AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2006 > December > 29
Friday, December 29, 2006
Dealing with change
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You got to sleep on a 9 a.m. flight and the world is a peaceful place. You land in Houston two hours later and learn that the world’s gone wild while you were dreaming.
The terror alert has been raised through the roof (wish I knew earlier).
Mike Tyson’s been jailed in Arizona on drug possession (surprise, surprise).
Chris Paul is out for a month (there goes my fantasy team).
Saddam is scheduled to hang by Saturday (it’s about time).
Julia Roberts is working on baby No. 3 (slow down, pretty woman).
Who knows? The Hawks might even win a game tonight … or not.
Houston looked like a pretty good target late last week. Yao Ming goes down with the busted knee (the death of my fantasy team, by the way, coupled with the news about Paul). But Tracy McGrady’s back and Shane Battier’s suddenly knocking down 3-pointers like his name is Reggie Miller. So the chances of the Hawks catching the Rockets snoozing are slim to none.
The Hawks are going to need a Herculean effort, across the board, from the coaching staff on down to the last guy off the bench, to avoid loss No. 20 before the start of 2007. Saturday’s game at San Antonio looms as a much greater challenge than tonight’s tilt against the Rockets.
Rather than sparring with those of you who believe it’s time to fire everyone and start over (again mind you, in a place where “starting over” has been going on for the better part of a decade), I’m moving on. I won’t fight an argument that’s not mine to fight (I’ve got the Rose Bowl to worry about these days anyway).
Grizzlies’ fans got their wish, Mike Fratello is gone. But (and no offense to the Barone family) do they feel any better knowing that Tony Sr. is taking over the job? Me thinks not (though from what I’ve read, anybody but Fratello is what the Grizzlies players had in mind). And that’s my point. Calling for change is fine when there’s a contingency plan. But when you change for the sake of change without a clear-cut strategy to improve your situation, what good is it?
What the Hawks need is healthy players, and in some instances, better players. Both of those things can be achieved between now and the February trade deadline (provided the trigger is pulled on the latter).
Anything else is a crapshoot.
