The following, a weekly feature of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, allows our reporters to open their notebooks and provide even more information from our local teams that we cover daily. We think you’ll find it informative, insightful and fun.
He looks good in red
Hawks coach Quin Snyder has been known as a bit of an NBA fashion icon. From his suits pre-NBA bubble to the all-black fits that now grace the Hawks’ sidelines, Snyder has drawn as much attention for his sense of style as for his elite basketball mind.
This season, Snyder’s eyewear has caught the attention of NBA commenters and viewers. Throughout the exhibition season, the Hawks coach has donned a pair of red spectacles that have begged the question of whether he chose them to fit with the team’s colors.
For Snyder, he just thought practically.
“I need them, and I’m not going to wear contacts. There’s a few options I guess you could have worn black, match the Hawks, and it’s easier for me to find them and not lose them. You know, I can get a list for you.”
Falcons’ Drake London looking for lunch from Hawks’ Onyeka Okongwu
Falcons wide receiver Drake London and Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu played together on USC’s basketball team in 2019.
London, who averaged 29.2 points per game in high school, played in three games that season before sticking to football. Okongwu was drafted sixth overall by the Hawks in 2020. He recently signed a four-year, $62 million contract.
“Dude, he better,” said London, when asked if the Big O had taken him out to lunch yet. “If you see the Big O let him know I need something. I need a 10-day (contract). A nice dinner. I need all of that.”
Falcons don’t want to get ‘thrown out of the club’ by Derrick Henry
The Falcons plan to gang-tackle Titans running back Derrick Henry on Sunday.
But if they find themselves in a one-on-one situation, they don’t want to be a victim of one of Henry’s mean stiff-arms.
“Yeah, go low,” Falcons assistant head coach/defense Jerry Gray said. “Get up underneath it. I’m telling you, we’ve seen him throw a lot of guys out the club.”
Henry’s tossing of then Buffalo cornerback Josh Norman back in 2020 went viral on the internet. “DERRICK HENRY JUST THREW JOSH NORMAN OUT OF THE CLUB,” was the meme.
Henry, who is a three-time Pro Bowler, runs with authority.
“You don’t want to be on the tape doing that,” Gray said. “He’s a big, strong, powerful man. You’re talking about a guy who’s 6-foot-3, about 245, 250 (pounds) coming at you and you’re standing still, and it’s almost unfair.”
Linebacker Kaden Elliss and safety Jessie Bates III are tied for the team lead with 45 tackles.
“We have to be ready to roll,” Elliss said. “Obviously, he’s had a lot of success in this league. He’s powerful. He’s big. He’s fast. He’s just a talented player.”
Bates also is a proponent of gang-tackling Henry.
“Anytime you play against a premier back like that, you have to contain him on every level,” Bates said. “The thing with him is that he’s a little bit bigger than a lot these other guys. Along with getting to the ball, we’ve got to gang tackle this guy and continue to punch at the ball like we’ve been doing to the other running backs.”
The Falcons don’t plan to put together a film on Henry stiff-arming players.
“I think all I guys know that, and they’ve seen that,” Gray said. “It even happened again this year already. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of that stiff arm.”
Will Arthur Smith, Mike Vrabel do vest swap?
It has become popular for players to sign and exchange jerseys after NFL games.
Falcons coach Arthur Smith had some fun with the notion of him and Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel swapping vests after the game Sunday, when the Falcons (4-3) face the Titans (2-4) at 1 p.m. at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
Smith was with the Titans from 2011-20. Vrabel was named their head coach in 2018.
“Look, we talk a lot,” Smith said. “I haven’t talked to him (this week). Wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to hit me about a vest switch or something like that. That’s what we are going to do? A vest swap. I’ll be waiting for Vrabes to hit me up on that.”
Smith also had some fun with Tennessee running back Derrick Henry, who said he wasn’t sure if he liked Smith’s mustache.
“I’ve got to talk to him about his new hairstyle, too,” Smith said. “I’m not sure if I like his new hairstyle. We’ll talk about that postgame after Vrabes and I do the vest swap.”
Vrabel had his own take on Smith and a vest swap. He told Atlanta media on Thursday that they could do a swap “as long as he gets rid of that miserable mustache.”
Tickets for Atlanta Vibe on sale
Tickets for the Atlanta Vibe volleyball team are on sale, the team announced this week.
The Vibe will play 12 regular-season matches at Gas South Arena in Duluth, beginning in January in their inaugural season in the Pro Volleyball Federation.
“(This) is about more than tickets going on sale, but about the building excitement around the inaugural season,” Vibe majority investor Colleen Craig said in a statement. “During our soft ticket release, we have seen that pro volleyball resonates with families and groups, including girl dads, families, players, and Atlanta sports fans alike. We took the time to create a price point for everyone to watch and enjoy the Vibe all season.”
Tickets are available at the team’s website: https://atlantavibe.com/tickets/.
Easy remaining schedule
The Falcons have the easiest remaining schedule in the NFL, according to Tankathon. Their opponents have a .348 winning percentage, significantly lower than the second-easiest schedule (Lions, .388).
None of the Falcons’ remaining opponents have a winning record. Only the Buccaneers and Jets, both 3-3, are even at .500. It remains to be seen how good the first-place Falcons are, but they have the chance to benefit greatly from a weaker on-paper slate.
Roster of young players
“We have a lot of young guys; even our old guys are young guys,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. He’s right: The Hawks have only three players above age 30, and Bogdan Bogdanovic (31) is the only one expected to play a major role.
All-Star guard Trae Young is 25, but this will be his sixth season. Even the newly extended Onyeka Okongwu, 22, has three seasons under his belt.
NL East still rules
The Diamondbacks eliminated the Phillies on Tuesday, ensuring the National League’s World Series representative didn’t come from the East division for the fourth time in five years. Still, the NL East – which the Braves have won for six consecutive years – remains somewhat underappreciated.
The East produced three playoff teams (Braves, Phillies, Marlins) for the second consecutive year. It’s the only division in which every team has made the World Series since 2000. Four of its five members have won a title in the past 20 years. The one that hasn’t, the Mets, seem like they’ll continue spending historic money until they break through.
While the American League East typically is cited as baseball’s best division, the NL East has been among the more competitive despite the Braves’ string of division titles.
Georgia Tech loaded with pros
Damon Stoudamire spent more than a dozen seasons in the NBA. Bonzi Wells played in the league for a decade. Nate Babcock worked in the NBA’s G League for nearly 10 years before coming to Atlanta.
That trio has been united at Georgia Tech, where Stoudamire is in his first year as coach, and Wells and Babcock are two of his assistants. Their knowledge of what it takes to make, and succeed at, the next level is a big selling point for the Tech program.
“As we know, I went through the (NBA) draft process, so just talking to (Stoudamire) throughout the whole thing, like it was a no-brainer coming back,” Tech guard Miles Kelly said at the ACC Tipoff media event this week. “To be able to learn from a guy like (Stoudamire), of that caliber, and also a guy like (Wells), guys like Nate Babcock who has been around the NBA, you get the best of both worlds just coming back here.
“It was a no-brainer coming back and just being able to learn from those guys, pick their brains on the next level and what they think I should be doing to get to the next level.”
Stoudamire’s long playing career in the NBA coupled with his most recent position as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics also makes it commonplace for former NBA stars to drop by a practice here or there. Earlier this month, NBA veteran Rasheed Wallace was hanging out at McCamish Pavilion.
“They’re there all the time,” Tech guard Lance Terry said of the continual cameos from pros. “It’s just great to hear from them every day. I pick their brain a lot, just get their wisdom. It’s great just to learn from them.”
Getting to play at the professional level generally is the goal for most college basketball players. It’s no different for the Yellow Jackets, who now play for a coach who knows what it takes to make that next step – and a coach who won’t sugarcoat the process.
“Most pros, they already have a great feel for the game, they already know who they are as players, they’re getting paid,” Stoudamire said. “They tend to be more willing to get critiqued, to get better as opposed to having a guard up. It’s all about getting better, it’s all about the process. That’s the biggest thing.”
-Staff writers Lauren Williams, Gabriel Burns, Chad Bishop and D. Orlando Ledbetter contributed to this report.
