I told the guys after the game that I thought each guy wanted to win the game by themselves, which you can’t do,” he said. “I like the fact that they wanted to win the game. The only way you’re going to do that is as a team. Even in the end you saw Rajon [Rondo] try to back Mike Bibby down [and got a foul]. That’s not what we do, but that’s what they all did. Rajon tried to win the game for us. Ray wanted to win the game for us. Paul [Pierce] wanted to win the game for us. But we have to win it as a group and that’s how it always has to be.”
— A scout from an Eastern Conference playoff team at Saturday’s game reminded me of one thing that you should never forget. “Average guys tend to come back to reality on the road,” he said. “I don’t mean starters or your All-Stars or anything, but your role players and bench guys. They usually have big games at home and then even out on the road.” I immediately thought of Kendrick Perkins, who looked like a shell of the bruiser we saw in Boston after Horford gave him that ‘bow to the nose early in the game. I happen to love what Perkins does for the Celtics, but my scout friend was right, you can’t count on the same production on the road as you can when a guy like that is playing at home. “Listen, when the Hawks turn that pace up the way they did, Perkins and P.J. Brown can forget it,” he said. “They can’t run up and down that floor like that. It’s a good thing the Celtics have Big Baby and Leon Powe, too. They aren’t ideal for that type of game but they’re better equipped than those other two guys. The Celtics can’t afford to try and play small ball with the Hawks or chase them up and down the floor. KG doesn’t have the same hold on the game like that. Ray and Paul are fine in that style. But KG dominates this team in a half court game. He could get nasty numbers no matter how they play because he’s three inches taller than any other player in the series. But if the Celtics want to finish these boys off, they’ll slow it down.”
— Another beat writer covering the Detroit-Philly series called me minutes ago to make sure I knew that he had cast his Rookie of the Year ballot for Horford (fine choice but I think the big fella’s going to lose out to Kevin Durant in the end). He also wanted me to know that he’s officially ready to hand over the title of “Most Ridiculous Athlete in the League” to Josh Smith. It’s something we do in our free time (all 20 minutes of it), debating stuff like who’s the best this or that. Previously my boy was lobbying hard for Amare Stoudemire (pre and post microfracture surgery). But after finally seeing Josh Smith on TV and not in person (go figure) he’s convinced more than ever that Josh Smith is the guy. “I gotta give it up to young fella,” he said. “I thought he was going to lay that one in and he just kept going up and up and up. I thought he was going to hit his head on the square. That boy’s got the craziest hops in the league.” My pops did him one better last night. He said it looked like JS took off from Decatur on that dunk over Ray Allen. My personal fave was the tomahawk joint on the fast break where he caught the ball in stride, took two steps and was in Condor mode gliding towards the basket. Forgive me John Wooden, but I’m a proponent of the slam dunk in basketball.
— “We were on top of our game. When we play like that I think we’re one of the best teams in the league. We just have to learn how to be more consistent and play like that every night.” - Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson with the craziest line of the day [Sunday] after practice when asked if the Hawks’ success in Game 3 had anything to do with the Celtics feeling too good about their 2-0 lead in the series.
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