NBA NOTES : There’s Always Something on ‘The Days of Our Hawks’

When we last tuned in to “Days of Our Hawks,” Coach Mike Fratello was noting that his team’s largest problem was a “low basketball I.Q.” He made the observation before ordering his team to miss free throws on purpose in order to improve its free-throw shooting.

Yes, life seems to always be wild and crazy with the Hawks, who are as unpredictable as ever. Last week, they were humiliated by the host Pacers, losing by 27 points. It was their 11th loss in 13 games. Afterward, Hawks guard John Battle said, “We don’t know our roles anymore. We don’t know each other.”

And, of course, two nights later, the Hawks ended the Pistons’ 13-game winning streak with a 112-103 victory in Atlanta. Perfect. When nothing is expected, the Hawks are at their best.

The Hawks are led by the inconsistent but flamboyant Dominique Wilkins, whose presence seems to guarantee only inconsistency and flamboyance. Wilkins, as always, is capable of spectacular dunks and big numbers. But when is the last time Wilkins, who is shooting 45.7% from the field this season, had a great game when the Hawks beat a great team? It seems to have been a long time.

Last week when they beat the Pistons, Wilkins had 16 points. In their victory over the Rockets, he had 26. Against the hapless Heat, he had 36.

In fairness, Wilkins hasn’t had a lot of consistent help, especially from Moses Malone, whose ups and downs have been so pronounced that he was left off the All-Star team for the first time in 12 years. Malone’s most notable achievement this season, in fact, was his assertion that he was more important than Fratello, who is in the last year of his contract. Perhaps Moses has a second career in mind.

The Hawks still are without guard Doc Rivers, who has missed the last 25 games because of back problems. And Jon Koncak has missed 15 games after arthroscopic knee surgery. But both players are expected to be back in two weeks. In fact, for the last two or three weeks, both players have been scheduled to be back in two weeks. “Every time we ask,” a Hawks spokesman said, “the doctors say two weeks.” Even the Hawks doctors act like Hawks.

Koncak, by the way, is now a Very Important Hawk. He averages only 4.0 points and 4.5 rebounds, but, we are told, he plays great defense. The Hawks gave Koncak a six-year, $13.5-million contract last season, and now we know why--to play defense.

The Hawks have regained the services of Battle, who missed 16 games after arthroscopic knee surgery. And Kenny Smith, who was acquired from the Kings for Antoine Carr, is continuing to learn the system.

If the season ended now, the Hawks would be the eighth-place playoff team and would meet the Pistons in the first round. Perhaps they could even advance to seventh place and play the Knicks.

Which brings up a story. Muhammad Ali once said that one of the reasons he defeated Sonny Liston the first time was because he had acted so wild and crazy that Liston was unnerved, thinking he was getting in the ring with a lunatic.

Any opponent who studies the Hawks’ situation closely will understand Ali’s strategy. And the scary thing is that they may understand how Liston felt, which is why the Hawks, if healthy, are a potentially dangerous playoff team.

Bleak times for Cavs--If the season ended now, the Cavaliers would not make the playoffs and would not have their No. 1 pick, which they sent to the Clippers in the Ron Harper-Danny Ferry deal.

Like the Hawks, the Cavaliers have been hurt by injuries, losing Mark Price for eight games, Larry Nance for 17 and Brad Daugherty for 41. But even though they now are healthy, they were unable to take advantage of the home court in February. They played 9 of 11 games at home, but had only a 6-5 record.

Now they are in a period in which they play 10 of 13 on the road. If they can’t win at home, they’re probably not going to win on the road. By the time they get back home, they may have taken another step backward.

Mark of maturity--Somebody must have had a serious discussion with Mark Jackson between Sunday and Tuesday, and he must have listened. After the Knicks lost to the Pistons and Jackson was booed, he said the fans didn’t matter. After the Knicks defeated the Mavericks Tuesday, he admitted the fans’ booing bothered him, which was another way of saying the fans did matter. Perhaps someone pointed out to Jackson how unwise it was to belittle the fans.

Jackson is correct in pointing out that the fans have little patience with him, but there is a way to reverse that. Stay in shape, play hard, don’t taunt the fans and don’t minimize their importance.

A rookie teacher--Another interesting theory from San Antonio on the Rod Strickland-Maurice Cheeks trade: Cheeks, in part, was supposed to provide the veteran support to make David Robinson’s transition from two years of inactivity to the NBA as easy as possible. The Spurs have been pleasantly surprised to discover, however, that maturity is one of Robinson’s major strengths.

Therefore, the veteran influence became less important. And the Spurs also believed that despite the questions about Strickland--his moodiness and pouting and, as the Knicks said, “lack of time management”--Robinson would provide such a good example for Strickland that any distractions would be minor. And they may be right, which, again, will say a lot about the greatness of David Robinson.

Bring on the Spurs--The Mavericks had won 14 of 17 games before being overwhelmed by the Knicks Tuesday and the Celtics Wednesday. The Mavericks had hopes of catching the Spurs, but it seems unlikely. Mavericks guard Rolando Blackman said, however, that the Mavericks would like to play the Spurs in the playoffs, and the Strickland-Cheeks deal would have little effect on the outcome.

“The main thing for us is that it doesn’t matter if they have Strickland or Cheeks,” Blackman said. “We can beat them with either player if we have our act together. They replaced a good player with a good player who is younger, but that doesn’t matter to us because if we play the way we can, we can beat them.”

Around the league--Life figures to be quite different for Pete Myers, now that he is a Net instead of a Knick. But the biggest difference won’t be playing for a losing team instead of a winning one. The biggest difference will be that when the Knicks play the Nets at the Meadowlands, Myers will no longer be playing for the team that gets cheered.

The Celtics complained last year that Leonard Armato, Brian Shaw’s agent, did not give them a chance to negotiate to keep Shaw from going to Italy. It is significant that Shaw recently fired Armato before signing with the Celtics, who said Shaw will not join the team until next season.

The Mavericks offered the Bucks two No. 1 picks and Adrian Dantley for Ricky Pierce before the trading deadline, and the Bucks seemed interested. But Bucks owner Herb Kohl vetoed the deal.

Jazz President Frank Layden on NBA Commissioner David Stern’s five-year, $27.5-million contract: “The head of the Colombian cartel doesn’t make that much money.”