lethalweapon3

How does one say "Palate Cleanser" en Espanol? ~lwtres

I'll edit it, but get rid of the "?s=20" appendage on the weblink before pasting it here. (EDIT) and now I've got "In Between The Xeets" by the Isley Bros stuck in between my ears. ~lw3

Hawks GameNotes has Trae's next 20-10+ point-assist combo tying the franchise's 1950 first-rounder, Bob Cousy, for 15th all-time. Since the H2H series got knotted up at 60 apiece, Atlanta has won 9 of the past 11 meetings. Getting last year's season-series done early, these teams haven't played since last December in Atlanta, the Hawks persevered after a late rally (Fultz layup with 4 seconds left took the lead after being down 11 with three minutes left; Dejounte fouled by Paolo on Trae's inbounds, made both FTs) to win 126-125 and end the Magic's six-game winning streak. https://www.nba.com/gamenotes/hawks.pdf ~lw3

You wear it… well! Just when he thought he was out, Gustavo Ayon was back in! Before we had The Moose, here in Atlanta, we had The Goose. At least that’s how we all hailed Ayon here in The States. But our neighbors to the south have a more endearing name for him: Titan. And he suited back up to play! Move over, Vince. Gustavo said he got one more in him! Over in the Pacific Coast basketball league (CIBACOPA), which runs briefly from March to June, Ayon showed up to play last April for Venados (basically The Bucks, or The Stags, if you prefer) of Mazatlan. He had previously done his retirement tour in August 2022 while playing in Puerto Rico, but the urge to play again before fans from his home country was too compelling. I haven’t seen evidence that the 38-year-old won’t pop back in at the CIBACOPA for another run next spring, and I am sure he’d be warmly welcomed at any time. Gustavo once thought he was warmly received by the Orlando Magic, a free agent pickup during the offseason following The Dwightmare in 2013. Right after the All-Star Break, he had just finished a back-to-back and was on the team flight preparing to take off from Dallas to Memphis. He must have been curious why, ten days earlier, he got a starter’s bump in playing time alongside Nikola Vucevic – 31 bench minutes, three more than the sharp-shooting Magic mainstay J.J. Redick – but then reverted to just a dribble or two over the next several games. He got his answer with a tap on the shoulder. Put your chair back in the upright position, get your grip and de-plane. You and J.J. are being re-routed to Milwaukee’s Venados in a trade. Hop back on the bus, Gus. No need to discuss much. “I felt an immense joy that I cannot explain to you with words,” Ayon told Spanish site Diario AS last April about first signing with the N’Awlins Hornets in 2011, looking back on his career during what was supposed to be his retirement. “The NBA is wonderful. Four teams in three years. But I didn’t want to tour the NBA from team to team.” “Maybe you play with one team and you don’t play with another. It was an uncertainty. An emotional and sports instability. I didn’t want that.” Ayon then insisted, “I could’ve been in the NBA for 15 years…” And, frankly, when peering at guys like Mike Muscala milling about, who am I to retort? “…but what I wanted was to play basketball. I had to be taken off the plane once because of a trade.” Hitting free agency once more in 2013, Ayon signed with the Hawks, just as Atlanta was entering the brave new Budferry phase. Here, the newest MVP from the FIBA Americas tourney would get to watch another Latin American star, Al Horford, work his way back into All-Star form. Coach Bud preferring to play the stretchy Pero Antic and veteran Elton Brand was certainly understandable. At least, once his preseason shoulder injury healed, Ayon knew he’d collect more frontcourt minutes than the rookie second-rounder Muscala. Then Horf tore teta número dos. And then Pero got hurt, too. Next thing you know, Ayon was starting, and Hawks fans quickly grew enamored with the Goose. On the last game before the 2014 Break, during an otherwise forgettable Hawks loss in Toronto, Ayon was the standout, putting up 18 points on 11 shots, plus 10 boards and 3 assists. He was well on his way to exceeding the 24 starts he logged as a Pelicans rookie, when he tore that same shoulder mere minutes into the first game after the Break versus Indiana. The Hawks, once Antic returned, would make their late run to the playoffs and wage their near-upset of the Pacers without Ayon on the floor. Would it have to be five NBA teams in four years? Ayon decided to take the NBA out of the equation entirely. And that decision proved immensely helpful for Euro-power Real Madrid. The Spanish side would win its first Euroleague title in a decade in 2015, and again with Ayon in 2018. His elevated profile on that continent propelled interest in hoops back home, in Mexico. Ayon helped Mexico earn its first FIBA World Cup appearance in 2014, and the Mexican National Team made the pool again this past summer. Ayon found his basketball home away from home, with Real reaching the ACB Spanish League finals in five seasons from 2015 to 2019, winning four of them. Pairing up for a while with wunderkind Luka Doncic didn’t hurt matters at all. While Doncic’s ascension has NBA scouts scouring the Balkans for all kids named Luka or with surnames ending in -ic and a nice crossover, Ayon remains the next-to-last Mexico native (the country, T-Lue, not the town) to tipoff in an NBA game. Jorge Gutierrez started playing point guard in the NBA the same season Ayon’s ended, and his NBA career wrapped up with the Hornets of Charlotte in 2016. The league has come a long way with international scouting since the pioneering late Hawks GM Marty Blake selected Manuel “The Flying Mexican” Raga in the 1970 Draft’s tenth round. But Mexico, sadly, has not had a pool of talented blue-chippers from which the world’s premier men’s basketball league, based in North America, could draw. Ayon was preceded by Eduardo Najera (12 NBA years), and Najera by Horacio Llamas (2 NBA years), and that’s about it, after Gutierrez. The league has had players with Mexican roots (i.e., a parent or two from there who moved here before they were born) who wound up following more traditional routes into the league, exemplified in the current day by Miami’s Jaime Jaquez and Juan Toscano-Anderson, the Oakland-raised ex-Warrior who now headlines Capitanes de Ciudad de Mexico as they embark upon their third season in the NBA G-League. The NBA commissioners tout the prospects of CDMX as a potential expansion candidate as part of their routine PR strategy, bolstering their effort to keep the NBA feeling more like an International Basketball Association and not simply because of Canada. After all, the latter country, three decades removed from welcoming the league into their living rooms in Vancouver and Toronto, is finally seeing the dividends on NBA, NCAA, and FIBA floors. The possibility is near-unfathomable to navigate CDMX (700 miles as the crow flies from its nearest NBA city, San Antonio, and if Denver’s “5280” seems imposing at times, try “7349” on, for size) as a 30-something-th franchise in this league. Yet the truer intention by the NBA is to maintain a foothold in this country as a carrot, to peel some of the nation’s more athletic talents away from soccer, and to enhance its meager developmental programs, so the next Gustavo Ayons won’t need to consider crossing borders to find pro scouts eager to watch them play. In the meantime, NBA teams like the Hawks and Magic stopping by once a year for a quick skirmish will do just fine (9:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBATV). Both squads check in at 4-3 on the season, but you’ll find 4-3 means different things to different people. Despite having scored just 36 second-half points in dropping their last game, at home versus Dallas, you won’t have a hard time finding a prognosticator who wants everyone to know they were among the first to declare that Orlando (one winning season, and two first-round playoff appearances since the Dwightmare ended in 2012) has, at long last, turned the proverbial corner for good. Some have Orlando pegged as the fifth, or sixth seed in the East by next April, below the usual suspects. Going 10-9 in the first games after last season’s All-Star Break (same record as the Hawks) was influential, as gunning for a third-straight season near the top of the lottery-odds table was of little incentive for head coach Jamahl Mosley and his staff. The most noticeable sea-change near the close of last season was a heightened commitment to the defensive end (2nd in D-Reb%, 7th in D-Rating during that stretch), leaning on guard Jalen Suggs and ATL-raised center Wendell Carter to lead that charge. The continuity has extended into this season thus far (105.6 D-Rating, 4th in NBA; 73.9 D-Reb%, 5th in NBA; 11.0 opponent fastbreak points per-48, 2nd-fewest in NBA). Getting stops allows the Magic to serve up high doses of its young stars, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero, at the other end. The team’s sole reliable perimeter shooters, sixth-man Cole Anthony and rookie Anthony Black (filling in at starter for the injured Markelle Fultz), are threatening to earn fulltime spots on the top line. Holding teams like the Hawks back for long stretches will be a challenge, specifically as Carter undergoes hand surgery, Fultz (left knee swelling that long cross-continent flights do not help; tore ACL in same knee in 2021) is questionable to play, and Gary Harris (strained groin) remains on the shelf. Offensive execution will certainly need to be better than the Hawks displayed in Monday’s 126-117 loss at OKC. A larger issue than the mindless Trae-overs was the lack of transitional resistance by the team, after missed shots, that seemed to have its mind on its travel itinerary, before a spirited fourth-quarter effort spearheaded by Young, Dejounte Murray and Onyeka Okongwu (9 rebounds by himself in the fourth) closed the gap to five points with two minutes left. The Magic are not much of a run-and-gun club, but they will spread the floor in halfcourt for cuts and drives designed for Paolo and The Wagner Boys. Orlando (5th in team O-Reb%) will then crash the boards, but a failed collection to catch the carom, unlike Atlanta (3rd in O-Reb%; 1.15 opponent transition points-per-possession, 6th-worst in NBA) in OKC, doesn’t lead to easy runouts toward the other basket. Murray and De’Andre Hunter will need to quarterback the get-back defense with greater fervor throughout the game, such that Trae and Bogi Bogdanovic aren’t repeatedly stuck out on Cozumel island. With Miami already awaiting the Hawks’ arrival back in Atlanta for a game on Saturday, the Hawks can ill-afford slippage to carry over. Meanwhile, the playoff-starved Magic wants to get the head-to-heads with their playoff-inured division rivals off to a great start. I can only assume The Goose will take a gander at these former clubs, live, down at Arena CDMX. The victor in this Mexico City Game is likely to be the one most inspired, by his presence, to “Titan Up.” Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

This CBC Toronto article covered SGA's ordeal really well: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/nba-star-lawsuit-void-purchase-mansion-ontario-crypto-king-1.7015253 And it sounds like he'll be cleared to give it a go tonight: ~lw3

There will be no Tea Time for De'Andre Hunter, who is listed as Available despite suffering a pinky dislocation during Saturday's win in N'Awlins. KoKo B. Buf (broke thumb) and 2T's Matthews (calf strain) are the sole Hawks declared out-of-commission. Both Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu ought to have a field (goal) day versus OKC (28th in D-Reb%, and NOP is now 30th; 29th in O-Reb%), although Jaylin "the other one" Williams returns from rehab to help beef up the Thunder frontline. Hawks defenders will have to identify the OKC player on-court with the hot hand from outside, be it Dort (?), or Holmgren (56.5 3FG%) or Isaiah Joe, and make them put the ball on the floor before deciding whether to pull-up or pass. Jalen "the Main One" Williams and Josh Giddey combined for 12 assists in the absence of SGA (upgraded to Questionable, sprained knee) vs. GSW, but also committed 12 turnovers. "Shag Diesel" Kendrick Williams is the only OKC non-Two-Way player listed as Out on the 1:30 Boo-Boo Report update. ~lw3

Caveat Emptor, eh? High ceilings! Low floors! You and your significant other just went all in on a spacious mansion, freshly renovated with all the accoutrements one might expect of a eight-million-dollar property, and then some. Multiple levels with grand views of flocking geese, tall trees buffering tiers of landscaped backyard with an observation deck fronting a pristine Great Lake. Ten thousand square feet of bliss, nestled in one of your nation’s toniest neighborhoods. But not all is at it seems. You discover you’re not being greeted and embraced by your new, well-to-do neighbors. Instead, you have people standing around, or sitting in cars, in odd spaces near the shrubbery, phones out, awaiting you and your gal pal, suspiciously, as you venture beyond the security gates. It’s not just paparazzi. Some of these shady people soon approach you, but they seem agitated as they do. Wanting to know your business, but not all that interested in disclosing theirs. And everybody wants to figure out how you know some guy named Aiden. A dude you’ve never heard of before. Finally, one furious stranger spills the beans. He, and an untold number of folks, were all duped by this Aiden, who showed off his ill-begotten earnings by flexing, kicking black and chillaxing, at this very property, on his social media pages. These suckers are hunting, or paying people to hunt down, the man who schemed them out of dozens of millions of dollars, then flaunted his booty to scheme others in the same way his flaunts first attracted them to him. They’re bitter. They’re vengeful. And they just might do something irrational, to you and/or your loved ones and/or your lovely new residence, if they don’t get the money they entrusted to him back, and yesterday. “Where are you hiding The Crypto King? I will burn his little kingdom down!” Soon to somehow celebrate his 25th birthday, Aiden Pleterski is just four months younger than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Aiden didn’t need to sweat it out for 15-plus years in gyms and arenas around North America, becoming top-five in MVP voting in just five NBA seasons and a FIBA World Cup medalist, to make bank. He needed to do what enterpre-nerds across the Northern and Western Hemispheres aimed to do in recent years. That is, doing all he could to look like the picture of young wealth, then attracting and enticing wealth, all at the expense of gullible people spanning the full global spectrum of wealth. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the latest episode of Tales From The Crypto. Aiden became Ontario, Canada’s version of the more notorious Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX (ex-Arena) infamy. Dressed in humble streetwear fits you might hastily assemble at Ross Dress for Less, Pleterski, like SBF, showcased his access to noblesse and nobility, using selfies with celebs and rappers like Machine Gun Kelly to give off just the right scent of street-cred. Aiden buddied up with a son of one of Canada’s hotel and property development magnates, who set up a lease-to-own deal at this mansion his family owned along Lake Ontario in Burlington. Within a year of look-at-me-everybody IG snapshots, and dude-trust-me captions, it wasn’t terribly long before the house of Joker cards began to crumble, on top of him and all those who dared to associate with him. Aiden told financiers their money was being traded Forex-style, in a brokerage account he falsely claimed to own in the notorious offshore tax haven of Belize. Not just individual parties, but professional investment fund managers who should know better, were among the fast-growing legion of devoted IG followers buying the bit. If this young man who called himself The Crypto King, wasn’t profiting substantially from his own investments, like they all believed they would soon, then how else could he parade about the continent in private jets, multi-level yachts, McLarens, Ferraris and Lambos around the clock? Who can say no to a promised 70 percent split on capital gains, 10 percent bi-weekly growth targets? Instagram, insta-wealth! Latch onto this investment prodigy, with the cherubic Josh Giddey countenance, while you can, nab the cryptocurrency trinkets before somebody else gets them, and enjoy the tax-free windfall! Oh, and be sure to hook in your closest friends, too! They wouldn’t want to feel left out, would they? Aiden, as all Ponzi schemers tend to do, “allegedly” invested the bare minimum needed to keep his maneuvers looking halfway legit on FedEx Office paper, spent a little more to have some obscure e-news outlets make his story seem legit, then showered himself in the lion’s share of the money funneled his way. Including this posh mansion complex here, halfway between Toronto and Niagara Falls. Open concept! When the returns that came due didn’t materialize, some sent the matters to their lawyers, or the law, to sort things out. Some, with the aid of Internet sleuthing, sought to resolve matters with their own bare hands. One investor who dropped about three-quarters of a million bucks into Aiden’s LLC account got a few heavies together to hunt him down last December in downtown Toronto, and “allegedly,” as later revealed in a black-eyed Aiden’s apology video for his “investors,” to abduct, kidnap and torture him. The hotel tycoon’s kid that owned the property stopped receiving Aiden’s $45,000 monthly rent payments by last summer and was handed a McLaren Senna to help try making up the debt. Months later, he ignored a number of disturbed late-night, early-morning calls from one number, until he finally decided to pick up the phone. It was Pleterski, who said he could really use a few million bucks, right-quick, to save his hoodied hide. “I’m with some bad people right now. They need $3 million. I have nobody else to call. My parents don’t have that type of money, and you’re the only person who can help me.” The landlord-pal bought himself just enough time to bring police into these desperate phone calls, which concluded with Pleterski’s eventual “release,” conditioned of course upon not bringing the police into all this bargaining. Five of Pleterski’s alleged captors, including that duped investor who also turned out to also be an inspector in Aiden’s bankruptcy proceedings, have since been arrested by Toronto police as of this past summer. Meanwhile, The Crypto King still lives rent-free, not only in irate Canadians’ heads, but also in one of the landlord family’s more secure properties, for his daily protection. In Aiden’s bankruptcy proceedings, the landlord emphasized the extent to which his tenant-friend’s ordeal has brought great risk to his wealthy family, citing random people showing up to the property Aiden was renting and seeking payback, in one form, or another. None of this action was known, or at least conveyed, by the realtor to Gilgeous-Alexander, the All-Star marquee of the Oklahoma City Thunder, as he and his girlfriend were dazzled at every turn by the marble and modernity at this palatial lakefront estate. Just days after moving in, SGA grew hesitant to leave the house, or even return to it. He is now suing to undo the sale of the property. His chances of getting his payments back, via the courts, are about as good as the odds for those suckered by The Crypto King. The Hawks’ Trae Young, with his new mansion out in Calabasas, California to accompany his hometown crash-pad in Norman, Oklahoma, seems like he did his due diligence before ponying up $20 million for the not-so-humble abode first customized by ex-NFL linebacker Clay Matthews. Anybody snooping around there is likely on the lookout for his neighbors, Brittney Spears and Kourtney Kardashian. I can only hope the whole gated complex wasn’t built atop the former site of TermiteWorld Amusement Park, or something. I empathize with our well-moneyed pro (and now college) athletes, and similar performers in various industries of entertainment. At one end, hoopers like SGA are beholden to the I-washed-your-jockstrap-all-throughout-AAU-now-pay-up friends and family members, eager to cash in on their long-envisioned investments in time and energy. At the other end, there are financial booby traps laid all around them, from too-good-to-be-true financing deals, to business ventures, to vehicles and real estate, where the dirty details of why they even exist for the taking are often obscured by their flashiness, and their look-mama-I-made-it potential. Many of the individuals on the first end are the very ones coaxing these athletes into getting enmeshed in the second. In the middle, you get the yahoos who wager, either online or at the cigar bar, the barbeque, or the barbershop, on these athletes’ performances, or those of their opponents, leading to a de$ired point-spread, over/under, or parlay result. Then the yahoos yearn to take their losses out on them. “Somebody said, ‘I chose the wrong slave today,’” SGA’s Canadian countryman Chris Boucher shared on a Yahoo! Sports podcast last March. “Literally, sent me that message… He said, ‘I chose the wrong slave,’ because I only had five points, and he needed ten.” Boucher was just five points away, one supposes, from that wagerer feeling indebted for life, or at least until the next di$appointment. Some of the athletes and high-profile celebs, though, also become the people looked to by the populace as financial role models. Where is Sir Charles Barkley when we need him? Little ol’ me? I’m just trying to see if there’s enough loose change under the couch to go grab a chili dog meal from Sonic before today’s Atlanta Hawks game at OKC tips off (8 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS Oklahoma). But at day’s end, when I urge you to tread carefully, and seek out independent professional advice, when flop-haired flunkies are on their podcasts and insta-pages hawking Crypto and Forex and such, who are you gonna believe? Me, or Steph Curry, Matt Damon, and Tom Brady during the Super Bowl? People burned by pushing all their chips into stuff like the Crypto craze, or DFS and sports wagering, are often the same people grasping at new ploys to climb themselves out of the holes they’ve dug for themselves and others. People, precisely, like Pleterski, who falls on the mercy of the public as “just a 20-something-year-old kid” who fell for the allure of Crypto gains himself, dragged his friends and family into it, and conjured up The Crypto King as a means to somehow paper over his debts. My thoroughly unprofessional advice to them all is to stop digging, put down the shovels, quit putting themselves at risk of getting struck by shovels, and admire the legitimate work put in by people who make a nice living for themselves by truly understanding how to trade in futures. People like Sam Presti. Presti had a future league MVP in his hands, but recognized he couldn’t maintain three possible future MVP talents in his business climate. So, off to Houston went James Harden in 2012, one of the blockbuster sports deals of the century. That trade brought them six seasons of Steven Adams, a 2013 draft pick who became a mainstay for seven seasons. Adams, in turn, got OKC Kenrich Williams and a 2023 pick that they swapped out for Ousmane Dieng, who are both on the current roster. Eleven years later, Presti couldn’t resist getting in on a Harden deal, again. In 2027, his Thunder will have the option of swapping either their own or Denver’s top-5-protected first-rounder, for the Clippers’ unprotected pick, at a point when ex-Thunder stars Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and James Harden are likely to be distant memories in L.A. This, as part of the price Philadelphia was willing to pay to finally extricate themselves from The James Harden Cistern, er, System. Presti trades tend to reverberate. The PG13 trade in 2019 brought Presti picks that were used to select backup guard Tre Mann, in 2021, and 1st-team All-Rookie big Jalen Williams the next year (seemingly holding 2022 second-overall pick Chet Holmgren’s slot, for one injury-deferred season). It also pried a second-team All-Rookie player, Gilgeous-Alexander, from L.A. The Clips’ gamble for Harden had better pay immediate dividends, since they owe OKC an unprotected 1st in 2024 for George, too. None of Presti’s moves have transformed the Thunder (3-3, 40-42 plus a Play-In win last season) into insta-champs, yet. But excepting Kevin Durant, no recipients of Thunder players make off like championship bandits, either. In the meantime, Oklahoma Citizens are in absolutely no rush to cash out. Not on a roster, coached by Mark Daigneault (2nd in COTY voting last season), whose top 9 contributors are all under age 25, led by the senior-most SGA (out, sprained knee). Even without Gilgeous-Alexander, this game young roster pushed the full-strength Warriors to the brink on Friday night before succumbing, 141-139, at the hands of a Steph Curry lay-in that was nearly waved off due to Draymond Green’s overexuberance, thanks to Giddey touching the net first. The Thunder needed a perfect 6-for-6 night from the perimeter from Lu Dort, of all people, to keep the Dubs close to the vest. But the promise of great things to come remains real. It’s exemplified by Holmgren, for now a pushover in the paint versus seasoned vets like Jokic and Jonas, but a rangy talent that covers the entire floor well. By veterans like Williams (out, back spasms) and Davis Bertans, just hanging around and imparting wisdom until the next wannabe-contending team dangling a first-rounder bangs on Presti’s door. There’s the possible control of up to 13 first-rounders from other teams through 2029, and counting, to say nothing of the many more second-rounders that could be packaged in some manner, too. Most importantly, there’s Gilgeous-Alexander, who is amidst the max-extension mega-deal he signed in 2021. He’ll have until at least 2026 to lead this Thunder club into NBA title contention. If it doesn’t work out? SGA will be pushing 30 by 2027, and if he remains healthy and free from shady property deals, it’s safe to say he’ll remain a valuable commodity around the NBA. It’s also reasonable to assume that Presti will just keep doing prest-o-chang-o shell games to keep things intriguing around the Sooner State, given it’s become the key to his longevity. A trade acquisition like SGA, or a lotto pick like Holmgren, might pay off big-time in the form of banners down the road. But at some point, you just know Presti will be prepared to face the burning question with each of them: are you going to Love It? Or, List It? Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

Yesterday the Pels added stretch-four Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to a two-way deal. Last December, his fourth-quarter triple helped OKC take a lead to pull off a win in Atlanta. JRE, who declared for the 2020 Draft at the same time as Nova teammate Saddiq Bey before withdrawing and returning to college for another year, was traded to Houston in last month's KPJ/Dipo deal, then waived by the Rockets. ~lw3

Ko-B (broke thumb) and 2 T's Matthews (strained calf) are the only players on the Hawks side of the Boo-Boo Report. Trent "For the Trees" Forrest is the sole two-way player not listed as a G-League assignment, and is presumed to be with the team, perhaps in place of Bufkin for the time being. Zion is indeed good to go for the Nopes, and Brandon Ingram (knee tendinitis) remains listed as Questionable as of the 10:30 AM update. ~lw3

“I am NOT a NutriSystem player. I AM A NUTRISYSTEM!” The New Orleans Pelicans continue to be plagued with injury issues. None of them, as of this morning, involve Zion Williamson. That fact must warm the cockles of Willie Green’s heart. A former New Orleans Hornet who signed in Atlanta to help form the VetMin crew that bolstered the Hawks during the lockout-shortened 2011-12 NBA season, Green’s third season of coaching in the Crescent City is underway. Season one concluded, after a 36-46 record, in the Playoffs’ first round following a successful run through the inaugural Play-Ins. Last season, 42-40 (27-14 at home) was only enough to clinch a Play-In berth in the NBA West, leading to a loss at home versus upstart OKC. Both campaigns were pockmarked with lingering questions about the health, fitness and mindset of the budding superstar Willie G inherited when he first assumed the top job. Williamson’s offseason foot fracture in 2021 had team officials suggesting he could be ready to go by the season’s tipoff. Then, December became the goal. Then, it was around the All-Star Break. By season’s end, everyone was still left waiting. Last year was shaping up to be the renaissance season. Zion earned his first Player of the Week honor last December, and the Pels, peaking at 23-12, were the talk of the West, surging to the top of the conference by month’s end. Unfortunately, Zion would suffer a hamstring injury. But team officials were confident he’d be back in action by the end of January, just in time to appear in the All-Star Game. Then, the story went, it could be a week or two after the Break. Then, maybe in time to salvage a late playoff run. Then, perhaps he could make it to the Play-In game at Smoothie King Center. Then… never mind! Winning or losing, Green was left after games to face media members desperate to get the scoop on when Williamson might touch hardwood in a basketball uniform, fielding questions of how his team is faring despite all the hovering ambiguity. Blessed with the gift of gab, the glib Pels PBO David Griffin could offer the head coach he hired only so much cover. This offseason, the Pelicans gave the whole ordeal a sobering look, and figured out what needed to change: Zion! Oh, and the formerly Aints-centric medical staff, with their routinely ring-around-the-rosy projections regarding their rotund franchise face. “This was the first summer where we’ve seen Zion take his profession seriously,” Griffin noted to the Times-Picayune, a perception which, like Williamson, carried a lot of weight, considering how much his online mentions during the offseason had little to do with basketball or conditioning. Griffin now defers details regarding Williamson and other players’ health and gameday readiness to GM Trajan Langdon. Williamson, for his part, seems bought-in to the internal shifts. “The Pelicans have put in a lot of things this offseason to not only prevent things like (his and teammates’ injuries), but to react to it in the best way possible,” he told the Times-Picayune. “I think what the Pelicans have done, there is good structure.” Even with preseason assurances that personal and organizational bodies have transformed, uncertainty regarding Zion’s preparedness to hit the ground running threatened to overtake concerns about the Mississippi River saltwater wedge intrusion, potentially rendering tapwater undrinkable, as the banner headline in and around N’Awlins. Four games under his not-so-svelte belt, and Zion (21.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 4.0 APG) looks a lot like his not-so-old self, in a good way; slashing the lane, crashing the offensive glass, occasionally dishing to the perimeter when the path to the rim gets too jagged, all while hovering around 30 MPG (15.8 drives/game per Second Spectrum data, most among full-time NBA frontcourt players). He has yet, though, to pass the first big test. Citing rest, the team withheld Williamson from playing in New Orleans’ first back-end of a back-to-back, back home versus Detroit after Wednesday’s 22-point comeback win before a national audience at OKC (erasing 20-point deficits along the path to victory, these days in the NBA, is literally for the birds). There’s a lot of load to manage, and Zion (20-and-10 plus 8 assists @ OKC) has started out okay, on balance. Yet this season could not begin without injury drama among the rest of the team. Jose Alvarado sprained an ankle in the offseason, and the team was confident their change-of-pace point guard could be ready for the opener. That is, until they weren’t. Naji Marshall hyperextended his knee in a preseason loss to the Hawks in Atlanta, and in the evaluation process the medical staff discovered a bone bruise, too. The goal was to see if he’d be ready by the end of October. Instead, the goalposts have moved two more weeks down the field. Zion’s co-star Brandon Ingram (45 games in 2022-23, 55 the season before, 61 the season before that) made it through just two games before being listed day-to-day-to-day-to-day with knee tendinitis. Starting forward Trey Murphy tore a meniscus in an early September workout, and the hope is he’ll be back up to speed before this month ends. The proof? It’s in the crème brûlée. Even at half-staff, Green has been able to turn to Herb Jones (2.0 BPG, 1.2 SPG), who helped force a hobbled Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into settling for an uncomfortable game-winning three-point attempt on Wednesday, Dyson Daniels, and rookie Jordan Hawkins to give ballhandlers and shooters fits. New Orleans has held opponents to a league-low 28.0 3FG% in the early going, with no other teams presently in the sub-30s. Still, Green would rather lean on Ingram and Murphy than Daniels, Hawkins, Kira Lewis, and C.J. McCollum (team-high 33 points in the 125-116 win vs. DET; 29 points the night before @ OKC) to get critical stops. For Green’s sake, I hope he’ll be around long enough to be held accountable, or gain praise, for what his team (4-1; season-high 72 first-half points w/o B.I. or Zion vs. DET) can accomplish with a reasonably full rotation, should that day ever come to pass. In the meantime, Quin Snyder’s Hawks are in town (7 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS New Orleans), carrying a three-game winning streak and a decided depth advantage. Trae Young made it through Wednesday’s 130-121 victory in Atlanta over the Wizards despite dealing with Achilles inflammation. But neither he nor Coach Quin could have felt great about him having to play, with his team up by as much as 26 points in the final frame, just to thwart Washington’s bench-steered clawback (another ~70 half-game points allowed, this time in the second half) because anyone else bringing up the ball just to set up the halfcourt offense proved to be a chore. “The fourth quarter,” Snyder remarked postgame, “we didn’t execute the way that we wanted to.” Quin noted how his team was able to keep turnovers down and not succumb to defensive pressure from a increasingly desperate Minnesota club during Monday’s turnaround victory. But there were strategic lapses on Wednesday that the Hawks (3-2) need to correct going forward versus far more capable clubs. This game would have been a good opportunity for Snyder to give rookie Kobe Bufkin (minus-10 vs. TyTy Washington at the close of last Sunday’s runaway win at MIL) his first regular-season mid-game test. But after a thumb fracture sustained during Skyhawks practice? Never mind! Perhaps, instead of Bufkin, Coach Quin could have the esteemed Patty Mills (Langdon’s teammate with the Spurs from 2012-15) play his first official minutes in a Hawks uniform. Mills won’t alleviate Atlanta’s need to have either one of Young or Dejounte Murray directing traffic against elevated defensive pressure. But it can obviate Snyder’s reliance on both his star guards sharing the floor, in tandem, no matter the score on the board. Assuming a replenished Williamson is on the floor, Atlanta has the forwards with active hands to fill lanes and make Zion become a crafty dribbler, rather than a straight-line driver bowling for Hawks. If he is, as Nique might put it, just moving the ball from his own side-to-side, that’s shaving extra seconds off possessions that the Pels, specifically top perimeter threats McCollum and waiver-wire pickup “Matty Icicle” Ryan (career-high 20 points vs. DET), are unlikely to get back. At the other end of the floor, those same Hawk bigs need to be assertive in cutting to the hoop, especially when Jones is occupied with helping trap Murray or Young. That could compel harried rotations and actions around the paint that can lead to early foul trouble from Williamson, Jonas Valanciunas and/or Larry Nance, Jr. In Zion’s case, a little extra in-game rest can’t hurt anybody, especially if it’s in the process of gifting the league’s best free throw shooters (85.2 team FT%; Clint Capela is 10-for-12! MIP! MIP!) trips to the charity stripe. New Orleans’ bon temps quit roulet-ing last season when the Pelicans couldn’t keep a plug in the dam holding back the injury woes. Despite the fast start, there remains reason to be wary going forward, especially if their biggest star struggles to make it through consecutive games, or through most of the regular season. With all respect due to Kermit The Frog, out here in the swampy bayou, it’s not easy being Willie Green. Fall Back! Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

#Deposterized ~lw3

The Moose. He's... Not Tight! Meanwhile... Forever and always... he's always here! We're back on Beywatch! ~lw3

"Have you had your sprinkle today?" I'm in jingle-earworm mode now! Hey I'm still pandemic-averse myself, so you won't even catch me watching hawks down at the zoo these days! As much as I miss the Squawkers live down on The Farm, I do watch as much of the games on the telly, and snoop on here mid-game, as my ulcers will allow (my newfangled Voice Remote worked great in the first half on Monday: "Show Me Peppa Pig!"). Injury note: Trae's upgraded from Questionable to Available on the Boo-Boo Report, so that's good! ~lw3

You’re not fooling anybody, Dejounte. Halloween's over, get outta that costume! Sure, it’s suddenly chilly all over the East Coast right now. But it won’t be long before the cherry blossoms return to the District of Columbia. Travis Schlenk looks forward to enjoying lots and lots of Cherry Blossom Festivals. Having been ejected in mid-season from the Hawks’ front office by Tony Ressler & Son last December, Trader Trav paired up this past summer with hoops-exec colleague Michael Winger and Monumental Basketball, Inc., the parent company for the Washington Wizards. He has been presented as the new player personnel and scouting guru, which tells me that while Winger, hired this past May, is being held accountable for Washington’s past, and present, Schlenk is here to architect the Wizards’ near-future. Schlenk may have a few scouting tips to share with Wes Unseld, Jr., too, as the Wizards head coach readies for four meetings, the first one tonight in Atlanta (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, MonSpoNet in DC), versus Schlenk’s prior employer. What the man with over a quarter-century of basketball administrative experience doesn’t have to worry about is getting second-guessed by a bunch of kids who were barely alive back when he was running hoop operations at UGA. I trust Travis checked with the staff directory for mentions of “Leonsis” before deciding to become Winger’s wingman. I suspect that Schlenk remains future-focused because, were he tasked with turning last season’s 35-47 club, headlined by Kyle Kuzma, Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis, into an immediate boffo success one season later, then Jordan Poole wouldn’t be here. Kind of a cheap shot, J.P., I know, sorry. Within weeks of Schlenk’s hire at the start of June, the Wiz went to work, getting in the mix of the CP3 and Marcus Smart multi-team trades to deal Beal and Porzingis away. The Unicorn trade brought them Tyus Jones (NBA-record five straight seasons leading the league in assist/TO ratio), while the Beal deal reeled in four future first-round pick swap options between 2024 and 2030. The latter trade also allowed the Wizards to swap 2023 picks with the Pacers, flipping Jarace Walker into That Other Teenaged Frenchman Freshman, 19-year-old prospect Bilal Coulibaly. It has been rough sledding thus far for the present-day Wizards (1-2), despite getting a reprieve from the short-clawed Grizzlies in last Saturday’s home opener. Walker hardly had to lift a finger as his Pacers slapped around the Wiz to the tune of 143 regulation points, a tally that looked quite plausible to a few visitors at State Farm Arena after first halves in recent days. Porzingis’ Celtics weren’t as kind as Memphis was to their hosts on Monday. Boston rang up 77 first-half points (lol, snort, who does that?) and 108 through three quarters before cruising behind the subs to a 126-107 victory. Already nonchalant about guarding the three-point line (47.7 opponent 3FGAs per game, MEM’s 40.5 ranks 2nd-most; 40.6 opponent 3FG%, 4th-highest), Washington entered that game knowing they’d also be without center-by-default Daniel Gafford (questionable, sprained ankle). Mike Muscala, approached Monday’s game thinking he’d be the fill-in starter. Or, perhaps, then-Hawks-GM Schlenk’s former acquisition Danilo Gallinari, who also landed in D.C. via the KP trade, for a little razzle dazzle. Unbeknownst to those vets, Schlenk’s imprint was already taking hold. Unseld filled in the vacancy on the top line with Coulibaly, the franchise’s youngest-ever starter. He has been understandably shaky as a shooter but, at all of 6-foot-6 yet bearing a 7-foot-3 wingspan, Coulibaly has already become the stopgap help defender around the rim the Wizards needed, returning several opponent shots to sender in flashy, eye-popping style. Constructing the current slate of Wizards into a competitive basketball unit feels like being asked to mold the Lincoln Monument out of Play-Doh. Unseld knows he can keep turnovers down and maximize shots for his offense by keeping the rock in the steady hands of Jones and yet another ex-Hawk, Delon Wright. Unfortunately for him, usage is dominated by Kuzma (25.0 3FG%) and, well… taking shots at a dried-up Poole (38.5 FG%, 21.7 3FG%, 5.0 TOs and 3.7 assists per-36) at this point seems a bit too on-the-nose. Waiting in the wings are a couple highly drafted wings Winger inherited. Deni Avdija starts but understandably may be a tad distracted by off-court events to be relied upon to elevate his production. If not for Corey Kispert (42.9 3FG%) being a defense-sieve and a nonfactor in the passing game, Unseld might be inclined to make Avdija the sixth-man. Once Gafford returns to form, Unseld may be tempted to use Coulibaly as the reason to make Avdija the seventh-man. Hawks defenders outside the paint will make things easier on themselves, even easier if they’re not waiting until halftime, by funneling Jones and Wright inside and rotating, anticipating the need to make catches for their recipients difficult and forcing the latter to become undesirable secondary ballhandlers or, in the cases of Kuz and Poole, wild circus-shot takers. For the highest-scoring transition per-game offense thus far (NBA-high 28.5 PPG), Atlanta’s top perimeter threats need to simply run to their spots and keep the lanes open for whatever Dejounte Murray (career-high-tying 41 points vs. MIN on Monday) and/or Trae Young (questionable, inflamed Achilles) elect to do. “They love basketball,” Poole remarked to MonSpoNet’s Chase Hughes, on his early impression of Wizards fans, “they love the entertainment, and we’ve got some entertaining players. It will be really exciting.” As Poole confirms, the immediate task for the Wizards’ marquee faces is to find ways to entertain the fans back home, as precious few will pay the big bucks to see this particular outfit on the road. If they aren’t able to convert the occasional offensive trick-play highlights into wins, and the Tank machine gets rolling soon? Poole might be watching more of Johnny Davis than he anticipated. Same with Kyle Kuzma watching Patrick Baldwin. And despite a recently picked-up contract option for 2024-25, same with Unseld, watching Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime. Don’t cry for Schlenk, though. In D.C., he’s just getting started. Season 1, Episode 1. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

~lw3

We'll get to see if Jaden McDaniels indeed gets reactivated today, and if he gets re-inserted into the starting unit in place of Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Shake Milton (sore foot) is also listed as Questionable. Krawczynski's 2022 feature on Edwards in The Athletic (subscription required) notes that while the Ant-Man did rise up out of Oakland City and in-town Therrell High, he didn't get blind-sided, if you will, by the potential benefits of seeing his athletic pursuits through around this town. ~lw3

“So you never had Steve Kerr chew you out? Hmph. Casual.” John “Hook” Milton first put The Peach State on the peach-basket map. A pioneer of the odd but effective hook shot, the 6-foot-3 forward swooped his way from a Savannah military school to stardom in Chapel Hill, and then enjoyed a cup of tea as a pro in the nascent BAA pro hoop league. Georgia Tech’s Jim Nolan, a two-sport athlete and the 6-foot-8 towering pride of Macon, was the next cager to get drafted into The League. His sip of tea was even smaller, at five games to Milton’s 22. But in the 1949-50 season, Jim and Hook offered hints that the Empire State of the South could be a draw for scouts in more than just baseball and football. As for Atlanta-raised players making a splash in the pros? As Miss Jackson may have crooned on Saturday night in Piedmont Park… let’s wait awhile. Carver Vocational School on Atlanta’s southside produced the city’s first great hope, future Morris Brown head coach Charlie Hardnett. Playing alongside Willis Reed and Ernie Ladd at NAIA hoops power Grambling State was enough to earn the burly Hardnett a third-round selection by the now-NBA’s Hawks, the St. Louis team shipping him to the Chicago Zephyrs in 1962. Once Hardnett took his talents to the regional Eastern Basketball Association in 1965, Atlanta the city struggled for years to have an NBA talent to embrace as a product of its basketball bumper crop. You were more likely to find top-level hoops talent emanating from other Georgia locales: Rome (the Stinger!), Macon, Columbus, LaGrange, Hogansville, Barnesville. Walt Frazier certainly came on the scene in the late 1960s, but Clyde’s Broadway Joe-style persona as a Knickerbocker obscured his more humble beginnings around Sweet Auburn. Atlanta natives like World B. Free, Robert Reid and Norm Nixon developed their scholastic-era games elsewhere before getting recruited for college and plucked by pro teams. Mike “Mitch the Stitch” Mitchell, Sedale Threatt, Dominique Wilkins’ bro, Gerald, Chris Morris, and Willie Anderson were all exemplary second-bananas in the NBA’s emerging era of the ‘80s and ‘90s. But there wasn’t much in the way of folks that would qualify as unsittable stars for the league’s new Player Participation Policy. With all due respect to the coaching staffs at Atlanta’s struggling public schools during those drug-fueled decades, “player development”, for hard-nosed Atlanta prospects like Anthony Carter, took more of the informal form of Tupac’s antagonist Birdie in “Above The Rim”. Then, a switch was flipped. Well-moneyed private schools, and suburban public schools, began committing more resources toward building basketball powerhouses, while religious academies propped up their prep programs, often to showcase the talented prodigies of its parent-coaches. This evolution was occurring just as Anthony Edwards was getting introduced to the world, as a newborn bound for Atlanta’s Oakland City neighborhood that Minnesota’s Star-Tribune noted, “friends and family caution out-of-towners to visit only during the day – and don’t slow down driving through it.” Growing to reach 6-foot-4, and 225 pounds, Edwards dreamed of football glories like many of his ATL predecessors. But he never slowed down when driving to the hoop, or above the rim. Now, everywhere you turn – not just around Atlanta, where the Hawks face Edwards’ Timberwolves (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS North in MSP) on the back end of a back-to-back, but around the globe – people are pegging The Ant-Man as The Next Great Thing. All the while, wondering aloud: who’s next to come Straight Outta ATL? Like a posterior anatomical feature, when it comes to Atlanta regional products in the NBA, it seems these days as if everybody’s got one. If a team isn’t hitching their current title hopes to a Jaylen Brown, or an Edwards, it’s banking their futures heavily on top picks like Jabari Smith, Devin Vassell, Walker Kessler and Scoot Henderson. Championship wannabes and gonnabes scramble to fill out their main rotations with mid-tiered players bearing ATL pedigrees, be it Malcolm Brogdon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, or Bucks teammates Malik Beasley and Jae Crowder. USA Basketball seems to get fare more hyped about their chances of securing gold medals with Atlanta-based talents than they do for random overachievers from, say, Norman, Oklahoma. Goodness knows our Hawks have tried, over the decades, to nab a territorial star worthy of exemplary residence in our arena rafters. “ATL’s Own” Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Josh Smith suited up for the Hawks at times when the organization wasn’t prepared to maximize their All-NBA potentials. Local Players Made Good for the Hawks, as a strategy, had panned out only slightly better than the franchise’s decades-long efforts to corral a Dirk, a Sabonis, or a Giannis from overseas. As Janet might say, there’s no longer a need for us to go too far. The current-day brass at Hawks, Inc., including Landry Fields and player development guru Kyle Korver, certainly don’t need my advice when it comes to scouting, but I’m going to offer it anyway. Save yourself some frequent-flyer miles and spend more time hanging out at OTE, the Millsaps’ CORE4, the Henderson’s NextPlay 360°, and our region’s still-growing array of developmental hoop gyms. At draft time: who’s the best ATLien prospect of the moment, and is it worth our while to trade up, or down – as the prior regime did at great risk to reel in De’Andre Hunter and Trae Young, respectively – to get Him? 2020’s 1st-overall selection, Edwards is touted among the top under-25 talents in the game, and his improving perimeter shot (7-for-12 3FGs, two games in) and ball-control serve as validating reasons. Unlike the J-Smooves of days gone by, Edwards also demonstrates a willingness to sponge up biting coach criticism, be it from the likes of USA Basketball head coach Steve Kerr, who gave Edwards grief during pre-draft assessments and began World Cup exhibition play with him coming off the bench, or less accomplished play designers, like the Wolves’ Chris Finch. The T’wolves (1-1) on Saturday needed only to go seven-deep to dust off visiting Miami, who rested star Jimmy Butler and ex-star Kevin Love one night after the heat fell to the Celtics in Boston. Edwards’ rising-star has managed to obscure Minnesota’s hopes to be led into greatness and prominence by 2015’s 1st-overall, Karl-Anthony Towns (35.7 FG% on 37 shots, 2 O-Rebs through first two games). By retaining virtually everyone from 2023’s playoff campaign, Minnesota’s second-in-a-row for the first time since 2004, a 42-40 record (+0.0 Net Rating, 20th in NBA) concluded with a 4-1 opening-round defeat absent glue-guys Jaden McDaniels (calf strain, questionable but a likely season-debut tonight) and Naz Reid at the hands of the eventual champion Nuggets, and adding Shake Milton to the backcourt, the belief remains that a healthy core will be enough to finally make some noise in the postseason. If it becomes clear that it doesn’t work, in the rough-and-tumble Western Conference, and lackluster performances like the 97-94 season-opener in Toronto is more of the norm, not only will there be calls for a midseason upgrade for Finch, but given how the franchise painted itself into a corner by acquiring Rudy Gobert, Wolves exec Tim Connelly will be pressured to work a deal that somehow makes Karl-Anthony skip town. No matter what transpires, going forward for the next year or so, Edwards, now a literal movie star, will get the benefit of the doubt that peripheral All-Star franchise favorites like the Hawks’ Young, topped out currently as an occasional rasslin’ heel, are no longer granted. Minnesota (70.1 D-Reb%, 25th in NBA), like Atlanta (70.0%, 26th), was a weak defensive rebounding club on the road last season, despite their on-paper personnel. Edwards, like Young, is being pressed into being more impactful and assertive on the defensive end. In each case, their bigs and super-sized wings must do a better job at limiting second-chance opportunities, further making each team’s stars literal supernovas in transition. Mission-accomplished for the Hawks (1-2) in last night’s resounding 127-110 victory in Milwaukee (12 O-Rebs, 25-7 ATL fastbreak advantage), while Dejounte Murray did his best to confine Damian Lillard, and Bogi Bogdanovic displayed Korver’s work on the former’s patented catch-and-loft three-point shot. While Atlanta joins eight other clubs with an NBA-high 15 back-to-back pairs, coach Quin Snyder’s club benefits from a league-high of 11 of the back-ends, like tonight’s, in front of home crowds. Maintaining momentum from Sunday’s defensive-minded road win could prove valuable for Atlanta, and not simply in evening up their record at two apiece. Impressing the State Farm Arena crowd on the heels of blitzing the Bucks would be swell, but even better is the possibility that the NBA’s next Ant-Man or Scoot, inspired by the home team, may be sitting in the stands, or watching nearby, ripe for the future picking. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

Middleton's the only Buck on the Boo-Boo report, and 2 T Matthews (calf strain), the former Buck/Marquette star/Wisconsin native, is the sole Hawk on there. Miles Norris and Seth Lundy on our Skyhawk duty. Hawks' GameNotes notes the Bucks, by virtue of their last victory in Atlanta back in January, leads the all-time series 117-116, and it suggests that if you dig free throw shots, this game might be for you. Atlanta's 25.5 makes per games paces the NBA in the early-early going, despite drawing whistles just 21.0 times per game (12th in NBA). The only team with more attempts per game than the Hawks (31.0) is the Bucks, who got 36.5 in their season opener but sunk only 25 of those. With Stotts out of the picture, the top guy with HC experience left on Adrian's assistant bench is our old friend, undefeated former Hawks head coach Joe Prunty. Tread carefully, Joe P. ~lw3

“AJ! Hello? I can’t make it any clearer, young man. Don’t Press Send!” There’s maybe, what, a thousand or so Game Threads laying around dormant on the Interwebs? Billions of snarky characters typed over the last decade or so? And my routine worry is that, one day, some snide reference I made in 2015, about someone or something, will catch the wrong attention for the wrong reasons, and have me all up on the Jumbotron screen at the annual Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes, or somesuch. “How dare he besmirch our Grand Poobah’s reputation? Cancel this man! BOO!” How does that line from Lawrence of Arabia (1962) go? “The trick… is not minding that it hurts.” Well, it’s a good thing, I suppose, that the Atlanta Hawks’ 2022 first-rounder regularly surfs around his social media sites (burners notwithstanding) like he is living comfortably numb. Not so much for his sake as for mine, as an Atlanta Hawks fan with certain sensibilities and sensitivities, but I really need my young son AJ Griffin to learn the four simplest keys to sustained living on this green Earth. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit in the wind. You don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger. And you don’t mess around with The Beyhive. (That didn’t rhyme at all. Sorry, Nipsey Russell, I have failed you yet again.) In Pastor Griff’s worldview, as in many others’, there is but one true Superhero, who’s decidedly not a she-ro, and it’s His Green Earth for as long as it suits Him to keep it green, or round or, like, around. That belief is perfectly copacetic in my book, one which of course pales in comparison to The Good Book that small-h he, AJ, chooses to share line-by-line with his flock of e-followers. Many of us aim to live and thrive in a world where people of divergent faith perspectives, or even none at all, manage to co-exist and thrive together. It goes without expounding (i.e., getting myself in hot water with somebody’s Loyal Order of Endangered Species) that it seems awfully hard these days to aim toward the equilibrium of free coexistence most everywhere around the globe, and with considerable effort, I hope that challenge eases over time. But none of us are digging around here to delve into that. We’re here for some (Don’t dare say His name in vain)-dang Atlanta Hawks Basketball! I remain trusting that my son AJ can keep the main thing the main thing (yes, AJ, I understand there is The Main Thing) whenever Quin Snyder summons tiny-h his name to come off the bench and help our dear Hawks attain higher heights (no, AJ, not The Highest Height, I gotcha). What this mere mortal wants is to watch this kid blossom into a fullcourt threat, and a headlining role player, or perhaps even an All-NBA caliber starter, on a club in need of someone to seize those reigns. Did I say reigns, AJ? Sorry. Reins. But if it isn’t too much to ask, of any celestial body Up There, I’d love to be blessed with hoopers whose religious e-xpressions don’t render them a parodied caricature of themselves. Behind that signature winning smile of AJ Griffin’s, and that sweet, goofy giggle, there’s a smirking Church Lady with a pillbox hat yearning to be set free. As NBA fans, we’ve been riding parallel to Damascus Road with the Mark Jacksons, Allan Houstons and Charlie Wards who browbeat their 90s Knicks teammates to figurative death in the locker rooms, then got the whole club in hot water speaking ill of certain religions outside of them. We’ve watched Jonathan Isaac, now playing, spend the past few years earning himself a sweet non-basketball bag while drawing thousands of new “fans” and detractors who previously didn’t know him from, well, Adam. And then, there’s Kyrie. Say, remember when Teenage Mutant Super-Dwight came Straight Outta SACA vowing to use his newfound hardwood platform to “save” everybody, and not just from the Legion of Doom? Hm. Athletes, and coaches, especially when the whistles stop blowing, can be Religious As They Wanna Be, and there are fellowship groups that help foster and protect their right to convene and express themselves free of gubmint persecution. Would I prefer that the pro ballers I root for understand that “Pro” is shorthand for Professional, not Proselytizer? Sure, one day. But my immediate concern is that AJ hold little-h his unchanging hand fully outside of The Beyhive. “If you call yourself a follower of (J.C., and I don’t mean John Collins, or Joan, for that matter), you shouldn’t be going to any Beyonce concerts,” posted Pastor Griff, “or any concerts that promote…” Now, dude he’s talking about is no Candyman, but I won’t reiterate that other name out loud. Dana Carvey does it way better anyway. “Ephesians something:something.” AJ wants us all to really know who run the world. Bear in mind, we had JUST recovered after the onslaught of Swifties invading and ruling downtown, MARTA, and the hotels, motels, and Holiday Inns right around the time the Celtics were pinning a bow on AJ and the Hawks’ final game last season. We hardly had time to shake it off, shake it off, when Hark! Here cometh Queen Bey and thousands of her dearest friends with her Renaissance Tour for several days in August at The Benz. All Hail Sasha Fierce! August, through early September, is the one stretch of the Gregorian calendar where thoughts, if not prayers, ought not be directed en masse toward the Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club and its diehard adherents. If I’m that desperate to see the Hawks dominate the news headlines during that time, I’d just surreptitiously videotape one of their free agent board meetings, or maybe ask some traffic cops to double-check the head coach’s taillights on the freeway. Alas, lo and behold, here comes The Gospel According To AJ. Griffin figured he may be unable to break their souls, but he sure could do his part as a humble servant to save a few, while this big mega-concert and its associated fashion circus rolls through A-Town. “ALL Hail?” Aw, hell. Pastor Griff was but a rising middle-Sunday-schooler when the adults in the room at Hawks, Inc. nearly nuked this franchise with commentary, accusations and inferences absolutely no one asked for, burying the team beneath a bunch of picket signs and sandwich boards. I can’t blame him for misconstruing the scale of blowback his sincerely held belief could have wrought on this star-crossed organization. I must admit, though, the clapback from the aggrieved was bound to be way more fun this go-round. Social media convos do a horrible job at changing opinions, however honest and earnest they purport to be. They do a good job, though, at encouraging those who hold those not-nice views to scrub them tout suite once the reaction gets too heated for themselves (what’s that, AJ? “You think it’s hot now?” Okay, touché, mon frère.), and/or the associates around them. What compelled the swift deletion of the post was not some evolution (in thought, AJ. Thought!), or Beyhivers reading him and one of his relatives up and down in the QTs (along the lines of, “You need to be worrying about your sketchy daddy!”), but the calls coming from inside the Hawks’ house: “Ayo!” Griff may not have minded the smoke, and perhaps intended confronting it, but his teammates didn’t need any of that smoke wafting over them, second-hand. And I empathize with them. The players have enough on their plate, as proven by their performances in the first two losses of this season. The thing I feared most was to have the excitement and tension of a home opener at State Farm Arena sidetracked by protestors clad in tinfoil – not the hats this go-round, but the silvery booty short ensembles – protesting vociferously outside. I also don’t doubt that’s why the rumor mill began creaking with talk of making our prototypical young gunner a centerpiece of whatever Landry Fields and Company were throwing Masai Ujiri’s way to spring the latter loose of Pascal Siakam. Considering the wildfires raging up there, Ujiri knew he didn’t need to add any Beyhive smoke to the mix. Besides, as we all knew by that point, AJ wouldn’t be joining his pops up there. Obviously, I only reference “my son” in a figurative sense. AJ is the true son, albeit not the only begotten one, of Dr. Adrian Griffin, who left the Raptors’ bench to happily assume Mike Budenholzer’s seat as the head taskmaster of the Milwaukee Bucks. We’ll recall it was AJ’s mom who nearly blew up Adrian’s head coaching trajectory, right as he was filling in to direct the defending champs for Nick Nurse in the 2020 Bubble, with #MeToo-style allegations that, with the Raptors’ help, he managed to wagon-circle and lawyer down. Dr. Griffin was able to outlast his accusations, but left behind, if you will, was the suspicion that a combative personality, if true, might prove to be his undoing. It didn’t help when former Atlanta Hawks coach Terry Stotts reportedly fell out with Griffin at a practice weeks ago. The team’s new, intended offensive coordinator quit just as it planned to embark, with Stotts’ longtime point small-g god Damian Lillard in tow, on a reinvigorated championship campaign. Back when Stotts, in his first time holding an NBA clipboard, took over the helm midway through 2002-03 from Lon Kruger, only Garfield Heard had any semblance of head coaching experience along his bench. Things didn’t go swell for Stotts in Atlanta, but it didn’t stop a floundering Bucks team from picking his up two seasons after being fired here. Neither did the mediocre results there keep Portland from giving him yet another try, six years after the Bucks tenure ended. Lillard’s surge to prominence made Stotts worth the Blazers’ while for a while, and vice versa, similar to the hope that Quin Snyder holds in attaching himself to the Hawks’ Trae Young. Terry and Dame rode it out together, through thick and thin, for nine seasons. Lillard prying his way out of Portland and forming “Freak Time” with Giannis Antetokounmpo made Stotts’ presence in Wisconsin look like a facilitative fit. Alternatively, Stotts’ abrupt pre-season-tipoff departure turned eyes furtively toward Doctor Griff. How did you manage to peeve that guy off, Adrian? More importantly, in Milwaukee, who are you ticking off next? Griffin, Sr. passed his first full-time coaching test, needing all of Lillard’s 39 points to outlast Nurse’s new team, the bald-chinned Sixers, by a 118-117 score. Lillard’s initial blend with Antetokounmpo (23-and-13), and the Bucks’ array of perimeter threats (one less tonight, as Khris Middleton’s knee gets Injury-Managed), was encouraging. But Milwaukee (1-0), once more the preemptive Finals favorites (sorry, Horf) following last month’s blockbuster acquisition of Dame Dolla, did manage to blow a 19-point lead along the way. And how well this increasingly cap-constrained team wages through the regular season with a still-green set of backcourt reserves remains to be seen. Some NBA clubs have seen championship-level success in recent years with experienced first-timers coaching, and the Bucks have their fingers crossed that will hold true again. But Adrian’s interpersonal skills, and his past, will come under strict scrutiny if Milwaukee slips too frequently during the season. No matter the alleged iniquities of the father, I do not wish them to be visited upon by the children (Deuteronomy something:something). While not the praying type, this heathen Hawks fan sincerely-held belief is that Adrian’s assumed standoffish, scorched-earth personality can’t rub off on Junior. Not in ways that drag down the Hawks’ locker room vibe, and not in ways that cleave off segments of Atlanta’s already fickle yet diverse sports fan base. Atlanta, the team, has shown they have enough going on basketball-wise to work through, especially if a third-straight loss concludes for the Hawks tonight in Milwaukee (at this point, y’all know to just keep scrolling down for this info: 7 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS Wisconsin). We are only but games in, yet I am already prepared to drop the pretense that thou shalt rely on the supporting casts of playoff runs gone by to win games in 2023-24. If Young can flub lobs with Clint Capela with game outcomes hanging in the balance, why not just have Onyeka Okongwu on the receiving end? If we’re not dictating tempo, or holding leads, or keeping Tom Thibodeau’s Knicks (all of 87 points last night after flying to N’Awlins… their arms must be tired, I guess?) below 65 halftime points, with De’Andre Hunter starting games, why not place spark plug Jalen Johnson in his stead? If we’re already not creating decent three-point looks off drives and screens, why must it be chiseled in stone that Bogi Bogdanovic digs us out of holes for 28 minutes per night, and not my prodigal son AJ (9.0 MPG thus far, down from 19.5 in 2022-23; 24 points and 3 steals in a win without Trae vs. MIL on Nov. 7 last season)? If Pastor Griff would allow my query, are these Hawk vets that Irreplaceable? Further, how far below .500 does this team descend before Snyder considers these burning questions? Coach Quin, let my people go! On second thought, perhaps I’m coming across as a bit too preachy and judgmental. Please turn the other cheek, Clint, DeAndre, Bogi, and forgive me. It’s just that I like the Hawks, and I like my child of destiny, AJ Griffin, on this team. I like it enough that I’d put a ring on it, if I could. A championship ring, AJ. Relax. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

No New Yorkers Knicked up, it appears, on the Boo-Boo list as of 5:30 pm. Wesley "2 Ts" Matthews is the sole Hawk on it again. ~lw3

We Outside! Or, at least, Coach Quin hopes so. ~lw3

Hawks Game Notes reminds us that Atlanta is looking to make it six consecutive Ws in home openers. After Dejounte's magnum opus game at MSG last November, the Knicks got their lick back when Murray went down to injury mere minutes into in the December 7 rematch, Atlanta dropping that one 113-89. Since then, the Hawks have managed to cross the triple-digit mark in an NBA-leading 58 consecutive games, trailed by The Lake Show at 48-straight. Trae has cleared the 5-assist bar in 108 consecutive games, and doing so tonight would have him tying Guy Rodgers for the 7th-longest stretch in league history. https://www.nba.com/gamenotes/hawks.pdf ~lw3

“Welcome to Atlanta! Grown-ups, while you’re here, try not to act like us.” With his passenger jet preparing for boarding, Shane suddenly realized he forgot something. Shane was NOT going to miss this flight. An avid UGA Bulldogs fan, Shane, his six-year-old son and his brother were bound to fly to Memphis on an itinerary to Oxford, Mississippi, one day ahead of the 5-3 Dawgs’ early-morning clash with the Rebs. Hope was renewed for the once-proud pigskin program, under first-year coach Mark Richt, particularly after three straight seasons of losing to that annoying North Avenue Trade School. The Gainesville, Georgia banker planned on snapping photos, to cherish the family memories years down the line, and being able to show he was there for his Dawgs as their U-turn toward top-tier prominence began. Alas, Shane recalled, his missing camera bag was lying at the main terminal’s ticket gate, right where he left it. Or, so he hoped. No problem, Shane pondered. Hop on the tram back to the ticket lobby, scoop up the bag, then do the same trip in reverse. Takes all of maybe twenty minutes, tops. One thing Shane was not going to do: he was NOT about to miss this flight. Not for all the world. Leaving his kid, and his plane ticket, in the temporary care of his brother, Shane trekked back down his terminal escalator, onto the airport people mover, then up an escalator leading to the lobby. No luck! Oh well, just by a quick-cam on the road from Memphis. For now, it’s time to return down the escalators and catch this flight. Go, O.J., go! What? Okay, fine… go, Garrison Hearst! Go! Some impediments stood before Shane. In his haste, he failed to notice that all the escalators ascended upwards from the tram station. Had this been as recently as 67 days before, Shane, like tens of millions of people had done for decades, would have been able to freely ride down one of the escalators and swiftly return to his departure gate. But today was November 16, 2001, and two rented security guards were posted in front of the escalators to ensure nobody got any crazy ideas. Nobody, that is, like Shane. The guards turned Shane away, insisting he needed to procure a new ticket and go through the security checkpoint, with its circuitous queue of standees awaiting bag checks and magnetometers, for a second time in order to return to his departure terminal. Thoughts ran wild through Shane’s big brain, as he walked away and his flight’s scheduled takeoff neared. Is he about to miss this trip, of a lifetime, to Mississippi? Might his kiddo have to miss this trip, too? Will the son and his uncle feel compelled to board the flight, then perhaps attend the UGA game, without him? If they do, could he maybe rent a car and high-tail it to Oxford in time for tailgate? What will the kid’s mom say about this? All because he deserted his camera bag? Once more: Shane was NOT about miss this flight. Not an option. In this scenario, What Would Herschel Do? “Over the Top” was unrealistic, considering Shane’s gravitational shortcomings and the probable lack of a pleasant landing on the escalator steps. And yet, he persisted. Spinning around, Shane lunged past the bewildered rent-a-cops, then fought the forces of escalatorial pull by descending awkwardly, past arriving airport guests, down an up escalator. National Guardsmen hanging out around the escalators were also caught off, well, guard. Move! Get out the way. One thing Shane was going to do: he was GOING to miss his scheduled departure time. As would untold thousands of his fellow would-be passengers, flight attendants, and pilots at The World’s Busiest Airport. There was no time to discern Bulldog Shane’s brusque ploy from those possibly concocted by Al-Qaeda, Al Bundy, or Ted Bundy. Accordingly, Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, in the middle of a weekday afternoon, was placed on emergency lockdown. Seat belts fastened and prepared for takeoff? Tsk tsk. All planes are on ground stop, ordered back to the gates for deboarding. Just landed? That’s peachy. Luggage handling has halted, and all unattended baggage in either direction likely needs a thorough re-scan. Just arrived at your gate after clearing security? Aww. Back to the main terminal you go. Enjoying your meal at one of the dozens of airport eateries? Hope you brought a doggy bag. Heading to the loo to relieve oneself? Oh, my sweet child. Just outside the airport on the MARTA train? Enjoy a few hours in leafy College Park. If you hurry, you may be able to grab a seat within its two (2) open restaurants. Sitting in virtually any other significant airport on Earth, and wondering why your flight, connected in some way to Atlanta, has been abruptly delayed, or even cancelled? Good news! You, and the folks at CNN, have now got plenty of time to figure it out. Your hard-earned vacation plans, your mission-critical business trip, your tenuous employment status potentially waylaid by an interminable, unspecified delay? C’est la vie. Visitors, families, employees, everybody, get out of all terminals and wait outside on the streets outside until the forces that be, the National Guard, the bomb squads, can sort through everything. All this hubbub, at the busiest airhub on Earth, and no one yet knows it’s because Jawja Shane is being such a huge… sportsball fan. Incalculable losses in business revenue, and surges in emergency expenditures and personnel-hours, were racking up as fast as the ire of patrons unsure as to where, to whom, and for what, they should direct their dismay. How, Atlanta hubmaster AirTran Airways wondered, can we survive in such a volatile, drop-everything environment? Later claiming to be oblivious to the reason for all the delay and disarray, UGA Shane found himself awash with all the other patrons ushered out into the autumn air. But he was arrested that evening, after the coasts cleared, when he was ID’d by security while trying to book the next flight he had no designs on missing. Once his name and his alleged actions were made public, it wouldn’t take long before a nation of angered travelers, and otherwise amused SEC football fans, were eager to see if Shane would serve some penance for his misdeed. "Free Shane, Pawl!" AirTran was curious how he’d pay, too, suing him for tens of thousands of bucks in lost revenue and the paychecks of aggravated employees dealing with aggrieved customers. Many commercial enterprises affected by the shutdown, their lawyers at the ready, waited to see how that lawsuit proceeded through the courts. The good news for Shane was Atlanta is never short on really good lawyers. Months later, his legal reps would hammer out a quiet settlement with the airline. No, Shane, no Biscoff cookies for you! Meanwhile, the county in charge of prosecutions at Hartsfield could only drum up a flimsy criminal trespass charge. Copping a plea, Shane would visit the pokey for five weekends and commit to 500 community service hours during his two years on probation. In the unkindest cut of all, Shane was barred from attending any UGA football games for the rest of that season. That included his Dawgs’ pivotal victory a couple weeks later at Atlanta’s Bobby Dodd Stadium, questions of this qualifying as an away game aside. And nope, Shane, no Music City Bowl for you. At the state and federal level, a growing consensus looked at this and other situations and decided the intricate web of aviation security cannot be left primarily in the hands of fly-by-night companies and profiteers. Within days of Shane’s mad dash, the federal Transportation Security Administration was birthed into existence, and in a few months, a state statute made Shane’s evasive activity a clear felony with severe criminal sanctions. Henceforth, that bottle of Prell you packed for Poughkeepsie that your split ends cannot do without? Three-point-four ounces of the shampoo, not three-point-five, contained within a clear, quart-sized Ziploc bag. That’s the TSA limit, sorry, no exceptions. As airport travelers, we all were probably headed this way anyway. Yet you can thank yahoos like Ugga Shane for greasing the skids, as you try to hide that hideous bunion at the security checkpoint. Off with your shoes! South Fulton towns like College Park, and East Point, that spent years planning out “aerotropolis” town-center remodels, centered upon travelers with extended delays branching out from their terminals to explore the nearby shops and eateries? Go ahead and toss those drawings in the bin. Thanks, Shane! Ugga Bubba, the Runaway Bride, Balloon Boy. The thread that runs so true through infamous cases like these is a cascading set of calamitous impacts were in store for many people who bore no relation to the people boring through with their self-centered, impulsive, boorish acts of absurdity. There are lessons to be gleaned from them all. No, your forthcoming baby’s gender reveal does not need to go viral, does not require pyrotechnics, and certainly need not wipe out chunks of a state due to forest fires. No, your personal issues with a referee, while you are miffed after a loss in front of the home crowd, should not become a distraction that costs your underdog team your vital presence at an upcoming NBA playoff elimination game. And, for your kids, a college nest egg. Dejounte “Bumpy” Murray seems like he gets it, now. Atlanta Hawks fans won’t have to wait-and-see on the pink-or-blue side of things, as Murray and his modeling significant other played it safe with balloons popping confetti at last winter’s reveal party (welcome to the world, little princess Icelynn Mercedes!). As for his one-sided beef that went overboard at precisely the wrong time last spring with referee Gediminas Petraitis, and the keeping-it-real explanations that landed flat, we ought to be able to take DJ at his word that the only turnovers that matter involves his, and Trae Young’s, new leaves. “It starts with us,” Murray exclaimed on Media Day about the approach he ((knocks on wood)) and his co-star, will take when faced with certain adversity throughout this season. “If we’re unselfish, the whole team is going to be unselfish. If we’re selfish, it’s gonna be a selfish team.” Oui, oui. “With me and Trae, it starts with us as far as, if we’re going to be unselfish, then you’re gonna see a great team, an unselfish team,” said Murray, disappointing fans on pescatarian diets at State Farm Arena by insisting that the home team’s headlining leaders will no longer sell fish. “And then everybody’s gonna have fun.” Whee! Whee! If Murray stays true to his word, it sure bodes well for Quin Snyder. When disappointing stretches of the season come, as is likely given just the nature of Atlanta’s schedule (NBA-high 15 back-to-backs; 20 3-games-in-4-nights sets, and 25 4-in-6 sets, most since 2017-18), Trae and ‘Te won’t be scouring LinkedIn on the hunt for Full-Time Head Coach #4, an endeavor that might require ownership to first field interviews for PBO/GM #3. Snyder will help his cause in the early going to this season by keeping his floor leaders’ eyes on the prize. That’s from one game to the next, and from one quarter to the next. After one pleasant stanza onb Wednesday, the Hawks (0-1) began losing their grip on the opener in Charlotte as ballhandlers took the bait of driving past their man into the paint and lofting wild shots at the rim over the Hornets’ lengthier defenders. While Atlanta managed to keep the deficit close in the second half, along the way to a combined outing of 7-for-33 FGs (incl. 1-for-12 on triples), Trae and ‘Te devolved into the staid halfcourt style, of Iso-You-so, that defined the flat era of what was once touted as The East’s Best Backcourt in Washington. That left teammates flat-footed an unable to recover in defensive transition. The opposing head coach for tonight’s home opener at The Farm (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, MSG Network in NYC), Tom Thibodeau hopes to start the game in a similar fashion, getting Atlanta guards to drive inside and make life predictable for Mitchell Robinson and Hacksaw Isaiah Hartenstein. Then, at closing time, he’d like to staple Josh Hart and/or Donte DiVincenzo on Atlanta’s play initiators, daring the Hawks’ stars to play heroball against double- and triple-team defenses. In so doing, keeping Young and Murray feeling as though they must go-it-alone can render neutral whatever Jalen Johnson (21 points!), Saddiq Bey (5 steals!), Clint Capela (6 O-Rebs!), Onyeka Okongwu (5 shots!) and De’Andre Hunter (6 fouls!) bring to the fray. Atlanta’s dynamic duo did connect enough to compile 15 assists against the short-handed and short-minded Hornets. But coming off that 116-110 defeat, Coach Quin is going to want to see on- and off-ball actions tonight that lead to more than Wednesday’s five assisted three-point makes (versus 11 assisted 3FGs by CHA). There are some people who must take into account whackos in public putting monkey wrenches into their plans as part of their daily existence. Specifically, that’s a normal week for commuters caught up in the web New York City’s vast, TikTok-able subway network. By result, longtime fans of their home team, the Knicks (0-1), have grown inured to just rolling with the punches. Jalen Brunson slips coming off Jayson Tatum’s foot after shooting a three, and the refs whistle Brunson for flopping. The four-point play allowed Kristaps Porzingis and his newfound Celtics to gallop away with the 108-104 win on Wednesday (I am told, no referees were unduly bumped in the aftermath). Not even a video review could help Brunson avert his fate, although the “my bad” tweet from the refs’ union the next morning was a sweet touch. But, hey, that’s life in The Big City for ya. For now, Brunson and Julius Randle will want to shoot better tonight than their 11-for-44 from Madison Square Garden’s field that left R.J. Barrett (24 points on 27 combined shots) looking like a model of efficiency. Relative to Messrs. Murray and Young, the Knicks’ intended top-scorers get the benefit of the doubt, thanks to last year’s 47-35 bounce-back season and first-round bouncing of the Cavs. Not just from the normally loud-mouthed NYC media (what are ya gonna do, cheer the Mets? Throw it again!), but from the head-honchos at once-mighty USA Basketball (Mr. Hill, where ya at, my G?). The player that led the league in assists the last two seasons, Young had to enter 2023-24 burdened with shedding perceptions that his basketball club is too selfish for its own good. The team that was 28th in assists had several players squaring off in FIBA World Cup’s Final Four. Sharing is not necessarily caring. Do a better job of blending and leading this season, and once summertime hits, Americans Young and Murray won’t be spending time tuning in to watch Hart and Brunson (and/or Randle) get braised by Barrett, or Bogdan Bogdanovic (or, sacre bleu, Evan Fournier) in international skirmishes with bronze medals on the line. They can help themselves, and their team, and even their country, if they clearly help fellow Hawks elevate their games by earning better perimeter looks, and if they don’t get too caught up in the quality of their Imma Get Mines stats at crunch time (ATL minus-1.5 clutch plus/minus & negative-15.9 clutch Net Rating in 2022-23, 29th in NBA behind only DET). Wednesday’s loss was already the first sign that turbulence lies ahead, but it’s navigable if the co-pilots learn to work together, and with their new coaching staffs, to steady the craft. If Atlanta’s top guns don’t place their offense in an upright position, it may take too long for their squad to get cleared for takeoff. Besides, November is way too early in the NBA season around here to be thinking, “How ‘Bout Dem Darn Good Dawgs?” Unless you’re Ugga Shane, of course. Everybody clear the runway for him! Maine Strong! Thank You, Squawkdonors. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

Where's that cut-and-paste feature... ah, there it is! Back in a minute! ~lw3

In a tale of two decades, the Hornets celebrated their home finale last year by noting their sellout at 17,500-seat Spectrum Center was the most they've had since getting their team back in 2003... a grand sellout total of 16. EDIT: a couple gamethread OP-related links on the pre-Buzzkill era of 80s Hornets hoops... https://www.charlottemagazine.com/the-place-went-nuts-an-oral-history-of-the-1988-charlotte-hornets/ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-10-sp-2505-story.html The dust settled on the Frank Ntilikina-Theo Maledon-Edmond Sumner race to back up LaMelo, and the winner is... Ish Smith, scooped up yesterday after the team cut Sumner loose. The Wake Forest product and 2023 NBA champ will not add to his record 13 different NBA employers, as he was with the Hornets for a half-season back in 2022. Injury sheet as of this morning for the Bugs: The Hawks' pregame injury sheet is pretty good, with exception to this feller. ~lw3