72 reasons to be excited about the Atlanta Hawks: #13 Sekou Smith

by hawksdawgs on Oct 18, 2009 5:48 PM EDT

Sekou Smith is a very, very good beat writer. That is almost all that needs to be said. I cannot claim to read other NBA beat writers on a regular basis, but I can confidently say I would not want to switch Sekou out with any of them. There may be better, but for people who follow the team, Sekou is well Sekou, first name presence with this team that provides news, notes and sights and sounds that give 82 games life. He raises a long season out of the mundane and into the highlight of the every day. What Sekou does with his writing and consistency is let each of us live and die with our team.

I don't agree with everything he says. Sometimes his required fluff pieces sit in the place of what I wish were stories driven by hard questions for our coach and players. But while I leisurely wait to write every recap, Sekou Smith is beating a deadline. He is gathering quotes and creating a narrative, and then he lets the rest of use it, examine it, jump to conclusions around it. He gives us a service that any fan base needs and that is a base of universal operation. Where ever you stand on Woodson or Horford or Joe or the beer guy in section 108, you are jumping off of at least something Sekou has written.

His blogs and newspaper articles provide the fodder for fans to argue, blogs to be written, and an NBA team to come alive. And to that I think we can all say thank you. We are excited you beat out Rathbun's hair.

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Wow

This is by far the worst thing you’ve written. What is suck up

by marvin's ladies of the night on Oct 18, 2009 9:01 PM EDT reply actions

*

What A suck up

by marvin's ladies of the night on Oct 18, 2009 9:02 PM EDT reply actions

i always appreciate constructive criticism.

by hawksdawgs on Oct 18, 2009 9:16 PM EDT up reply actions

ok

perhaps that was a bit of an overreaction, but I stand by my amazement. How does a beat writer, who does nothing but suck up to players while they’re in uniform and then crushes them when they leave (flip murray) make it higher on the list than things the actual players do???

by marvin's ladies of the night on Oct 18, 2009 10:39 PM EDT reply actions

Somehow

I doubt you read much of Sekou during the dark days. At times, he was the only thing about the team that was interesting, and it’s crazy to say that about a professional sports team and its beat writer, but there you have it.

Criticism on this blog is one thing, but if you want to critique Sekou, you really should provide a good reason. I’ve read a few other NBA beat writers (certainly not many) and he’s at least better than the Miami, Orlando, Washington, and Knicks beats. I also think he does a better job than Orlando Ledbetter does with the Falcons, and better than David O’Brien with the Braves. So basically, I’m hard-pressed to find a better beat writer than Sekou.

by Bronn on Oct 19, 2009 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions

How did he crush Flip?

Seriously, I remember him saying we should keep Flip even after the Crawford trade. And I can’t think of anything close to another example, unless you consider saying a player like Joe Smith is better than Solo “crushing”.

And I’m sure that there are many players that the Hawks would love for him to badmouth. Law, and Childress come to mind. But he never has so I don’t see how he is sucking up to, or pandering to the organization in any way.

by thirdfALCON on Oct 19, 2009 3:03 AM EDT up reply actions

nothing beats his Luke Ridnour crush. that was a bit scary.

by hawksdawgs on Oct 19, 2009 9:09 AM EDT up reply actions

he definitely is a little overly positive sometimes. i take player quotes about jamal crawford’s defense with a grain of salt.

but a new sekou blog post is way head on the excitement level for me than say a Jason Collins box score.

by hawksdawgs on Oct 19, 2009 9:09 AM EDT up reply actions

And in his defense...

let’s see anyone on this blog put their name next to something that all will see, bad mouthing those guys before you walk back into their locker room tomorrow. The job of the beat writer is not easy in the slightest, especially to do the job as well as Sekou does it.

by Mr. Sanchez on Oct 19, 2009 9:15 AM EDT up reply actions