AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > May > 23
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Tomahawks still in Mets’ minds
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Nobody in baseball hits, scores or runs better than the New York Mets, owners of a Big Blue Machine.
As for the National League, only the San Diego Padres pitch better and only the Colorado Rockies field better.
If that isn’t impressive enough, the Mets currently have the league’s best record after winning the NL East last season by 12 games. They even watched their eternal nemesis from Atlanta go from reaching the playoffs 14 straight times to finishing 18 games behind themselves in third.
Still, you wonder. You wonder if visions of tomahawks continue to rattle around the heads of the Mets. You wonder as much, because the slumping Braves are just a victory away tonight at Turner Field from snatching a third series this season against their supposedly big and bad foes.
Mostly, you wonder if the Mets are still chasing the Braves. Not in the standings but in their minds.
“When we came down here and had that good series against them last year, I think we kind of felt like we put all of that to bed,” said Tom Glavine, the former Braves turned Met, referring on Wednesday night to a stretch from late July to early September that saw the Braves dropping five of six games to the Mets.
Even so, the Braves are the only team this season with a winning record against the Mets. What’s up with that?
“I don’t know,” said Glavine, pausing, in the visiting clubhouse before the Mets’ 3-0 victory in this one. Then he mentioned that most of the games have been close. “In the other two series we played against them, we were leading late in the rubber matches. We just let them get away, and that hasn’t been typical of what we’ve done all year.”
Which is my point. You wonder if the Mets are still intimidated by the Braves or something. Such also was the case for the Phillies, the Reds, the Giants and everybody else in whatever division featured the Braves for more than a decade.
Listen to Glavine, the eternally wise soul who spent 15 of his 20 years in the majors with the Braves before joining the Mets five seasons ago. While helping the Braves win five pennants and a world championship during that stretch, he had the sense that opponents were shivering even before he cranked up his Hall of Fame arm.
“You know, I always felt like that was the case a lot, but you don’t ever know, because you’re not on the other side,” said Glavine, who definitely will be on the other side tonight. He’ll take the mound searching for career victory No. 296, while his old buddy, John Smoltz, goes for career victory No.200 despite nearly four years as a closer.
Neither Glavine nor Smoltz is the fearful type. It’s just that neither can pitch and play the other eight positions around them at the same time.
The point is, Glavine wasn’t in the majority with the Mets when he first arrived and shrugged at the thought of choppers and chanters.
“Once I got on the other side of it, I think it becomes a little bit more apparent that you’re always aware of the Braves,” Glavine said. “In the back of your mind, you have that feeling that, regardless of what they’re doing or where they’re at in the standings, that they’re going to make some kind of run or have some kind of great stretch that’s going to separate them from everybody else.”
None of that happened last season for the Braves. Even when they extended their string of division titles through 2005, they hadn’t won a pennant in six seasons.
Said Smoltz, another among the eternally wise, “We’ve changed so many components, and so many of those great players, we lost — like Glavine, Greg Maddux, the great sluggers — and with that goes a little bit of that aura. The Mets have it. Boston has it, and it’s amazing how quickly Detroit got it.”
The Braves haven’t lost it.
Not against the Mets.
Permalink | Comments (45) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
Conley’s the Hawks’ only choice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Mike Conley, Jr.
Period.
Any questions?
Well, there won’t be next month if the Hawks do the right thing in the NBA draft for the first time since just shy of forever by taking Conley at No. 3.
When it comes to such a lofty pick, Hawks officials should forget about Brandan Wright, Yi Jianlian, Al Horford, Joakim Noah or whatever mystery guy is rattling around in their heads. They need several things to become consistently effective and interesting for a change, but they mostly need a point guard.
Guess what? Conley is a point guard, and despite only a season at Ohio State, he flashed signs of becoming a splendid point guard in the NBA.
Maybe you’ve heard: Hawks officials already had a chance to draft a splendid point guard. Twice. They passed on Chris Paul, a future NBA Rookie of the Year, and they ignored Deron Williams, now leading the Utah Jazz on their best run during the postseason since the days of John Stockton and Karl Malone.
As a result, the Hawks had three backup point guards on their roster this season while missing the playoffs for an NBA-high eighth consecutive time.
So it has to be Conley. This is a no-brainer, which bodes well for a franchise that has operated without one for years.
Permalink | Comments (241) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Terence Moore
Hawks have overwhelming possibilities
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
There is probably something wrong with a league’s draft system when the fortunes of a franchise can turn on a bunch of pingpong balls.
Then again, if you’re the Hawks, maybe you prefer luck to the science of player selection because, as we have seen, this franchise’s science has blown up way too many laboratories.
In theory, through sheer luck, the NBA’s punch-line franchise took a step toward respectability Tuesday night. The Hawks fell into the third pick in the draft lottery. It means they get to keep a selection that had been gift-wrapped for the Phoenix Suns in the Joe Johnson trade (which suddenly looks pretty good). They also will get, as anticipated, the 11th overall pick from Indiana.
Two of the top 11 picks.
Celebrate the potential.
Or cover your eyes.
The first pick would have been a slam dunk: Greg Oden.
The second pick would have been even easier: Kevin Durant.
The third pick is a decision.
Do you want a decision?
These are the Hawks. This is Billy Knight. Visionaries, they haven’t been.
Two of the top 11 picks.
Great. I think.
This is like giving a mechanic $50,000 to build a car. Either you end up with a really nice car, or the engine stalls when you turn on the wiper blades. Kind of depends on the mechanic, and the blueprint, and the vision.
The Hawks can take Brandan Wright. Love the talent but disappeared in the tournament for North Carolina. They can take Al Horford. Really good player, but so good that he’s the third overall pick? They can take Mike Conley: Unbelievably quick, and a point guard, but was that overachievement in the tournament or actual career foreshadowing?
Two of the top 11 picks.
Two more decisions.
Pepto, anyone?
Why couldn’t it have been easy? Orlando fell into Shaquille O’Neal. San Antonio fell into David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Cleveland fell into LeBron James.
The Hawks just fall.
Portland won the lottery. The Trail Blazers were represented Tuesday by Brandon Roy. Hawks fans couldn’t miss the irony. Last year, Knight selected Shelden Williams with the fifth overall selection. Roy went to the Blazers with the next pick. He just won Rookie of the Year.
Williams was below average. He just got engaged to Candace Parker. Soon, he may not even be the best player in his house.
We all believed Knight was wrong when he drafted Boris Diaw in 2003. Turns out he was right about the player but wrong about the uniform. Diaw has been a jewel for Phoenix. Knight also drafted Josh Childress over Luol Deng in 2004, and Marvin Williams over two impact point guards, Deron Williams and Chris Paul, in 2005.
There was only a 38 percent chance of the Hawks landing in the top three, a 13 percent chance of picking third. So something broke right. Just not right enough.
As he was about to board a flight for New Jersey on Tuesday, Dominique Wilkins said he was wearing his lucky tie and commented: “The lottery can change the course of a franchise. We’re overdue for some luck.”
No. What they’re overdue for is some intelligence.
This hasn’t been a run of brilliance. The Hawks have gone eight seasons without making the playoffs. They are 97-231 over the past four years, which means Knight needs a 134-game winning streak to pull even for his tenure. (Yes, that would be record.)
In fairness to Knight (why not?), he merely is upholding a franchise standard. Drafts usually blow up with this team. In 1975, the Hawks had the first and third overall selections. They took David Thompson and Marvin Webster. Both opted for the ABA.
In 14 drafts from 1985 to 1998 — between Kevin Willis and Jason Terry — the Hawks’ first round went like this: Jon Koncak, Billy Thompson (traded for Ken Barlow), Dallas Comegys, no pick, Roy Marble, Rumeal Robinson, Stacey Augmon, Adam Keefe, Doug Edwards, no pick, Alan Henderson, Priest Lauderdale, Ed Gray and Roshown McLeod.
I realize it’s a lot easier to draft in hindsight. But should two “no picks” look so good over that span?
And now this: two of the top 11 picks.
Think of the possibilities.
Maybe not.
Permalink | Comments (117) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Jeff Schultz
