English working with Nazr

[beav]

From the State newspaper (columbia SC)

Blue-collar approach suits English

Atlanta Hawks director of player development sweats while he works

By OTIS R. TAYLOR JR.

Special Correspondent

Despite his title as director of player development for the Atlanta Hawks, Alex English does not wear a coat and tie to work.

As the Hawks concluded a three-day training camp at USC's basketball practice facility, English was on the sideline in warm-up pants and a T-shirt.

Developing players is what he is being paid to do, and there's not a better way to improve a player's skills than to play alongside him.

"I enjoy it here, I enjoy what I do and I think we're going to have a very good team," English said. "We've got a lot to work with. We've got some talent."

A member of the NBA Hall of Fame and a former Dreher and USC scoring legend, English wants to be a head coach in the NBA. English, whose coaching led the NBDL's Charleston Lowgators to the league's inaugural finals, was considered for the Denver Nuggets' head coaching vacancy. When he wasn't offered the job, he pursued his dream in the Hawks' organization.

"I'm going to miss Charleston, but my dream was to be an NBA coach. I'm there and I'm moving on," English said. "The Charleston Lowgators will always have a place in my heart for giving me that opportunity."

One of the most talented all-around players in NBA history, English has a lot to offer the Hawks, who have a roster filled with youth and inexperience.

While other Hawks shot around before stretching, English was in the far corner of the facility working one-on-one with Nazr Mohammed. His goal this season with Mohammed is to show the 6-foot-10 center how to use different moves in the post, such as facing up or using the inside pivot to get a shot off.

They worked on the short jumper English used to score most of his 21,645 points in the league. English fed the ball to Mohammed as he worked on the wing, shooting from 15 feet and banking the ball off the glass just like his new coach once did.

"Coach English is helping me expand on the midrange shot and everything inside the (3-point arc), the little shot I might be getting this year," said the fifth-year player out of Kentucky. "I've always been pretty comfortable shooting the short jump shot, but he's helping me keep on improving."

With the addition of Glenn Robinson (trade from Milwaukee), Darvin Ham (free agency) and Dan Dickau (draft), and the return of Alan Henderson, Theo Ratliff, Dion Glover and Emanual Davis from injuries, Atlanta wants to get its players acquainted with one another in a hurry before the season begins Oct. 30.

The team went through offensive and defensive drills before scrimmaging the last hour of practice.

Leading scorer Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Robinson and Ratliff looked fresh during the intrasquad game, as did rookie Fred House, who played under English with the Lowgators.

"He's been great. He's a great addition. He's like a legend here (Columbia)," Atlanta coach Lon Kruger said of English. "It's obvious people have a great deal of respect for not only what he's done, but how he's done it."

[flava]

Denberg write about the Hawks.

[hds428]

Good article, thanks for the post, beav. My fear with Naz is that he's hit his ceiling. Remember Mahorn was here last year to work with Naz and the other big men, and if Rick even made a difference I did'nt see it on the court and it definitely did'nt show up in the stat columns. We were close to DFL in defense and rebounding and Nazr often looked as soft as 4 ply toilet paper. I'm not convinced he'll ever be able to be anything more than a very good backup, but I hope Naz proves me wrong this year, we need some tough interior D when Theo is'nt on the floor.

[Guest]

hds - I have that same fear, but there's two things to keep in mind:

1) Mahorn was obviously lacking something, as he was not asked back to coach this year. Reasons unknown-

2) With Nazr gaining the experience and confidence of being a starter in this league, maybe being around guys like Hendu and Theo can pay off more than it might have in the past - he can relate on more levels.

Hopefully he realizes that he's a bu now and needs to show what he can do each and every time he gets on the court in order to earn more pt...

[Diesel]

Sounds like House is Impressing.

Do we need the veteran Email or do can we play House as a 2 along with Glover/Newble.

[Gray Mule]

Nazr may hold the key to the success of this year's Hawks.

While we are all expecting great things from Theo, I'm

thinking he may not be able to play extended minutes,

game after game. He will need to rest his sore and

aching body more than just a few minutes each game.

This is where the Hawks will lean heavily on Nazr. He has

a full year's experience as an N.B.A. center and now has

gained some extra upper body strength, according to

reports. He felt that he needed that after last season's

play. He has a new coach working with him on the finer

points of the game. This all adds up to a new and

improved Nazr. Last season, he had some games where

he looked great and some where he didn't do too well.

Experience, more strength, a new coach and having a

back-up role to Theo should add up to a much more

consistent preformance from Nazr.

Gray Mule

[beav]

I don't know anything about House... what is his game like?