Sekou Smith Gets Mike Woodson To Open Up

The highlight of my Sunday morning sitting in the media center at East Lake was reading a sports section chock full of Hawks news. Training camp hasn't (quite) started yet but Sekou Smith revealed himself to be in mid-season form. I'm of the opinion that Smith does a great job at a job I don't envy. His ability to write for a general audience and provide useful information for serious fans is an achievement I don't even attempt to match, operating as I do, under the assumption that anyone who shows up here (and stays for any length of time) has a firm grasp of the fundamental issues at hand. Then there's the evidence that Smith reads the comments on his blog posts, demonstrating a degree of patience and tolerance from which I could learn.

In summary, here's what I learned from reading Smith Sunday morning...

• Mike Woodson intends on playing Jeff Teague.
• Woodson also hopes not to run Joe Johnson into the ground before Christmas.
• Teague and Crawford will likely take minutes away from Maurice Evans as Woodson plans to play three guards together regularly.
• Woodson isn't planning on playing more than four guys in the regular frontcourt rotation.
• Woodson is talking about pushing the tempo and addressing last season's dreadful free throw shooting.

Each of those tidbits could fairly be categorized as positive news. Actions will speak louder than words, of course, and no one expects the head coach to express himself in raw, pessimistic terms on the eve of training camp but the quotes culled by Smith seem more honest than rote and, I believe, provide real insight. Only the absence of a mention about the need to improve the team's rebounding gnaws at this reader but it's a small worry and more than made up for by the feeling of excitement for the approaching basketball season.