The Hawks’ decision to start training camp on the road was as much to instill a philosophy as to install a playbook.
The team concluded a three-day, five-practice stint on the campus of the University of Georgia on Thursday. Coach Mike Budenholzer called the trip a success.
“It’s been a great camp,” Budenholzer said. “I really feel good about what we did up here, putting in the foundation defensively, making that a priority, implementing the beginnings of the offense. I think we put in the seeds of playing unselfishly, playing with discipline, individual effort.
“Hopefully we did a good balance of both. The priority was to create a competitive environment and create a competitive tone. At the same time, you have to start putting in your system and offensively and defensively creating a vision of what we are going to be doing. That is the challenge of any coach of walking that balance of creating a competitive camp and also teaching.”
Budenholzer, who praised the accommodations and staff at the Coliseum Training Facility, said it is too early to say whether the team will make a similar trip next season.
The Hawks did not practice Friday. They will hold an open practice, free to the public, Saturday at Philips Arena. Doors open at 4 p.m. for the event that starts an hour later.
Fans won’t see the team go through drills. The primary purpose of the event is to scrimmage, giving those in attendance an early look at player combination and rotations.
Budenholzer said the players would warm up and then take to the court in a game.
“It’s always a little different with the public is watching, but we want to encourage (the players) that it is a night where we get better, where we improve,” Budenholzer said. “We are going to be working on the defense, working on the offense and taking it almost as if it was a practice or scrimmage — be it here at Georgia or at our (practice) facility in Atlanta. We want to get a lot out of it.”
The Hawks will practice Sunday and then depart for Miami, where they will open the exhibition season with a game against the Heat on Monday. The game will be followed by an exhibition against the Bobcats in Asheville, N.C., on Tuesday.
