Rookie cleans up the glass/Antoine : Huh?

[Employee8]

PRO BASKETBALL: HAWKS REPORT

Sekou Smith - Staff

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Rookie cleans up the glass

Josh Childress is carving out a rather unconventional niche for a 210-pound rookie forward.

Childress has turned into a rebounding terror for a Hawks team in desperate need of help on the glass most nights. He tied a career high with 10 in the Hawks' loss to New Jersey on Monday, and he has 40 in the past six games, 21 more than starting center Jason Collier.

"I'm just trying to stay active and get my hands on the ball when I get a chance," said Childress, who was Stanford's leading rebounder in his last two seasons and second during his freshman season.

That assertiveness hasn't gone unnoticed by Hawks coach Mike Woodson, who has increased Childress' minutes steadily.

"He's being aggressive and playing the way we want him to in that respect," Woodson said of Childress, one of three Hawks to record double-digit rebounds against the Nets.

Antoine Walker had 11 and Josh Smith 10 as the Hawks controlled the boards 52-38 against the Nets.

"We tried to get five guys in on the boards, rebounding the ball," Woodson said. "I think we've been rebounding the ball well all year."

Coming up short

The Hawks set a goal of winning three of their past four games, but came up a game short.

Setting a similar goal for this week and trying to attain it could prove to be just as difficult. There's Wednesday's trip to Eastern Conference-leading Miami and then a Friday night game at Chicago in addition to a Saturday night home game against Boston.

"Oh, man, I look at our schedule and it's just brutal, and I don't care how you slice it up," Woodson said. "In the next 18 days we have 12 games, and I don't even want to look at it after that. We're basically gone for the entire month of February. I mean, you figure it out."

From Feb. 1 through March 12 the Hawks play 14 road games and just five home games.

Shooting blanks

Walker, who made just 3 of 18 shots Monday, said he'll never let a few misses deter him.

In fact, he didn't think his shooting performance against the Nets was as bad as the numbers would suggest.

I don't really care, man. I don't really worry about that. I just go out and play," he said. "You're going to shoot good some nights and shoot bad some nights. That's just the nature of basketball in an 82-game season. You got to take the good and the bad. And it was just one of those nights where the shots weren't falling."

Umm...Well as always, it's good that Walker has selective amnesia when it comes to these bad nights but....Just one of those nights, AW? You've certainly have had many of these nights....*sigh*

wEll anyway...Hopefully you'll have a better showing the next game...Hopefully.

[ATL_BALLER]

I thought you love the guy?

[Lascar78]

Yes I am also continuously amazed by Employee8's multiple personalities. 90% of the time he idolizes him and glorifies him. Then occasionally he bashes him as if he's never liked him. It's confusing. Make your mind up.

Anyhow, I saw nothing wrong with Toine's statement. All I ask from our players is maximum effort. If you have off nights as far as shooting goes, it's not going to help anyone to agonize over them. And it's certainly not going to help your confidence.

[TheDude]

man, what a dilemma we're in...

we've got 4 forwards and two positions..

Childress- SF (i know we're trying to convert him to SG)

Josh Smith- SF/PF (i know he's been playing SG but cmon)

Harrington- PF in SF's body

Walker- SF in PF's body

what a quagmire...We've got the rookies and we've got the vets. I know Walker has a good chance to be traded but Harrington is supposed to be a piece of the future and I think Childress is having issues at SG..i guess we can only hope Childress develops into a SG and Smith develops into PF...

[ATL_BALLER]

Good use of the word "quagmire"...and speaking of, Toine must be dealt to alleviate the situation. I think SMoov will eventually play the power slot, Al will stay at SF, and Chill will be force at the 2 (he's already there defensively - he just needs to refine that jumper).

[bballfan]

Quote:

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I thought you love the guy?

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I have said this before. He does this on multiple message boards.

He thinks he will fit in if he critisizes him.

He even admitted on one of them that he did this but I can't remember which one.

[Employee8]

Quote:

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Quote:

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I thought you love the guy?

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I have said this before. He does this on multiple message boards.

He thinks he will fit in if he critisizes him.

He even admitted on one of them that he did this but I can't remember which one.

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It was on one of the Celtic boards, I think. Everyone was on my case saying how I was attached to Walker's nutsack or something so I decided to criticize him when he does something bad or stupid.

But I do like the guy. Note all the posts I've had stating how he "will" remain with the team and such... Go check out my thread in the TRADE FORUM entitled "The 'Walker is staying, get used to it" Thread.

If I didn't like Walker, I wouldn't be following him from Boston....to Dallas...and now HERE.

[MoonKnight]

The move of Walker will greatly clean up the forward position. BK was very clear in his recent radio interview (on 680thefan if I recall correctly) that Smoove is a 3 who could grow into a 4. AH and Smoove would then be the starting forwards. I think the recent Bobcats game was a good indication that AH could be an effective 4. At the beginning of the game Okafor was matched up on D with AH. AH took Okafor in the post and scored a couple of times with some very nice post moves. I know that Okafor is just a rookie but I doubt there is many better post defenders at the 4 spot in the EC than Okafor already. So if AH can score in the post on Okafor he can play the 4 spot as a starter. We know that he will have a quickness advantage over mosts 4s and his D cannot be much worse than Walkers at the 4. You are right that the bigger issue is Jchill. Can he protect AH and Walker in the post with a consistant jumper? If not, he might just become a solid 6th man off the pine. I hope his jumper improves so that he can become a starting 2.

[Dakin]

Employee8 might like Antoine, but he's not blind.Even Walker's mother would admit he sucked against Boston and New Jersey.

[macdaddy]

I think you are right about Chill at 2, Al at 3 and Smoove at 4. But, I wouldn't mind seeing Al and Toine traded for a high scoring 2 and an ok center. I'm ready to see if Smoove can become a go to guy on offense. Right now he's mainly just cleaning up the glass. Let's run more plays for him.

The thing I thought was strange about that article was they say at the beginning that the Hawks are in desperate need of rebounding help when that is actually one of our strong points.