I know that Hawks fans like myself are feeling at least somewhat optimistic, given the fact we actually showed up this postseason, won our first round series in less than seven games (finally) in upset fashion, no less. We are also glad to have not been swept, and most importantly we saw the emergence of Jeff Teague! He finally got his fair chance when Larry Drew had no choice but to play him, and noe Drew will have to answer critical questions if Teague ever receives a DNP-CD again. However, this might be the worst offseason coming up for Teague.

He has been accused of sexual assault, in addition to another former Wake player, Gary Clark. I maintain that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but these types of allegations will undoubtedly be taken very seriously, and this story might explode after it officially breaks tomorrow on NBC's Today Show. Tune in to find out. Aso of now, it is only a local storyline, but I think national coverage will follow shortly.

The accusor is a former female Wake Forest Student, and it apparently happened in Miami the night before Wake got upset (slaughtered) by Cleveland State in the #4 seed vs. 13 seed matchup in March 2009. At this point, we don't have much information but I meant to inform all of you in order to prepare you in case national coverage blows up on this. Apparently a Wake Forest conduct board investigation already took place in May of 2009, in which no wrongdoing was concluded, but if accusations still exist more investigations will probably occur.

Here's the first link where I heard of the story: when I first read about it, I hoped it wouldn't be Teague.

http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/articles/?p=40688

Here are more links, where the names of the accused come out:

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/may/17/former-wake-forest-student-accused-former-basketba-ar-1041338/?sc_cid=WSJ-NEWS-PMDlyNews

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/colleges/story/9607441/

http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/articles/?p=40713

I'm sure there are more links, most on the local news level. Here's the only national coverage that I have seen of the story so far:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6561839

It appears from this that Clark was the main person accused, and that Teague was out of the room at the time, but other articles say that both are responsible for alleged sexual assault. As a Hawks fan, I want this to pass and want for Teague to be proven not guilty, so he can continue to play well and carry over the postseason momentum. However this woman has the right to accuse them if she felt wronged, and if sexual assault did happen, justice would need to be done. Tough situation potentially. I am sure we will know more of this situation soon enough.

From what I've been reading about predicting the Hawks 2010-2011 performances, everyone is counting on (and assuming with 100% confidence) that LD is going to actually take the inefficient isos away. He promised that he would run an better offense with more ball movement, but only when Michael Cunningham basically asked to his face if he would or not, and he had no choice but to say that he would to appease our blogosphere. But whenever he talks about his vision (without being put into a corner during an interview) and is just speaking freely, he tends to say good things but be very vague in my opinion.

Assumptions we are making about Drew:

1. Iso-Joe/Jamal is gone, and every play is going to create the most recommended shot and we are going to go from top 5 in offensive efficiency to #1. 

2. This relates to assumption 1, that he starts Teague from day 1 and doesn't look back. Firstly, if he does I think it's for the best, but our offensive efficiency will go down initially because Teague is a turnover machine (though he's probably an ok defender), both unlike Bibby. Secondly, Teague is going to inevitably struggle since Woodson didn't give him any real chances. Exhibit A: Summer league. Exhibit B: all of February and March of 2009 at Wake Forest (formerly ranked #1 team gets a first round exit against Cleveland State). Thirdly, Drew is only guaranteed this coming season and then the next one. He has no margin for error if he wants an extension and may have a lot of scheme switches and second doubts about our rotation. He'll have Bibby off the bench asking to be put in and he'll have maxed out Joe asking for 1-on-5 near the end of games. I'm willing to bet that he gives into temptation to keep a 40+-win team alive, and we don't truly improve.

3. He gets a good rotation out of Al Horford and Zaza, while not inhibiting potential all star Josh Smith, and gets more out of Collins and Powell than Woodson got out of Joe Smith, Collins, and RandMo.

Sorry that this wasn't very organized, but I hope you get my point that we need to establish what standards we hold LD by: how much do we expect and how much flexibility does he get, before we potentially decide he's really no better than Woodson. 

We did good to let woodson go, but then the ASG sharted in our pants by making a cheap hire. If he's anything like his son is at UNC, I say don't expect much.