Sekou New Article

[HawksFan87]

Talks about the first day of practice, us being a running team. And more...

Who's Running

[exodus]

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Talks about the first day of practice, us being a running team. And more...

Who's Running

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Playing uptempo is more than just pushing the ball up the court. it requires guys to make good decisions with the ball quickly, not the strength of many of the players. I would expect we will see a few ugly turnovers early on.

I don't think the Hawks will suddenly turn into one of the faster paced teams in the league. i just hope they won't be one of the slowest like last season.

[killa3312]

Horford has been turning his ankle a lot the past year. I hope it's just bad luck and not something that's going to become chronic. He did it twice during Florida's season, then in the SL, and now he did it again today.

[AHF]

I don't know which of these I am happier to hear:

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Those concerns about Al Horford’s height limiting his ability to play center were for nothing. The kid is about the same height as Zaza Pachulia and plenty physical enough to handle himself in the paint. He should be fine.

During one late practice drill when the players were split into position groups on both ends of the floor (bigs on one end and guards and wings on the other) and demanded to finish at the rim Josh Smith showed off elevation that can be seen on very few teams in the league. Smith has always blown people away with his superior athleticism. But to think he’s jumping higher than before … ridiculous. And his improved moves around the basket were on display several times during a timed scrimmage drill.

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[frosgrim]

Almost all of the news coming out is positive, which is so great to hear from the Hawks.

Horf is going to get a huge amount of minutes as the center. I expect by December Horf will be starting, if not opening night.

Josh getting more athletic is amazing to hear. It also sounds like his summer work is going to pay off huge for him and the team this year.

[DrReality]

If they uptempo it will tap into a dimension that we have not seen. JJ, Smoove, Chill, Law, Horf are all built to get up and down the court. Turn them loose.

[Packfill]

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Almost all of the news coming out is positive, which is so great to hear from the Hawks.

Horf is going to get a huge amount of minutes as the center. I expect by December Horf will be starting, if not opening night.

Josh getting more athletic is amazing to hear. It also sounds like his summer work is going to pay off huge for him and the team this year.

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Realistically, all the news coming out SHOULD be positive this time of year. That said, it is great to hear anyway.

If Horford can play center effectivelly, and I am not sure making a comparison against Zaza in any manner means he can, then that is a huge plus for the team.

[Diesel]

Sekou is like a boxing helmet... He's there to soften the blow. He's getting us prepared for the fact that the Hawks aren't going to be a running team but will be one more year of walk it up time.

[WraithSentinel]

That has been a concern of mine when it come to Horford. I am trying to pass it off as nothing. It is becoming quite common though. He still played well from the reports even on the bad ankle.

[killa3312]

http://hawks.portspaces.com/hawksbasketblog

Scrimmage report.

[exodus]

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http://hawks.portspaces.com/hawksbasketblog

Scrimmage report.

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Joe Johnson is becoming a more active leader. One of the critiques of the team in the past has been a lack of leadership on the part of Joe Johnson, the team's best player. It's not so much that Joe hasn't been a leader, he has just always been more of the lead-by-example type. Based on today, it appears he is making a much more concerted effort this year to step up vocally as well, as he exhorted his teammates to give more effort on several occasions. This is also, in my opinion, a very positive sign.

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[BusBoyIsBack]

You mean we are actually changing to an running team instead of halfcourt????

[frosgrim]

Yep, D, the little box in today's paper makes it clear Woody is laying the ground-work for the team being a slow as molasses team, esp in the 4th quarter.

According to Sekou, Woody admonished the team for not being in shape to play the running game. That comment comes off sounding like Woody doesn't want to play a run-n-gun style, and is making his point by running the team into the ground now.

To me, its almost like Woody would just rather not play any offense and just play for stops the entire game. The guy is an assistant coach. He just doesn't get the idea that a team has to have some balance for it to be effective. He has never embraced an offense. Argh, Woody drives me crazy.

[thesheedera]

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the Hawks aren't going to be a running team but will be one more year of walk it up time.

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I wouldn't doubt it at all. Tempo is something most coaches are pretty particular about. They don't often change philosophy.

Woodson seems more comfortable in the grind it out game. I don't expect that toc hange much at all.

I'm afraid it could reveal more weaknesses. Fast tempo requires just as much coaching and possibly more than slow tempo. It looks wide open but there's so much that has to go into it to make sure it's executed properly. It can get VERY ugly when a poorly coached team tries to pick up the pace.

[KB21]

Can this team defend at a high tempo though?

It doesn't matter if we improve the offensive production up to 110 PPG by going with an up tempo style if we are going to allow 120 PPG because of a lack of defense in that style.

Look at the Memphis Grizzlies last year. Everyone thought that team was built to be an up tempo team. However, that team struggled defending in the half court setting, and they were much worse defending in a full court, up tempo setting.

Mike Fratello told them that they couldn't play up tempo because they couldn't defend at that pace, and guess what? He was correct, and he got fired for it.

[AHF]

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Woodson seems more comfortable in the grind it out game.

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To me, Woodson seems to have no identity at all. When a team wants to run with us, we run. When a team wants to play halfcourt, we play halfcourt.

We don't use our offense to impose our will or run a system that would take a team outside its comfort zone.

I think we have some players well suited to an uptempo game but whatever Woodson decides he MUST choose an actual system and get it in place this year so we have a real offensive identity and not just a set of plays we like to run.

[skyhawk]

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Woodson seems more comfortable in the grind it out game.

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To me, Woodson seems to have no identity at all. When a team wants to run with us, we run. When a team wants to play halfcourt, we play halfcourt.

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I agree that we need to establish an identity but I don't think playing both styles depending upon match-ups is a problem because you need to both in the playoffs. A good defensive team will force you into a half-court game..so what do you then??

[DJlaysitup]

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...To me, Woodson seems to have no identity at all. When a team wants to run with us, we run. When a team wants to play halfcourt, we play halfcourt.

We don't use our offense to impose our will or run a system that would take a team outside its comfort zone...

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Well said

[KB21]

All this talk about offense, but the fact remains is that if the Hawks don't improve significantly on the DEFENSIVE end, all the offense in the world isn't going to matter much.

The Hawks must be able to defend and rebound, because championship teams are built on defense and rebounding.

IMO, the defense has to be established first, and once that happens, the offense will take care of itself. This is why I want a defensive minded head coach even if we replace Mike Woodson. I wouldn't hesitate to contact Mike Fratello to see if he is interested in returning to the city he never should have left, because Mike is all about defense and defensive effort.

[frosgrim]

I disagree, we have to have a philosophy on offense and stick with it; otherwise, you get too uneven play on offense, which then leads to huge scoring droughts. Yes, defense is very important but not so much that a head coach can ignore offense. But going through long scoring droughts puts more pressure on a young team. In fact, a young team should be about offense and then defense as the guys want to score. Vet teams accept defense first.

I know you like Fretello, and he is a defense first coach. However, when he took over the Hawks he realized that he had to let the horses run. Thus, you got those dynamic Hawks teams of the mid 80s. Thus, Mike F. knew you had to tailor what you are doing to the players you have. The Hawks of the 1980s needed to play at a faster pace than Mike wanted, but he allowed them to do it because it won games.

Woodson needs to accept that he has a young team and they need an structured, but open offense to run. You can run and not be a wide-open offense like G.S. The Princeton offense that Woody tries to "run" just doesn't work with our players and it is time to do something that does work with whom we have.