Hawks already in training camp mode By Sekou Smith | Thursday, September 14, 2006, 12:10 PM The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Made my way over to the practice court at Philips Arena Wednesday for a sneak peak to see who was doing what with training camp a couple of weeks away. Most of the usual suspects you would expect were in attendance – Josh Childress, Marvin Williams, Royal Ivey, Shelden Williams, Esteban Batista, Solomon Jones were the Hawks players on the floor. It’s easy to see why the hopes are so high about Marvin’s second NBA season. As reported from summer league play in July, this guy is playing a different brand of basketball. He’s so much more confident and physical than he was as a rookie, playing with that nasty streak the coaching staff loves and continues to try and coax out of him. He was working on Solomon for a good part of the action I saw (though Solomon gave it back in kind a bit later). Marvin was putting the ball on the floor and going to the basket aggressively. He got on a roll at one point where he scored five straight times with sticky defense in his face during a fairly rugged half court game. It was impressive stuff. It’s obvious to me right now that in order for the Hawks to make the leap from the bottom of the standings that they desire, they’re going to need major contributions from the trio of Marvin, Josh Smith and Shelden Williams. I know, that’s hardly breaking news. But after watching him in person, there’s reason for me to believe that Marvin is going to be able to deliver on his part. He’s still a pup in terms of his NBA development. And he’s still got plenty of room to grow into his body. But if he’s come this far this fast, the future could be filled with exciting moments for Hawks fans. So what’s this junk about Josh Childress not being very athletic? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen that nonsense on this blog and elsewhere. I’m not sure what qualifies as athletic, but if playing above the rim consistently doesn’t qualify a person as athletic I don’t know what does. Childress goes above the rim at will. What he continues to struggle with is finishing, probably because he’s usually not as strong as the guys he’s battling with around the rim. But to say that he’s not athletic is just a mistake. He showed off plenty of athleticism Wednesday. While he doesn’t look like he’s bulked up considerably from last season he does appear to have maintained the 210 pounds he played at last season remarkably well. I still say he’s an underrated piece to what’s being assembled in Hawksville. Shelden and Solomon both appeared to be much more comfortable since we saw them last (both guys had their struggles and triumphs during summer league but not enough of either one to make any lasting judgments about what’s to come). Royal Ivey was his usually gritty self, it’ll be interesting to see what his role is now that Speedy Claxton is set to run the show. The Ecuadorian Executioner (we’ve got to think of a nickname for Esteban) was too busy draining jumpers - he made the game winner in the last game of the day - to do his usual dirty work. But he knows that his NBA future depends on his outworking other guys and being the most physical player within a 10-county area. As mentioned before, Solomon Jones turned a few heads. He’s going to make it really hard to keep him on the sidelines too long because he’s so athletic and so unbelievably long (he had one block that had everyone in the gym buzzing for five minutes). Before anyone asks, Josh Smith had a date with his eye doctor Wednesday, so I didn’t get to see him on the floor with the rest of these guys. And I missed Salim Stoudamire by a day (I was told he took a spill during Tuesday’s workout and took Wednesday off to rest). I’ll have to make at least two more trips to the practice floor before camp to get a few more updates. 資料來源 http://myurl.com.tw/7488 --

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