An hour before a recent Hawks practice, Willie Green already had sweated through half his T-shirt.
The guard put up shot after shot in an otherwise empty NBA arena. Sixty minutes later, when Green’s teammates arrived, the shirt was completely soaked. After a change to a fresh practice jersey, Green went through another hour of practice.
“Sometimes when you are not playing as many minutes as you are accustomed to playing, I think that you have to do other things to continue to stay sharp,” Green said of the session. “Even though I have experience in the NBA, my experience has told me that your number is going to be called and you need to be ready.
“I’m always the guy who loves to get into the gym and work on my game and try to get better. That’s all it was.”
The Hawks signed Green in December during the league’s ultra-condensed free-agent period that followed the lockout. In searching for a replacement for Jamal Crawford, the Hawks saw Green was an effective scorer who would strengthen the team’s bench with his defense and toughness.
Neither general manager Rick Sund nor coach Larry Drew thought the team had a chance to sign Green. His services would be wanted by several other teams, including the Hornets, for whom he played last season. Having days, not months, to fill out rosters helped the Hawks in their pursuit.
“We’ve always liked Willie,” Sund said. “Willie’s been on our radar screen since I’ve been here because he has the capability to start and not hurt you, he has the capability to come off the bench and help you. He’s a little bit like Jamal in [that] he scores in bunches. He has range, and he has a mentality that we like.”
For Drew, strengthening the bench was job No. 1. Along with Green, the Hawks added Tracy McGrady, Jerry Stackhouse, Vladimir Radmanovic, Ivan Johnson and Jannero Pargo. That was part of making the Hawks a “tougher” team.
“You lose a guy like Jamal, who is instant offense, and here you get a guy who is very similar,” Drew said. “Maybe he doesn’t [shoot] as much as Jamal or as quickly as Jamal, but he is just as efficient and a little more defensive-minded. I was ecstatic that we had an opportunity to get him. ... We did our homework on him, and I thought it would be a perfect marriage for him to come to our team. He’s just what the doctor ordered.”
Green said he chose the Hawks because they had success the past four seasons, they offered him a chance to contribute and he was familiar with assistants Bob Bender and Lester Conner.
Green has appeared in all 25 games this season, all off the bench, and has averaged 6.6 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 15.8 minutes. Green scored 12 of his 14 points in Monday’s 99-90 loss to the Suns in the fourth quarter as the Hawks made a late run. It was the eighth time this season that Green scored in double figures. He is tied for 23rd in the NBA in three-point percentage.
“I’m a rhythm basketball player,” Green said. “If I get in a rhythm, I can score a bunch of points in a row real quick. I might cool down for a minute and then do it again.”
The Hawks’ bench has been a strength this season — especially with the loss of Al Horford. It’s a group that Green calls “one of the deepest I’ve played with.”
“I don’t think people understand how hard it is to be accurate and to be precise when you are only given a window of opportunity to come in and play,” Green said. “You can’t make a lot of mistakes coming off the bench. You have to come in, and your focus has to be on executing, making good plays and being aggressive and really be as accurate as you can within that time period. That’s a lot of pressure. That’s not easy to do.”
Green has found a home giving the Hawks a spark on offense, making up much of Crawford’s 14.2 points per game last season. Such contributions have not been lost on coaches and teammates.
“He wasn’t a guy to come in this league as a starter,” Stackhouse said. “He was a guy who worked his way up. I think he does an excellent job of keeping himself ready, making sure he gets his work in when he is not getting a lot of minutes. He comes in before practice. He stays after practice.
"That is just the sign of a consummate pro who knows whenever his number is called he has [be ready].”
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