As a writer, one must be weary of the implied obligations to write one’s own opinions with subtlety; like a needle and the intricate designs hidden within clothing. As a Hawks fan, I am obligated to care for my team enough to stick with them through thick and thin, through 13 wins, and through 29 losses. I am obligated to think of ways my team could win a championship. However, as both a writer and a Hawks fan, I have come to realize that it is impossible to be both.  

It is impossible to suggest things without a furious anger filling through my head, so I will write as a Hawks fan and not a writer. As a Hawks fan, this season particularly has become so very frustrating because of one particular reason. The Hawks have lost their potential. Watching the Hawks was even more exciting in their horrible and nearly-historic 04-05 season. It was fun to see the highflying Hawks especially the dunk contest winner Josh Smith, and it was fun to think of the possibilities of the future. I enjoyed my nights thinking of the potential of Smith and Josh Childress. Smith was supposed to be the next Human Highlight Film and Childress had hints of Reggie Miller’s excellent uses of screens.      

With the next season, there was a buzz with a new and exciting freshmen prospect named Marvin Williams. Let’s not blame Billy Knight with this pick because hindsight is always 20/20. In 2004, there were only good things to say about Marvin and one reason for his lack of developement is not because of his lack of potential, but I’d say mainly because of the coaching. For example, one former Hawk is currently averaging around 16 points a game for the Wizards, but I’ll save that for later.      

Now we all know about the 2006 draft and Shelden Williams, but look at the people below him. It’s not such a great list of players either. Now, Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay are better than Shelden Williams, but Brandon Roy’s career is nearing a tragic end, and Rudy Gay seems to be a lost cause. Here is the question you have to ask: would you trade Al Horford for either of those players in a league where a quality big man is extremely rare? It was a horrible pick that no one understood at the moment or understands even now, and Billy Knight deserves full blame, but luckily it was beneficial. For once, luck has come to Atlanta in the form of Al Horford. Do not forget that if the Hawks had any higher than the third, then they would have given the pick to the Suns. With that in mind, do not forget Al Horford is the luck of the Hawks.   

Now with a review of the Hawks recent history, it has become apparent the flaws within the organization. Simply put, the Hawks management always looks for the quick fix. Our current woes begin with 2005. It begins with Joe Johnson. At first, Joe Johnson was a sigh of relief because Hawks fans were glad to finally see a team that looked like they had a future with a leader who was relatively young, which meant there was room for improvement. However, what was not mentioned was Joe Johnson’s contract. Joe Johnson was getting paid 70 million dollars over the course of 5 years. For the quality of player Joe Johnson was, that contract seemed and still is ludicrous. Here’s a question that must be asked: did Phoenix have any major decline because of the departure of Joe Johnson? Wouldn’t that mean that Joe Johnson is not a very valuable asset? My statement may be partially unfair due to Steve Nash’s ability to make everyone around him play better, but it still holds truth. Joe Johnson was and will never be a go to guy. He will never be a franchise player.

To be fair to Joe Johnson and the Hawks, it was anticipated that Marvin Williams would later develop into a franchise player and would help compliment Joe Johnson in leading the Hawks into a championship. With that said, one of the main reason of the Hawks current struggles is largely because of the coaching. How many prospect have the Hawks coaches ruined? The Hawks all had valuable pick which turned to be bust: Salim Stoudemire, Solomon Jones, Acie Law, Marvin Williams, Shelden Williams, Royal Ivey, and Donta Smith. Now most of these players are second round picks, but out of Salim, Solomon, Ivey, and Smith, are there any that can be recognized at all. With 4-5 years of second round picks, not a single one has become a solid contributor for the Hawks. The rest of the second round picks are always wasted on some random international guy that no fan will ever hear of. Did Salim Stoudemire not have the potential to at least become a bench shooter, similar to Eddie House? Solomon Jones could’ve been a valuable big man off the bench and had the potential to may be become a starter. What became of Shelden Williams? He was certainly a waste of a draft pick, but he was still supposed to be a lottery pick either way. If the celtics can make Glen Davis a valuable bench player, why can’t the Hawks make Shelden Williams a player at all? As a matter of fact, why did the Hawks play Tyronne Lue and Anthony Johnson over Acie Law? Does it make sense to keep your first round draft pick on the bench for most of the game? Even if he is a rookie, he must have some potential to be considered a lottery pick, but he was not even given a chance on a team that barely made playoffs, where in San Antonio, Popovich gives each player a role and give each player a chance to display their talents. People may argue that there are always players who turn out to be busts, but when there are so many busts on a single team, then one must think the Hawks are incredibly bad at drafting where they pick players projected to go in the second round with their first pick, or the coaches do not know what they’re doing.

In the case of Marvin Williams, it is apparent that he has talent. However, when watching a Hawks game, it is not so hard to see why the talent is not displayed. When the Hawks play, Marvin Williams plays as if he is confused. Marvin Williams seems as if he is not sure of where to be or what to do. The only thing he knows to do is to pass to Joe Johnson. It seems as if the coaches just tell the players to go out and play their hardest; something a recreational coach can say. Marvin was never given a role on the team. Marvin was never told how to play. You can call him lazy, but at North Carolina, he was neither lazy nor had a bad attitude. He chose to come off the bench because he was a freshmen. He was part of a championship-winning North Carolina team. His teammates had nothing but good words to say about him. Sean May even somewhat compared Marvin to Michael Jordan, by saying something along the lines of Michael Jordan wasn’t the first pick either. Those are some bold words from a player who has seen talent from a pretty deep draft class.  One could attempt to counter my discontent with the Hawks coaches simply by mentioning Josh Smith and Al Horford. However, this can be completely rebutted by surfacing Horford’s 3 years of college under a great coach, and Josh Smith’s incredible potential. Their development is natural and is a result in starting in the NBA. Horford was already a smart and hard working player. He has improved drastically, but he has improved in things that he had to work on himself. He has improved his jump shot and his defense. One could also say that he now has a few effective post moves. However, his understanding of the game, which was already great for a rookie, has improved because of simply starting on an NBA team. Josh Smith is an All Star caliber player, but any NBA scout will tell you the sky is the limit with him. He is truly a freak of nature with a 40 inch vertical and around a 7 foot wingspan. to put that in perspective, Derrick Rose has a 40 inch vertical, and is shorter than Smith. Looking at the NBA pre-draft measurements, Josh Smith’s reach with jumping included is only second to Dwight Howard. With this said, Josh Smith should be a definite All Star, if he received the right coaching. With Josh Smith, there is one thing that I do not particularly understand. Josh Smith has horrible shooting form, which would be fine if he was a decent shooter, but he is not. So I ask, why did none of the Hawks’ Coaches fix his jump shot? Josh Smith has the athleticism to be on par or subpar with Lebron, instead of Kenyon Martin. Josh Smith should’ve been the next Nique, or even Mcgrady. If you see the scouting report of all three players in the first 2 or 3 years, it is nearly identical, except Dominique went to college for 4 years, so as a result, was more developed. Mcgrady came into the league as a super athletic wingman who can block shots. Even their statistics were similar. Even with the coaching failures of the individuals, it seems as if the coaches focused more on team coaching. However, even this was a complete failure. Just like the Hawks, the coaches just wanted a quick fix, which is apparent through the performance in the playoffs: 2 first round 7 game series, and 2 second round sweeps. Switching on defense and 1 on 5 basketball doesn’t work in the playoffs. It does not work against the good teams.

Countless times I see pick and rolls from the opposing team where the Hawks just simply switch. Countless times I heard Hawks players and coaches say switching is a strength of the Hawks. Countless times, I have asked myself, “why?” Switching causes mismatches, and no matter how athletic the Hawks are, mismatches will almost always cause havoc, especially when the center is guarding a point guard. However, to be fair, Al Horford seems to keep up with PGs very well, but on the contrary, he is still a big man guarding a perimeter player. For example, no matter how athletic a player is, nobody in the NBA can guard Steve Nash, a point guard who is not gifted with any athleticism in NBA standards. If the Hawks switch, then we have Marvin, Josh, or Al guarding Steve Nash, a player not even Rajon Rondo can completely guard. On the other hand, when we switch, an even worse scenario occurs. With our switching defense, the Hawks seem to end up having a guard guarding a big man. I do not think there is a need to explain the problems with this scenario, except there is not only a disadvantage in the size mismatch. With a size mismatch favoring the offensive player, a double team is always required. The Hawks are not very good at double teaming and rotating. As a result, when the Hawks play championship caliber teams who know how to move the ball, there is no chance of winning. 

On the other side of the court, the Hawks are extremely flawed in many ways. With such an athletic team, one may expect the Hawks to have a highflying, run-and-gun offense; however, they have one of the top five slowest paces in the league for the past 2 or 3 years. Every year Mike Woodson promised to run the ball more. This year Larry Drew promised a new and improved motion offense. Every year I see no committed or significant difference. Every year I see more and more shot clock violations. The Hawks should only use about 10-15 seconds of the shot clock. They should look for easy offense and run hard on defense. Mike Woodson may have worked under Larry Brown, but it seems as if none of the magic wore off onto Woody. Woodson was supposed to be a defensive specialist, but what kind of defensive specialist plays a 30+ year old point guard that is almost literally non-existent defensively. Woodson’s problem was this: he played his players thinking of only the each single game, instead of thinking of the whole season. He’s the one who let Joe Johnson play league leading minutes simply because Joe wanted to. He never took the time to develop ANY rookies, and the same goes for Larry Drew. Actually to put it more accurately, Mike Woodson coach his team thinking of only each possession, instead of thinking of the next possession. On offense, he gave it to Joe Johnson, because for each possession he’s the best option. However, for the whole game, spreading the ball is the best option. Quick ball movement is the best option. Instead Mike Woodson and Larry Drew rely on iso-Joe offense, where he almost certainly gets double teamed. Double teams can be good, but for some odd reason, Joe Johnson always keeps the ball and only passes it at the last possible moment where someone has to jack up a three point shot with one second left on the shot clock. Even on pick and rolls, Joe never passes it to the roller. He keeps the ball. Joe Johnson is the worst type of ball hog because his stats do not show it, but when he is watched, one can see how he takes good shots; however, those good shots take up around 20 seconds of the shot clock to open up, and if he chooses to pass it, it forces a bad shot by his teammates. Instead the Hawks should work through their true best player. The player who was second to Kevin Durant in a very talented draft class. Even without these facts, basketball is meant to be played from the inside-out. It is common knowledge to try to get it into the post first, so why don’t the Hawks play through Horford and Smith instead of Joe? Give the ball to someone who shoots 55 percent rather than someone who shoots 44 percent. Make a post player who shoots jumpers play more inside, which will open up jumpers. This applies to Josh and Horford. To put things in perspective, Josh Smith is considered a player who takes a ton of bad shots, but he makes 47 percent of his field goals and Joe Johnson, as I’ve mentioned earlier, makes 44 percent, so who is the one taking more bad shots?

What the coaches should of done is give other people chances. What if Marvin was given the ball more often? May be he could have become a player who can do it all. He may have been the next big thing. One thing that is evident with the Hawks is their lack of aggressiveness.  I have seen Josh Smith drive it in and simply lay it up when everyone in the world knows that if he had driven the ball more aggressively toward the hoop, it would have been on Sportscenter. I have seen Joe Johnson back a weaker and smaller defender down until he got double teamed, where he could have made a more aggressive and quicker move to beat the double team and score easily. After 3 seasons of being double teamed, one would think he learned how to beat it. When did the Hawks adapt this easy going push-over mentality? I even remember Marvin specifically mentioning his lack of aggressiveness as a rookie. I remember reading about his father urging him to drive it in to the basket more often. I remember seeing more dunks by Marvin back then. The Hawks have become so soft, which is why Zaza Pachulia’s head butt with Kevin Garnett in the 2008 playoffs were so exciting. For once the Hawks showed some fight. For once the Hawks showed toughness, but that has all faded away since.

This will never be settled because of the lack of chances that Hawks role players are given. However, there is one case that must be carefully observed. The only Hawks rookie in the past 4 or 5 years that has played as a Hawk and traded in their rookie season is playing excellently for his current team. Jordan Crawford is currently averaging around 16 points a game. One may say his shooting percentage is horrible at under 40%, but in comparison to recent rookies, Brandon Jennings averaged 15.5 a game last season as a rookie and shot around 35-37 percent and was still considered a rookie of the year candidate. Jordan Crawford is on a Wizards team that has a lot of talent in the guard positions. Brandon Jennings had no one to seriously compete for playing time. Now I’m not making a bold statement by saying that Crawford is better than Jennings because I didn’t mention any other areas other than scoring, but I am saying that their performance is comparable where if i made this case for Jordan as a Hawk, I would hear nothing but laughter. Does that now show something about the Hawks coaching?

It makes me wonder about Jeff Teague. Does he have the potential to produce numbers that Hawks fans can not imagine? Did Marvin have that potential? This whole Jordan Crawford situation has made the trade for Kirk Hinrich seem ridiculous. The only reason it is acceptable to give a first round pick is because the Hawks are horrible at either drafting or developing players. Or may be it could be both. This situation has made the Joe Johnson signing seem even more ridiculous than it already was. If Joe Johnson was never signed, the Hawks could’ve traded Bibby and started Teague and Jo. Crawford. The Hawks could’ve kept their second round pick from New Jersey instead of trading it for cash. They could’ve used the pick to draft Hassan Whiteside, who is a very raw and athletic center with great length. That way, may be in 2 or 3 years, Jeff Teague would be a quality point guard and Jordan Crawford may be a quality shooting guard with more offensive responsibilities on Marvin Williams forcing him to develop somewhat. May be Hassan Whiteside can be a starting center, which would move Horford to his natural position. May be we could draft a quality player this year or trade this years pick and Josh Smith for another player. With this said, even the resigning of Bibby seemed ridiculous. They signed a declining and old point guard just a year before the amazing free agent class of 2010. This makes the trade for Jamal Crawford even seem unadvisable. With large room under the salary cap, the Hawks could have gotten a super star. 2010 is the only exception in the rule of rebuilding. 2010 was the only year a team could rebuild through signing free agents instead of the draft. It seems as if the Hawks once again look for the quick fix instead of planning for the future. Good GMs create a 2 or 3 year plan. Look at the Thunder who are now a championship contender. Look at the Spurs who have been a championship contender for a decade and a half even after the Admiral’s departure. If you carefully examine the movement of these teams, then their plan seems ingenious. The Hawks, however, tried to make a team full of talent, but uncomplimentary. Jamal Crawford would be a great pick up, but only for a team on the verge of a championship. Jamal Crawford is basically Jason Terry. The moment the Hawks resigned Joe Johnson they settled for average. They settled for good. There may be a money issue. There may be a fan issue, but since when have the Hawks organization given the fans a reason to be proud to be a Hawks fan? Even with Dominique, there was always Jordan to overshadow Niques accomplishments. Who remembers Bob Petit? I mean he was probably the greatest Hawks player relatively, but can someone’s influence really last that long on an organization? Bob Petit didn’t even play for Atlanta. He played for St. Louis. When have the Hawks made Atlanta proud? 

-D2