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Monday, April 17, 2006
Homework time!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With the regular season finish line in plain sight and attentions focused on the talent pool that will populate the June draft, it dawned on me that one very important factor for improving a team from one season to the next has been overlooked here.
We haven’t talked much at all about assessments of the current roster (let’s call it roster analyzation to make it sound even more important than it really is and just because we can). More than a few NBA types (scouts and execs) whose opinions I respect have suggested that this Hawks team has been coached up and overachieved dramatically considering its makeup.
For proof, I was told to examine the Hawks roster and determine if there was another team in the league that had as many players that would have trouble making another team’s roster.
After a careful analysis, you have to do something with your down time during TV timeouts of nearly three hour NBA games every night, I tend to agree – and I’ll leave you to craft your own hypothesis as to who these players might be.
That’s why I believe it’s imperative that the Hawks spend as much time this summer evaluating and tweaking the current roster before rushing into the free agency period with fat pockets as they do studying the future’s market (the draft) and the summer swap meet (trades and free agency).
We’ve talked about here before, but harsh decisions have to be made about who stays and who goes. As big a crapshoot as the draft can be, evaluating your own and other NBA talent could be an even more important factor in a team improving its fortunes. And I have to give teams credit for tracking down every bit of information they can.
I’ve been quizzed countless times by scouts from other teams about Hawks players. They want to know what guys are like in the locker room and on a daily basis, if you think they are tough enough and whether not you believe they’ve got the kind of attitude that lends itself to coaching and all other manner of minutiae.
Everyone, it seems, has homework to do.
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