Sports Page Atlanta

The Atlanta Dream has won a game! Yes, after losing their first 17 games of the season, the Dream has won.  Atlanta defeated the Chicago Sky 91-84 at Philips Arena.  Former UNC Tar Heel Ivory Latta was the hero scoring 16 of her 18 points in the 2nd half.  Jennifer Lacy also added 18 and Kristin Haynie dished out 11 assists. 

The Dream now go on the road for 6 games and return home on July 22nd against Sacramento.

The Atlanta Hawks don’t have any picks in this year’s draft (unless a trade happens) so times are a little slow with Atlanta’s only playoff team.

They did make some moves with their assistant coaches, though.  Out is David Fizdale and scout Harold Ellis and staying put is Larry Drew and Bob Bender.

Now the Hawks must focus on what they will do with Josh Smith and Josh Childress.

The Atlanta Hawks re-signed head coach Mike Woodson to a new 2-year contract effective immediately.

Woodson has coached the Hawks for 4 seasons and his last one was his best as Atlanta reached the playoffs for the first time this decade and took which could be the NBA Champions (Boston Celtics) to seven games. He is 106-222 overall. His win totals increased every year from 13 to 26 to 30 to 37.

Whether this was a good move has yet to be determined.

As you know we all will be watching the Celtics and the Lakers again in the NBA Finals.  Okay, it has been awhile since we have seen that, but my dad used to tell me a lot of stories about this.  Wow, that Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird… they were pretty good players, I hear (just kidding). 

Anyway my point is since those 2 teams are in the finals, it means that the Detroit Pistons are not.  And after 3 straight conference finals appearances, General Manager Joe Dumars fired Flip Saunders.  According to many sources it seems like Detroit might promote assistant Michael Curry.

Curry was a combo forward/guard for Georgia Southern in the early 90’s and then played 11 seasons in the NBA.  He was also the head of the NBA Players Association and

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 marks the beginning of the Rick Sund era as General manager of the Atlanta Hawks. Sund has worked in NBA front offices for more than 30 years, including time with Milwaukee, Dallas, Detroit and most recently the Seattle SuperSonics, where he was a consultant for the Sonics after serving as the team’s GM from 2001-07. Sund is now working as co-chairman of the NBA predraft camp in Orlando, and is expected to make his first day in Atlanta next Wednesday.

Sund’s first order of business is seemingly what to do about head coach Mike Woodson, who’s contract expires at the end of June. Instead of that decision, Sund says there are more important things on his mind to consider.

“As to where we go from here, most of the basketball staff is here,” Sund said. “I met with them tonight in an introductory fashion. I told them my first step here is to be a very good listener for the next week. I need to spend some time listening to ownership, listening to the management staff and then some of the players.” “I don’t have a magic formula today,” Sund said. “What I’m going to do is come in next week and meet with the staff and obviously talk with some of the players and get a lay of the land before we proceed to do anything. Once we do that, we’ll go forward.

“Right now, my plan is to take one step back and get a good lay of the land and be a real good listener for the next week and a half.”

“An outsider looking in always has a fresh perspective,” Sund said. “You can’t go crazy with that perspective, though. What we do have, however, is tremendous growth potential. Acie Law hasn’t reached his full growth potential. Al Horford hasn’t reached his full growth potential. Josh Smith, Josh Childress and Marvin Williams, none of those guys have reached their full growth potential yet. And that is a major plus.

“Like I said, it’s an exciting time right now for the Hawks. But there is a lot of work to be done the next few years. So for me, it’s a great time to come in and be a part of what’s going on now and in the future.”

Atlanta Hawks forward Al Horford might have got snubbed for NBA Rookie of the Year, but he was the only unaminous choice on the All-Rookie first team. Horford got 58 votes compared to the Rookie of the Year winner Kevin Durant’s 57. Other first team members include Luis Scola, Al Thornton and Jeff Green.

Hawks guard Acie Law received one vote and former Georgia Tech forward Thaddeous Young was named to the second team.

Atlanta Hawks GM, Billy Knight endured rumors and cries from angry fans all season calling for his resignation. Those outcries had lessened lately as the Hawks made a run at ousting the top-seeded Celtics from the playoffs, but that didn’t matter to Knight.

Knight announced that as of July 1st, he would be stepping down as the Hawks GM.

“The time has come for me to take a break and fully evaluate my future plans,” Knight said. “I am tremendously pleased with what we were able to accomplish this season in reaching the postseason, as the Hawks’ return to the playoffs energized the city and our franchise. My passion for the franchise has never wavered, but I feel I’m leaving the organization in much better shape than it was in when I took over.”

The Hawks ownership group had this to say.

“Billy has built a team of athletic, high character players who have enormous potential. Under his leadership, the Hawks were not only the youngest team in this year’s playoffs, but have also proven to be the most exciting team Atlanta has seen since the Dominique (Wilkins) era of the 80’s. We look forward to building on Billy’s success as we continue our efforts to emerge as one of the NBA’s elite franchises for a long time to come.”

May 22, 1988 - Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals… the scene was the Boston Garden. It is a team game, but it was a battle between two future hall-of-famers…

The Celtics Larry Bird tangled all night with the Hawks Dominique Wilkins. In fact the Hawks had a chance to put away Boston two days earlier, but failed 102-100. The game went back-n-forth and was tied 99-99 with just under six minutes to play. Both stars scored 11 points each in the final 5:57 of action.

The Human Highlight Film finished with a game-high 47 points on an amazing 19-for-23 shooting from the floor. Larry Legend did his part, too. Scoring 34 points including 20 in the deciding 4th quarter. At the end the Celtics were the victors by the score of 118-116.

Here are some of the video highlights…

With apologies to Houston Rockets power forward Luis Scola, the NBA Rookie of the Year award should be a battle between Al Horford of the Hawks and Kevin Durant of the Sonics… and without being a homer, I’d give it to Horford… ok I was being a homer, but look at the tale-of-the-tape…

                            Horford     Durant

games/starts 81/77 80/80

points per game 10.1 20.3

field goal pct 49.9 43.0

3-pt field goal pct 0.0 28.8

free throw pct 73.1 87.3

rebounds per game 9.7 4.4

assists per game 1.5 2.4

steals per game 0.7 1.0

blocks per game 0.9 0.9

double-doubles 25 1

team record 37-45 20-62

OK, so it looks like Durant’s a little better, he might be, but c’mon 1 double-double? I know he is guard but grab a board or two. He is averaging less than 1 offensive rebound a game (someone should some him video of Sundiata Gaines.) Of course his scoring is higher, Horford has 3-4 guys on his team that can score while Durant took 1,366 shots, the next highest Seattle player took 749.

More importantly Horford helped the Hawks in the one area they needed the most, while the Not So SuperSonics finished with the 2nd to worst record in the NBA. But on the bright side, Durant gets to watch Horford in the NBA playoffs as he counts the days to when Derrick Rose gets to be his teammate (so he can take more shots.)

Two of the NBA awards were handed out already and none of them went to any Atlanta Hawks, but some of them were close as were a few former Georgia Bulldogs and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

In the 6th Man Award, San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili won.  Coming in 3rd was former Hawk Jason Terry.  In 6th place was current Hawk Josh Childress.  In 15th place was former Georgia signee Louis Williams and in 16th was former Georgia Tech player Jarrett Jack.

Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett won the Defensive Player of the Year Award.  Hawk Josh Smith was 6th and former SW Atlanta Christian Academy stud Dwight Howard was 8th.