AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2006 > November > 21
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Let Hawks play first, ask questions later
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The question was asked of me and after thinking about it, I figure it’s only fair to share it with you all (since we share just about everything else these days). Are we jumping to conclusions a bit early when it comes to this Hawks team? In the line of work I’m in, we’re prone to jump to premature conclusions and pass judgment before the time for such an action might be appropriate. And to an extent, I think that’s the way of the world.
But there I was this morning, in set 12D (yeah baby, I got my usual aisle seat in the exit row this time) with a nice lady peaking over my shoulder as I was studying the Hawks’ stats package and jotting down a few notes. She asked what I was looking at and naturally the conversation took off from there. (Hey, it’s a two-hour flight to Detroit. It was either take a nap or make a new airport friend. I chose the latter.) She knows her stuff, too. Knows players and stats and said she watches pro basketball and football with her fiancé (lucky dog).
She asked why I was trying to figure this team out after so few games in a sport where there are so many games (funny, several of the Hawks asked me the same thing when I questioned them about their hot start and current spiral downward). I tried explaining the concept of every day and every game being up for intense scrutiny. But she wasn’t biting on that.
I tried explaining to her all the factors involved and how a team’s start, good or bad, can dramatically impact the rest of its season (start fast and you can build on it the rest of the way or start slow and spend the rest of the season trying to make up for it). Still, she didn’t grasp the idea of analyzing the Hawks or any other team with so little data to work with.
(Mentioning how we analyzed the roster all summer, before it was even completed, seemed like another wrinkle that would have only served to make the theory of what I was doing now even more ridiculous to her).
Her point is well taken, though. Maybe we are overreacting after just eight games. Perhaps we need to let a little more time pass, let the Hawks fold injured players back into the rotation and see how they look at full strength before making any lasting judgments about this team. I know it sounds crazy. I spend every day trying to figure this team out, trying to see if I can understand them any better on Tuesday than I did on Monday, trying to see if there’s a method to any of the madness that involves a group of people that are charged with reaching a common goal using 14 different methods.
But I’m willing to listen and learn. And the truth is, sometimes people that are totally detached from something have the best perspective.
