AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2008 > December > 03
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
What’s changed?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HAWKSVILLE - It’s taken a little more than a month for it to come into good focus, but I’ve finally discovered what has changed most about these Hawks from last year (really, the last four years) to now.
They’re tighter than ever. And I’m talking about the players and coaches as a unit, and specifically the players.
By no means am I suggesting that there have been major rifts between factions in the locker room in the past couple of seasons. But there was a time, say in the second half of the 13-69 season, where it would have taken a Gabrielle Union-led peace summit to get all the players on the same accord.
Those sort of locker room splits (it used to be the young guys the Hawks were trying to groom versus the veterans that thought they shouldn’t be “given” time) are impossible to prevent. And you’ll find them in every sport.
But the Hawks, because of external forces and some internal which have since been removed, always seemed a bit more dysfunctional than usual.
They’ve had shed all of that unique dysfunction in the last 10-12 months.
It’s been a slow and at times painful process, for sure. And the poison that ailed the Hawks for all those years was potent. But they seem to clearly be on the other side of the malaise now.
“I’m probably speaking for everyone here when I say that this is the closest group of cats we’ve had in my time,” said Josh Smith, the longest tenured player on the roster. “I don’t know if it was the playoffs that did it or what. And really, the group we had last year before the trade [for Mike Bibby] was tight as ever. But since training camp this group has just come together without any worries. We’re not letting anything bother us. We’re not letting anything get in the way of what we’re trying to do as a unit.”
Ask any player on a successful team that’s had to come from humble beginnings what the difference is between those good times and bad times and I’d be willing to be that they say something similar to what Smith said.
WHERE’S ZAZA?: Lost in the euphoria of the Hawks’ finally snapping that five-game road losing streak in Washington the other night was Zaza Pachulia’s absence from the playing rotation.
With rebounding games of 18 and 17 sandwiching three subpart efforts, a few of our of most loyal FOBs (Friends of the Blog) suggested that our favorite Georgian big man might be in the process of being phased out of the rotation.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Young JaVale McGee is the reason. With the Wizards going with their nimble rookie big man exclusively, and not bruiser Etan Thomas, Hawks coach Mike Woodson said he decided to play the matchup game and try and beat the Wizards with his smaller group.
And it worked, with Al Horford and Solomon Jones handling things inside (and to all those folks who wondered just how legit the training camp praise of Solo was, I think he’s answered any questions pretty well so far).
With Marc Gasol and Darko Milicic in town tonight with the Memphis Grizzlies, I’d expect to see plenty of Zaza.
SPEAKING OF THE GRIZZ: I can’t lie, I’m as eager to see Josh Smith back on the floor tonight for the Hawks as I am to see how these Grizzlies are operating with three rookies in their starting lineup.
O.J. Mayo and Gasol were probably expected to be in the first five. Darrell Arthur, though, is a bit of a surprise to me.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Hawks handle a team that looked a lot like they did a couple years ago in terms of the obvious youth movement that’s going on. Even more interesting will be how long the Grizzlies ride this thing out.
The Hawks rode it four years and have finally resurfaced as a playoff contender. The Grizzlies seem light years away from that (1-8 on the road and just 4-13 overall despite some huge offensive showcases for both Mayo and Rudy Gay).
MOVE OVER NOSTRADAMUS: As much as it pains me to report this, there’s a guy running around town that was perfect in his prediction of the Hawks’ first 16 games. He was even dead on about which games they’d win and lose, which is pretty remarkable when you think about it.
He was pushing for a front-page story about his prognosticating prowess, but has since decided that he’ll accept a mention here as adequate recognition for his skills. So this is the tip of the hat to you D.
And kudos for being crazy enough to go out on that limb the first day of training camp, for believing your own hype that entire first month and then accepting something less than our bargained front page spread. Ha.
Now we’ll have to see if the rest of you predictions come to fruition.
