More national exposure for Hawks next season

By SEKOU SMITH

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Everything has happened the way Hawks coach Mike Woodson expected, even if it hasn’t happened as quickly as he planned.

The early struggles were followed by moderate success, then a breakthrough effort to make the playoffs two seasons ago and then a full-blown assault on the Eastern Conference standings last season, resulting in a trip to the second round of the playoffs.

Tuesday afternoon ushered in the next phase for Woodson — validation.

The Hawks have seven nationally televised games on their regular-season schedule this season, five more than in Woodson’s first five years combined and equal to the amount the franchise has had the past 11 seasons.

“This is a testament to our players and the work they’ve put in,” said Woodson, who is heading into his sixth season on the job. “When you turn things around and stick to your plan, good things happen. I think we’re seeing the rewards of all our hard work.”

The Hawks open the season at home Oct. 28 against Indiana, followed by a home game two days later against Washington. They’ll hit the road for a Nov. 1 game against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center, followed by road games at Portland (Nov. 3), Sacramento (Nov. 4) and Charlotte (Nov. 6).

The Hawks will play six games on ESPN and one on TNT. The first nationally televised game is Nov. 13 in Boston, on ESPN. They’ll host Southeast Division rival and Eastern Conference champion Orlando on TNT on Thanksgiving night (Nov. 26).

The other ESPN games include the Jan. 8 rematch against the Celtics at Philips Arena, a Feb. 5 home game against Chicago, a Feb. 21 game at Golden State, a Feb. 26 home game against Dallas and an April 2 game in Cleveland.

“The first four years we were here, we couldn’t have bought our way onto the air,” Woodson said and then laughed. “But since we’ve made the playoffs in each of the past two seasons you could sense things were turning around for us, and this is huge. This is a huge turnaround and one that I think goes right along with all the strides we’ve made as a team and franchise.”

As much as he likes seeing his team’s profile rise, Woodson said nothing would change in terms of their motivation.

The same “nobody believes in us but us” mantra that fueled their rise from a league worst 13-69 record in his first season to 47 wins and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs last season remains.

“We’ve still got a long way to go,” Woodson said. “We were able to make some progress towards our goals last year, but we didn’t do everything that we set out to do. When we limped to the finish in that Cleveland series, we knew that we didn’t get to end things on our own terms. We went into summer clear about what our goals would be going forward.”

The Hawks have already signed free agents Mike Bibby and Zaza Pachulia to new deals. They also traded for veteran guard Jamal Crawford on draft day and selected another point guard, Jeff Teague, with the 19th pick in the draft. And they’re close to finishing off a new deal for starting small forward Marvin Williams, who is a restricted free agent this summer.

“We’ve still got some work to do,” Woodson said of the Hawks’ need to add at least another veteran big man to their mix in time for training camp. “And we’ve got some time left to see what works best for us and what we’re trying to do.”

A look at some highlights of the schedule:

Going long early

The Hawks kick off their first Western Conference swing of the season in style, taking on Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest and the defending NBA champion Lakers at Staples Center on Nov. 1. Road games in Portland (Nov. 3) and Sacramento (Nov. 4) round out this quick trip to the coast.

Rivalry on the tube

The schedule-makers knew what they were doing when they paired the Hawks against the Celtics — their playoffs and regular-season nemesis of the past two seasons — to kick off the Hawks’ slate of nationally televised games. The first is Nov. 13, and the second is Jan. 8, both on ESPN. The Hawks haven’t beaten the Celtics since the 2008 playoffs.

Home for the holiday

Atlanta native Dwight Howard can have a holiday dinner in his hometown when the defending Eastern Conference champs, the Orlando Magic, come to town for a Thanksgiving game. Hawks fans should hope and pray that Howard feasts on something other than the Hawks’ frontcourt that night.

LeBron and Shaq

LeBron James and his new bodyguard, the world’s biggest sidekick (aka Shaquille O’Neal) will get a chance to wrestle with the Hawks on back-to-back nights. They’ll play in Atlanta on Dec. 29 and in Cleveland the next night.