Throughout the season, Hawks rookie Marvin Williams will be keeping a diary as he makes his way through his first season in the NBA. If you have a question for him, email hawks.mailbag@atlantaspirit.com.

Entry #7 -- 02/03/06

How's it going? We are halfway through the season, and we are still plugging along, still working to get better with each game.

This Sunday is the Super Bowl, and my home-state Seahawks are in it for the first time. Pittsburgh is good, but Seattle is going to win, no question. I plan on watching it, but I’m not sure where yet. My roommates and I are still trying to figure out where. But Seattle is going to bring it home, you can count on that.

Speaking of Seattle, we will be heading out on the road next weekend and play a game there Friday night. People ask me if I am nervous to play near where I grew up, but I’m not nervous at all. They’ve watched me play my whole life, so I’ll be comfortable. I will be very happy to see everyone also. I’ll be asking for a lot of tickets for that one, but my mom and dad will help me manage that whole process, so I can focus on basketball.

I missed the game Wednesday night at Charlotte, my first of the season. I’ve got a sore heel right now, but it’s getting better. I’m not planning to miss any more games. The heel does feel better. Our training staff does a great job. My body is only a little weaker than when the season began. The length of the season does take its toll, and I feel fortunate that I’ve only missed one game so far.

The rosters for the Rookie-Sophomore game came out this week, and no one on our team made the list. It was a surprise to me. I feel like a lot of our young guys have been playing well. Both of the Joshes have been playing really well. It’s tough to see them not make it. Salim’s been playing extremely well, so for him not to make the rookie game is definitely a disappointment. I think everyone around the league uses (being omitted) as motivation. Salim and I will have another shot at it next year, and hopefully we’re able to make it.

That's all for now - go Seahawks this weekend!

Entry #6 -- 01/18/06

Happy New Years everyone. I hope you all had a good one. Mine was good, I had a really good time. I stayed in Atlanta, hung out with a few of my friends, and it was really nice.

Lately my offensive game has been coming around more. I think it's a matter of getting more comfortable out there, and just learning. I continue to learn so much from the coaching staff and my teammates. My teammates are doing a great job of looking for me when I am out there, and my jumpshot has been falling lately.

People have been congratulating me on scoring 26 against the Heat, but I have to say, that was the longest game - longest I've ever seen, ever been in, EVER. We were down so much early, and at that point, you just want the game to be over with. So I guess I got hot in the fourth, and it was nice to put up those stats, but we lost, and we just wanted to get it over with.

That is one thing though I have learned being in the NBA - being down 20 is not a big deal. I didn't know that till I got to the League. Teams can come back from a deficit like that, nothing to it. So you can't really ever let up on a team, or give up when the team is down.

We are about 35 games into the season now, which is about the number of games I played at North Carolina last year. You hear people talk about the rookie wall, and I am sure it affects everyone. Even if I don't think it is affecting me, I'm sure it will. I just try to take each game one by one and play as best I can for that game, so hopefully that will help me get through the longer season. I may get tired, but as long as I am eating right and taking care of my body, I feel like I will be ok. I look at how the guys did last year [when Josh Smith, Josh Childress, and Royal Ivey were rookies], and they played a ton more minutes than I have. So if they made it through it, I'm sure I can do the same.

Now we are in the midst of our biggest home stretch of the season, and it's really nice. Not having to travel for a couple weeks is great - my youngest brother, J'Tonn, was here for a few days, so it was fun to get to hang out with him some. His favorite player is Tracy McGrady - unfortunately he didn't play when we played the Rockets, but my brother still got to see him, so that was cool.

Come out and see us while we are home, and I will be back with more soon!

Entry #5 -- 12/16/05

Hello out there Hawks fans, I'm back with another diary entry. We've had some tough games lately, with some good wins and some hard losses. The win over the Spurs was huge. We have been competing with teams a lot, but we worked together to get the win. It was big for us, especially since we had lost seven straight coming into it. The crowd was really great that night though. Y'all definitely gave us a lift.

I think we are starting to gain confidence in ourselves. We are in a similar situation now as we were when we beat Boston and Indiana earlier but then lost to Portland. I think we have learned how to deal with adversity better, and hopefully we can show that tonight against the Knicks.

As for myself, I think I am getting more comfortable as well. I had a good game at Phoenix, getting 17 points and 11 rebounds, but it was bittersweet because they beat us. I am a person that believes that if the team doesn't do well, your individual stats don't matter. If you score 56 in a game but lose, then those 56 were wasted.

We have a few home games coming up, and then its the holidays. This will be my first Christmas away from my family, which is sad. Last year at UNC Coach Williams gave us a few days off, but the NBA is much different - the games are so much more frequent you can't really do that. But, this is my job, and I have accepted that. I can still talk to them on the phone, so it won't be so bad.

Not too much else to report - I cut my hair off, which you can see if you come to the game tonight. At first my plan was to grow it out a lot - not like J-Chill's, but long for me, but then I just got tired of it and got rid of it all. So you can check it out tonight and tell me what you think.

Ok, I'm off to get some lunch after morning shootaround. Happy Holidays to everyone.

Entry #4 -- 12/02/05

Hi everyone! It's been a couple weeks since I wrote, and we've won a couple games in that time. That was really good - we've been playing hard and it was nice to see that pay off some, though we have had some losses too. But I think we are starting to get better and hopefully more wins will come. We play Toronto tonight, and both teams really need a win, so we will see what happens.

People ask me what made the difference for us in our wins, and I think it is a combination of a couple things. For one, we defended really well. I think we defend well in general, but we definitely did in our two wins. Also, I think we clicked offensively in those games more than we have been, and when we are clicking, good things happen. We need to do better getting everyone involved in the offense, because we play better when we are all sharing the load.

I have been reading your emails (and thanks for writing in!), and I've had a lot of kids out there asking me what I did growing up to improve my game.

My biggest advice is to just get out there and play as much as you can. I used to shoot all the time growing up, working on my stroke, and I also always had a ball with me. You can ask anyone from where I'm from - I never went anywhere without a ball. I slept with my ball sometimes, and I was always walking around dribbling. So I was constantly working on my game. Just have a ball with you whenever you can, and play as much as you can - that's my best advice.

I had my first big road trip last week as we went through Texas and Oklahoma, and that was fun. I got to relax a little. My friends live with me they're my guys, but sometimes it's nice to get away and be by myself too! I spent most of my time on the trip just hanging in my hotel room, watching movies, so it was kinda relaxing.

The veterans on the team have been real supportive of me and Salim. We have to get their bags at the airport, which I think most rookies have to do, but they haven't made us do much else - we don't have to get them donuts or anything like that. Guys like T-Lue and Al Harrington have been real cool in how they treat us.

We head back out on the road after tonight's game, so hopefully we can get a win to send us off on a positive note.

Thanks again to everyone who wrote in, and I will be back again next week!

Entry #3 -- 11/18/05

I look forward to the holidays just like everyone else as a time to relax with my family. Since it comes during our season (and we have a game the day before and the day after), I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing for Thanksgiving yet. I'm sure my roommates, my dad, my uncle and I will get together for the meal. I was actually away from home for Thanksgiving for the first time ever last year in Chapel Hill.

On the court, we're still looking for that first win. We just have to keep working hard and plugging away, and it will come. I feel like I'm making some progress individually, but as the coaches continue to impress upon us, we all need to put more effort towards playing a complete and consistent game, for the entire four quarters. If we do that, I know some wins will follow.

I think my fellow rookie, Salim Stoudamire, has been really impressive. He works and plays so hard, and is very passionate about his job, and especially about winning. Guys like him make all of the young guys want to work harder and win games. He definitely hates losing. Coming out of that great program at Arizona under Lute Olsen, it's something he's not used to.

We're in the midst of our second three-game road trip already this season, and have only played three at home so far. Not to mention we've started the season against nine Western conference teams. I'm looking forward to our first sustained homestand next month. Winning on the road in the NBA is very difficult, and being a young team, it's even harder. Yet if we play the way we're capable from start to finish, we can put ourselves in a position to win some of these.

I will try to write again next week, but if I don't I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

Entry #2 -- 11/11/05
How's it going Hawks fans? A lot of you have written in questions for me since I started this, so today I decided to answer some of your emails for my diary.

Marvin, I was wondering which position you like playing better, small forward or power forward? What do you think your strengths and weaknesses are for each of those positions?

- Joe and Kelly B.

I like them both. I played mostly power forward growing up, but have played more small forward since I got here. I think when I am at the three, my size gives me an advantage over some of the guys who guard me. And when I am at the four, my quickness can help me out against some of the guys who are bigger. But I will play wherever the coaching staff wants me to play if it will help us get some wins.

Dear Marvin,
I’m a huge Carolina fan and a fan of yours and I was just wondering, what you think of this year’s team for the Tar Heels??? Can’t wait to see you play in Milwaukee.

- Brian

I think the Tar Heels are going to be alright - as long as Coach Roy is there they will be good. People are counting them out this year, but I think that's really dangerous. I think they will be a lot better than people expect.

What are your personal goals for this season?

- Donald T.

To get some wins. That's all I care about, other than continuing to learn my position and how best to contribute. We just want to get some wins together though, that's our focus right now.

What's up Marvin,
I'm a huge Tarheel fan and live in Atlanta and was just wondering what made you decide to go into the NBA after just playing one year for the Heels?

- Jon L.

I think my family situation is what ultimately made me decide to go pro. I loved college for the time I was there, and I definitely didn't feel as ready to go straight from high school. I miss my teammates, but in the end the chance to provide for my family made me choose to turn pro.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in. Keep writing and I will try to answer as many as I can. Otherwise, things are cool. There are a lot of new things going on for me, on and off the court. This is my first time really being on my own, but I have a lot of support from my friends and family. Two of my best friends from home have moved down here and live with me, so I get to hang out with them when I'm away. We play video games all the time! Right now we've been playing Madden football a whole bunch, but we just got Tiger Woods golf, so we are trying that out as well. It's kinda hard, but I'm getting better at it.

Ok, I'm off to practice.

Entry #1 -- 11/04/05
It’s been an interesting start to my career, to say the least. It’s been tough. I mean, losing Jason Collier was hard on everyone. I’ve never lost a teammate before. I was unfortunate to never get a chance to really know him, but everyone who did said he was a really great guy. It was tough on all of us – the players, the coaches, and the whole organization because it was such a tragedy. But the coaches just keep telling us to try to stick together and we will get through it.

The preseason has definitely been a learning experience for me so far. Getting used to the pro game has probably been the biggest adjustment. The game is just so much faster and guys are all so much more skilled. Plus the terminology is different, and I have to do different things I did in college, but I am learning, and I think I will be ok.

One thing that was frustrating has been dealing with some injuries. I had to sit out a couple preseason games, and it was hard because you always want to be out there with your teammates. Plus I had to have my knee looked at, so I didn’t even get to travel with the guys. I did listen to the games I missed on the internet though, so that was good.

So far I have been able to keep up with my North Carolina teammates a lot, which is great. I’ve talked to Sean (May) and Raymond (Felton, both of whom are with Charlotte) yesterday and Rashad (McCants, who is with the Timberwolves). I’ve been playing phone tag with some of my coaches too. We try not to talk about basketball though, since we get so much of that anyway. It’s more like about how our families are doing, how each other is doing, that kind of stuff. It’s great to have them to get away from it all sometimes.