Earlier today, Smildress asked me "Honest opinion, do Hawks win tonight?" Without hesitation, I answered "Yep, 106-93". After seeing them lose 112-104 at the hands of the New York Knicks, I'm not so sure I'll answer that question as quickly in the future.
The Hawks, so far this season, have been hard to figure out. They've had taxing injuries to two of their star players, and have managed to play well enough to stay in the middle of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. However, in so doing, they've seemingly pulled wool over their fans eyes. Too many times I've read "If only he was healthy, they definitely would have won the game" or "They won without ____, just imagine if he was healthy!" While that might seem like decent logic, no benefit of the doubt should be afforded a team that has made the playoffs once in 10 years. Injuries are part of the game and every team has to adjust to them - playoff teams overcome injuries, while lottery teams use them as an excuse. What will the Hawks do?
During the month of January, one thing has dawned on me - maybe the Hawks aren't quite as good as we thought they were or were hoping they were. Any team that can't compete without their full lineup is a team that won't go very far in a league like the NBA. Not only does fatigue play a factor, but everyone goes through rough patches (See Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby) in a season. When a star player is off, the rest of the team must step up. When a star player gets injured, the rest of the team must step up. If the guys want to go to the playoffs with home court advantage, they must step up.
Someone told me in 2005 that they hoped the Braves would miss the playoffs. Not only would it cause the fans to actually appreciate the playoff atmosphere instead of taking it for granted, but it would also give the organization some humility and realization that sometimes you have to shake things up to truly progress. Now, I'm not one for shakeups. In fact, Hawks GM Rick Sund told us the other night that he's somewhat conservative when it comes to roster moves. However, it's times like these when you know what you have. When you have players injured, and when you have players on cold streaks, you find out who is going to step up and who is going to emotionally lead the team to a victory.
Over the first moth of the season, the Hawks players and fans used last season's appearance in the playoffs as a turning point for the franchise. In fact, some of the players acted as if since they made the playoffs last year, they would make it there again. They must have forgotten one key thing - no team is ever guaranteed an appearance in the playoffs. In order to make the playoffs, everyone on a team has to play within their roles, and step up when they are depended on. Furthermore, the coaching staff has to instill a winning attitude amongst the players. Finally, the players need to have a sense of humility along with a keen swagger that gives them an emotional advantage over their opponent. Right now, the Hawks are showing that the possess none of these attributes. Until they do, these losing streaks will continue.
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2 comments:
Did you think Sund was nuts when he said he thought that acie and solo were going to be good nba player? i would take nate robinson as the hawks first guard off the bench.
Ha - I would love to have Nate Robinson on the team. Unfortunately for the hawks, at the time he was drafted the GM wanted players between 6'8 and 6'10, and little Nate just didn't fit the bill.
That said, I do like Solo and Acie and I expect them to be Hawks for a long time - both have lots of room to grow. With Zaza and Bibby hitting free agency, both could find themselves moving up in the pecking order come next year.
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