Question: defense

[Guest]

Hi, I'm a new Hawks fan and just found this board. This is a young, promising team and I bet they're going to make the playoffs this year.

So, question to you longtime fans: How good are Hawks' players playing defense? Last year the team defense wasn't that good by numbers, but I read an article saying DerMarr has played very good defense in summer league. What about the other guys?

And if you happen to know a good site where I can found college basketball all-time records, please let know.

Thanks, Trent

[Gray Mule]

If we look at the team that Hawks had for the first

half of last season and the expected team for the coming

season, there is a vast improvement in defense.

Theo Ratliff was elected to the all star team two years

ago before his injury to his wrist. We traded for him

while he was out on IR, then he had hip surgery at the

beginning of last season. His defense was the main reason

he was elected to the all star team. Finally, he is expected

to be fully recovered and healthy for this season.

Ira Newble joined the Hawks about mid-season last year,

coming from the minor league. He is a defensive player

who played his way into the starting lineup because of his

defense and changed the entire team. He was assigned

the task of guarding the opponents best scorer almost

every game.

DerMarr Johnson began the year on the bench and didn't

play a lot the first half. He is still learning to play the

NBA game. Drafted #6 when he was only one year from

high school, he spent the first year and half the next

growing up with the Hawks. "Slim" played his way into

the second half of last season with his defense and his

ability to hit the long shot. He has added 12-15 pounds

of muscle since last season, which was very much needed.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Jason Terry are both thought of

for their scoring ability much more than defense, but with

the expected improvement at the other positions, they too

will show much greater defensive ability because they

can concentrate a lot more on their own assignment without worrying about the coverage from the other three

positions.

A few years ago now, the Braves went "from worst to first"

in one season. Hawks defense goes from one of the

worst in our conference to one of the best from the first

half of last season to the beginning of this season.

Welcome aboard, TRENT_L2. I have given you my best

shot about Hawks defense. This is just my personal

opinion (Opinions are like noses, everyone has one)

but I believe it is a fair evaluation of this year's Hawks

team.

Gray Mule