Vesper

Hawks' star guard prods management to make big trade By SEKOU SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 10/31/07 Article

All of this info is incorrect!

I've Got last years picture of Vera in my workout room! Got, to slim up!!!!!

nice

Aren't there other young restricted free agents we can go after next year also? Smoove won't be the only one available next year. Teams with cap space will have a few players to bid on!

Thanks for the news! I'm glad I checked the site before going home.

Link What’s going on? By Sekou K Smith | Tuesday, October 16, 2007, 03:47 PM The Atlanta Journal-Constitution I spent part of this morning at the Hawks’ shootaround practice (not a regular stop for me on home games but a must on road trips) and I realized that for all the questions we have about this team, the players have just as many, if not more. NBA training camp is often portrayed as just the meaningless month before the real games begin. But in actuality, there always seems to be a ton of drama that has to play itself out before the start of the season if a team is going to reach its full potential. To date, the Hawks are still trying to: * Find the right fit at point guard (injuries to everyone but Anthony Johnson has prevented anything from being resolved). * Determine what the best combination will be in the post (for a team with undersized players at nearly every frontcourt position, the right mix at the 4 and 5 are can be the most crucial decision made, outside of who runs the point). * Come up with a happy medium between the up-tempo style they prefer and the half court style opponents will try to force on them (if you don’t believe the league is worried about the Hawks playing a frantic style just watch how many teams try and zone them out of it). The answers are hard to come by right now. Nothing seems settled. I’m no more convinced today than I was Oct. 1 that the point guard situation was in the proper hands. My eye-witness knowledge of the toll a first season can take on a rookie keeps telling me that Al Horford and Acie Law IV need to be eased into things rather than being forced into untenable positions. Yet everything I see from both guys makes me think waiting is only delaying the inevitable. And knowing that the keys to the Hawks being able to run at will this season are based largely on the consistency they get at point guard and center, it’s clear that no one knows what’s really going on with this team. Maybe I’m over thinking all this, worrying too much about things that have a way of working out naturally - I have been known to overreact you know. Remember those salvos fired off the first two weeks of the college football season? But my gut tells me this team is still as uncertain of itself as I am of what they are and what they’ll become this season. It certainly hasn’t deterred them from working like crazy (this training camp remains the most intense I’ve seen from the Hawks). But we won’t know the true measure of the competitive nature of this crew until the meaningless month comes to an end. For the Hawks’ sake, you just hope that’s not too late.

Point guard keeps having to prove skill By SEKOU SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 10/13/07 Article

You must have been over by the Bobcat fans. I was sitting to the left of you!

I think he is moving up and will the President of the Braves

Woodson made the kids play at the end! What happened to Marvin?

Some of you guys should join!

By Sekou K Smith | Monday, October 8, 2007, 02:43 PM The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Article

Do you guys think the players were just tired from practice this week?

Article By SEKOU SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 10/06/07 The first official nickname of training camp has been handed out to rookie free agent and former Georgia Tech star Mario West, better known these days as "Rio" or "Truck." You can hear his nickname being called relentlessly during practice drills because his energy is unmatched. RELATED STORIES * Southeast contenders, pretenders * Stoudamire hopes fresh outlook will lead to better play * First name honors go to 'Rio' More Hawks coverage The fact that he's fighting for the Hawks' lone open roster spot might explain his performance. The Hawks knew what they were getting with West, who displayed the same kind of non-stop aggression during his summer-league stint with the team. "It's just a blessing to be here," West said after Friday's practice, which ended with the second scrimmage of training camp. "Me being from this area [Douglasville] and watching this team growing up, all I can do is come in here every single day and give all I've got." West remains a long shot for that final roster spot. The Hawks have 14 guaranteed contracts, and leaving that final spot open allows them more flexibility to attempt to make a trade between now and the February trade deadline. That said, the former Tech captain is going to be hard to ignore. And there are benefits to having a brick-wall type on your roster when you want to keep the atmosphere during practice at a fever pitch. After all, they nicknamed him "Truck" because, "If he doesn't jump over you, he'll run over you," Hawks veteran point guard Tyronn Lue said.

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Free Hawks Tickets

It is exciting when you notice how deep the Hawks can be this season. We should always outscore the other teams bench!

I re-posted it! How do you delete post?

Article By Sekou K Smith | Thursday, October 4, 2007, 03:32 PM

Article By SEKOU SMITH

Article By Sekou K Smith

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Fresh start By Sekou K Smith | Wednesday, October 3, 2007, 02:37 PM The Atlanta Journal-Constitution If you want to chalk Tuesday’s late-practice sluggishness up to the first day of camp doldrums go ahead, because the Hawks looked like a totally different crew during Wednesday’s session. And even when they did seem to lose steam for a brief stretch, assistant coach David Fizdale stopped them and gathered everyone around to remind them that they “started off with the intensity here [holding his hand above his head] and now you’re down here. You’ve got to crank it back up fellas.” They did exactly that on the very next trip up and down the floor. At this stage of the game all you have go on is what they look like each and every minute you have to watch them. All of us sideline observers (there were just three of us today, Steve Smith, Steve Holman and Blog Z) are watching. We’re trying to pay specific attention to their intensity, the collective energy level and see if it matches what they’ll need to start the season with one of the most challenging schedules in the league. So I’m willing to give them a fresh start now after having some serious reservations about their readiness after Tuesday’s camp opener. Some other notes, quotes and an opinion or two: Both Salim Stoudamire and Shelden Williams were back on the floor Wednesday and both looked like they eased into the flow of things rather well. I snuck into practice a few minutes early today just to see who was in and out of the action with injuries and Tyronn Lue was the only guy on the sideline. He did some stretching with the training staff and had an ice pack on his right knee after that but it’s nothing to worry about, he said. Lue is still working his way back into game condition after knee surgery. He’s working to be ready in time for the start of the regular season and will slowly work his way through training camp. I don’t know if it means anything yet or not, but Al Horford’s quickness with either hand around the basket could make him an extremely intriguing offensive option in the Hawks’ half court set. He far more skilled than I thought he was watching him at Florida (granted I didn’t watch him regularly there). And he shoots it well facing the basket, too. Everybody on the sideline is watching Acie Law and the consensus is that the rookie point guard is going to be hard to keep off the floor if he continues to show as well as he has thus far. His ability to get to the basket in transition is going to make him the most effective option at the point, if he doesn’t struggle with the transition too much once the regular season lights come on. The Hawks have the luxury of not rushing him, though, thanks to their abundance of depth at the position. “Solomon Jones might be the longest man on the planet,” was the phrase someone muttered when he took off from the 3-point line (or somewhere near there) for a dunk during one drill. He certainly looks comfortable getting up and down the floor. And he’s showing much better here than he did during his stint in summer league play in July. His confidence appears to be soaring right now. Another conversation hatched during practice revolved around the idea that the Hawks, for the first time in at least three years, will have a full-fledged second unit. We’re just not sure who those five guys will be. You figure Al Horford, Shelden Williams, Josh Childress and a backcourt tandem of Acie Law and perhaps Tyronn Lue or Anthony Johnson. But that second five is certainly going to be fluid at this point. But it’s certainly a topic worthy of debate.

I think it's just the whole mindset of owning pitbulls.(I think Pitbull owners are trying to supplement for something they are lacking) I just got through watching season one of "Dexter" and this guy could have been doing much worse than feeding cats to his dogs!