The glass half full post

[pound4pound]

While the Hawks demise and shortcomings have been well chronicled – there is a completely different way to look at this team. At 7 and 10, the Hawks have been able to tread water in a weak Eastern conference.

Joe Johnson has been cold recently – he went through a horrible slump last year too and we lost about every game. One reason he is shooting so poorly is the defense is keying on him but - we are learning to survive. Despite that, we are one Kevin Durant jump shot / Horford free throw from being 8 and 9. We have won two of our last three on the road and look to even up our home stand tonight against Minny. Why? Because the Hawks have developed two forwards in Josh Childress and Marvin Williams that have become legitimate NBA second options.

Josh Smith has been wild – simply out of control on fast breaks and shooting too much from outside. However – we have seen Smoove start this way over the past couple of seasons and there is no reason to think he won’t real it in this year as well.

Our Rookies are acclimating to the NBA game and even excelling on this team. The fact is Acie is our best point guard and Al is our best Center. That isn’t even open to debate. We are a different team with Acie at the point – he has leadership skills and his teammates actually give him the ball. Unlike the “ole vets” Acie is a great distributor and can break his man down off the dribble to get to the cup. We have missed that over the passed 10 games. Horford has surpassed my expectations and is the anchor to our inside. Imagine how Shelden must feel watching Horford on a nightly basis. He is only going to improve his inside presence.

So – we already know about the coaching problems and I agree we are never going to actualize our potential until we get a new coach. But the development of Marvin and Childress has been encouraging and evident in the fact we haven’t lost more with Joe in such a deep slump. Our rookies are everything we hoped they would be should be ready for a play-off push once Joe and Smoove get back to their all-star form.

That is a glass half full look at this team. And yes this is Billy Knight's mother who is posting this.

[AnakinJoe]

I thought the same when I looked at the standings earlier today. I think what most of us are responding to is the play of the team. Sure, our record is probably 1-2 games off of a realistic pace. But we still show some of the same warts that we have shown for the past 4 years. So regardless of record, many of us are frustrated by the play. I, for one, could accept the same record if we were playing better. But seeing the lack of consistency, lack of a defined playing personality, long stretches of lethargy, boneheaded substitution patterns, poor utilization of specialists (Solomon and Salim) and general softness across virtually every player (Horford may be the lone exception)... all of that ticks me off.

[coachx]

I just hope that half filled glass doesn't get spilled and become an empty glass with a home loss to the woeful T-Wolves.

I hope Law shows out this game. Against Telfair and Jaric there will not be much weaker defense against him for the rest of the season. I hope Law is agressive with taking his man off the dribble and creating some offense. His rookie counter part on the other hand, Horford, may be in for a long night vs. Mr. Jefferson. Maybe Hoford will suprise us in the 2nd matchup between the two.

It should also be a good game for JJ to find his stroke (unless Rashard McCants has turned into a stopper). I think Hassel (Bruce Bowen Jr.) got traded. I hope so for JJ's sake.

My only request:

PLEASE double team Jefferson from the first possesion and make the other guys beat us. None of us want a repeat of the first half of the game up in MN.

[AnakinJoe]

AMEN!

[bootsybug]

nice post, i love the positivity!

[TheDude]

I love Chill's little move where he's driving and then sort of backcuts between two people and either slams it or lays it in. That play shows his length more than anything.

The last game showed that Law could be special. If he starts shooting when he's open (and hits a good amount), he may end up being as good at the point as horford has been at the center.