Joe Johnson wants to believe that his Atlanta Hawks are on the verge of being contenders in the Eastern Conference. They should be getting close.But going into the start of the NBA's regular season next week, Johnson isn't so sure anymore.
"Sometimes, I can't tell if we really want it,'' Johnson told FanHouse after his Hawks were embarrassed by a 37-point loss Friday night in their final exhibition game by the Orlando Magic. "It's discouraging. Sometimes, you never know what you're going to get from this team. And that won't work.''
The Hawks won 47 games last season, improving their win total for the fourth consecutive year in a very patient, well-planned rebuilding project. They also landed the No. 4 seed in the East last spring, winning their first playoff series in 10 years.
"You see flashes of a team here that can play with anyone. ... Then other nights we're horrible, like we've never played together before."
-- Joe Johnson on the HawksBy adding some depth with Jamal Crawford and Joe Smith to the same young, athletic starting lineup, the Hawks should be looking at their first 50-win season since 1998.
"You see flashes of a team here that can play with anyone in the league, a really good team. Then other nights we're horrible, like we've never played together before,'' he said. "We have to decide, which team do we want to be. And right now, I don't know.''
Although it was merely an exhibition game, the Hawks were at full strength Friday night, starting the same lineup that will open the season Wednesday. Johnson had hoped to use the Magic -- the defending Eastern Conference champs -- as a measuring stick for his team.
He and the rest of the Hawks were hoping that all the preseason talk about the East being a three-team race between Orlando, Boston and Cleveland might allow them to slip quietly into the mix.
"Right now, I'm not worried about those other three teams,'' Johnson said. "I'm worried about the Atlanta Hawks.''
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
The Hawks have a whole lot of talent, and a high school coach. Thanks to management not hiring a decent coach, it will be another wasted season for the Hawks. Disgusting!
The Hawks have generally had good teams, since they were the BlackHawks, their problem has generally been marketing, which coincides with the franchise having moved several times in its history. Atlanta/HotLandDuh! should be a keeper, but then, St. Louis should have been a keeper, too, but doesn`t have an Nba team now. Better fan response would allow adding more quality athletes, too. But it isn`t just the south not welcoming basketball. Maimi and Atlanta have trouble drawing in baseball, and the BlackHawks got their name from the winter wind coming off Lake Michigan, back when they were a mid west team which couldn`t draw. The Hawks gave up the ultimate showman, LSU`s Pete Maravich, because even with him they had trouble drawing, and he would help the Jazz draw. But what Johnson is complaining about, a coach can`t fix. Bibby and Johnsons, as the point men on offense, and Horford and Pachulia, as the big men on defense, have to be among those showing self discipline, leading to team discipline, self organization, leading to team organization. Atlanta has had some good coaches. Like Mike Fratello, who is still available to someone, but teams have their ups and downs, and coaches wear out their welcomes, and turning over personnel instead of coaches isn`t remotely as easy in the Nba as in university. Auerbach`s 9 championships came in 10 years, to cap off his coaching career. It was a record setting string of success. But it only lasted one decade, not several. I hope the Hawks do well this season, but as the article suggests, even making the east final four will likely be tough, though is a distinct possibility, with this coach, and this personnel.
Giles, you're off on your history. The team started as the Buffalo Bisons, then moved to the Tri-cities (now called the Quad Cities, Rock Island, Moline, Davenport, Bettendorf). They were named the Blackhawks because the area had been home to the Blackhawk tribe, and site of the Blackhawk wars.
Actually, Giles is right. The Hawks played in St. Louis from 1955-1968 and then were sold to Atlanta real estate developer Thomas Cousins.
Joe needs to go to the Celtics!
He would more titles if he went to the Lakers.
You mean 'back' to the Celtics. They drafted him, said that they loved him and the traded. If Joe cared so much he should keep it in house. He turned down a 15 mil a year. How about taking less to see if the team can land Chris Bosch or mayve Lebron next summer.
To add on to your add on:
The franchise was formed in 1946 as the National Basketball League's Buffalo Bisons. The Bisons featured center Don Otten and coach Nat Hickey, but on December 27, 1946—only thirteen games into their inaugural season—owner Ben Kerner moved the team to Moline, Illinois (Buffalo Memorial Auditorium). (At that time, the area was known as the "Tri-Cities" (Moline, Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa.), though today it is called the Quad Cities). Kerner renamed the team the Tri-Cities Blackhawks; the Blackhawks were named after the Black Hawk War that was mostly fought in Illinois. The Blackhawks became one of the National Basketball Association's 17 original teams after a merger in 1949 of the 12-year-old NBL and the four-year-old Basketball Association of America. The Blackhawks reached the playoffs in the NBA's inaugural year, under the leadership of coach Arnold "Red" Auerbach. However, the following season, after the team drafted Bob Cousy and made the blunder of trading his rights to the Chicago Stags (who would later surrender him in a dispersal draft to the Boston Celtics after they folded), they failed to qualify for the postseason. In 1951, the franchise relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and became the Milwaukee Hawks.
After this year Joe Johnson is gone, another casualty of the recession. I see a pairing of Johnson and D-Wade in New York which would put New York right there if they can keep their core players together. Watching Atlanta the other night was sad, I've never seen such a lack of effort and they have serious problems. They really need a couple of solid big men if they're even going to make a playoff push.
I doubt either will head remotely that far north, but if they do
leave their current address, heading west would not be at all
implausable. The population center of the US as a whole serves as a
clue, and it keeps heading southwest, not northeast. The national population center is near Missouri (Kansas) City, Missouri. The Nba center is just east of the Mississippi. And the league office is in New York, not Kansas/Missouri City. That does not endear the Nba to the vast majority of the nation. Long overdue for the league as a whole to head west.
Come back to the Suns... or go to the Mavericks. Josh Howard and Dampeer(plenty of cap space for the Hawks next season!)
Been a Hawk fan for years, & it's sad to say Joe Johnson is absolutely right. Last 2 yrs there was reason for excitement, but only to get the same results. (early exit from NBA playoffs) Around Atlanta, we really haven't been "all that excited" about watching a Hawks game, since the DOMINIQUE DAYS. Regular season tickets will never sellout, until we're able to finally place a winning product on the floor. Until then, I'm with Joe, because they just don't have what it takes. They're like the new-era "East Coast Clippers!" (BARF)
The Hawks need a true Center and a PG who can defend!!! Johnson should already know they have NOBODY who can match Howard and when they helped out on him, they left the Magic shooters wide open to do their damage!!! Big time mismatches are no grounds to use as a measuring stick!!!
Sorry chump, but untill Lebron joins your team yours is second or eighth banana.
Auerbach actually lost championship to the StL Hawks one night while I was listening on radio, was it '59? Russell had a leg bandaged heavily, really shouldn't have played and it bothered him a lot. One of the most unrecognized players in NBA history was the Hawks best "big" man back then, a perennial All-Star who played inside and out. That player was Bob Pettit and that night he scored 51 points, as I remember, an awesome showing in the Hawk victory. When "All Time" is discussed Pettit should be included!
Yes, Carl, `58-`59, LSU`s Pettit, along with Alex Groza, the only two guys to score over 20 points each season, though Jordan scored at 20 his final season, and over before, Pettit became the only guy to lead his team past Heinsohn`s Celtics. They were 9 of 10. Pettit was the first to score over 20,000 points. He and Wilt, first to score over 30,000 points, were the only two ever to defeat Russell in the Nba. His knee injury in his 11th season retired him prematurely, but he and Lucas are still among the better rebounding average athletes in Nba history. Other Bison/BlackHawk/Hawks Hall of Famers include Cliff Hagan and Easy Ed MacCauley, both trades for Russ, though Hagan was in the military, didn`t actually play for Boston. There was no team west of the Minnestota Lakers in Minneapolis back then. A NightHawk/BlackHawk is an Owl, by the way. That cold Canadian wind rips thru folks like an owl`s talons. (One of my dad`s uncles moved to America to become a footman, helping folks in and out of horse drawn carriages high above the muddy streets of Chicago, roads weren`t paved then.) Yeah, I was a kid back then, with a cousin in Los Angeles, first son of the former footman turned eventual speech teacher, who was a sports reporter.