Feels good to be back

First true Hawks Blog, Here We Go!

This Saturday, the Atlanta Hawks gave us basketball-hungry fans a nice appetizer with their annual open practice/scrimmage. It felt great stepping back into the Highlight Factory seeing a pretty decent turnout even though Chris Vivlamore of the AJC thought otherwise…

So @KLChouinard says this Hawks scrimmage is a sellout but I don't believe him. — Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) October 1, 2016

Cmon Chris..

Anyways, the event started with Coach Bud having the players run a full court drill, doing some chest passes, layups and ending with 2 of the 3 players shooting corner 3’s. If both players sunk the shot, it would result in a “Triple”. Ultimately, the players tried to score as many points/”triples” as they could before the time expired on the drill (take a guess on who dominated on the “triple” part¹).

BAAANNGGG!!! *Mike Green Voice*

Speaking of Korver, it was definitely great to see him nail those 3’s again a la Clint Eastwood in the Dollars Trilogy..

“The Man With Much Game”

Heck, even Dwight silenced some Instagram doubters today, by nailing a couple mid range shots and corner 3’s during the drill. (Note: I doubt we’re going to be seeing that during the actual season though).

unclej.fung don’t you look silly now

Afterwards, the actual scrimmage began, which was definitely a treat to watch as we finally got to see the new look Hawks in action.

Putting in that work at Open Practice today!#TrueToAtlanta pic.twitter.com/pOpGTdwJBs — Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) October 1, 2016

Our guys warming up. pic.twitter.com/08Vn4nPhWP — Atlanta Hawks Talk (@ATLHawks_Talk) October 1, 2016

Hawks Baby

Bud split the group into 2 teams, the White and Black team, with Kyle, Dwight, Thabo, Malcolm and Kris starting for the Black Team and Kent, Mike, Edy, THJ, and Will Bynum starting for the White Team. They wound up playing 3 quarters with the White Team coming out on top 61-54, even though the game didn’t seem that close. For the first 2 quarters the White Team dominated on both ends of the floor to the point where they were up by 14 points going into the 3rd. All in all it was very interesting to watch, which leads me to introduce my weekly segment…

Three Hawks 😄😄😄 Things!!

&&

Three Hawks 😒😒😒 Things…

Okay First…

Three Hawks 😄😄😄 Things!!:

1. Kent Bazemore:

Kent Bazemore a.k.a. Chance The Rapper’s doppelganger (sorry to beat a dead horse), took a page out of the coloring book this Saturday posting a 8pts/2rbs/2asts on 60% FGM (including 2/3 from deep!). I believe there is no player more universally liked out there than Kent Bazemore, and it was awesome to see him post a solid performance coming off re-signing with Hawks this past off-season.

You don’t want no problems, want no problems wit me

2. Dwight Howard & the Big-Men:

One of the big questions I had in my last blog going into the 2016-2017 season was how Dwight Howard was going to mesh with the team. While this was only a scrimmage (sue me), I thought he had a very good showing out with the rest of the guys as he posted a 15pts/9rbs stat sheet over the course of 20 minutes. He struggled at first but eventually, it was Dwight doing Dwight things out there, crashing boards and wrecking the paint with hook shots and dunks. Along with Dwight, we had a Moose sighting as he put up a solid 12pts/5rbs performance, along with Edy showing his signature “redwood defensive presence” down low and a couple of trey’s from Ryan Kelly and Humphries.

sup haters

3. Ball Bud-Movement and Rebounding:

Seeing the ball moving around the court more consistently than the Golden State Warriors winning games in the 2016 NBA Finals, it was definitely beautiful thing to watch. One thing I won’t be worried about going into this season is whether or not we’ll be getting open looks, it’s whether or not they’ll be able to knock them down, which today they did a pretty decent job of. Also both teams did a great job at grabbing boards with the Black Team nabbing 33 and the White team with 28.

And now…

Three Hawks 😒😒😒 Things…

1. Free-Throw Shooting:

This was one of the areas that didn’t inspire much confidence after the scrimmage today (again I know it’s just a scrimmage). This included 35.7% from the Black Team (Dwight taking full responsibility going 1 for 7) and 55% from the White Team. Hopefully, we’ll see a turnaround come time NBA preseason….

2. Taurean Prince’s Offense

While Prince also posted a decent game, he had a lot a difficulty finding the rim which was a bummer (3 for 11 shooting). On a lighter note, he took his advice, post NCAA tournament and grabbed 4 boards, but still room for improvement.

Not bad though Rook

Speaks for itself

3. No Dennis/Paul/Jarrett and a limited Tiago

Says it all

But in all seriousness, (kinda reaching here) it was pretty depressing not being able to see those guys out there with the season right around the corner. For now let’s hope for a quick and speedy recovery for our guys…

And that pretty much sums up the open scrimmage. All in all, it was a nice taste to satisfy us Hawks addicts fans before the road to the 2016-2017 championship parade in Atlanta…

Also if you want to watch the Scrimmage check out the link below.

Missed our Open Practice this morning? You can watch the entire thing here: https://t.co/gYRgDc1irm#TrueToAtlanta — Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) October 1, 2016

Hawks On Top Baby

P.S. I don’t think I can go an entire blog without posting the most iconic quote about NBA practice….

#lowhangingfruit (I’m sorry)

Answer Key:

1.Kyle Korver

-msl_atl

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