"Hawks coach Larry Drew and his assistants have pushed point guard Jeff Teague to shed his reserved nature and subservient role on the team to become a floor leader.

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They aren't being asked to direct veteran teammates for a squad still trying to prove it deserves to be considered among the top teams in the Eastern Conference. They don't share the floor and the ball with Joe Johnson, a four-time All-Star who for a while now has been the focus for the Hawks.

But then something significant happened recently on the Hawks' practice court during informal pickup games: Johnson also told Teague to take the reins.

"'Play your game. Don't just defer to me a lot,'" Teague said Johnson told him. "When he said that, that helped me a lot. I'm going to be a lot more aggressive.""