Every year there is talk that Hawks are going to pick up the pace. Every year they don't. Last year they were slow. The year before that slow. Sure, there are moment where tit turns into a track meet, but it rarely lasts.

I understand why. Mike Bibby can throw half court alley-oops, but he is never going to be a bat out of hell when he grabs the outlet pass. Not his style. And while our number one man, Joe Johnson has proven he can play second or third fiddle in a high octane offense, as the go to guy, he is a methodical prober of defenses, a guy who can use 15 seconds of a shot clock successfully.

It makes sense to slow down and execute. That is until you look at Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, and Al Horford. To put it bluntly, for the Hawks to become an elite team with Al Horford at center, the team is going to have to pick up the pace. They are going to need to take advantage of the fact that Horford can beat 26 of the 29 centers down the floor. It could work. I promise. I have seen Joe play great third fiddle. We all have. Josh Smith pushing the pace, Al or Marvin along side and Joe sitting on the three point line. We are not talking about adding pieces (although Jeff Teague could help). Some key players and coaches just need to be willing to commit to it.

The Hawks are not built to run like the Suns or Knicks, but every year they talk about pushing the tempo more because they know they should. And one of these years, maybe they will stick to their word. It is an exciting enough promise to hope it might be fulfilled.