Summer camp practice is underway, with the Hawks (and prospective Hawks) hitting the court in the morning and afternoon for drills and scrimmaging. I was there for the scrimmage portion, and I'm happy to report there were several good things worth mentioning.

- Acie Law is the unquestioned leader of this team. Now that may not mean much (most of these guys will never see a regular season NBA roster), but for someone being groomed as the point guard of the future for this organization, I like to see him asserting himself. The biggest illustration of this came after the first game (the players were divided into three squads). Law's team won, and Coach Woodson declared that losers would stay on (presumably, getting the win offered a reward of getting some rest). Law disagreed, and Woody asked him what he wanted to do, and without hesitation Law decreed that his team should keep playing. Coach acquiesced, and Law's team remained on the court for another game and, as it turned out, another win.

- Speedy Claxton is on his way back. I won't get too excited until I see him do it over a longer stretch of time, but Speedy looked fit yesterday during the scrimmage. He played some harassing defense and got to the hole several times with quick moves (including a sweet behind-the-back dribble at full speed). He spoke with the media after practice and seemed confident that he was good to go and 100% healthy. Given his history it's easy to be skeptical, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

- Thomas Gardner has range. Of all the invitees on the court, Gardner probably stood out the most in scrimmage. He drained several long 3-pointers and looked very comfortable despite the chaos that can be summer league workouts. I don't remember Gardner too much from his time in college at Missouri, but I'll certainly be paying attention to him the rest of camp.

- Mario West was his normal, pestering self (in a good way). He was aggressive defensively as always, but was aggressive offensively as well. He took it strong to the hole a few times, finishing with impressive layups in traffic.

- Al Horford worked out but didn't scrimmage. He won't be making the trip to Salt Lake City, but for good reason - he'll be heading to Las Vegas to scrimmage against the US National team. We've touched on this before, but it's very exciting to see him getting this kind of exposure and opportunity. I always felt like Joe Johnson made his leap to NBA All-Star after the confidence he gained from his National Team stint in 2006, and hopefully Horford will experience the same surge. He spoke afterwards about the experience.

Other notes: Wayne Simien didn't make too much of an impact in scrimmage, but he also didn't get the ball much either. He did get it in the low post once, and strung together an impressive series of moves to free himself for a nice turnaround jumper. I hope to see him get some more touches as practice and summer league continue...Luke Jackson didn't get many cracks either, but looked solid nonetheless. He moved well without the ball, a skill that would definitely be a benefit to a Hawks team that could certainly be accused of standing around too much at times last season...Randolph Morris was on the court as well despite not technically being on the Hawks' summer roster. He is a player with some Atlanta ties (he went to Landmark Christian and played on the same AAU team as Josh Smith and Dwight Howard). Morris obviously has the size the Hawks need, so it bears watching what happens to him this summer. To my knowledge he is a free agent, but there was some discussion yesterday that he might still be Knicks property.

Post-practice Interviews:
Speedy Claxton
Mike Woodson
Acie Law
Al Horford

After the jump, check out some photos from the first day of camp:

Al Horford talks about going to Vegas

Luke Jackson hangs in the corner

Scrimmage gets underway

Bob Bender goes over a play with Randolph Morris

Mario West prepares to inbound the ball

Check out the brand new practice court!

We even got a little shout out...