AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > July > 17
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Wrap it up (Part I)!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SALT LAKE CITY - Spending time at an NBA summer league is about so much more than just watching games. It’s also a time to get a feel for the personalities of the players, to visit with executives, coaches and other team personnel and to dig into the details of things that normally wouldn’t even be a topic of conversation in most instances.
In short, if you want answers to questions that have perplexed you for a while, summer league is the right time to try and find relief for your curiosity. Monday night was my last night here (I’m currently in the SLC airport trying to finagle my way back east without upsetting any of the TSA folks who could ship my bags the opposite direction if Blog-Z decides to make an appearance during the return portion of this trip ), so I had to stay up late yapping with people from around the league to get some my questions answered.
And like always, I was reminded that just because you watch someone and think you know their game or have formed your opinion of them as a player, it doesn’t always mesh with what others think. Guys we rough up here for one thing or another, are seen in a totally different light from afar and by people who are scouting them (few people on the planet know talent like advance scouts and those pro personnel guys whose focus is evaluating current pros - as opposed to the guys who scout colleges or international talent).
Since we’re into sharing around here, I wanted to pass along a few interesting tidbits picked up during my short stint here in Big Love country (and I’m warning you it’s long, but worth your time):
Acie Law IV shined in Monday night’s game and has only reinforced what most NBA types thought of him heading into the draft - dude’s a gamer and the kind of young PG the hawks have needed for years. Not only is he going to give them quality minutes at the point, but he can play off the ball with Joe Johnson late in games and be a huge threat. It changes the way teams defend the hawks late in games with both he and JJ on the floor together. And it will come in ways that don’t exist with the Hawks’ other point guards because Speedy (inconsistent shot), T Lue (size), Anthony Johnson (wheels) and Salim (size and handle) all have weaknesses that can be attacked that Law doesn’t - Law’s obviously lacking the NBA experience of these other guys but in the eyes of the folks I talked to not much else. Law is going to put extreme pressure on the veteran incumbents to play at a high level from the start of risk losing ground (and perhaps a starting job or spot in the rotation) to the rookie.
Can Al Horford play center? I asked as many people as I could find. One guy that knows his stuff made a good point to me in response to my question. “He won’t have any more trouble guarding the same guys Zaza has trouble with will he?” one guy said to me. “The difference is he’s a much more rugged and tougher player than Zaza.” Horford is also going to bang in ways Zaza hasn’t (consistently), clean glass (on both ends of the floor and not just offensively) in ways Zaza hasn’t and pass in ways that Zaza simply cannot. He’s from the same decorated high school class as Josh Smith, Marvin Williams and Dwight Howard. So Horford’s not coming into the league as a 19 year old guy. He’s 21 and much more physically mature than Smith or Williams were during their rookie seasons. His sprained ankle left many people here upset that they didn’t get to see him bang heads with the bigs from Dallas Monday. But if he returns for this afternoon’s game against Chicago (not likely) or either of the Hawks’ final two games here, more of what he offers will be on full display.
Speaking of my favorite Georgian import (and latest whipping boy, according to some people who felt I was a bit harsh on ZP in my postseason grades for the Hawks), NBA folks love Zaza’s game and price tag ($4 mil per). They’re just not enamored with him as a starting center on a team that’s still in the process of defining itself. “If he wants to be a bruiser fine,” one of my guys told me. “He’s certainly got the body for it. And I’ve seen him do in the past, when he was in Milwaukee he was the brute they brought off the bench to bang guys around. But if he’s going to be a 6-11, 270-pound finesse player, he can’t do anything but come off the bench for me.” That’s exactly where he was for the Hawks for quite a bit of this past season. That said, he’s still one of the better (and young) offensive centers in the league. Zaza is just not a rebound hound the way he could be and the way the Hawks really need him to be.
Nobody splits the room the way Shelden Williams does. Some guys think he’s exactly what he should be and others can’t get over the Hawks drafting him as high as they did. But one old scout who starred as a big man during playing days brought up some really interesting observations about Shelden’s game that I never paid close attention to. “He needs to learn how to play and use his size and brawn to his advantage,” one of my guys told me. “He steps away from contact when he receives the ball in the post as opposed to initiating it first, which is exactly what he’s not supposed to do. But I love this guy. He’s got those long arms and those broad shoulders, and he’s thick in the chest. He’s got everything you need. He just really doesn’t know how to play yet. He needs someone to teach him how to use what he’s got to be the most effective. But he plays hard all the time. I love his heart. He never backs down and he’s not going to give you anything less than his best. Guys just need to know what to do sometimes. They need to be taught how to use what they’ve got. He came into the league and people assumed he was a finished product. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard and people make those kind of ridiculous comments about these players all the time. You can always learn and be molded into a better player.”
NBA types settle the Marvin Williams debate for me every time I bring his name up. “If they’re crazy enough to trade him after two years they won’t have to worry about there being teams interested,” another member of my roundtable said. “That’s just crazy talk. The kid is what, 20 or barely 21? He’s still a pup.” We revisited the 2005 draft and went through (yes again) the fact that the Hawks needed to take one of the point guards (there were three votes for Chris Paul and two for Deron Williams at the table), since they didn’t have two or three years to wait on a player to develop. But as the Hawks are prone to do, they ignored the consensus and went for Marvin. So now that they’ve got him, the idea that they would even entertain moving him so early in his career (and this is just a hypothetical theory, I’ve never had anyone in the Hawks organization come close to even suggesting that they were interested in trading Marvin) strikes outsiders as completely preposterous. “The worst thing you can do is develop talent for someone else,” one of my guys said. “The good teams, the teams that are consistently good, usually brew their own. You always have to add veteran pieces here and there. But the foundation is normally built by grooming your own.”
Last and certainly not least is Josh Smith, whose name will continue to be bandied about until the Halloween deadline for he and the Hawks to agree on a contract extension (and from what I’m hearing, the two sides aren’t as far apart on numbers as you might think but neither side appears to be willing to budge either). My guys warn that the Hawks should be careful, particularly at such a crucial time for the franchise, that they don’t alienate one of the greatest assets. And remember that Josh can play out his options with the Hawks for the next two seasons and become an unrestricted free agent and bolt without the Hawks receiving any compensation for him - a scenario that is far off right now, with so much time to negotiate ahead. One of my guys did offer up the flip side. “Why even make an offer?” he said. “He’ll be a restricted free agent at the of the season [if they don’t agree to an extension]. Let him play it out and make sure this guy is who you want as one of your pillars. But there’s no need to rush into anything. There won’t even be a ton of teams with cap space next summer anyway.” My take is that it’s extremely dangerous to play with this kind of fire when you’re trying to establish your foundation. There’s going to be a market for a guy that can do the things that Josh Smith does, always has and always will be. It’s similar to the situation that Joe Johnson went through in Phoenix, when I think the Suns understood what they had in JJ but perhaps underestimated his value around the league. All it takes is one team to fall in love (just look at Orlando’s vault opening for Rashard Lewis if you need proof) with a guy.
So much else was discussed, but I don’t want to get anyone fired for spending the entire day reading ajc.com on their work computer (and I’ve got to check in now and see if I can wiggle my way into a free upgrade to first class). I’ll be back later this week with some more tidbits and a few other observations.
