Call it the Mike Woodson Contract Tour.
Or is this Woodson’s version of the ‘This is it’ Tour?
The 6-2 Atlanta Hawks are visiting TD Garden tonight to try to stop the 8-1 Boston Celtics. In the course of doing so, they are trying to enter the conversation as true title contenders. Are they this year’s version of last year’s Orlando Magic, the team that few took seriously?
It is one of those situations that leaves you scratching your head. Over a 6 year period, 51 year old Hawk Head Coach Mike Woodson has taken a 13 win team of infants through the toddler era and they are now walking and running just fine. Their win total has moved up every single year of the Woodson era. They have gone from 13 wins, to 26, to 30, to 37, to 47. It only gets harder from here. Are they ready to take on the league’s big boys?
This year’s NBA has spawned a group of what can be called ’super teams’. They all were top teams last season and only added to their arsenal in the off season. They are the NBA Champion Lakers, Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, and last but certainly not least, the Boston Celtics.
You can sneak up on people for awhile. The Hawks are right at that stage where they are noticed. Can Woodson get this talented and now deeper team to play toe-to-toe with those top 5 teams? And you might want to add the Phoenix Suns if they can keep up an early season burst.
The Hawks played the Lakers and lost 118-110. Recently they had an impressive win over the Denver Nuggets 125-100. They also beat a solid Portland Trailblazer team that is experiencing some problems getting out of the gate. Other than that, their other 3 wins have been over Washington, Indiana, and Sacramento – all middling teams. The Hawks were drubbed by Charlotte 83-103.
Still this is a team on the cusp. They have the talent to make another jump forward and the bench with the addition of PF Joe Smith, SG Jamal Crawford, rookie PG Jeff Teague and the resigning of C Zaza Pachulia is stronger than it ever has been under Woodson. The Hawks made the commitment to surround this starting unit with solid role players to see how far they can go.
It may tell us how far Mike Woodson goes. Rarely has a coach that has been so successful been asked to play out their final year of a contract before discussing a renewal. Welcome to Mike Woodson’s world.
Some feel that he isn’t getting the utmost out of this team. Josh Smith has been out of control at times. Josh has finally buried his three point shot. It is a good thing because he rarely buried them when he shot them. He shot a mere 29.9% last season and was a career 27% three point shooter.This year …zero three point attempts. Congratulations, Josh and Mike. The obvious has been recognized and dealt with.
In a quirky stat, Josh Smith is the Hawks leading assist guy with 4.4 per game (tied with Bibby and Joe Johnson is right behind at 4.3). He is also second in the league with 2.6 blocks per game, while averaging 16 points and 7.2 rebounds.
On top of that, the Hawks only true star, swing man Joe Johnson will not re-sign an extension with the Hawks. He is going to see what the market will be bear for his services this coming off season. That can’t be a good thing for the Hawks.
So a team that has come a long way together over the last 5 years could look markedly different next season – depending on what happens in this one – or maybe not even depending on that. What would keep Joe Johnson around? A trip to the Conference Finals? or would it take a trip to the NBA Finals to get him to re-consider staying?
Anyway, it is an interesting season for the Hawks for that reason. Check out the game tonight for what should be a good contest. The Hawks have yet to win Boston since the Garnett trade and that includes the playoffs. They are 0-9 at TD Garden over that period.
The Celtics will been rejuvenated with their recent rest and will have to contain one of the league’s top offenses in the Hawks. They are fourth in the league with 107.8 points per game.
Kevin Garnett has come alive in recent games and is getting more aggressive at both ends of the court. He is averaging 17.7 points over the last three games and 13.4 on the year.
Rajon Rondo is the NBA steals leader with 3.0 per game, way ahead of Kobe Bryant,who is second at 2.3.
Game time is 8:00pm
