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Monday, November 10, 2008
Flip the script
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OKLAHOMA CITY - Since I had a better chance of bumping into the ghost of Ed O. Kelly than an actual person here after the Hawks’ win over the Thunder Sunday night, I thought I’d reach out to a few old friends from back home (that would be you!).
Are you having as tough a time trying to figure out these Hawks as I am?
I understand the 5-0 thing. I’ve been in attendance for all of those. It’s all been earned folks, in every way imaginable. It’s real.
The scouting report should read something like this:
“Tough team. Defensive minded. Resilient. Shares the ball. Plays at whatever pace necessary. Athletic. Active on both ends of the floor. And confident as ever, particularly down the stretch and surprisingly, on the road.”
What I don’t fully understand right now is where this vibe came from, and make no mistake about it these Hawks are in a serious groove, a big time groove, right now.
Still, I didn’t see any of this coming when the Hawks finished up that playoff series in Boston last spring.
As late as the first of August this team appeared to be in danger of losing all of the momentum generated in that series, what with so many loose ends still to be tied up.
Yet, a little over four months later we are watching one of the hottest teams in the league work every night. It’s honestly a bit mind-boggling to think how far this team has come since the trade deadline last season.
Someone flipped the script somewhere along the way (and boy has Flip Murray been everything the Hawks needed and more so far).
Go ahead and can the 82-0 dream, by the way, because we all know it’s not happening. But even if the Hawks were 4-1, 3-2 or even 2-3, the improvement in this team is evident (even the perpetual haters can’t deny that).
I mean, when was the last time you heard opposing coaches talking about the Hawks the way Toronto coach Sam Mitchell did the other night (“There wasn’t anything we could do to stop Atlanta,” he said. “We couldn’t guard them. We have to bring more intensity to the defensive end if we’re going to compete against teams like the Hawks. They are an up and coming team, and we have to bring more energy to compete with them, especially on their floor.”)?
I’ve been torn trying to figure out how much of the responsibility belongs to the players and coaches (the bulk of it), how much belongs to the former GM and his crew, Billy Knight and his gang, for assembling the core of this group (some of it certainly) and how much belongs to the current GM and his crew, Rick Sund and his team, for implementing their program quickly and putting the final roster pieces in place (plenty of it as well)?
Mike Woodson and his staff have responded fantastically to the regime change, smoothing out the transition for everyone by diving back into the task at hand and acting like the dysfunction that infected the place most of last season never existed.
And the players have eased into a playoff-style rhythm early on without missing a beat, even when one of their key members (Josh Smith) goes down with an injury that could keep him for as many as 15 games.
Sund and his staff (and there were several holdovers from Knight’s staff, so the credit should actually be spread even more) have to be credited with coming in with a critical eye and zeroing in on the specific needs of this team with the additions of Murray and Mo Evans, particularly. So much of filling out a roster is doing your homework on players and knowing how they’ll fit into your program and how they’ll mesh with the talent already in place.
It’s a delicate dance. And things have to work in concert or the type of start the Hawks have gotten off to wouldn’t even be a remote possibility.
And I say all this with something interesting Sund mentioned to me the day I first met him, the day after he accepted the GM job, in a hotel room in Florida still on the brain.
He talked of the marathon that is a NBA season, and how important it is to remember that the measure of a team can’t be taken (good or bad) just a week, or two or a even a month into this thing.
Inevitably the same cosmic wave a team rides to 5-0 (or more) will crash at some point and that same team will live through a stretch on the flip side. That’s just the reality of what we’re dealing with. And that’s sound advice from a man who has seen his fair share of NBA starts (good and bad) in nearly 35 years of action in the league.
But after years of looking for goats around here, it might be time to start dishing out a little praise (even if it is still early) for jobs well done.
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