lethalweapon3

Ah, never mind, I see it's back on the top bar as well. Kind of liked it hidden on the member bar to limit the occasional yahoos jumping in purely to troll on game days, but whatev. ~lw3

Josh will be out for about a week to get that hand fixed. No big deal. MC's twitter: http://twitter.com/ajchawks ~lw3

It was literally all reserves for the Hawks when the bottom fell out, Marvin was out there a lot with Teague, Crawford, Powell, I think Collins at first then Etan later. Smoove came in to help stop the bleeding only to wind up bleeding himself and heading to the locker room. Gay and Conley were primarily helped out by Acie, Tony Allen, Thabeet, and Sam Young. ~lw3

Sounds like Josh will be fine, based on MC's report. It looked like the back of his hand grazed the rim while defending Thabeet's dunk. http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/hawks-lose-exhibition-debut-667911.html From MC's Bibby article: http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/bibby-looks-to-keep-662191.html ~lw3

We may have confusion like that throughout year when checking the box scores, like Yahoo's for example, since they often list the last name and first initial (J. Crawford) without clarification unless it's in the newspaper. It will really get confusing for some when both have good scoring nights, a good problem to have. ~lw3

Right before I left for Philips, I saw Al on a list of Hawks (I think it was MC @ AJC?) that included Jamal, Pape, Mo, and I think one other that I can't recall, that were hampered by injuries during training camp, and if they could play they would receive limited minutes. There were no descriptions of the individual injuries. He seemed fine while he was in there, motions were fluid, so I figure his injury is pretty minor. ~lw3

Probably worthy of the Around the NBA forum, but Shareef deserves a minute of shine in the main forum. (If we're real nice to him, might Reef someday do for us what ex-Wolves GM Kevin McHale did for his dear Celtics?) http://www.nba.com/kings/news/shareef_abdur-rahim_named_assistant_gm_release.html ~lw3

Poor defense and sloppy play for the reserves against most of the Grizzlies' starters in the 3rd quarter did the Hawks in eventually, but they did a nice job especially with the starters in the first quarter, holding the Grizz to 11 points. Memphis' starters were pretty futile until the Hawks brought in the backups. It's still early, but mixed results from Jordan, Teague, and Powell playing together, first while trying in vain to hold a lead, then using scrappy play to get the game into OT. They need J-Pow and Etan to be more than just foul machines; we need to see better defensive play from both and, from Powell, no settling for contested outside jumpers. Teague was making mistakes, as expected, but looked eager to try to compensate for them on subsequent plays. The worst was an acting job on a drive trying to manufacture a foul call, leading to a turnover and an easy momentum-turning fastbreak for Memphis at the other end. Jordan (0-6 from three point land) is not going to take long to find his most effective shots on the floor. When he does, and he will, watch out... it will be hard to keep his talent off the floor. On one fastbreak, though, he didn't look for his trailing teammates and got swatted bad trying to do it himself. It's what rookies do. Zaza's silly three-point shot at the end of OT was like a "C'mon it's getting late, let's just get home" play. He's in fantastic shape, though, as is Mr. Collins. Considering how comfortable he looked on offense, the latter's dropped pounds looks like addition-by-subtraction. Joe's numbers weren't thrilling on paper (he and Josh had 5 TOs), but he appeared to be the most eager to "buy in" to LD's offensive scheme thus far. Seeing him looking for and finding teammates was encouraging. I only caught one Iso-style possession from him. Zaza and Joe had a nice little fastbreak off a turnover that they couldn't finish, sadly, but was fun to watch. Marvin was looking for the ball on the perimeter, which was good to see, but I'd still want the guards to find their forwards and centers in the paint and not kick out the ball so much. Sam Young was having his way with the Hawks until Marvin finally clamped down on defense late in the game. Smoove injured his hand in the third trying to block Thabeet's dunk, any word on that? I'm hoping it was just a bad cut on the back of the hand. Last year he had a tear on his hand trying to block a Teague dunk attempt. Grizz fans will be much happier with Acie this time around (compared to last night), as he was much more comfortable finding his shot and finding the open man. Not sure how thrilled they were with Mayo, Conley, and Gasol early on. ~lw3

Couldn't the Grizzlies have used JC Navarro the way he played today? Last season, they rescinded his qualifying offer right before the preseason started, so they could sign Allen Iverson. Yikes! ~lw3

GO BARCA! That is all. http://www.nba.com/games/20101007/LALBAR/gameinfo.html?ls=gt2hp0011000024 ~lw3

Thanks for your insights Kautsky! (that's the old NBL team name, right?) ~lw3

lol @ a Griz blogger's Acie review from last night's Pacer game (1-6 in a reserve role): http://3sob.com/archives/59-october-2010/1171-fifty-total-turnovers ~lw3

My audio is broke on my computer. Looking at the adidas video, though, I'm guessing my computer has my best interests at heart... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-a9lx3pOC4 As an aside, HUGE Dr. Ken fan here. Somebody in Hollywood, get him some real roles! ~lw3

For the RedBirds... * Do our starters set the tone right away, against a below-average team playing its second night of back-to-backs on the road? * How well our bigs rebound against Gasol, Zach, and "Deer-in-the-Headlights" Thabeet * Joe moving without the ball in the new offensive schemes * Marvin looking for the ball (please?) in the new offensive schemes * Smoove's positioning on the floor in the new offensive schemes * Bibby with less switching help on defense * Jeff getting around defenders and making sensible decisions * Mo and J-Pow vs. Sam Young and Darrell Arthur * CrawSonny doing anything highlight-worthy * Zaza being Zaza For the BlueBears... * How well Mayo and Conley work together in the backcourt * Have OJ and Rudy improved defensively at all? * How rusty is Henry after the contract squabbles? * With OJ back at SG, does Tony Allen have, like, a role? * Acie's Revenge!!! ~lw3

Pretty much. But not so much "mad" as "frustrated," given that Tyler was to be, by now, the best steady option they could throw out there at PF (sorry, Solo), and given O'Brien knows he needs all the help he can get to avoid the hot seat this year. At this point, O'Brien would just as well settle for Detective Scottie Ferguson if he could play... http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201010040321 ~lw3

This is an excellent question! Across the board, with a squad more focused on speed and collective production than efficiency and possession-control, I expect some players' stats to decline a bit even though their on-floor play improves significantly. No-Mo-Iso-Joe comes to mind in this regard. I'd look for the Joshes to be the most noticeably improved. Still getting hacked a ton, Cap'n Smoove will play to the whistle rather than the contact, allowing him to focus on finishing plays in the paint. I expect fewer mental flameouts, save for the occasional periods when he's getting hacked in blowout situations (LD will probably have J-Pow in there instead, an option we didn't really have last year). More time on the court will lead to more offensive boards, steals, swats, and halfcourt assists, generating better opportunities for his teammates. More than any of the other starters, I'll be thrilled if he avoids spending more than three seconds of the shot clock with the ball in his hands. He does these things, and sets himself up every time no more than 10 feet from the basket, and he'll be a shoo-in as a coaches-selection All-Star this time around. I look for J-Pow to vastly improve his shot selection (he's VERY jumper-happy -- 61% of his FGAs are jumpers and he makes less than a third of them) and commit to becoming more of a defensive disruption. When our backups are in, he must become the inside option; he's got to get in the paint and to the line. On both ends of the floor, he can approximate the energetic play we've come to expect when Smoove's head is in the game. He does this and he'll turn around his perennial bottom-of-the-barrel plus-minus ratings. The Joshes are hometown products who want to be on the floor and impress. They'll both be under pressure to earn their time on the floor, now that Horf can slide over to PF with greater comfort, bolstered by better and healthier options backing him up at C. ~lw3

Joe's the fastest? Oh dear... And was there a Prada man-purse waiting at the finish line? That's the only way I could explain Zaza Bolt. ~lw3

There would be no reason to offer a hint about "a 7'2" center from the Pacers" when there is only one such center on Indy's roster. The player they'd much rather move is Tyler Hansbrough, whose vertigo issues has limited his practice time and thereby shortened O'Brien's patience. More likely they want a PF and would be interested in moving some combo of Foster/McRoberts/Solo, Rush/Dahntay, Ford/Stephenson, and Dunleavy/Posey. ~lw3

Just a note for the legions of romantic-comedy film fans on here. Or a salve, in case you get dragged to see it. I didn't see specific Hawks in the credits, and the only NBA player I see listed is Steve Nash. http://www.thespec.com/whatson/artsentertainment/article/264290--life-as-we-know-it-is-heigl-s-best http://www.seattlepi.com/movietimes/moviepn.asp?movieID=91920 ~lw3

Worth noting that the Chat feature is part of the member bar on the bottom of the page (formerly on the top bar) as well? ~lw3

Pretty hypocritical of me to say so since I'm going (b'day gift), but I'd save my money for an early regular season game. Or, show up instead on Sunday for the free scrimmage among the players themselves. I get the impression that the learning process for Drew's gameplans will extend well beyond the preseason, so you won't miss much by not attending a preseason game. Looking at Ticketmaster though, the turnout is supposed to be pretty decent (did A$G give tix away?) ~lw3

It's not scheduled to be on either Fox Sports South or Sport South as far as I can tell. NBA TV will be showing Celtics vs. Nets at 7 PM. ~lw3

Braves:Phillies::Hawks:Magic? ~lw3

Open Practice scheduled for Sunday, October 10, tentatively scheduled for 1:30 PM. http://hawksbasketblog.com/2010/09/27/open-practice-set-for-october-10th/ ~lw3

<--- Having fun envisioning candidates for Marvin's "power animal" (I'm on "ostrich" right now). ~lw3