AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2008 > February > 11
Monday, February 11, 2008
The cutting room floor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - Since we’re dealing with a finite amount of space in the newspaper business, I can’t always deliver the entire scope of what I’m trying to present in printed form.
And that’s where this trusty friend to us all comes through, day after day, blog after blog.
Before I forget, though, let me tell you about funny.
This afternoon’s popcorn extravaganza was one of the funnier situations I’ve encountered with this team this season. I think it was an ingenious move by the veterans to stir things up with some playful (although, I’m not sure the victims of the prank laughed as hard as the rest of us) jabs from teammates to teammate to lighten the mood.
You have to do something to break up the monotony, and sometimes I guess it takes a ton of popcorn to do that. So be it. Just stay away from the Blog-Z mobile, because salty popcorn on the seats of a ’78 Pacer isn’t a good look.
But back to the things that land on the cutting room floor. I’ve had a few items the past couple of days that just never saw the light of day. But they are getting a second chance now:
FUNNY BUSINESS: The Hawks’ stat crew isn’t the only one in the league I’m keeping an eye on. In Houston the other night I counted Josh Smith with at least two blocks in the first half and yet when the half time box scores were passed out, he had a big fat goose egg in the blocks column. (A scout from an Eastern Conference power sitting nearby chastised me for caring about something like that, but I’m a historian at heart, and I don’t want the record skewed one way or the other, plus dude is a hater anyway - and you know who you are!). I brought it to the attention of the Hawks’ PR staff during the game and he asked the Rockets why Smith wasn’t credited with those blocks and got a rather dubious response. On the first one, a block of Yao Ming on a turnaround jumper that you could see clear from Shanghai, he was told that the ball bounced off the side of the backboard. Of course it did, because Josh swatted it there. On the second, a block of a Tracy McGrady dunk attempt on a fast break that certainly happened high above the official’s vantage point on the ground, it was decided that the ball simply slipped out of McGrady’s hand. Whatever. The Houston stat crew is on my watch list from now on.
SURPRISE, SURPRISE: Smith was one of the few voices of restraint Monday when I quizzed a few guys about changes being made to the make-up of this team. I didn’t go at anyone with loaded questions or anything. I explained to them the premise of my story (can anyone trust this team that hasn’t won consistently over the past three and a half years to all of a sudden just wake up and get it now?) and made sure they understood that I was asking the question without having a predetermined angle I was working. “We’re still growing,” Smith told me. “We’re still maturing. We’re still trying to figure out how to win and how to win together. We’re young and extremely talented but we haven’t gotten to the point where we can come in real confident and know that we’re going to be in every ball game. We just haven’t gotten there yet.” Interesting.
NOT AFRAID OF CHANGE: Hawks coach Mike Woodson had some candid responses to my questions as well. But due to space constraints, those comments can only be read here. I referenced the Suns busting up the core of a perennial Western Conference power to add Shaq and asked if that makes teams like the Hawks question if it’s time to consider major moves as well. “I think anytime is a good time to consider all your options,” Woodson told me. “You have to explore it all, because we’re not Phoenix. We haven’t won 60 games. If you’re talking about wanting to win and really get better as a team, every year you have to explore those options. And we probably need to do so more now than ever, because we’re pretty close in terms of turning the corner with this team.
“You figure if you add a piece or two that can put you over the hump, that’s what you have to do. I don’t think you do it just to be doing it. But if something makes sense, you’ve got to do it.”
I also asked him if he understood why it’s so hard for fans to trust that this team, as presently constituted, could “figure it out” now if they haven’t been able to for three-plus years . “And we’re not there yet. We’re not at that point. We’ve been maintaining. But I want to see us go up the leader board. We’ve been maintaining at this same spot for the last, almost two months. And it is attainable, to go up. We’re what, 4½ games from the fourth spot? But that said, it’s just as easy to go up as it is to go down. So you have to be careful.”
WHAT I REALLY THINK: I’ve been getting hammered around here and beyond for not “telling people what I really think” about this team. Josh Childress informed me that he was at a function over the weekend where someone was knocking me for not letting it all out (never mind knocking team, crack the poor beat writer). I disagree (we’re allowed to do that around here, by the way). Most days I feel like I’ve probably said too much about “what I really think” and not allowed for enough of your opinions and insights. So in an effort to stir a diversity of quality opinions, I’ll occasionally open the floor to this forum to you and allow you stir the pot on a particular day. One of the most polarizing, well-read and (for the most part) well-respected members of the family will be first up. So be ready to pull a similar shark attack on him when his ditty pops up here in the next 24-48 hours.
OUCH!!!: If you all didn’t understand the true, biting nature of what you bring to the entire process, just let the venom of Stoned Mountain sum it all up for you. The subject line of his email read “Pranks.” And it got nastier from there.
“The prank I want to read about is where Woody tries the office door and his key doesn’t work anymore.”
He didn’t even finish it off with a smiley face or anything.
That’s cold, man.
So cold!
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