Welcome! Come one, come all, to the main event! It's season preview time, and Upside and Motor is ready to rock your world. The previews will be both concrete and lyrical in this magical world, both by numbers and by prose. To take a look at all the previews, click here.
Straight Up
Straight Up features all the stuff you actually want to see in your team previews: who are the new kids on the block, who skipped town, and where the team stands for the upcoming season. Along with my projection and standing for the upcoming season, it'll also feature three individual awards: Team MVP (let's not get into the debate over exactly what that means), the Most Important Reserve, and the Most Unheralded Asset.
Projected Record: 34-48 (5th in the Southeast Division, 12th in the Eastern Conference)
Off-season Acquisitions: Mo Evans, Flip Murray, Thomas Gardner, Othello Hunter, Randolph Morris
Notable Losses: Josh Childress, Salim Stoudamire
2008-2009 Team MVP: Joe Johnson - The team comes and goes as JJ comes and goes. He creates for his teammates, goes nuts on unsuspecting defenders, and is generally a badass. But at the same time, he's not a point guard. He will be unselfish and he will help to facilitate the offense, but it's important that expectations be put on him as a scorer that distributes rather than a distributer who can score.
Most Important Reserve: Mo Evans - Josh Childress left some big shoes to fill. Mo Evans can't fill them. But boy, will it be fun to watch him try!
Most Unheralded Asset: Marvin Williams - I guess? The Hawks are actually pretty heralded all around these days, at least where it's deserved. The first round of last year's playoffs were a nice stage for Joe Johnson to do his bit, YouTube has been friendly to Josh Smith, and Al Horford had a ridiculous amount of support for the Rookie of the Year race last year. But Marvin Williams often seems like the odd man out in a lot of ways, and that's pretty unfortunate. The guy got stuck in the wrong draft class and was probably chosen by the right team, but he's a solid all-around player who's learning the game and improving. I don't know if he'll ever be that McGrady-Garnett lovechild a lot of folks invisioned, but he's an integral part of this team and has a long career ahead of him.
Poetry in Motion
Photo from Getty Images.
Poetry in Motion will feature my feeble attempts at mimicking the sonnets of one William Shakespeare, complete with a weak, liberal interpretation of iambic pentameter and an identical rhyme scheme. As they say, the NBA imitates art...I mean poetry...err, life imitates the NBA...or I imitate poetry while writing about the NBA. Something like that. Either way, each preview will contain two sonnets: one focusing on a wider, team outlook and another focusing on the roles and futures of individual players. Revel! Criticize! Enjoy!
The Hawks fin’lly broke through to the playoffs,
But Cinderella went home at ten ‘til,
Josh Smith may have gotten his big payoff,
Others move forward, Hawks on a treadmill.
They lost Josh Childress and signed stop-loss guards,
But the conference betters by the day,
Though they’re hardly battered, beaten, or marred,
Their postseason hopes have been led astray.
They’re still in the fight for the final spot,
But Josh and Joe will need to be unreal,
The Hawks will disappoint more oft than not,
Falling just short of the playoff ideal.
Don’t buy those playoff tickets yet, Hawks fans,
Wait ‘til your team gets a coach or a plan.
For a team with dim hopes for the season,
The players are just electrifying,
Hating Josh Smith falls just short of treason,
If you don’t think Horford’s f’real, you’re lying.
Marvin is solid, will only improve,
Joe Johnson is one cool customer,
Bibby somehow helps the team find its groove,
Going by the beat of his own drummer.
Mo and Flip will shoot, shoot, and shoot some more,
In classic Salim Stoudamire fashion,
There’s so much on this roster to adore,
Worst case: they’ll excite and play with passion.
Explosive, dynamic, and enthralling,
Flawed, linear; mediocrity calling.
Player Preview Spotlight: Acie Law IV
Photo from Getty Images.
The Player Spotlight feature highlights just one of the many cogs that make up the team. They may not be the best player on the team and they may not be the most recognizable (or who knows, they may be both), but I can guarantee that they're interesting. Their game, their on-court persona, their role within the greater scope of the team. Something about the player in the spotlight deserves your attention, and as usual, I'm more than willing to point it out to you.
When you talk about Acie Law's play, you have to be willing to take a fluid approach. After all, the guy has only played 56 games in his professional career, and just over 850 minutes.
But anyone who watched just a few games of Law's college career should be eager to tell you that he's a wonderful fit for the Hawks. This should probably be Mike Bibby's last season as a Hawk, and so it's incredibly important that Atlanta look forward to what kind of player should be filling that starting point guard role. Bibby's obviously had some success, but remains a bit of a shadow of his former self. He has trouble creating (good) shots for himself, has never been all that great as an individual playmaker, and his defense is average on a good day. But surrounded by a lineup featuring Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, and Al Horford, Bibby seems to fit in relatively well. All three forwards can provide some helpside shot blocking when Bibby inevitably loses his man, and Joe Johnson remains a strong one on one defender to contain a scorer at the 2. On offense, Johnson's ability to set up his teammates or create for himself or others based on penetration and drawing extra defenders. But, like so many other teams with do-it-all shooting guards, a competent point guard is essential to ensure that the playmaker has his legs and his wind at the end of the game, and to relieve some of the halfcourt pressure.
But this is about Acie. He's a scoring point guard, plain and simple, and no one will ever mistake him for anything else. He's not going to be the CP or the Deron that the Hawks missed out on in the draft, but he can still be an excellent player, especially with this core. Law is an excellent shooter even if he didn't show it last season, he's an able and willing passer (he just happens to be better at scoring), and just as important: he's a leader. Oh, and he just happens to have ice water flowing in his veins while he waits anxiously to rip out his opponent's heart.
He's already nailed a "dagger" three pointer from the corner this preseason. So the question becomes, what can Law offer this year? Well, as usual, that depends. Law was one of the most capable PGs coming out of the 2007 draft class: he was unable to be rattled, his jumper was silky smooth, and he was a mature 22 year-old. But then the unrattleable was rattled, and the rock steady, mature floor general looked very green. I wouldn't count on a repeat in year two.
He's not ready to be a starter yet, but he's probably a better alternative than Speedy Claxton (Who isn't?). He'll provide nice support for the Hawks this year off the bench and hopefully he'll tighten up the screws and figuring out his place in this league. That jumpshot and that leadership are pro-quality, make no mistake. It's just a matter of time before Law is a SportsCenter top 10 mainstay and a quality starter.
...Can you imagine four generations of your family being named Acie?
EDIT: Some essentail Acie Law reading.
Season Previews, F'real
For those poor, conservative souls trapped in normativity, I'll make sure to send you to a few places where you can read through more conventional, in-depth season previews. Most of these links will be from team bloggers whose trade is knowing what there is to know about their respective teams, so tell your ears to perk up; it's time to listen.
Ball Don't Lie
SLAM
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