Hawks fans: Chilling out may be in order

GM Ferry building, but for 2014 and beyond, not next season.

For Year 2 of the Hawks’ rebuilding, it’s best not to let your hopes get too high,

Oh, you fandom. Fix it now. Make us champions — preferably before the weekend. Sign this guy, trade for that guy, and maybe the other guy. And for the love of anything that is right and just, please get rid of those two geraniums on our payroll.

In Los Angeles, they’re clamoring to keep Dwight Howard. Putting up billboards, tweeting with #StayD12 hashtags, groveling like iconic organizations never do. In Dallas, a fast-food chain is offering free chicken fingers for life, as if a guy with an $88 million contract can’t afford chicken fingers. In Houston, a rapper named Slim Thug had this unique recruiting pitch: “LA ain’t got strippers like we do.”

First, on behalf of Atlanta,

roster — now through free agency — a healthy Williams is important. He is one of the few returning players from last season’s playoff team. The Hawks are using a roster that includes Al Horford and Williams as part of their pitch to free agents.

Williams saw Dr. James Andrews, who performed his surgery, three weeks ago in Florida for a checkup. Williams said Andrews was pleased with his progress and told physical therapists to ramp up workouts.

In one area, Williams has taken control of his own rehabilitation. He is determined not to have mental hurdles to clear once he is fully recovered. Williams practices — in the same shoes — the move he was making when injured.

“We shoot a lot now,” Williams said. “I was very adamant about that. I wanted to maintain some sort of muscle memory with my jump shot, especially taking some time off the way I rely on my jump shot so much.

“Not only that, I wanted to keep my mind in the zone of ‘don’t be scared to play.’ I think that is one thing you deal with when you take eight or nine months off. You deal with that mental aspect of ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen.’ ... So when I get cleared to play, I’m at 100 mph.”

A typical week in Williams’ rehab goes like this:

Monday: treatment (ice and stimulation) Tuesday: lift weights Wednesday: basketball and agility drills Thursday: lift weights Friday: cardio work Saturday: work out on own

Sunday: rest The schedule starts all over.

Williams said he is very happy with his recovery, but there is no timetable for when he will be 100 percent. Most of the pain is gone. It is a process that includes setbacks, especially after the rehabilitation takes another step forward. He said he will do everything doctors and physical therapists tell him. He has made strides, but still can’t make all his cuts. Williams said he is very close to being able to run, which he called a milestone.

“This is my first time getting hurt, so I’m kind of naive to the whole process,” Williams said. “I’m like one day I’m going to be hurt, and the next day I’m not going to be hurt. I’m going to pick up right where I left off. It takes an extreme amount of work to get to that point. I’m just trying to face as many hurdles as I can early on before I get all of my movement back so when I do get it back I feel like I will be on par with everybody else.”

General manager Danny Ferry said after last week’s draft that he was very pleased with Williams’ work and progress.

Williams said he has met with new coach Mike Budenholzer several times and is excited about the opportunity to play for the new staff. Williams was the Hawks’ thirdleading scorer at the time of his injury. He averaged 14.1 points and 3.6 assists per game before the painful end of the season.

“He really enjoys the way that I play the game,” Williams said. “He thinks that I can fit in his program the way a Tony Parker or a Manu Ginobili have played in (the Spurs’) organization in the past. That is right up my alley. I look forward to the team that we are trying to assemble. We’ve been a playoff team in the past, and I plan on being that again and being even better.”

Jeff Schultz