Hawks provide new looks during camp

[jerrywest]

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/hawks-provide-new-looks-165291.html

"The season is so long when you're dealing with the playoffs and everything that comes with it," Woodson said. "So you have to pace yourself and make sure you take a more measured approach."

Duh!

Jamal Crawford's addition changes everything. Sure, he's played sparingly in exhibition games (a total of just nine minutes courtesy of a left calf strain), but Crawford has blown away anyone who has seen him work in practice, where his elite scoring and passing rivals that of Hawks' captain and All-Star Joe Johnson. "Our bench is going to play a major part in what we do this season," Johnson said. "We've got some big-time players coming off our bench that can really score the basketball and make plays. I can't lie to you, it's very exciting to see some of these guys, especially Jamal, on the floor doing their thing."

Great!

Teague will be a factor as a rookie. It might be a tad early for the Rookie of the Year Web site to get going, but Teague has shown tremendous flashes of abilities that the Hawks haven't seen from a rookie point guard in forever. While his 3-point shooting has been non-existent in the preseason (0-for-4), Teague has shown everything else you could want out of a young point guard. He shifts gears like few can, one of his teammates compared his open-floor speed to that of Spurs' All-Star guard Tony Parker, and he has explosive athleticism that allows him to challenge players twice his size at the rim on both ends of the floor. "It really is crazy watching him blow past people on the break," Marvin Williams said. "He's got that fearlessness that you love to see. And we have to keep him stoking that in him. We don't want him to let up when he's out there."

I noticed his defensive hustle - trying to block shots like Mario.

Edited October 17, 2009 by jerrywest

[Vesper]

My link

By Sekou Smith

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Hawks coach Mike Woodson is careful not to invest too much emotion into preseason basketball.

There was a time when that was not the case, when Woodson pushed his team to fight for every inch of space in the preseason like it was the playoffs.

He learned his lesson after back-to-back trips to the playoffs.

"The season is so long when you're dealing with the playoffs and everything that comes with it," Woodson said. "So you have to pace yourself and make sure you take a more measured approach."

That doesn’t mean the preseason is without merit. Plenty can be learned about a team while watching it play seven or eight games that essentially mean nothing outside of the lessons learned about a team and its individual parts.

What we've learned about the Hawks this preseason:

1. Woodson was serious about not burning his starters during the preseason. No starter is playing more than the 22 minutes per game that Marvin Williams is averaging through four games. In fact, rookie point guard Jeff Teague leads the team in minutes (29.0), another sign that Woodson's radical shift in approach is paying immediate dividends for this team. "I think coach understands that we've shown that we're capable of pushing it up a notch or two when the situation calls for it," Josh Smith said. "That's why he's giving other guys an opportunity to contribute and make their case for quality minutes. My body definitely appreciates that. I know the rest of the starters do, too. We've shown flashes of what we can do. And we don’t want to show it all the preseason. We have a lot more to show in the regular season."

2. Jamal Crawford's addition changes everything. Sure, he's played sparingly in exhibition games (a total of just nine minutes courtesy of a left calf strain), but Crawford has blown away anyone who has seen him work in practice, where his elite scoring and passing rivals that of Hawks' captain and All-Star Joe Johnson. "Our bench is going to play a major part in what we do this season," Johnson said. "We've got some big-time players coming off our bench that can really score the basketball and make plays. I can't lie to you, it's very exciting to see some of these guys, especially Jamal, on the floor doing their thing."

3. Teague will be a factor as a rookie. It might be a tad early for the Rookie of the Year Web site to get going, but Teague has shown tremendous flashes of abilities that the Hawks haven't seen from a rookie point guard in forever. While his 3-point shooting has been non-existent in the preseason (0-for-4), Teague has shown everything else you could want out of a young point guard. He shifts gears like few can, one of his teammates compared his open-floor speed to that of Spurs' All-Star guard Tony Parker, and he has explosive athleticism that allows him to challenge players twice his size at the rim on both ends of the floor. "It really is crazy watching him blow past people on the break," Marvin Williams said. "He's got that fearlessness that you love to see. And we have to keep him stoking that in him. We don't want him to let up when he's out there."

4. Improved depth is a tangible result from one of the best offseasons in recent franchise history. How else to explain backup swingman Mo Evans missing the Hawks' first three preseason games with a sore knee and then leading them with 27 points in just 26 minutes in his debut, a blowout win Wednesday night in Memphis? The Hawks' starters are still crushing people in the limited time they've been on the floor together. "I didn’t know what to expect, but the new guys have come in with a great attitude," Al Horford said. "They knew what we had. They knew they just had to come in and mesh with our team and kind of get into the mix and I think that's what Jamal and Joe [smith] and Jeff and Jason [Collins] have all done."

5. There's something to be said for organic growth, what with the massive improvements guys like Josh Smith, Horford and Williams have made over the past few seasons. But nothing pushes the envelope like true competition. And for the first time in years the Hawks have a true two-deep roster. "Everybody plays hard," Smith said. "And they damn sure make it competitive every day. It's really become contagious, the competitive nature of things around here, from the scrimmage work we do in practice to the shooting contests after practice. Nobody wants to lose."