Hollinger on 680 the Fan this morning

[coachx]

Hawk radio announcer of like 15 years, Hollinger was on 680 AM this morning.

He was able to sit on the 2nd practice, 2nd scrimmage of the day yesterdayr afternoon. They had an earlier practice and scrimmage that morning which he missed.

He pointed out a few things:

1. the roster can now have really good , competitive practices and how our players are pushing each other and now have to earn minutes. He made the point that players will no longer be "handed" minutes b/c of this. ( he said all this was missing last year)(Marvin hurt, Speedy hurt). All we had to practie with was Ivey, Lue and summer leaguers at PG, center was really thin too. Funny how some one else pointed this out yesterday.

2. He said Horford and Law are ALWAYSE on the same team in scrimmages. (Really wish he said the names of how the 5 on 5 played out). If our 2 rookies are on the same starting 5 scrimmage team vs. our vets and holding their own ... That speaks VOLUMES to me.

3. He has sat in on practices for many years and said he has not seen the leadership Law is showing ALREADY in a very long time. (I translated that going back as far as the Mookie / Smith years). JJ is not a vocal leader but leads by example and hard work.

4. He pointed out that Law and Horford already seem to have some chemistry between them.

5. He pointed out how Law hollars plays and makes sures his players "know what were're doing" and then enforces it by reminding what play they are about to run on inbound plays specifically.

6. He said Speedy is really being pushed by Law already.

What I read into Hollinger's statements:

He seemed sky high on what he saw from Law

I for see Speedy starting at PG and Sheldon or ZaZa starting at center (who evr earns it) in the beginning of the year. Then at maybe the 7 to 6 minute mark in the 1st quarter both Horford and Law check into the game since they seem to really work well together. Sounds like a really good 2nd unit to me to start the season. Only a matter of time before they EARN STARTING ROLES.

NO PLAYING TIME WILL BE HANDED OUT WITHOUT DESERVING IT.

Some one will get in Woody's dog house. Who will it be ? It will be the player that does not work his butt off in practice. All our guys seem to be hard workers, wonder if there is a practice slacker on the team that we don't know about ?

[DavidSomerset]

I really feel like Law might be THE most important piece to whether we make the playoffs or not this year.

Him and MW will determine that, IMO.

[bfwolf]

I like Law a lot, but keep in mind that it's pretty unusual for any rookie to be an above average NBA player their 1st year. Law is very NBA-ready so I expect him to be good for a rookie, but I wouldn't expect him to be a top 15 PG in the NBA or anything.

[mountain_jim]

Nice post! Informative!

Thanks for the info.

[coachx]

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I like Law a lot, but keep in mind that it's pretty unusual for any rookie to be an above average NBA player their 1st year. Law is very NBA-ready so I expect him to be good for a rookie, but I wouldn't expect him to be a top 15 PG in the NBA or anything.

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That is double true for the PG position. Many great PGs struggled their first few years: D. Williams, Stockton, Billups, Nash.

I hope Law could be an exception. I think he will come off the bench but it may hard for Woody not to start him sooner rather then later. Real game court performance are right around the corner.

Just have to wait and see.

The glowing report was very encouraging though.

[WraithSentinel]

Great info

[DJlaysitup]

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...Some one will get in Woody's dog house. Who will it be ? ...

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My guess is Salim will start out the year there...but Solomon better be working hard or he might spend a good while there too.

Lo should be a good candidate for a season-long pass, but Woody seems to give veterans breaks.

[WraithSentinel]

Lo and AJ/Lue deserve a season long pass to end of the bench poker game. If Speedy goes down. He can replace Lue/AJ at the poker game. It might be a little lonely in the poker game this year. Last year we has Slava,Estaban,Ivey,Salim,Solomon,Shelden,*insert NBDL Player* and at times Lo playing the game.

Damn, we had so many useless players on this team last year with the exception of Salim,Solo, and Shelden. Then again for most the year Woodson made them useless by not playing them.

[bfwolf]

If anybody sees Lo Wright walking down the streets of Atlanta, please take a bat to one of his legs. The Hawks are a MUCH worse team whenever he sees the court.

Note: I'm just kidding about the bat thing. Unless it's a nerf bat. Then go for it.

[coachx]

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Lo should be a good candidate for a season-long pass, but Woody seems to give veterans breaks.

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I think Lo's main purpose right now is almost assistant coach / practice body / personal advisor / 1/2 half trime motivator / big brother to our rookies.

These guys go from college kids to millionaires over night. I doubt Lo will see many minutes but he can share loads of expirence and wisdom to our young pups.

[coachx]

It blows my mind how a post that gives new current news is thrown on this site and gets 1/2 the views of a derogatory post that is a mere history lesson of what we already know.

Guess that is why only the bad news makes the evening news. Our society is just infatuated with pessimism and bad news.

So sad.

Or maybe there just a lot of young pups on here that don't know the teams history. I'm fine with that if that is the case.

[Sothron]

There are some people on this site that care more for regurgitating their opinion than how this team actually does. So do not get too down on yourself if a real piece of news gets overlooked.

I am glad to hear the Law's leadership ability he had in college is carrying over in the pros. I have said several times in the past we simply do not have any leadership on this team and frankly we haven't had any since Mookie and Smittie were here. Joe Johnson is not a leader. We need someone to fill that void and if Law can do it, so much the better.

[Guest GHook4]

Nice post man, lots of good info. Thanks.

I would think Speedy and Za start at the beginning of the season unless, as has been pointed out, they really mess something up.

Speedy(24 mpg)/Law(24 mpg)

JJ(36 mpg)/Chill(12 mpg)

Marv(30 mpg)/Chill(18 mpg)

Smoove(36 mpg/Horford(12 mpg)

Zaza(20 mpg)/Horford(18 mpg)/Shelden(10 mpg)

Seems about right to me. No PT for Salim, Solo though...

[Vol4ever]

Good p[ost, just meybe we are turning the corner!

[Traceman]

I heard the broadcast too and I heard essentially the same thing you heard. The only minor difference is that I heard him say that he thought Law WOULD push Speedy for sure - I don't think they have played against each other yet. By the way, has anyone heard an update on Speedy's medical issues?

[gutz]

Shelden NEEDS more than 10min. a game. It should be Zaza getting 10min. a game at Center

[frosgrim]

But otherwise the information is what I heard as well.

The story on Law going to Horf during an in-bound play and reminding Horf of what the play was is telling. Law sounds like he's got the leadership instinct, which the Hawks were in sore need of.

[coachx]

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If it was radio announcer then I would assume that he would be talking about Steve Holman and not Bob Rathbun.

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It is Holeman, my bad , I said Hollinger (the old channel 5 sports guy / Falcons radio guy.)

[AHF]

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If it was radio announcer then I would assume that he would be talking about Steve Holman and not Bob Rathbun.

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I heard part of it and am pretty shurn it was Rathburn.

[Lacsho]

Thanks for the 411. I would love to see some of their practices. Law vs Speedy, Chills vs JJ, and the other eight forwards going toe to toe.(LOL) But for real I know the practices should definitely be very competitive.