With summer league play over (job well done Shelden and Acie,
nabbing All-RMR
honors - and Al Horford might have if he hadn't hurt his ankle), and
nothing else really going on until the start of training camp in October, I
thought this would be a good time to take a look at the Hawks roster and check
out everyone's status on the team. It should be a good way to kill some time
over the next few weeks and help bridge the gap until the season starts!
Today we continue the series
with point guard
Speedy Claxton. How do you
think these players will do?
Leave your answers in the
comments!
Speedy
Claxton
2007 Stats: 5.3 ppg, 4.4 apg, 1.7 spg
2007 Highlights: It was a tough season for Speedy, to say the least. A
broken finger cost him most of the preseason, and chronic knee pain kept him in
and out of the lineup until he eventually had to shut it down for the season in
early March. There really weren't many highlights to speak of, but he did show
glimpses of what Hawks fans were hoping to see in back-to-back games in
December, scoring 19 points and dishing out 11 assists in a
97-88 win at
Memphis on Dec. 15 and following that with another double-double (10
points, 11 dimes) in a
106-105 loss to
Chicago on Dec. 16.
What he needs to work on this summer: It's hard to pinpoint one thing,
given how much went wrong for Speedy in 06-07. He shot 55% from the free throw
line, 21% worse than his career average, for example. I think it's safe to say
at least some of last year was an aberration. Claxton had arthroscopic surgery
on his knee, and has been working out in Vancouver this summer with one of the
top sports physiotherapists in the world. Hopefully, improvements to his health
and to the competition around him will have him back to the form that led the
Hawks to sign him in the first place. So far at least, the word is he is healthy
and ready to show what he can do.
Outlook for 2007-08: As much grief as Speedy got for his season a year
ago, there is no doubting his importance to the team's outlook for 2007-08. With
the team promising to play more up-tempo, Claxton is just the type of point
guard the team needs to implement that kind of style. I simply refuse to believe
that Speedy is as bad as he looked last year. This is a guy who finished second
in the 6th Man voting as recently as 05-06 - clearly he has talent. For him it
will be all about staying healthy, but I also think the stiffened competition at
the point from T-Lue, Acie Law, and Anthony Johnson will help to raise his game
as well.
The Hawks need Speedy to play to the level they though him capable of when
they signed him, and Speedy needs to play well to redeem himself from a
nightmare campaign a year ago.
This subplot will go a long way towards determining the team's success.
Agree?
