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DEL.ICIO.USHorford reason Hawks will impress
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They won’t win it all. They’ll also dribble just shy of taking the Eastern Conference and their division. Still, the Hawks will do impressive things this season, because Al Horford won’t settle for less. He’s only an NBA sophomore, but he has the presence of somebody who already has his doctorate in professional basketball. He just has it.
Whatever it is.
“I think I’ve gotten to this point [of NBA maturity] quicker than I thought, and I have to give credit for that to Coach,” said Horford, referring to Mike Woodson, who encouraged the former University of Florida standout to “do his thing” on and off the court soon after he became the Hawks’ first pick in last year’s draft.
Said Woodson, “When you draft players, you’re not only drafting for talent, but you’re drafting for personality, how he fits into a team setting — and winning has a lot to do with that. When we drafted Al, I mean, the kid was polished.”
For one, all 6-foot-10 and 245 pounds of Horford could play. He was a gifted energy machine for the Gators along the way to consecutive national championships. For another, Horford could lead. He hadn’t a problem with encouraging others either softly or loudly on a Florida squad packed with NBA talent. Which explains this: During Game 4 of the Hawks’ playoff series last season against the Boston Celtics, Horford kept shoving teammate Zaza Pachulia away from a nasty encounter with Kevin Garnett.
The more Pachulia grew angry with Garnett, the more Horford shoved to save Pachulia from getting whistled to the locker room by a referee. In the end, Pachulia was around to contribute to the Hawks’ victory that led to a seven-game series against the eventual world champions.
“I was just trying to help a teammate out in that situation, because that’s the way I’ve always been, and that’s the way I’ve always played,” said Horford, who also contributed to the Hawks’ cause as a rookie by averaging nearly a double-double (10.1 points and 9.7 rebounds) per game with solid defense. Not surprisingly, he was the only player unanimously selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
This also isn’t surprising: Step by step, with much help from Horford’s size-17 sneakers, the Hawks keep flashing signs of a renaissance. It’s a little one, but after they spent nearly a decade without even the hint of one, this is significant news.
There was the Hawks’ rise in victories from 13 to 26 to 30 during each of Woodson’s first three seasons as head coach, and then they hit 37 last season. Later, there was that scare they threw into the Celtics during the Hawks’ first trip to the playoffs in nearly a decade (see a pattern here?). Then, to open this season, there were the Hawks pounding the Magic in Orlando. It was the Hawks’ first victory in a road opener in more than a decade.
Now the Hawks are just a victory tonight in their home opener against the Philadelphia 76ers from starting a season 2-0 for the first time in (all together now) nearly a decade.
“To be honest, before I got here, I always looked at the Hawks as being bottom feeders,” Horford said laughing. “But once I got here, all the guys I talked to knew we could be really good. This is something small, but I think the change of the uniforms last year and the new look, it really gave all of the guys a fresh start.” Yeah. Especially with Horford in one of those uniforms.
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