AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > December > 07 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USHawks are improved — sort of
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Even in victory, the supposedly improved Hawks have stretches when they look shaky, bored, confused.
On offense, they clench their teeth while contemplating whether to share the ball or respond with an attitude of “me” instead of “we.” On defense, they treat your average pick-and-roll as if their opponent has invented the NBA’s version of a nuclear warhead on the fly. In general, with lackluster rebounding and mindless turnovers, they play with the energy level of a deflated Spalding.
They play like they’re trying to get their head coach fired.
Mike Woodson smiled, maybe to keep from fuming or crying. “No, no. I really don’t think our guys are trying to do anything like that,” he said, easing into a chuckle. “At least I hope they’re not looking at it in that light. I surely as a coach don’t think that’s the case. I just think they’re still trying to grow as a team.”
That’s often debatable. Did you see how the Hawks went from disinterested to dreadful on Thursday night at Philips Arena? They nearly blew a 19-point lead to the Minnesota Timberwolves, only the league’s worst team. Even so, if we’re drawing a pie chart of blame in this case, Woodson’s slice is smaller than the others’, which includes ownership, management and the players themselves.
As for ownership, you have that ongoing mess involving one owner suing the other eight. As for management, you have a slew of weird personnel decisions, but none surpasses general manager Billy Knight ignoring two point-guard sensations during recent drafts in Chris Paul and Deron Williams and a possible one in Mike Conley Jr. As for the players, you have their habit of giving a lackluster effort, which should be foreign to professionals — no matter what their issues, concerns or talent level.
Then there is Woodson, who has clashed with his young players at times, but who has spent more than a few moments in his four seasons with the Hawks addressing problems and offering solutions. He’s done so during practices, meeting sessions and games. He’s done so in the heavy tones of his college mentor, Bob Knight, but he’s also done so with the softer tones of his pro mentor, Larry Brown.
Still, the 8-10 Hawks lost to the struggling Washington Wizards, the pitiful Seattle SuperSonics and the equally wretched Chicago Bulls. There also was that near disaster on Thursday night. Not only did uneven play contribute to the Hawks giving Minnesota hope for just a third victory, but the Hawks needed a shot at the final buzzer by Joe Johnson to survive with a one-point victory.
Now the Hawks will face a Memphis Grizzlies team at home tonight that isn’t as horrible as Minnesota, but isn’t close to becoming good. It’s another game that the Hawks are supposed to win. It’s another game that will make you wonder one of two things if they lose or look sorry in victory again: Are the Hawks players really trying to get their coach fired, or are we just missing something here?
“I don’t think it’s so much of a disconnect between what [Woodson] wants us to do and us doing it. I just think we get caught up in the moment,” said Josh Smith, among the seven lottery picks on the Hawks, which are trying to end their streak of missing the playoffs at a current NBA-high eight seasons. “We just get so hyped during games. The atmosphere is jumping, and you have that adrenaline rush, and everybody just gets so anxious that sometimes we forget what [Woodson] wants us to do.”
Sounds reasonable. Which means Hawks players aren’t trying to get their coach fired as much as they are trying to overcome the zeal of remaining one of the league’s youngest teams. You add that to a bunch that still doesn’t have a true leader and still needs management to spend some of its considerable money to add another significant piece to the roster, and the Hawks are just average.
That’s an improvement since the Hawks usually are just bad.
Permalink | Comments (31) | Post your comment | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Terence Moore
Comments
By flava
December 7, 2007 9:26 PM | Link to this
Terrance,
What’s it like to be a newspaper writer with a low IQ?
We couldn’t have drafted Al Horford if we had taken Mike Conley.
Also, learn more about the NBA draft. Josh Smith was not a lottery pick - he was the 16th pick and only the top 13 are lottery picks.
flava
By TrueTone
December 7, 2007 9:53 PM | Link to this
And the Hawks play tommorrow night, not tonight….
By Jonathan Goldberg
December 7, 2007 10:36 PM | Link to this
The equally wretched Bulls - who just beat Detroit in Detroit. If you knew anything about basketball you’d know the Bulls are a team that got off to a bad start. A flawed team - they have no inside offensive game relying too much on the jump shot but they are not wretched. And since the Hornets can’t beat Memphis in 4 quarters are they a bad team too. Your tendency to focus on individual games - and drawing big conclusions has always been a problem with your analysis. You have, in almost every sport, been a what happened lately guy.
Now I agree - the jury is still out on Woodson - but you have to admit this is the first year its even fair to judge him as the previous years he had nothing to work with and last year had the youngest team in the game. Getting Conley would’ve been a mistake; instead we got Horford (a necessary ingredient) and Law ( an old guy for us). The Hawks are coming along. The next fifteen to twenty games will give us a good chance to judge them. They’ve played OK but not good enough looking shabby at times and showing great promise at others.
By Slick
December 7, 2007 11:30 PM | Link to this
This article is set to be in Saturday’s paper, which makes the game “tonight…”
And the Hawks have five lottery picks…other than that, this article is on point.
They are better, but have a WHOLE LOT of growing up to do.
By john
December 8, 2007 2:20 AM | Link to this
Hey Terence. Maybe what the Hawks need is a few more white players like the Braves need black players.Diversity means a championship, right? And I just thought it was about getting the best performers, regardless of race…Foolish me…
By Steven
December 8, 2007 5:22 AM | Link to this
Terrence is constantly getting owned by the ajc readers. LOL.
By Edo River
December 8, 2007 5:31 AM | Link to this
Mr. Moore, You carefully orchestrate your pieces, it seems to me. There are subtle tones, and stronger themes. This article is more of the same, which I do admire, to a certain extent as an amateur writer. Whether I agree or disagree is really not important.
For example I disagree with the use of the word “supposedly” as your opening announcement of purpose of the article.
There are various scientific measurements which prove that the team is better than last year’s. You bring up a laundry list of problems like a bad marriage getting worse. If you keep on remembering the mistakes your life, and the life of your loved one, will not get better. The issue of not taking Deron Williams, and Chris Paul, will exist, unspoken in at least some peoples’ minds…..forever.
Women and men make mistakes in choosing a mate, based on faulty or ignored or lacking information. It is a rather nasty implication that some pro athlete is subverting the trust of the fans, of anyone involved in the appearance of fair play.
You orchestrate this rather nasty implication with a kind of comfortable facility, that on the one hand is rather disgusting in its distance from even a simple virtuous example that a sports game is supposed to demonstrate, and on the other hand your survey of the Hawks landscape shows a journalistic skill which I can’t help but admit to.
Therefore I wonder if I should say, “keep up the good work” or ??????
By Tiger Woo
December 8, 2007 8:19 AM | Link to this
Hey john,
You and your crew talk about Terrence always bringing racial references into his articles.
Now he writes an article with no reference to race and what do you do? Bring race into the picture.
Go figure. Talk about foolish …
By Henry L. Jackson
December 8, 2007 9:03 AM | Link to this
The Hawks will be fine if they get a point guard that can score and run the team. They also need a consistent low post threat. Someone has to stay in the paint and the team must look to get him the ball. We also must find a way to keep the tempo of the game at a faster pace. Run! Run! Run!. If this doesn’t happen Woodson must go.
By samjam
December 8, 2007 9:07 AM | Link to this
What’s an “NBA version of a nuclear war head”? What kind of stretched, warped analogy is that? Don’t make a bit of sense. How about “like the plague”, or “like Shawn Kemp paying child support”.
And instead of the “energy level of a deflated Spalding”, how about “energy potential”. Sounds more fitting. Or “energy level of a porch dog on valium”. That works, too.
Is the AJC sports dept hiring? I need a job and your position looks mighty cushy with painfully apparent job security.
By atmman
December 8, 2007 9:11 AM | Link to this
Terrence only stays at the ajc so that they have diversity!
By Pete
December 8, 2007 9:13 AM | Link to this
I actually have to agree. There are times where you think the players are trying to get Woodson ousted.
It is like the team is following 2 creeds “Playoffs and Get Woodson fired!”
There have been lots of false truth this season Speedy will be a factor and the Hawks will be a run and gun team under a micromanaging defensive minded coach.
By Adam
December 8, 2007 9:15 AM | Link to this
Wow Terence waited almost a quarter of the regular season to trash the Hawks… And, what has Conley done this season for the Grizz, get injured just like his OSU teammate.
Horford on the other hand is shooting over 50% from the field and pulling down 10 rebounds a game, plus as a rookie he has played every game and averaged over 30 minutes. He’s making an immediate contribution. Plus, Acie Law is doing more than Conley has already too!
The Hawks have improved. Josh is playing great defense and Joe Johnson is playing up to his All-Star calibre (great last second shot the other day too!)
We need to be excited about the Hawks. They have definitely improved; will they win a championship this year - no way. But, they are a good young team with great pieces in place and they’ve got a real shot at making the playoffs this year.
At least give them a chance Terence for crying out loud! Take a look at them in March, not in December!
By Issac
December 8, 2007 9:49 AM | Link to this
Terrance Moore’s comments are obviously outlandish. However, as long as you guys post comments to his articles, he will have job security and the AJC has no reason to fire him because he has READERS! Stop posting to his mess. I only found out about this from hawksquawk.net. I would NEVER go to the ajc and read this crap.
By JMF
December 8, 2007 10:08 AM | Link to this
TM, let’s acknowledge the fact that Williams or Paul would have been better picks than M. Williams. However, all of the draft experts said that M. Williams was the best pick. There were some who thought that Milwalkee should have drafted him first. I say all that to say let it go. Marvin is a good player with lots of upside. In that same draft Utah was slammed because they drafted D. Williams instead of Paul. Yes I would love to have D. Williams. On the other hand I certainly would not want to have Conley over Horford. Are you serious. Lets support this team. Lets write some encouraging articles. Lets quit taking pot shots at Marvin and write some encouragement. This is a great nucleus. Just for the record, Acie Law is a better point guard that Conley.
By JerryWest
December 8, 2007 10:31 AM | Link to this
Casual writer for casual fans
This guy follows the Hawks like a casual fan does and knows very little about what’s going on game to game or inside the games. He should stop writing about the Hawks. There is absolutely nothing new in this article. Some of it is just shallow.
This is the last time I’ll click this guy’s link
By SQUAWKER
December 8, 2007 11:07 AM | Link to this
why do i even read this clown??
terrance….YOU SUCK
By buckhead Benny
December 8, 2007 11:13 AM | Link to this
Terrance- Great Article. Great Point. I am glad you called out Woodson. He didn’t sound too sure whether his players were trying to get him fired. Terrance echoed a large sentiment that a lot of us Hawks fans have been writing in Sekou’s blog section.
It’s pretty clear that this team could do better with a more knowledgable coach that implemented more fundamental plays.
There are no plays- A sign of a bad coach is that when you call a timeout and you design a play and it never works. You can bet your a*s that he has a hard time understanding his teams strengths and weaknesses and more importantly the strengths and weaknesses of their opponent. Also, he seems to get outcoached during these timeouts.
By hocker
December 8, 2007 12:32 PM | Link to this
We sure didn’t need Chris Paul. I see he had 43 points and a million assists last night. We don’t anyone like that on this team, do we?
By Darrin "The Vent King"
December 8, 2007 1:58 PM | Link to this
I don’t what it is, but something IS missing from this Hawk’s squad. There’s NO consistency, no real set plays and with the athletes they have they could pick and roll people to death. They look lost on offense unless they’re running and gunning. The basketball IQ outside of Law and Horford seems to be lacking and they’re the rooks. Josh Smith freestyles too much, this team relies on Joe Johnson too much, Marvin and Childress seem to have to get theirs on their own too much when you could easily run set plays for either of them instead of having them force it so often. There’s no one thing they do consitently, you know NO identity. I agree, management is a mess and for that lawsuit situation to drag on this long, it convinces me that one owner has nothing but his own interest in mind and I don’t want him owning this team anyway. I really don’t think any real Hawks do and he should know this because if he really cared about this city and its b-ball team this would have been resolved for the fans sake. And from that it just trickles down to the entire orginization not being organizied and on the same page and the players actual play reflects this. It’s a shame the fans here have to suffer thru this as well as the players IMO. The Hawks need to get their ish straight, this has gone on for WAYYYYYYYYY too long.
By Joshua Bagriansky
December 8, 2007 2:37 PM | Link to this
How does the AJC allow this to be printed? Being negative about the Hawks is fine but Moore’s articles are always riddled with factual mistakes and repetitive Chris Paul comments. Please let someone else write about the Hawks. Actually no one at the AJC knows anything but Sekou, let him write these articles
By Ryder
December 8, 2007 3:14 PM | Link to this
I was wondering when the regulars on the Hawks blog (Astro Joe, HB Ando, and Darrin) were going to represent and set TM straight.
Woodson is still the problem. Say what you want about BK not taking Paul all you want, but the fact remains is that he has put together a squad that should still be able to at least be competitive on most nights.
The problem with Woodson is that he keeps trying to turn a team built for an up tempo style into a grind it out offense, hoping they can win the game by shutting the opposition down.
As for what Smith said, I don’t buy it. It’s been three years now Josh, spare us the emotion mess. You don’t hear the Spurs saying that kind of junk do you? Nor do I hear the Magic claiming the same thing, and their top players are just as young in Nelson and Howard.
No, they are a team who has no idea on what they are supposed to when they have the ball, just as TM stated. After 3 plus years that falls on the coach.
For one, Woodson needs to let Larry Drew call the offense while he focuses on defense. Stop burying talent like Salim and Solomon Jones on the bench and take advantage of the speed of this team. They have the kind of lineup that should be competitive against anyone, yet the chemistry on this team sucks.
By Cville Tech Fan
December 8, 2007 3:26 PM | Link to this
**I think the Hawks give us a reason to be positive. They’re only 2 games below .500 and in the East that might get you into the playoffs…..something Hawks fans would have never considered a possibility even last year. They’re a much improved team who does lack some toughness but they’re young and still learning how to win games. With the seasons these players have had with the Hawks that will be a big learning curve.
By Cville Tech Fan
December 8, 2007 3:27 PM | Link to this
I think the Hawks give us a reason to be positive. They’re only 2 games below .500 and in the East that might get you into the playoffs…..something Hawks fans would have never considered a possibility even last year. They’re a much improved team who does lack some toughness but they’re young and still learning how to win games. With the seasons these players have had with the Hawks that will be a big learning curve.
By b-man
December 8, 2007 4:04 PM | Link to this
Ryder, what are you thinking man? Did you just write “talent like salim and solomon jones”
come on bro…have you even been paying attention? Salim can shoot yes, but the guy has no handle. He’s well below 6 feet and still can’t dribble the ball. Any pressure at all and he’s a turnover waiting to happen. And he’d even be a defensive liability on a bad defensive team.
Solomon is still about 1,000 cheeseburgers away from where he needs to be.
By Ryder
December 8, 2007 4:51 PM | Link to this
b-man, thanks for making my case for me.
What’s one of Atlanta’s greatest problems? Guys who can’t shoot the 3 and stretch defenses. I never said have Salim play the point, but in an offense that passes that ball and can get it to the open man, Salim can at the very least hit a couple of treys and therefore ignite what can be a very stagnant offense at times.
Oh yes I forgot, Woodson doesn’t coach that way, so forget I ever mentioned that.
As for Solomon, he would be an upgrade over Mr. Candace Parker. Solomon is no different than when Andray Blatche started off with the Wizards, and at least he gets enough PT to contribute, therefore building confidence in his game. I watch him play often and that’s the kind of game Solomon could bring to the table if he had someone who gave him even so much as a few minutes to play.
By sooperman
December 8, 2007 7:49 PM | Link to this
Terrance, there you go again taking about Conley. Ask anybody who knows anything about basketball who was a better pick — Conley or Horford, they will say Horford. You are the only person stupid enough to pick Conley. Law has even played better than Conley. Please give up the man crush on Conley or move to Memphis. Then you can write about Conley all you want and spare us the nonsense in every article you write about the Hawks.
By borodawg
December 8, 2007 7:50 PM | Link to this
Tiger Woo, Moore does bring up race more often than any sports writer at the AJC. Today’s article is guilt by omission. By simply saying, “…if we’re drawing a pie chart of blame in this case, Woodson’s slice is smaller than the others’…”. If Woodson were another race, Moore would give him a much larger piece of the pie. I also agree with Jonathan Goldberg about Moore’s “…tendency to focus on individual games - and drawing big conclusions…” Astute observation sir. And, I thought I was reading comments from a Moore article when reading those left after Schultz wrote about Tech hiring Paul Johnson. LMAO.
By Juan
December 8, 2007 8:26 PM | Link to this
Terence, how about giving us an update on the “injury” of our made-of-glass point guard, Speedy Claxton? Will that bum ever decide to get on the court and play? Pretty pathetic when the MRI’s show no damage. This guy is milking it! Please bring attention to this sorry excuse for an athlete.
By new jersey faithful
December 8, 2007 11:36 PM | Link to this
Right on Juan, Speedy is a fraud!! The Hawks are paying him to much to sit around and nobody knows why. Maybe he is to stoned to play….
By AJ
December 9, 2007 1:59 AM | Link to this
Flava: Josh Smith wasn’t a lottery pick, but Terrance is right….the HAwks have 7 lottery picks on their roster: Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Marvin Williams, Acie Law, Sheldon Williams, Josh Childress and Lorenzen Wright