Sekou: Return of the 5 questions

[DrReality]

AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog

By Sekou Smith | Monday, November 6, 2006, 04:01 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Hawks are on top of the Southeast Division, The 76ers are on top of the Atlantic. Cleveland is atop the Central.

In the Western Conference, the Hornets lead the Southwest Division, the Jazz the Northwest and the Lakers the Pacific.

What in the name of Naismith is going on in the NBA? Either the pundits don’t know what they’re talking about or it’s the first few days of the season.

It’s the latter, of course. But I’m not sure anyone could say they expected those six teams to be on top at any time this season. If they’re still rolling like this in January, February or March, then we’ve got something to talk about.

In the meantime, there are a few things on the mind of Blog Z (If Jigga gets to be the “Michael Jordan of recording” why can’t I be Blog Z?). That’s why the five (questions) things we know right now is making a Monday morning comeback:

1. Why is anyone worried about the quality of your team’s wins in the NBA?

There is no strength of schedule component in the NBA. The schedule is set months in advance and no one cares if you’re rolling over the best in the league or the worst. The Heat struggled a year ago against the league’s power elite. When the Pistons won 64 regular season games last year no one cared about who they beat.

This isn’t the BCS or some ridiculous poll generated by washed up and/or retired coaches. The formula in the NBA is much easier to solve. Win half your games (at least in the East) and you’re all but guaranteed a playoff berth. So this idea that a win over the Knicks isn’t a “quality win” is even more hilarious from Hawks fans. After the colossal struggles the past few years, is there really any need to overanalyze success?

2. What’s more surprising, that the new faces (Bozeman, Freije and Solomon Jones) are making an early impact or the disappearance from the rotation of returnees like Salim Stoudamire, Roy Ivey and Esteban Batista?

Outside of Salim Stoudamire not playing the past two games, none of it surprises me. Stoudamire isn’t in the doghouse (yes, I’ve asked). It’s just a struggle to get he and Ivey minutes with Speedy Claxton, Tyronn Lue and Joe Johnson all piling up the minutes there.

Bozeman’s emergence has been a bit of a surprise, but he’s such a good defender that it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the coaching staff likes to use him in spot duty. He was on the floor for several good defensive possessions against the Magic Sunday. The addition of Lorenzen Wright and the fact that Jones is longer and more athletic makes it tough to justify keeping Batista on the active list.

With injuries and the way NBA seasons usually go, the Hawks will need all of these guys before the year is done.

3. Why does the Big Greek fit in Seattle and not with the Hawks?

Robert Swift’s torn ACL forced the Sonics to hunt for another big body to solidify the playing rotation and Andreas Glyniadakis was their guy. I still think he could have done the same things for the Hawks, but the decision was made to let him go.

That said, he might not have played much with the Hawks and might not with the Sonics. But when you’re as big as he is, can shoot it like he can and are willing to mix it up the way he did during camp, it isn’t surprising to see him get picked up.

Who knows? He might even get on the floor Saturday night when the Sonics come to Philips Arena. Or he might spend all his time with the Sonics in a suit on the end of the bench. Or he might not last on the roster until Thanksgiving. You never know.

4. Have you ever seen someone smile less than Hawks rookie Shelden Williams?

Someone asked me that at the game Sunday and I had to admit they were on to something. This dude has the best poker face I’ve seen.

His locker is next to Tyronn Lue’s and I dare anyone to spend that much time next to the funniest player in the NBA and keep a straight face. Somehow Shelden does it. He got his fist bucket Sunday, too. The same person was worried that he might be headed for Jacque Vaughn-ville (you remember when the one-time Hawk missed his first 27 shots to start a season and ESPN had a field day with him the night he finally scored a basket).

5. Why is that the only things that work properly at a 7-year-old arena are the flamethrowers on the backs of the baskets?

Philips Arena has to have the NBA record for scoreboard outages in the first two weeks of the season. And if we include all of last year’s scoreboard snafus, they’d be in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The Hawks new video intro is without a doubt one of the better ones I’ve seen. And the drum line continues to add a nice little twist to the start of games.

But how an arena with Philips plastered all over it can’t seem to get the scoreboards and shot clocks to work is beyond me. And if someone could turn down the heat on those flamethrowers just a bit I’d be grateful.

Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment |

[chillzatl]

great read!

[Eddielives]

I can still remember laughing my arse off when Sportscenter made such a big deal of Jacque's first fg of that season. That was classic.

[drzachary]

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I can still remember laughing my arse off when Sportscenter made such a big deal of Jacque's first fg of that season. That was classic.

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haha yeah.. ode to joy!

poor jacque!

[warcore]

i was once playing trivial pursuit and a question was something like "what nba player missed a record 27 field goals in a row and charles barkley prayed for him on national tv?"....

good thing im a hawks fan

[Final_quest]

Wow, I didn't even notice the problems scoreboard problems on opening night.

Glad I read this, so Salim just isn't getting PT. Not surprised that Ivey isn't getting into games, but Salim is a bit of a surprise. The bench minutes is an interesting story line so far this season.

[Packfill]

Quote:

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I can still remember laughing my arse off when Sportscenter made such a big deal of Jacque's first fg of that season. That was classic.

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The most interesting thing about that was that Jacque went on to have a very good season as far as field goal shooting percentage.