AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 03
Monday, December 3, 2007
Healthy dialogue?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By now you’ve read about the Hawks’ team meeting held Saturday to clear the air on several issues that have plagued this team during their 6-9 start, and doesn’t it seem strange that we’re all treating this [decent opening month] like it’s some kind of horrid stretch that spells certain doom?
It was a much-needed sit-down for the Hawks, who aired their dirty laundry behind closed doors (no coaches or front office folks were allowed in, to my knowledge). To a man, they claimed they’ve come to a meeting of the minds on how they can play better, be a more cohesive unit and stop doing to themselves what the opponents are trying to do every night.
Only time will tell if this was a healthy dialogue or just another ill-fated attempt to correct chemistry problems that have existed for years in NBA locker rooms (like anything else, there’s always a hierarchy in a locker room that some guys can deal with and some guys can not) across the country.
Team meetings usually go one of two ways, and one isn’t good. They bring guys together and truly help fix some of those issues. Or they make the divide even greater and send cats that were already skeptical of each other’s motives to their respective corners for the remainder of the season.
There’s no telling how these Hawks respond. The only thing that we’ve been able to predict about this team is that they’re totally unpredictable on any given night.
The hilarious part is this: they’re so much closer to finally getting things right than they can see. If they’d have finished November 9-6, I think their spirits would be soaring and the optimism and camaraderie that was fostered in that 7-1 run during the exhibition season would still be flowing throughout the locker room.
So many different guys were sharing the load then and feeling like they had a chance to break out this season and then the regular season starts and other teams start going at you the way they know how, by limiting Joe Johnson’s options and forcing his supporting cast to beat them (and in case anyone is confused about it, the rest of the Hawks are most certainly his supporting cast - and if they don’t believe that, check with the scouts from any other team plotting against the Hawks. They’re not game-planning to stop anyone else). Some nights the Hawks have answered that bell and other nights they have not.
So ultimately, it’s their own inconsistency that’s caused the biggest problems so far. In a season (really just a month so far) where you can’t decide who and what you can rely on, uncertainty has been the Hawks’ greatest enemy.
We all have suggestions for how to fix this (everything from firing the coach, a horse that’s been beaten into, as Mike Tyson would say, “Oblivious,” to making a blockbuster trade that would supposedly alter the culture of the locker room and the course of this team’s season).
I’m doubtful either extreme would work the way its supporters hope it would. Truth be told, those extreme measures might have served this team better in any of the past three seasons, but not this time. Not when you’re within striking distance of exactly where you want to be.
Now is the time to subtly tweak this team, with a key addition here or there and thus a crucial subtraction here or there, as well. You can bolster team chemistry and energize your team’s performance in many ways during the course of an NBA season. And the Hawks have all the resources necessary to make it happen.
It’s simply a matter of studying what they have now and determining what needs to be added or subtracted to or from the mix to produce the best results. We’re not talking about astrophysics here, folks. Sure, these are complex issues we’re dealing with, but complex issues with relatively simple and reasonable solutions - provided, of course, the people calling the shots are willing to entertain them.
