lethalweapon3

"My Kind of Coach, MAZZULLA is..." ~m@rcussm@rt

Despite Jaylen Brown's finger threatening to look like an over-boiled hot dog, no Celtics aside from Gallo on on the Boo-Boo List. No Hawks, either. With the key injuries piling up in other series, I shall thank my lucky stars for that. ~lw3

'I'm Gus Johnson.' 'I'm the Boom Goes the Dynamite Guy.' "And you are LOOKING LIVE!” I absolutely adore the fact our Atlanta Hawks dragged the great Boston Celtics down to NBATV. The NBA has come a long way from first-round Hawks-Whomever action being aired on Fuse TV. Or CLEO. Or on Discovery Family, immediately followed by a very special re-run presentation of Blossom. Sure, the Celts ice-blasted their visitors in Game 1 of these Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Nonetheless, heading into Game 2 at Boston Garden (7 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Boston, NBATV), it is nice to know it’s Atlanta’s team, not the legions of fans of Team Green around the world, that drives the TV scheduling decisions. Atlanta is running circles around Boston, lately, in the media market department. Long situated between #8 and #11 among the USA’s top TV markets, the ATL has surged past Boston, the Bay Area, Washington, and even Houston since 2021 to entrench itself at #6 in the NBA’s top American markets (#7, if you include Toronto and North America). The rub is that our intown professional sports teams, from the front offices down to the fields of play, have gone out of their way to render themselves unwatchable to international audiences, or at least, vigorously channel-changeable. For now, NBATV it is, and I am satisfied that, in this day and age, that’s as low as we’ll go. In any case, thank goodness we still have Bawb and Nique on Bankrupt Bally Sports to share our mid-game sorrows for now. Me, I always enjoy weekly evenings of Crunch Time featuring some washed ex-pro, or a Hall of Famer who wants nothing more than for MJ to like him, commentating on games and highlights alongside some former Hawks head coach, or perhaps a coach recently deposed from afar, who needs a side hustle on Techwood Drive to continue justifying an Atlanta residence. If I have one request, NBATV, please do not have LP at the postgame-show desk, where he was perched just last week, tsk-tsking everything the Hawks did and didn’t do. The notion alone makes me queasy and, like Mr. Orlando Brown, I just had breakfast. Gosh, though, do I have visions of the day Atlanta’s NBA team does what the Bay Area’s did in the past decade-plus, and Boston’s did long ago. That is, building a franchise, and a brand, that everyone and their mamas want to turn to, pressing no more than a couple digits on their remotes to watch ball games. “Siri, find me the Hawks game!” Perhaps the first step along that journey was taken when the lower-seeded Hawks overachieved and sent teams from the big-time New York and Philadelphia markets packing, with bigtime road playoff victories, just two seasons ago. The immediate next steps, though, are to shoot something a little better than 0-for-11 on threes (ATL 1-for-16 in the first half of Game 1’s 112-99 loss) to start games, and for Trae Young (1-for-7 FGs, zippo assists and 3 TOs in the first quarter) to quit shifting from headliner to head-scratcher while pressing to execute plays that clearly aren’t there. The ghosts of TD Garden are more in the minds of Atlanta’s playmakers and defenders than in the stands. The Hawks will point to holding Boston to 38 points in the second half on Saturday, as the Celtics let their foot up a bit more gently than Draymond, as evidence that they have exorcised those phantoms. They also have the benefit of game tape, plus an extra-off day to review and adjust schemes ahead of Games 2 and 3. But whatever the explanations, Atlanta’s approach going forward in second quarters (45-25 in Game 1; minus-5.7 2nd quarter Net Rating since March 1, 25th in NBA and lowest among Playoff participants; NBA-low 52.3 team 2nd quarter Assist% since March 1) will be the telltale sign of whether coach Quin Snyder’s mid-game instructions are sinking in. Snyder relies heavily on either Young or Dejounte Murray (team-high 24 points but 0-for-6 3FGs in Game 1; thank goodness for the mid-rangers) to guide the backcourt while the other rests between the midpoints of the first and second quarters. Doing so allows any pairing of Marcus Smart, Derrick White and sixth-man Malcolm Brogdon to double-down on defense at the points of attack, creating easy opportunities for themselves and others in transition off Atlanta’s turnovers and clunky misses. As lauded as the Hawks’ key bench contributors have been in helping lug the team into the postseason, none of the reserves Snyder fielded in Game 1 are bona fide secondary playmakers. With a whopping one assist between De’Andre Hunter, John Collins and Clint Capela (just 2 TOs tho! Boston’s Al Horford doubled that assist tally by himself), none of Atlanta’s other starters have shown themselves worthy of such labels, either. Coach Quin will need to consider lengthening the time between the Trae-Off and DJ-Off phases with intervening minutes from Aaron Holiday (team-best 40.9 3FG% in the regular season), a light backup participant back in 2019 when Nate McMillan’s Pacers were swept by the Celtics in Round 1 (memo to NBATV: please keep Nate away from the desk this week, too). On a team with few hot hands, Snyder won’t find one by keeping both Holiday and rookie AJ Griffin cooling on the bench for entire games, particularly as the lead guards struggle to make cotton touch leather. As much as Young must avoid forcing square Plan A pegs into round holes, Plan B plays must also involve the Hawk bigs, the forwards in particular, doing more than just hunting for lobs and catch-and-shoot threes. Dishing the ball cross-court off drives and post-ups from the paint can keep Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (team-highs of 11 and 8 D-Rebs, and 25 and 29 points, respectively, in Game 1) engaged as more than cherry-pickers, opening up opportunities for open Hawks across the floor. Dribbling aimlessly into the teeth of double-teams in hopes of favorable whistles will invite more of the same punishment Boston defenders and their referee friends are experts at dishing out. There may indeed come a day when Trae and the Hawks become that darling of Joe Sixpacks around the globe, steadily featured on TNT and ESPN by popular demand. But, even in defeat, even on NBATV, we cannot just be caught out here, in prime time, scaring the Joes. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

Emotionally, the scheduling for this Game 1 probably could have been better for us, were it on Sunday instead. ~lw3

ERRATA ALREADY?: Brad and the Celts did promote two assistants to replace Hardy/Mazzulla and Stoudamire. Matt Reynolds was previously a video coordinator and "special assistant" to Stevens and Ime Udoka before his October promotion. D.J. Macleay, coincidentally an alum from Muscala's Bucknell, was previously the Celtics' "player enhancement coach" before the formal promotion in this, his first season. EDIT: I gleaned this corrective info from the Celtics' Game Notes. Just between us, don't nobody tell Derrick White that the Celtics have him listed on the front page as a "Rookie". https://www.nba.com/gamenotes/celtics.pdf ~lw3

If we put our heads together, we may be able to pull this one out! ~lw3

“BUH GAWD, KORVER! THAT MARCUS SMART HAS A FAMILY!” Joe Mazzulla seems to have it all. Upon first glance. The fourth-year NBA assistant was abruptly handed the head coaching keys, last autumn, to a reigning Eastern Conference champion. One with its top eight playoff contributors returning, with their prior coach managing the club from above, adding two former Rookies of the Year to the veteran mix. Mazzulla deftly steered the Celtics, the NBA’s most efficient team (+6.7 Net Rating), to 57 wins, Boston’s most successful regular season since the defending NBA champions embarked on a return to the playoffs with 62 wins in 2009. For any 34-year-old New Englander, especially a burly Big East point guard with a lightly remarkable collegiate playing career, this ascent to become the coach in charge of the Eastern Conference’s most historically successful franchise is the stuff dreams are made of, even if the path to the top of the NBA coaching ranks was a bit discomfiting. One thing Coach Mazz does not have? A playoff series win. Not just yet. So far, Quin Snyder has three under his belt. Before he got the chance to build up a playoff-competitive roster in Utah, the Jazz liked what they saw when the Atlanta Hawks, then under new coach Mike Budenholzer’s command, pressed Paul George’s top-seeded Pacers to a two-count as an eight-seed in 2014. Coach Bud wasn’t leaving Atlanta anytime soon, the Jazz surmised. So, why not nab one of his plum assistants? Three seasons in, Snyder’s first foray into the playoffs wasn’t going too great. After stealing Game 1 of the 4-5 matchup with the lauded LA Clippers, the Jazz lost the next two games. Unfortunately for the Clips, the brittle Blake Griffin injured a toe. Ruled out for the remainder of the postseason, LA was suddenly no match for Joe Johnson, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and rookie bench big Rudy Gobert. The Jazz got the best of the George-led Thunder as a 5-seed underdog the very next postseason, this time with Donovan Mitchell leading the charge. As imposing as Gobert was in the middle, he paled in the ensuing round to his Euro counterpart Clint Capela, who helped Iso Joe’s new team, the Rockets, make quick work of Utah in five games. The Jazz were the class of the NBA West by 2021, on pace for 59 wins in a pandemic-shortened season. Unfortunately, their failure to capitalize on their favorable status to reach a conference final, and the growing strain between their offensive and defensive pillars, namely Mitchell and Gobert, dogged Snyder’s tenure and would soon have him surveying the NBA landscape for a fresh start. With Danny Ainge having made his way from Boston to SLC, Quin wisely sought to jump before he could be pushed. Coach Quin seems to have as fresh a start as he could find, a midseason hire who helped the Hawks (41-41) mosey into these NBA Playoffs as an unheralded 7-seed. One consideration he’ll appreciate, entering into Game 1 of this Eastern Conference quarterfinal in Boston (3:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Boston, ESPN), is that his new offensive and defensive pillars, Trae Young and Capela, could not possibly be more of one accord, on or off the courts. Another advantageous factor is his wealth of experience, at all levels, relative to Mazzulla. Roughly a month before Coach Mazz was born, Hawks announcer Dominique Wilkins waged a titanic Game 7 clash with Larry Legend on the hallowed Boston Garden parquet. Coach Quin is likely to recall this pivotal battle fondly, perhaps watching with rabbit ears on his VHF television as the steely point guard prepared for what would be his senior season alongside Danny Ferry at Duke. Mazzulla began his journey as an assistant coach, in Division II hoops, about two years after Snyder was named the 2009 D-League Coach of the Year with the Spurs’ Austin Toros. Mazzulla joined the G-League ranks as an assistant with the Celtics’ Maine Red Claws around the time Snyder was signing his long-term extension as the Jazz head coach in 2016. Snyder and Mazzulla inherited their current coaching staffs upon their respective hires. But it is noteworthy that Quin did not lose any assistants, not even Nate McMillan’s son, along the way. After taking over for Mr. Steal Yo Girl, Mazzulla was not replaced with a new hire by Celtics PBO Brad Stevens. The only head coach in the league entering this season younger than Mazzulla, former Boston assistant Will Hardy, replaced Snyder in Utah shortly after the Celtics were tucked into bed by Steph Curry in the NBA Finals. Hardy was not replaced this summer by Stevens, either. The coaching bench grew ever smaller for Boston following their 134-125 win in Atlanta last month, when Damon Stoudamire paid a visit to Georgia Tech and decided to stick around The Flats. Whereas the prior head coach had upwards of six assistants to help him navigate his maiden voyage through the Eastern Conference Playoffs, Mazzulla has just three to lean on. The going may not get too treacherous for Boston in this opening round. But if it does, Snyder has a full slate of assistants who know this team well, and they have had over a month of time to build internal rapport with the ousted McMillan’s replacement. With a playoff-sharpened roster that has seen its share of playoff ups and downs with many teams, including ex-Hawks Al Horford and Mike Muscala as well as perennial pest Marcus Smart, Mazzulla depends highly upon his veterans on the court to be his lead assistants. Horford and Muscala, as we know, were well-tenured Hawks when Atlanta, a disregarded 4-seed, ended its decades-long playoff hex versus Boston in a 4-2 first-round series win. Smart was a second-year backup, still three seasons away from becoming a mainstay starter in Boston’s backcourt, while Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were on their way as lottery draftees for the resulting rebuild. “I think they have a feel for one another and how they play together,” Coach Quin remarked of the present-day Celtics on Tuesday after his Hawks dispatched the heat in Miami, while not entirely sure yet of the day or time for Game 1. “Their reads are terrific, and they got a lot of guys that can make plays and they want to do that for one another. It makes them really, really hard to guard.” Snyder added in his postgame presser, “I think their versatility defensively is unique, also, some of the different lineups they can put out.” Although slash-able pronouns don’t go over terribly well these days down there in Florida, the operative words to note here are, “they/them/their”. There was not much focus by Snyder, directly, on the All-NBA qualities of Tatum, or his Marietta-native co-All-Star, Brown. Snyder’s view of Boston is aspirational as to how he hopes Atlanta is one day perceived, as a collective built in a way that makes the potential for its superstar(s) reach stratospheric levels. For the C’s, it always comes down to the degree of their superiority shooting from the perimeter. Last month’s 118-117 loss, coincidentally, to Snyder’s former club in Utah was the only blemish among 32 games (34, if you choose to round up) where the Celtics shot at least 40 percent on threes. The Hawks only had 22 games meeting or exceeding 40 percent, but they lost six of those and were outshot by opponents in most of that subset of losses. Boston also finished 22-2 when opponents shot the rock at or below a 31 percent clip, both defeats from the prior calendar year and one being a one-point overtime loss at Cleveland. Atlanta, similarly, went 24-3, with just one L in this calendar year, but they had too many games with defensive lapses for that to matter in the standings. Including the Hawks-Celtics exhibition to close out the regular season, Atlanta shot 21.9, 29.4, and 28.2 on threes in their three head-to-head losses, whereas Boston made 45.7, 47.6, and 46.3. The challenge for the Hawks offense throughout this series is to close that disparity, in part by keeping off-ball players and the ball itself in motion such that the quality of their perimeter catches and looks are vastly improved. On defense, Hawks directly guarding Tatum and Brown have to funnel them away from easy drives to the rim, and not fouling in recovery, while being fully aware limited help is coming their way. That would-be help includes Capela, who was masterful in Miami (postseason-best 21 rebounds) on Tuesday but will have his hands full boxing out Robert Williams. Defenders able to keep a foot out of the paint and stick to Boston’s array of perimeter threats will aid Atlanta’s cause over the course of 48 minutes. As much of a model of efficiency as Boston has been in 2022-23, last year’s edition, despite their struggles through mid-season, finished with an even higher Net Rating. Their +7.4 net ranked second to the Suns last year and was just ahead of Snyder’s Jazz (+6.2). In the opening round of those playoffs, Quin had a front-row seat to Jalen Brunson’s and Dorian Finney-Smith’s heroics (you, too, Spencer Dinwiddie. Sure.) as the league saw how potent the 4-seed Mavericks could be with a cohesive fullcourt lineup supporting a semi-injured Luka Doncic, who missed the first three games of Dallas’ 4-2 series win. Young, and Dejounte Murray, may have their moments to shine on the court. But the Hawks can make a competitive series out of this when John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and the young guns off the bench commit to making positive plays at both ends of the court, plus Trae and Bogi helping to secure defensive boards and deflect passes. Communication will be key, and Tuesday’s win at Miami illustrated the Hawks’ capabilities when Snyder has his players communicating and adjusting to opponent runs effectively. Mazzulla has looked quite capable of navigating a stout, veteran team through the regular season. On this elevated stage, facing off with a tactician who is decades his senior, we wait to see just how well he can fend off the old adage, that age comes before beauty. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

~lw3

No Hawks on the Boo-Boo List, and heading into soggy but 75-plus degree temps hopefully means no Non-COVID illnesses will prop up. Max Strus (Probable) will still be an issue despite a hyperextended finger on his shooting hand. Kyle Lowry has not yet been upgraded from Questionable with his sore knee, but Gabe Vincent has been the every day starter since February. We will be spared the wrath of Nikola Jovic, the rookie who's Out with back spasms. ~lw3

“Needed a bigger spot to house all my Participation Trophies, so…” It’s not Ka-SEE-Yah! No, not CASE-Yah. Not CASEY-uh, nor CASSIE-uh. It’s Kuh-SAY-ahh. The venue for today’s 7-versus-8 Play-In between the Miami heat and your Atlanta Hawks (7:30 PM Eastern, TNT, 92.9 FM in ATL) sports a new no-mo-Crypto-Bro sponsored name, Kaseya Center, that rolls off the tongue easy. If you’re a dentist. Kaseya, a software company that relocated to SoFla a few years ago, insists that if you can pronounce Adebayo or Herro or Spoelstra without flinching, you can get used to sayin’ Kaseya. Now, please turn your head to the bowl on the side, and spit! On that note, I’m just out here spit-balling, per usual. I sure hope replacement coach Quin Snyder has some wrinkles for the starched shirt Erik Spoelstra wraps around Trae Young that keeps him and the Hawks offense so pressed. Because I have few ideas ironed out in my head that are worth sharing. Sure, here in Statlanta, we’ve got Trae’s Scottie Pippen, aka Dejounte Murray (20-plus-PPG and 6-plus-APG teammates for the first time in the NBA since MJ & Pip ‘92), precisely to give Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry (questionable, sore knee), and Victor Oladipo someone else to hound. Further, De’Andre Hunter won’t be haunted by 3-and-Troll specialist P.J. Tucker this go-round. Clint Capela’s at full health, which wasn’t the case in last year’s gentleman’s sweep of a first-round series, while Onyeka Okongwu will have a greater role at both ends in this postseason meeting under Quin’s watch. There’ll be no Danilo Gallinari filling in for Capela in the starting five, and hopefully Atlanta’s perimeter threats will fare better than Gallo and Kevin Huerter did last year. Ultimately, whether or not we’re spending the balance of the week prepping for DPOY finalist Sam Hauser, Finals MVP finalist Payton Pritchard and the Boston Celtics depends more on what Miami carries to the floor today. Last year’s version of #heatculture ranked top-ten in both offensive and defensive efficiencies. This season, the heat have cooled to bottom-ten in the league on the offensive side (25th in O-Rating and team eFG%, incl. 27th in 3FG%; 21st in O-Reb% and 2FG%). We know all about the 41 wins and 41 losses (26-26 in NBA East, 8-8 in NBA Southeast, 5-5 over last ten, etc.) befitting of a broke-even Atlanta team. But it is actually the Hawks (+24), not the 44-38 heat (-26), that concluded this season scoring more points than they allowed. That has as much to do with Miami’s anemic offense as Atlanta, when they keep turnovers down, supersoaking the nets. Managerial Darth Vader Pat Riley shipped off the grousing Dewayne Dedmon, then brought in two vets, Cody Zeller and Kevin Love, in hopes of helping shots find their way into the inside of baskets. Despite Zeller’s best efforts, Love (29.7 3FG%) only managed to drag the percentages down. The heat offensive gameplan is to pound the life out of the shot clocks (29th in Pace), then run into somebody, plead, and draw favorable whistles (3rd in fouls drawn, only 17th in fouls committed), then exploit the one spot on the floor where they’re actually good shooters: the charity stripe (83.1 FT%, 2nd in NBA). Despite routinely shooting so bad from the floor, the heat bear a winning record because everyone in Miami’s postseason rotation, save for Oladipo, shoots comfortably above 80 percent on their freebies. Of course, an NBA team’s woes shooting from the field becomes a different ball-of-wax when they play the Hawks. As one might suspect, Miami’s 57.1 eFG% and 62.2 TS% vs. ATL are the highest against any NBA foe they’ve faced at least thrice this season. Coach Spo will use Tyler Herro’s shot-jacking as a ruse to trick Trae and the Hawks into trying to out-heat the heat at their own game, while playing at their desired tempo. Atlanta, now with Murray in the mix, gives themselves a puncher’s chance today if defenders deny and deflect passes, and scramble when beat off the dribble rather than relying on help, producing rushed and contested shots, all without fouling. The Hawks can be the ones throwing haymakers if the bigs (small forwards like Hunter included) secure defensive rebounds and bolt in transition, and if the guards push the ball out of the backcourt quickly to create quick-strike finishing plays for Capela, John Collins, Okongwu and Jalen Johnson around the rim. The aim is to keep Bam Adebayo on his toes and disallow Butler from roving Atlanta’s perimeter threats, including Bogi Bogdanovic and postseason newcomers Saddiq Bey and AJ Griffin, exclusively. That’s about the best scenario I can drum up. Because, consistent with this silly season, we have no idea whether Atlanta will bring their A-Game, tonight, and sustain it for meaningful stretches. It is not about if they can, but if they will. If they do so, then it will be all about Miami’s willingness to make adjustments, or simply settle for whichever of Chicago or Toronto swings by The Big K.C. on Friday while the Bucks look on. Given the heat have the most losses against sub-.500 teams (14, one more than ATL) of anybody in the NBA East still playing, Miami would probably pull for Toronto tomorrow if they have to. If the Hawks don’t bring their A-Game? Well then, we will just Kuh-SEE-y’all back here in a few days! Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

What can she do for you? We'll find out soon! ~lw3

Who needs a Babyface, when you've got an L.A.? ~lw3

Bring on The Comet! ~lw3

Locking the thread. Y'all take a breath and try again later. ~lw3

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: good things come to those who wait! The approach to slow-build the Atlanta Dream around 2022 WNBA ROY Rhyne Howard, in the face of recent superteam building at WNBA venues in New York and Las Vegas, makes plenty of sense. There are few incoming rookies in this year’s WNBA Draft (Monday at 7 PM Eastern, ESPN) that convey instant impact in terms of stardom and championship contention. But with a pair of mid-tiered first rounders, and an early second, GM Dan Padover and Coach Tanisha Wright have the chance to buttress team depth in anticipation of a more earnest playoff push in 2023. You’ve likely seen some amazing talents on college-level courts, especially during NCAA March Madness. But thanks to the one-two punch of COVID disruptions and NIL opportunities, if you’ll excuse the pun, You Can’t See Them in the WNBA. Not for another year or two, as scores of would-be eligible players surveyed the landscape and chose to accept an extra NCAA year, rather than forgo possible NIL largesse for some meager post-amateur paychecks. While those players are worth the wait, their disinterest in rushing to turn pro keeps this year’s WNBA draft wafer thin. Indiana won the Draft Lottery, and South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston will help the Fever firm up their emerging frontcourt. After that? Well… Maryland’s Diamond Miller and Tennessee’s Jordan Horston are high on potential, and bucket-getter Maddy Siegrist of Villanova will likely join them within the first five picks. Veteran wing Allisha Gray poses a more immediate impact as a wing pairing with Howard than any of those collegians, so Padover swung a deal with Dallas to get out of the Draft’s top-five. Bidding adieu to longtime holdover Tip Hayes, however, and last year’s draft deal with Washington for the right to select Howard first-overall, allowed Atlanta to field two picks in the run-up to Draft time, at #6 and #8. Perimeter shooting, playmaking and rim protection all seem to be needs of greatest improvement for the Dream (14-22 last season, incl. 7-18 after a heady 7-4 start). Not everything can be addressed in 2023, though, through a Draft that is talent-shallow at the PG and C spots. Atlanta was a threat from the three-point line (35.1 team 3FG%, 4th in WNBA, although just 7th in attempts) for the first time in ages, thanks largely to brief, productive stints from Hayes, Maya Caldwell, AD Durr and Kristy Wallace, and Durr is the sole potential returnee. Gray's 3-and-D impact will be huge as a second banana to Howard in the starting lineup. But Lou Lopez-Senechal of UConn, and Taylor Mikesell of Ohio State, are possible bench contributors that could offer a steadier stream of long-range baskets, opening up the inside of the offensive court for more post-ups and paint penetration. Former NAIA Player of the Year and Iowa State star Stephanie Soares, a 6-foot-6 Brazilian-American, will miss this WNBA season due to a torn ACL she suffered in January. Yet Soares soars up draft boards for being precisely the type of future-forward prospect some WNBA teams are willing to wait on. Padover brought in his last first-round pick from his time in charge of the Aces, France’s Iliana Rupert (whose brother Rayan, may be a SG prospect for the Hawks in June), as a stretch-five option behind Cheyenne Parker. But Soares, if stashed, may bring a more traditional skillset into the fold in 2024, allowing the recently-extended Parker to shift to a more customary PF role. With all eyes rightfully on Howard, the Dream ranked last in the league in assists (fewest; 12th in assist%) and turnovers (most; 11th in TO%) in ’22. Wright is banking on continued improvement from Aari McDonald as a ballhandler, but she and veteran free agent Danielle Robinson can only be of incremental gain on the playmaking end. NCAA champ Alexis “Lex Luthor” Morris of LSU may be the only traditional PG on the board worth a first-round flyer, although undersized SG Zia Cooke of South Carolina, and Big Ten combo guards Grace Berger of Indiana and Leigha Brown of Michigan, may be worth a look if they fall into the early second round. There is a great chance that 2024’s top 10 selections will be more impactful out of the gate, not only compared to this year’s, but than what we have seen in quite some time. In that case, for Atlanta, better luck next year! But, hey, good luck with this one, too. Let’s Go Dream! ~lw3

Hawks starters are all Out, with the maybe exception De'Andre Hunter, who is listed as Probable. Bogi, too. Celtics starters are pretty much Out, too. Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, and Robert Williams are each listed as Questionable, while Jaylen Brown and Al Horford are designated Out. ~lw3

“to expect a Hawks W…” One more pre-postseason tune-up to go! Let’s just try to get our Atlanta Hawks’ key performers through today’s affair in Boston with the Celtics – if these are, indeed, the Celtics (1 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, ESPN) and not some buttered-up, warmed-over version of the Maine Red Claws – without any torn ligaments, sore quads, non-COVID-illnesses, or the like. No Gallinari action, that is to say. I want my guys brght-eyed, bushy-tailed and ready to embarrass themselves on Tuesday versus Nikola Jovic and Cody Zeller in style. But I must credit Friday’s sad-sack loss by the Hawks before the home would-be faithful, at the hands of one of them McDaniels boys (Jaden? Jalen?) and some guys fresh off some red-eye flights from the Delaware Valley, to the scoreboard operator at State Farm Arena. Word got out, late in the fourth quarter, that the Raptors lost, locking Atlanta (some number – a similar number) into the 8-seed for the Play-In series (hey, it’s better than #9!). The home team responded by shifting into Full Hawks Overdrive with the quickness. Gave the fans a little overtime fun, too, because, what else have they possibly got going on, during a Friday night in The A? With the scoreboard operator’s aid, and perhaps fellas like Boston’s newly signed Justin Champagnie (or is it Julian?) and Mike Muscala today before a national audience, Landry Fields can enter the summer knowing he won’t have anything less than the #15 pick in the upcoming draft. If Atlanta performs in Miami on Tuesday and then, back home on Thursday, the way they have lately, that pick number could soar even lower. We even had our full squad available to look silly on Friday, all the way into OT, against Danuel House and company. That means no investigations from Mike Bass and the enquiring minds at the NBA front office. Bravo, Atlanta! Props all around for a soft-tank job well done. I cannot contain my excitement any longer. Let’s get this dog-and-pony show on the road, shall we? Ramadan Kareem, Chag Pesach Sameach, and Happy Easter to you and yours. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

James Harden (B2B injury recovery, Achilles), Starry ad cameo Tyrese Maxey (stiff neck), and P.J. Tucker (tight calf) are all joining Embiid as Out for today (and probably their final contest, too). De'Anthony Melton (tight calf) is Doubtful, while Goldfish ad co-star Tobi Harris (B2B injury recovery, hip) is Questionable. G-League Finals MVP Jaden Springer is also Questionable with a sprained ankle, as yours would be, too, if you just put up 21-and-9 in a closeout game against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers last night. No change on the Hawks' side of the Boo-Boo Report. ~lw3

"Jaden! Jaden! Jaden!" ~lw3

The Sixers' Boo-Boo Report submittal isn't due until 12:30 PM Eastern, so we'll have to see what they have in mind. The Blue Coats of Delaware just won the G-League Finals last night, so I'm not sure Mac McLung and Jaden Springer Career Night is in the works. We do know at least one guy won't be out here hunting for the Michael Jordan Trophy. De'Andre Hunter (bruised knee bone/muscle strain) remains Questionable pregame, which is more encouraging than being already Out. ~lw3

This week in 1985. Not sure this happens without a newly minted Slam Dunk Contest winner mere weeks before. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/04/12/Turner-announces-Omni-deal/1848482130000/ "THIS WAS CNN." https://saportareport.com/goodbye-cnn-center/columnists/guestcolumn/derek/ ~lw3

“I skate on ya crew! Like Mario Lemieux!” Downtown living was made easy by the CNN Center food court. So was Atlanta Hawks fandom. In the mid-1990s, there wasn’t much overlap between the two. A new Atlanta resident, I arrived downtown about a decade after Hawks owner Ted Turner got another sweetheart deal from the prior one. Tom Cousins intended to unload his Omni International Complex office/retail property, adjoining the Omni sports arena, into the lap of the round-the-clock news media mogul. The deal was announced to much fanfare, and relief, almost exactly 38 years ago today. The failed indoor ice rink/arcade/amusement park? All in the rear-view mirror. Bring on the Goodwill Games, Captain Courageous! By 1996, I could hang out on weekend mornings, drop off mail at the mini-post office, check out a movie at the two-theater cinema, catch up on Olympic news below the world’s flags surrounding the food court, pick up dry cleaning, and entrap visiting friends into touring the CNN Center museum: “Be sure to do the green screen thingy.” On weekday evenings, I could go to Jock’s and Jill’s, or munch on greasy meals at the food court. The next morning, I could read the AJC freshly printed from down the street, while peeking to see which no-necked superstar, on his way to the Turner/CNN employee gym, was swinging by the first-floor WCW offices to pick up that week’s paycheck. My Fed-gummint job, and many others’, moved downtown. When they built a cut-through at the Gulch to lure employees to the food court and the Omni arena’s doorstep, I was among the precious few who dared to bite. That is, until I made the mistake of returning with my daily booty: “Where’d you get those Arby’s curly fries???” Suddenly, at least on the weekdays, I found myself with an intrepid lunchtime co-worker convoy. Having not to scamper out beyond I-285, and having reasonably straightforward access via MARTA, for sporting events was of great benefit for Yours Truly, a native Philadelphian who used to hop the subway to Broad and Pattison to watch every team. As income become a bit more disposable, so did my attendance for pro games and pro rasslin’ at the Omni, later Philips after a brief stay at the Thrillerdome, as well as Turner Field and the Georgia Dome. It was in the middle of the CNN Center food court, probably watching CNN/SI in hopes of postgame highlights after a Hawks game, where I formally submitted my Declaration of Independence. From the Philadelphia 76ers. Shifting NBAllegiances, upon moving here, was a task I could conveniently put off until some later date. No one in this three-or-four-sport town cared if you were a carpetbagging adult still riding with the teams of your adolescence. I rocked Hawks gear, such that I could find any, for most of 363 days per year. But two days were reserved for the times Pat Croce’s 76ers rolled into town: “Hey! Everybody...” My “Sixit” plan when I moved here began after Allen Iverson was drafted into the league. Ride it out with A.I. for however long it lasts. When he is no longer a Sixer, then, let’s see what these staid Hawks have going on by then, and whether they’re smart enough not to trade off their franchise All-Stars to the Clippers anymore. Similar deal with Eagles/Falcons. The Dirty Bird run was nice, but I could ditch my midnight green for red-and-black once the Falcons gave me someone, in Mike Vick, that I could latch by bandwagon onto. Why bother continuing to root on the big walrus of a coach who will never win The Big Game? Instead, I can lean on the athletic QB that not only looked to be a generational talent, but, relative to Mr. McNabb, was sure to be less of a media-manufactured nightmare. But who, I wondered as the Sixit decision neared, would become the Hawks’ version of Michael Michael Motorcycle? Eh… Atlanta’s Own, you will have to do. J-Smoove, I’m your huckleberry. I didn’t get the pleasure of waiting for a clean break between Iverson and the Sixers. Twenty years into my schism to morph into a true-red Hawks fan, I have since been able to enjoy the remodeling of Olde Philips into a true sporting destination (for hoops, anyway), an ATLANTA-canopied jewel that finally brings synergy and life to what used to be the rough-and-tumbleweed outskirts of downtown Atlanta. Simultaneous with the arena’s resurgence, I, along with thousands of fellow Atlantans, have had to witness the slow, cringeworthy demise of the complex complex connected to it along Dominique Wilkins Way. As you and most Atlantans are aware, the next time the 76ers and Hawks play here at State Farm Arena, after today (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Philadelphia), the CNN iconography adorning the Center will be no more. That, and the CNN employees still left in this town are all moving back around Ted’s old studio mansion on Midtown’s Techwood Drive, a site now expanded and run by Warner Media. I had been clanging the Dead Mall Walking bell ever since Turner started selling off his controlling interests in CNN, and the Hawks, to AOL Time Warner (Remember dial-up? And those CDs? What a time. Remember Time?), and as AOL ceded WCW to the now wonderfully mustachioed Vince McMahon, Jr. I looked on during the transitional phase of the Aughts, as 9/11 turned the CNN Center space from a collection of lightly used retail endeavors on the upper tiers, to a media-security fortress surrounding a cheap open-air food court. What will happen, I wondered aloud, once the Warner folks in New York City found no further need to center their newscast services in Atlanta? What is the future functionality of CNN Center when CNN moves on? The hints of impending doom bounced louder off the reinforced concrete walls, as the Don Lemons and Anderson Coopers of the world moved to NYC full-time. Also as CNN’s associated Headline News channel, still CNN Center-based, became HLN, then, more recently, the What Do We Need Another True Crime and Haunted House Channel For, Exactly? Network. These days, there are infinitely more things for randos to do in this corner of town. Wanna go check out Cam Newton’s new BBQ joint? Or Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville bar, a Hard Rock hotel, a Waffle House, or a milkshake bar? You can do all of that. You want a ride on a Ferris wheel, check out fancy fish or football or history in a museum? Check, check, check. You just can’t do any of those things within the confines of this big, Brutalist monolith. At its most basic, CNN Center would always be useful as the place to crash when you, and/or your colleagues, and/or your touring family or church group or conventioneers in matching tees, needed a well-ventilated, air-conditioned space to crash and chill for just an hour or two. You could always turn to the big screen above the food court and listen above the din of the crowds as big, live news broke. Now, in all likelihood, the big screen will come down soon. Then, it’ll just be you, that scrumptious Great Wraps! gyro, and thousands of oddball strangers as you all await the arena doors opening for Hawks games. For now. I’d love to tell you the grand plans the Florida-based owners of CNN Center have in store once all the selfie-friendly signage and vestiges of Turner’s past glories get packed up. I used to have an easy answer, but the state legislature is doing all they can to hold off Hard Rock and anybody else from converting the place into a palace for gambling degenerates. Beyond that, your guess is as good as the Atlanta Convention and Visitor Bureau’s, and mine. The Ressler Group, hastily erecting Gulch World across the street ahead of the World Cup, would appreciate getting clued in. CNN Center, especially from the outside, was never a feast for the eyes. But the fear going forward, given Underground Atlanta, Civic Center/SciTrek, and the modernist office emporium peers Peachtree Center and The Summit Building all a stone’s throw away, is that Post-CNN Center will become another of downtown’s necklace of increasingly desolate eyesores. Josh Harris is keeping tabs, along with present-day Hawks owner Tony and the Ressler clan, too. The 76ers owner is banking on breaking away from the longtime South Broad sporting complex to build a new, totally (wink) privately-funded (nod) arena for his NBA team, nestled east of City Hall and not far the Philly’s big riverfront. 76 Place at Market East, as is currently dubbed, would also be situated amid Philadelphia’s historic tourist attractions, and the city’s Chinatown district, drawing the ire of preservationists and gentrification fighters alike. It would also be chained to its neighbor, a modernist retail enclave built just two years after Atlanta’s troubled Omni International. The difference with The Gallery was that it connected a couple of Philly’s cherished multi-level retail stores (think of the old Rich’s here), with their heydays from decades gone by, at least until they all got Macy’d out of existence. The intervening mall shops and food court devolved to have truant tweens as its target market (how I miss City Blue, the hood-gear shop where I got my first Falcons leather ball cap). Latter efforts to convert the whole place into a casino/hotel spot fell flat. Whatever the troubles of the day were in its nascency, The Gallery always had some semblance of historic nearby retail, tourism and office activity and pedestrian traffic, at least during conventional working hours, not built up out of whole cloth at once as Cousins intended with the Omni complex. Immediately subject to the economic woes of the 1970s upon opening, both The Gallery (now refashioned as the Fashion District, anchored by fashion-forward Burlington) and Omni International struggled to find and sustain relevancy, to the present day. Can swanky sports arenas breathe resuscitating life into them? Or will Dead Mall Walking become the ball-and-chain dragging their economic vitality down? Harris still has ample convincing to do to make his arena scheme spring to life. But he knows it helps his cause to have a perennial MVP contender leading a perennial championship contender. How much of Joel Embiid and the top-line players in coach Doc Rivers’ rotation remains to be seen. Philadelphia (52-28) knows they cannot move in either direction from the 3-seed in the NBA East. After Embiid and the Sixers got smashed at home last night by Jimmy Butler’s heat, they would greatly appreciate Miami having to enter the postseason via the Play-In first. The Hawks (41-39), meanwhile, enter this home finale in decent enough shape (De’Andre Hunter is upgraded to Questionable). Even better, they have a little something worth playing all-out for. As an 8-seed, even with another postseason flop at the Kaseya Center, Atlanta could still salvage a rematch with the Bucks, with a Play-In win before this State Farm Arena home crowd. As a 9-seed, like last season, the Hawks would still get a home game, but that’d be an elimination contest before, if successful, having to sew up a spot with a second victory in Toronto. Why win two, when you could just win one? Victory tonight would also be the first time Atlanta completed three consecutive seasons above the .500 mark since Coach Bud, two years removed from his watershed 60-win season, squeaked by with Dennis and Dwight in 2017 before escaping for Milwaukee. There were seasons, during the Omni and Philips eras alike, where Hawks fans at the corner would scoff at such a meager achievement. These days, we’ll take what we can get. Four wins in a row? Sounds like The Big Mo’. Let’s go! There is something instructive in the stories of Post-CNN Center’s devolution for Lil’ Nicky Ressler and Hawks PBO poobah Landry Fields. There is value, for a while, in seeing if an underwhelming core can grow into a whelming, contending competitor: “Atlanta, come watch that team that overachieved and almost pulled off something epic that one time!” There is also the risk of attaching oneself to assets of dwindling relevance, and growing obsolescence, until it’s too late to do anything with them. As noted in pregame threads past, Atlanta’s boosterism-infused developer community does have a storied history of tearing things down before citizens grow too enamored with them just laying around – where have you gone, Union Station? Unfortunately, sometimes, the second act winds up far worse than the first. Fields and coach Quin Snyder may not be given the grace to kickstart their own version of The Process. But they will have an opportunity this summer to initiate The Recess, reconstituting Atlanta’s youthful but bloated roster, largely built up by a predecessor architect, to make games centered around pass-master Trae Young more functional, savvy and sound at both ends of the floor. Over at least the next week, current contributors under contract through next year, from Hunter and Bogi Bogdanovic to John Collins and Clint Capela, will be proving their value as either essential fixtures to keep around, or ornamental items to sell before they turn to pricey scrap. We are blessed to have a lot more outwardly open Hawks fans, and reasons to live-work-play downtown, than we had decades ago. The growing legion of Hawks fans will wait, dutifully, through this offseason, much as they did for years wolfing down Gorin’s Ice Cream before games at the old CNN Center food court. They understand, as time becomes of the essence, there’s little point in waiting for things to totally melt down. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3

Meanwhile, did somebody say something about The Dreaded Vote of Confidence? ~lw3

Cuban, don't preach. ~lw3

Anthony Gill career-night on deck? ~lw3