Atlanta Hawks

The new NBA season is coming closer each day and the Atlanta Hawks will return to the hardwood on October 7th to play the New Orleans Hornets at Philips Arena. This will be 1 of 7 preseason games for the Hawks this year. They will all take place in the month of October and fans will have the opportunity to catch 3 games at home this year. October 12th will be the date for the 2nd home game in Atlanta and the opponent that night will be the Charlotte Bobcats. One week after this Monday game will be the last time to catch the Hawks at home for the preseason and they wrap up their home games with a showdown against the Washington Wizards.

Hawks preseason tickets should be easy to get and you will want them for October 7th, October 12th, or October 19th to watch the team in action, before the real games start up. Any dedicated Hawks fans looking to make a road trip for the preseaon really have two options this year. The first one will be on October 14th; when the Hawks take on the Memphis Grizzlies. You can make the short drive up to Memphis, Tennessee to catch this NBA preseason action. The game against the Grizzlies will be at the Fed Ex Forum located in Memphis. If you live in the southern part of the state; then a trip to Jacksonville might be more your style. The Atlanta Hawks will have a preseason game in Jacksonville at Veterans Memorial Arena. This should be an interesting game as Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat will get their first glimpse of the new Hawks in Jacksonville, Florida on October 22nd. This will be the only preseason game for the Hawks this year that takes place on a neutral court.

The longest trip during the preseason will happen on October 11th; which will be the 2nd game on the preseason schedule for the Atlanta Hawks. They will travel up to Auburn Hills to play Mike Woodson’s former team the Detroit Pistons. The 7th and final preseason game will take place on Friday October 23rd and this will be a National TV Game against the Orlando Magic. The Hawks see these guys again on Thanksgiving Day for a National Spotlight Game; so the fans around the country should get a nice dose of Hawks and Magic basketball in the first month of the new NBA season.

Typically the Hawks play strong in the preseason action and their starters tend to play more minutes than the other team’s starters. No big surprise if the Hawks do go 7-0 or 6-1 this preseason, but don’t think that last game against the Magic will be the typical preseason game. I expect Mike Woodson to do whatever it takes to get a W on the final game of the preseason slate for the Hawks.

Do you plan to make any stops at Philips to watch the Hawks in preseason action?  It is a good opportunity to see some of the younger guys play. We probably won’t see much of Jeff Teague when the games start for real, so this is a good opportunity to watch him play a lot of minutes against another NBA team. It doesn’t appear any big time trades or free agent signings are around the corner and the Hawks roster is set for about 10 guys with about 2 new players that will be trying to earn a spot on the 2009/2010 roster. The Atlanta Hawks will be sending some good talent down to the D-League this year and probably our best talent in reserve that we have had, since the D-League was created for NBA teams. Don’t forget about Chris Paul and the Hornets coming to Atlanta to get things started on October 7th. Make sure to mark that date on your calendars and if you can’t make it down to Philips Arena, be sure to listen to the guys on radio call the game!

Football fans have always enjoyed that late Thursday in November when they get to watch a lot of good college and NFL football games on the tube; while sitting down for their turkey dinners. The mood may be a little different this year in Atlanta and the Hawks will get a chance to shine on national TV, as they host Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. This is one of the bright spots on the new NBA schedule that has just been released by the league. As many as 13 games are showing up for the Hawks on the national TV stage this year, if you count TNT, ESPN, and NBA TV. The game on November 26 with the Orlando Magic will be shown by TNT and this is a great opportunity for the Hawks to shine with a national audience that will be tuning in. You can fully expect that the fans in Atlanta will pack Philips Arena on this night.

You don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving Day to see the Hawks on national television. The NBA channel will feature the Hawks playing the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, November the 7th. The following Friday, which will be “Friday the 13th”, will be a game carried by ESPN and the Atlanta Hawks travel to Boston to take on the Celtics. Three games in total are slated for the month of November that will show these young Hawks playing some really tough teams. It may be a tough chore to win all 3 of these games against the Nuggets, Celtics, and Magic, but the Hawks do have to start some where. If they can sweep these 3 games on national TV, we may actually see some air-time on Sportscenter this year.

It will all get started at home this year and on Wednesday night, the Hawks will open up against Solomon Jones and the Indiana Pacers. Yes, if you haven’t heard the news yet, the Pacers did sign Solomon Jones to a 2 year contract. It’s a very interesting move on the Hawks part; since they are currently looking for big men and Solo was a really good bargain for them. Not sure we have witnessed the entire upside to this kid from Florida and Solomon Jones could develop into a very nice NBA player. He should be pumped in the ATL openning night and don’t be surprised if he brings the block party with him.

The Hawks are not treating Mr. Murray too nicely this off-season either and not sure why they wouldn’t want this guy back. The Jamal Crawford trade should have not effected his status and the Hawks are simply replacing bodies here; if they don’t bring Flip Murray back into the fold.

Lots of questions continue to swirl about Josh Smith and his jumper. Why does this guy even need a jumper? Oh right, Coach Mike Woodson wants him patrolling areas that are 18 feet or further from the basket. Josh Smith can jump to the moon and why you have this guy so far from the basket is a huge coaching flaw. He needs to be around the basket for a steady stream of lobs and offensive put-backs he could be giving the team. Josh Smith may just be the most misunderstood superstar in the League today and the blame does fall on Woodson’s lap.

Hawks fans might want to hold off on the excitement for Jeff Teague and despite the reports coming from the Atlanta Hawks official website, he was not the most impressive player in mini camp this year. There was several others that showed more promise than Teague, but he is just going into his junior year of college, when he steps out on the court for the first time in a Hawks uniform. He really could have benefited from some summer league action this year and not likely he will get big minutes for the Hawks anytime soon. 

The good news is that the NBA season is just around the corner and October 28th (openning night) will be here before you know it. You can see the entire Hawks NBA Schedule here and see which games jump out at you this year.