Check out the photo gallery here and leave your comments below to let us know what you think of the new look.

Here’s what Sandy Dover had to say at SlamOnline.com – Link

I was out of town over the weekend, so I didn’t see any of the scrimmaging yesterday at training camp. I understand the action was fast-paced and competitive, with Jamal Crawford scoring a basket late in OT to give the subs a victory over the starters.

I’d say the starters took it personally, based on how it went down at Philips today. Scoring early and often, the starters team blitzed the subs 45-24 in two 10-minute halves of scrimmaging on the practice court.

A few observations from what I saw:

• Jeff Teague is fast, dude. No matter what defense the starters threw at him, he was still able to penetrate into the paint for lay-ups or kick-outs to wide-open teammates. I know it’s early, and it’s camp, and all that mess, but kid looks like he belongs. He brings a dynamic to this offense that we haven’t seen in a long time with his ability to drive and dish.
• Jamal Crawford’s handle is and-1 caliber. If you haven’t seen his crossover move yet, don’t worry. You will.
• Watching Mario West in training camp is just a thing of beauty. His motor never quits. It’s always fun to watch him against guys who aren’t familiar with his frenetic brand of basketball. I saw Jamal Crawford shake his head a couple of times today after bearing the brunt of a West attack.
• There isn’t too much to report on the Hawks starters, other than to say they all look rested and ready. I’m getting a very good vibe about this season…
• As always, some photos from the action.

]]> http://hawksbasketblog.com/2009/10/05/starters-asserting-themselves-in-scrimmage-action/feed/ 10 http://hawksbasketblog.com/2009/10/01/day-3-can-we-scrimmage-already/ http://hawksbasketblog.com/2009/10/01/day-3-can-we-scrimmage-already/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:37:56 +0000 micah hart http://hawksbasketblog.com/?p=271 There is a good reason why fans aren’t allowed to come to training camp, and it has nothing to do with being a distraction to the players or perhaps giving away the team’s secrets. It’s because training camp is boring. Yeah that’s right, I said it.

I want to see some scrimmages! I want to see some action! At least, that’s what I’d be saying if I were a fan.

But the truth is, you have to crawl before you walk. The Hawks are spending the bulk of their time doing drills and working on fundamentals because to be successful in this league, you have to be able to execute, and you have to be able to do it without thinking. Repetition is key, and this is the time to get offensive sets, defensive assignments, etc. down cold.

So though I wish I had more to give you after watching the guys go at it today, I understand why I don’t.

The good news? Tomorrow there will be some live action I’m told, so I’ll hopefully have much more to report.

Here are some pics from the day’s activities.

Training camp continued on Wednesday on the Philips Arena practice court, as the Hawks continue to work on drills and fundamentals before real scrimmaging gets underway (most likely on Friday).

There was some minor scrimmaging today, with the players taking part in a 5-minute full-court drill with a 16-second shot clock. I’ve seen this drill before, it’s presumably meant to work on the players’ fitness level and improve their execution in up-tempo situations.

Again, not too much to report, but if there was one thing that stood out to me today, it was Jamal Crawford‘s passing.

When Crawford was first introduced to the Atlanta media back in June, he was asked which part of his game is he most proud of, and his answer was his passing ability. That may come as a surprise to some, who have seen him light up NBA scoreboards for 9 seasons, but watching him today, I see what he means. Crawford was zipping passes left and right during the 5-minute drill, leaving those of us watching on the sidelines to exchange “did you see that?” glances back and forth.

Many people look at Crawford going into this season as being a slightly-better Flip Murray (not that there would be anything wrong with that, given how well Flip played last year), but Crawford maintains there is more to his game than people think, and he certainly gave glimpses of that today.

I look forward to tracking his progress as training camp progresses.

Here’s more photos from today’s action.

The Hawks hit the practice court at Philips Arena around 9:30 am for their first official day of camp, going pretty much non-stop until about 1:00 pm.

The first day is usually pretty light on actual game play, and this year was no different. There were a lot of drills, mostly working on conditioning. After practice Mike Woodson complimented the players to the media on arriving at camp in excellent physical condition, but of course he wasn’t telling them that during the action. At one point he exclaimed, “You guys want to be a running team this season, you’re going to have to be in much better shape than you are right now!”

Not a whole lot to report as far as performance goes, but I’ll give you a couple bullets:

We’ll have more tomorrow, as we continue our countdown to opening night. Only 29 more days!

Monday the Hawks held their first official event of the 2009-10 season by hosting the team’s annual media day at Philips Arena. A plethora of TV, radio, and print outlets were on hand to get their first glimpse of the new squad and take their first opportunity to get their take on the season yet to come.

Hawks.com was on the scene to capture the whole multimedia experience, some of which we’ll be posting over the course of the next few weeks as we begin the countdown towards opening night, and some of it we’ll post now. Here you go!

Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.nba.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.nba.com/video”>NBA Video</a>

Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.nba.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.nba.com/video”>NBA Video</a>

Here too is a photo gallery from the afternoon.

Everyone was all smiles today, but tomorrow the real work gets underway with the first practice of training camp. We’ll be there, twittering all the while, so if you aren’t following us at @atlanta_hawks, you definitely should be!

We are back from the Beau Rivage, and I imagine I speak for everyone when I say I’m looking forward to catching up on some rest this weekend after three very long (but very successful) days shooting on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

I’ll have a couple more videos to post hopefully today, but in the meantime, here is a photo gallery from the 3rd day of shooting. Monday or so I’ll post a final gallery of behind-the-scenes shots I took over the course of the week, so stay tuned for that as well.

They took a few pics and asked that I post them – who am I to argue?

Thanks to Jon, Jimmy, and Melissa for all their help in showing us the ropes
this week.

Marcia does her best Darth Vader impression

Leslie cuts tiles

Marcia takes a crack at it as well

Nikki and Stephanie cut molding

Uh oh!

Stephanie

Tuesday saw several more photo shoots take place at locations all around the Beau Rivage resort, including a trip to the Beau’s luxurious nearby golf course. I was hoping they’d want to snap a few of me hitting a few irons, but it wasn’t in the cards.

Here are some photos from Day 2′s shoots, I think you’ll like ‘em.

Video wasn’t enough for you? Here are some photos from Day 1 as well…