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September 2005
Real work on the way
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
And you all thought you were ready for the season to start. I sat across from Hawks GM Billy Knight at a Hurricane Katrina benefit Sunday afternoon and the first thing he said to me was, “You ready to go to work?” This just days after Al Harrington and I stood on the practice court at Philips Arena and he asked me the same thing. The conspiracy theorist in me started wondering if my editor had slipped them both the question. Or maybe it was my bi-weekly shaven face that screamed DO SOME WORK! So I didn’t lose that extra 25 pounds this summer. It doesn’t mean I haven’t done any wo.. …well, anyway. But they are correct that the real work is on the way, for all of us. Training camp is just a week away now. And many of our burning questions will be answered in the month leading up to the start of the regular season. Let me answer a couple of frequently emailed questions real quick and then pose one that was born out of conversations with various people over the past week.
Q) So how is Harrington’s body holding up after he finished last season on the injured list? A) Harrington is in ridiculous shape and his sore knees have been sufficiently rested. He’s down to a lean 245 pounds (he was probably close to 260 during the post-All-Star Game portion of last season). Al’s a notorious workout warrior during the offseason, spending much of his time at the NBA player-infested IMG Academy basketball facility in Bradenton. He did take time out to do quite a bit of relief work for Katrina, and found a way to get on MTV’s Punk’d with his good friend Jermaine O’Neal. Seriously, though, this is an important year for him, the last of his current contract. Hawks fans should expect early fireworks from him as he tries to help lead this young team and make a case for a lucrative, long term contract.
Q) Is Zaza Pachulia really going to start this season at center? A) It looks that way right now. But rather than him logging 35-40 minutes per game, look for the workload to spread around a bit between he and Jason Collier and either John Edwards or Esteban (he wants to be called Steve but as a fellow owner of a unique name I’m not letting him off that easy) Batista.
Q) Is Boris Diaw’s standout performance during the recent European Championships cause for concern now that he’s been traded? A) Only if he continues to play at a high level during the regular season in Phoenix. The issue with Boris has never been about how well he played on the French national team. No one has ever been able to figure out why he can’t translate those performances to the NBA. But if he does make an early statement this season his performance this summer will have served as a preview.
Now I have a question. How long does the Joe Johnson experiment at point guard last if it doesn’t work out the way Knight and Mike Woodson expect? Tyronn Lue will be waiting in the wings, and everyone knows he’s more than capable. That’s the Hawks’ most glaring question mark outside of the issue at center.
Who’s the man in the middle?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Barring a major move prior to the start of training camp in a couple of weeks, the Hawks will begin this season with Zaza Pachulia, Jason Collier and John Edwards as the main competitors for the starting position at center. Until Esteban Batista’s height and weight can be verified (he’s been listed everywhere from 6-8 to 6-10 and from 240 to 270 pounds), we’re leaving him off the list.
But I doubt anyone fears the vision of Pachulia, Collier or Edwards in the middle of an otherwise promising lineup.
Pachulia would appear to the leader for the starting job, mostly because he has the best combination of athleticism and experience. Collier’s the safe pick, a reliable veteran you know you can depend on in a pinch but not necessarily the long-term answer. Edwards is the wild card, the guy some people believe has loads of potential. But he’s still untested. Technically he’s a second-year player but he’s basically a rookie, after having played sparingly in Indiana last season.
Ultimately, Hawks coach Mike Woodson will have to decide which guy fits best in his system, which guys best complements the rest of his starters and which guy he can count on to rebound and defend consistently against more talented competition. Should he take a chance on one of the young guys or play it safe with the veteran?
Who would you pick?
Best NBA coaches
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While standing on the Michigan sideline in the final minutes of Notre Dame’s 17-10 win (much love to AJC editors Ronnie Ramos and Jeff D’Alessio for that one) another moonlighting NBA writer and I began a conversation about the merits of coaching.
Good, bad and everything in between.
Charlie Weis, a Super Bowl champion offensive coordinator in the NFL, has immediately infused the Irish program with the confidence, organization and razor sharpness that has become the trademark of the New England Patriots.
So began a discussion about the best coaches in the NBA right now. I think there’s a clear hierarchy that begins with Larry Brown, Phil Jackson (love them or hate them) and Gregg Popovich. It moves on to the likes of Rick Carlisle, George Karl and Nate McMillan.
But how do you rate them? We had a hard time distinguishing how much credit you give a coach when he’s working with the best talent — how many rings did Phil Jackson win without at least two of the best players in the world on the roster?
How can Hornets possibly prepare?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Instead of just blabbering on about basketball, I hope you all will allow me to vent about the mind-boggling devastation wrought by Katrina. I feel for all the people who’ve lost, and that includes members of my own family and quite a few friends. Having gone to college in Mississippi and lived and worked there for a number of years, the past week has been tough to stomach. Lives have been shattered. I’ve got friends in New Orleans and on the Mississippi coast who have literally lost everything.
This whole thing hit home for me when I got a call from my younger sister who lives in Jackson, Miss. She was hiding in her closet the night the high winds and rain tore through her neighborhood, claiming the life of one of her neighbors. She had no idea just how bad the damage was in New Orleans or on the coast because she didn’t see any of the video footage of the carnage until Thursday, when she finally was able to get out of her storm-damaged neighborhood to a safe and dry place. I’m just thankful she’s safe.
We’ve donated what we could to the relief effort but it doesn’t feel like enough. So I’m planning to use some of my vacation time to help a devastated colleague return to his hometown (New Orleans) for some volunteer work in a two weeks.
As the days have passed it’s become clear that the city of New Orleans won’t recover — physically or emotionally — from this devastation anytime soon. And it wasn’t until then that I even wondered about the Hornets and how they’re going to approach this season. I understand the Saints have already made alternate plans for their season, moving to San Antonio for the foreseeable future. But how do you focus after something like this happens? I know some people have mixed emotions about how sports should proceed during times like this. I remember all the consternation about whether or not the games should be played the week after 9/11. I was in favor of playing right away, if for no reason other than the message it would send to the rest of the world that we wouldn’t let anything knock us off our stride.
But this is different, in so many ways. Hornets’ beat writer John Reid is a good friend and a Road Dog (translation: someone you hang out with on the road during the season) and I don’t even know if he’s safe.
So I can’t imagine how he or anyone else affiliated with the Hornets is supposed to prepare for something that seems so trivial, given the circumstances.
What would you do?
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