DEL.ICIO.USSolomon Jones opens Hawks camp with statement
Third-year player bulks up, adds 25 pounds during summer workouts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, October 02, 2008
New and improved, that’s the way Solomon Jones wanted to be viewed when Hawks training camp began three days ago.
After wrapping up an eye-opening performance during the team’s first scrimmage of camp Thursday, consider that mission accomplished.
Joey Ivansco / jivansco@ajc.com
Al Horford gives teammate Solomon Jones a hug during a Hawks game last season.
Jones is wearing an extra 25 pounds like a new suit. His last move of Thursday’s scrimmage was a wicked spin move that was followed by swished turnaround jumper over Randolph Morris that ended the workout.
The session was highlighted by the improvement Jones has made since most watched him last.
“Solo has put in some serious work and now he’s just showing off now,” Josh Smith said and then laughed. “I’m proud of him, though. He was on fire out there and has been all summer. So he’s earned the right to show it all off.”
Jones, who now carries 245 pounds on his 6-foot-10 frame, didn’t do it to show off. This was a work assignment for the third-year center/power forward with eyes on an increased role.
If he keeps up with the showcase efforts, more playing time won’t be a problem.
“Picking up this extra weight has allowed me to play more physical, to bang and to play with a lot of confidence on both ends of the floor,” Jones said. “I’ve always been confident in what I could do but now I feel like I have the strength to do it consistently.
“The past two years I was so tentative and hesitant at the same time. I’d catch the ball in positions to do things and would hesitate instead of playing the way I know how to play. Playing my role was the only thing on my mind and I think that got me out of my comfort zone and into the trap of being hesitant and really tentative all the time.”
Tired of waiting for an opportunity to fall into his lap, Jones decided to take a more proactive approach this summer. He opted not to play on the Hawks’ summer league team so he could work the weights and his game at his own pace.
The immediate results are hard to miss. Jones is much more decisive on the offensive end and has shown a nice touch on his shot. One of his other impressive plays Thursday was a baseline jumper over Al Horford’s outstretched hand.
“I think he and Josh both would have to rank at the top in terms of the guys that have come back the most improved,” Horford said. “We always knew Solo was athletic and stuff. But now that he’s figuring it out in the post, and if we can have another guy that we can trust in the post and a guy that can play our style and get up and down the floor, that just makes us that much better as a team.”
Hawks coach Mike Woodson is counting on it. After using Jones sparingly the past two seasons — he played just 4.1 minutes per game last season — Woodson expects to use Jones in a more prominent role going forward.
“He looks like a different player,” Woodson said. “When I look at his physicality and his body, he’s picked up a little weight and he’s not as flimsy as he was the last two years. It used to be somebody would hit him and he’d be all over the place. Now he has to continue to build on that.
“But he’s practicing well. I thought his play in the summer during pickup ball he was playing pretty well. It’s been a nice carryover for him into camp. He just has to continue to build, because Solo is the kind of guy we need with the way we want to play, up and down and everything.”
Jones wants all that and more, but he plans on working for every bit of it.
“I don’t want anybody to give me anything,” Jones said. “I’m going to earn what I want. What [Woodson] sees out here, if I’m earning it, I think he’ll definitely provide the opportunity for me to get out on the floor and contribute for my team.”
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