The Atlanta Journal-Constitution sat down with Hawks general manager Danny Ferry and coach Larry Drew on Friday and asked each the same three questions about the season as the team heads into the playoffs. Here are Drew’s answers.
Q: What was your biggest surprise about this season?
A: I would say the resilience in overcoming some of the situations we had to endure this season. At the start of the season with a lot of new faces, a lot of new bodies, there is always a question of how fast can the guys get it together. That was probably the biggest challenge of trying to get everybody on the same page. It's not an easy thing to do when you have that many new faces. But we did it. Then we were thrown another curveball in losing Lou (Williams) and then losing Zaza (Pachulia). Amidst everything we stayed resilient. We didn't play the blame game. We didn't feel sorry for ourselves. We hung in there. That is not easy to do, especially when you have that many new faces. Guys had the opportunity to put their heads between their legs and walk away, but they didn't. They stayed resilient throughout the season. Them doing that is why we are where we are right now.
Q: Is there one thing that you expected this season, that did not happen?
A: There is always that uncertainty when you bring in that many new faces and not knowing what you really had. In the past, we had a guy like Joe (Johnson), a guy we pretty much did everything through or a great deal of what we did went through him. Then he's gone. You start a new chapter. You don't know what you have. You don't know if what you have is going to come together, if it's going to work. I think the same thing with Danny coming on board. We didn't know each other. We had never been around each other. We had to feel each other out, which we are still doing. He didn't know me. I didn't know him. So there is all this newness that comes into effect and you don't know whether it's going to work or not. That leaves you a little uncertain, but I think if you dwell on the uncertainty, chances are things are not going to pull together.
Q: Not knowing what to expect coming into the season, was there a moment where you realized you would be successful?
A: I don't think there is one particular game, but I can remember games where we responded. I don't know if those games were the moment, but I do know the things that came out of those games I remember thinking we are capable. We are coming together. (I remember) the (win in) Oklahoma City game without Josh (Smith). I don't know what game it was after the (team-record worst loss to) Chicago, but we did respond. And then the Boston game when we were down 27 and came back. There have been moments where I've said to myself we are starting to get it. One thing I remind our team is that it's easy when things are going good. I want to see how they respond when things aren't going well, when we hit a dip in the road, when we are in those dog days. There have been games when I've expressed to my coaches that, you know what, we can be OK if we continue to play the way we are capable of playing. We'll always be a fun team to watch when we move and share the basketball. You can see that the guys enjoy it.
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