I for one can't wait. Everyone appears to be reasonably healthy, and based on what the team has been up to over the past month or so, it seems as if everyone on the team is aware of what is at stake this season.

For those who missed Sekou Smith's piece about it in the AJC, nearly every player on the Hawks roster has been back in Atlanta for nearly a month, voluntarily cutting their vacation short to put in work with their teammates in hopes of getting into game shape early and building the kind of chemistry that is important for any team, but especially so for a team as young as the Hawks.

I have been down to the court to see them in action some, and there are definitely some spirited games going on. I got a few photos, but my camera doesn't do so well with flash indoors, so they are a little grainy.

One thing that is interesting is that, in addition to the pickup games they've been playing down at the practice court, they've also been working out together at the track at Georgia Tech doing endurance and conditioning workouts to get themselves in better shape for the start of camp.

How will all this extra work pay off? We'll start to see the fruits of their labor in just a few days...