The players were huddled around a 50'' flat screen on the far side of the court when we entered from underneath the bowels of Philips Arena. We sat in the first couple of rows of the lower bowl as assistant coach, Quin Snyder went over the film of the Hawks opponent for that night. The arena was silent except for the sound of his voice as the players watched intently. This was a departure from the last time I had sat in on an NBA shoot around. It was a different regime then for the Atlanta Hawks and I immediately noticed the lack of chatter that had been prevalent under a previous coach.
A security guard marched into the stands to tell one of the students with us that there would be no filming of practice or pictures from their phone (I swear it wasn't me for a change). The Hawks GM, Danny Ferry, looked on intently making sure that the rule was being followed by our group before finishing his conversation with the guard.
After a few minutes of film work, the players broke away. Much like you would expect in a high school practice, they started to clap and cheer before breaking into a trot to do perform warm-up stretches. The team spread out on the far sideline and went through a flexibility routine with therabands led by the head trainer. The players did laugh and chat during this time. Some of them looked at us in the stands obviously not used to having anyone in the stands while their morning shoot around was going on. While Philips Arena is often not sold out for Hawks games, it does seat over 18,000 people. Including our group of 20 in there to watch, there may have been 50 total people on this morning.
After the static stretching routine, there was a quick dynamic bit, the players went through some half-court sets from their opponent before breaking into starters and reserves for some drill work. While one group went through a shooting drill on the near side of the court, the others worked on a variety of different close out techniques on the other side. Coaches took the time to interject. First year coach, Mike Budenholzer was quite vocal. This represented another change from the forming coaching staff that I watched put the team through a run-through. The former coach was quiet, letting his assistants do a lot of the talking. Here, the head coach and assistants were involved throughout the practice.
After the first round of drill work, the players came back together to work on their transition defense, something that was emphasized in the earlier part of practice. Assistant coaches donned red pinnies and replicated their opponents before giving way to the 2nd teamers. Again, Coach Budenholzer was highly involved, often stopping to quickly go over exactly what he wanted and what the team could expect. These exchanges were always quick and to the point. They were often slower versions of exactly what the coach wanted before going once again at full speed. Again, my thoughts turned to the players and their respect for the coach was apparent. He never raised his voice or anything, but firmly informed the players of exactly what he wanted. The players obliged, sometimes asking questions, but often doing exactly as instructed. Those not involved in the work watched or asked assistants questions.
The players broke apart once again for drill work before coming together for some final words by Coach Budenholzer. After the team broke, some of the players stayed out to shoot. A few of them took a couple of free throw before retiring to the bowels of the arena while others stayed a good while trying to perfect their form or working from a certain spot on the floor. Soon, we were the only remaining folks in the arena.
Coach Budenholzer stopped by and answered some questions telling us that the San Antonio Spurs (where he was previously an assistant) were definitely the blueprint for what the Hawks were trying to do. He also mentioned that after years as an assistant, the biggest thing about being a head coach was looking at the entire club rather at a specific area you were in charge of. He also mentioned that dealing with the media was a new aspect of being a head coach that he was still getting used to. Coach Bud excused himself and thanked us for coming before exiting to his offices and we walked up the stands to exit out into CNN Center.
I looked down as one lone player continued to work on 3 point shots and I remembered my last trip to Philips and launching my own pointer at the same basket. Earlier in the session I joked to a fellow observer that I could hang with these guys in a free throw shooting contest (obviously buoyed by my recent 3rd place finish in such a contest over spring break) but as the net snapped with each 3 point shot that the player shot, I marveled at how effortless it was for him. It seemed like a half court shot for me. There's little doubt that even the least known NBA players, working like this guy to get better are amazing athletes with skills that are truly elite.
