thawing & plating cell lines

[cram at PIPELINE.COM]

Hello, 
    my team and I are having trouble producing healthy-looking cell
cultures at plating time.  We thaw quickly, spin to remove DMSO and then
plate.  After one night, the cells are dividing slowly, and have a strange,
small, sort of compact morphology.  Overall, they are half the size as they
appear when healthy.  Only after another day or so do they have the nice
flattened look to them, where you can see the cytoplasm and their nuclei
are large, etc.  Then they grow to confluency, no problem. 
    Could this be due to a low density at plating, perhaps too low?  Or is
it more likely caused by our cryopreservation? 
 
    Any input would be appreciated. 
    Thank you in advance. 
 
Marc Rothman 
<cram at pipeline.com> 
Technician 
Neurosurgery Research Labs 
Dept. of Neurosurgery 
NYU Medical Center 
550 First Ave. 
NY, NY  10016