spotatl

henderson was a lottery pick and has played just 2 minutes in the last 8 games combined. People here would be absolutely LIVID.

Could you imagine what the reaction here would be if Woodson were treating Gerald Henderson the way that Brown is?

Just out of curiosity, do you think that Larry Brown is a great coach?

Thats a roster problem- not a philisophy problem. There is no one on this team who can be a consistent low post threat.

I think Popovich plays Blair more than Teague because Blair is a much better player than Teague. Blair was a dominant college player and very well may have had a better season last year than Blake Griffin. Once again- talent makes coaches look good. And Acie Law wasn't a bust because Woodson didn't play him- Acie Law was a bust because he was a bad draft pick. Woodson just recognized it before fans did. To me its to Woodson's credit that he didn't waste more minutes on Acie Law. And I'll just say that- people questioned whether Acie was being misused- once he left it has been shown that Woodson was right as Acie didn't even get his 4th year team option picked up. People questioned whether Salim was being misused- once he left it has been shown that Woodson was right as he is totally out of the league. Shelden Williams was discarded by 2 teams since he left here and had to sign for the minimum. Woodson's trackrecord on assessing young talent has actually been very solid. The only one he missed on was Diaw, but I think that was more of a case where D'Antoni just had a brilliant move trying him at center rather than a coaching gaffe by Woodson.

I think pitching and hitting coaches in baseball can make a TON of difference. But I'll agree that in game I think baseball and basketball coaches have about the same amount of influence.

The Hawks have never had a great coach. And to me even having the best coach in the league would not make us favorites against the Magic, Cavs, or Celtics. Thats why I say that coaching matters less in the NBA than it does in any other sport.

I think that Coaches who get great Talent look really great when they win Championships. Then someone like Phil Jackson will get hired to put a team over the top because he has done it before. Unless you want to say Doc Rivers is a great coach I'll stand by my statement that NBA coaching is exceptionally overrated. Put it this way- I think you are magically going to see Popovich lose a ton of his coaching ability once Duncan retires. Look at Jerry Sloan's results since Malone and Stockton retired.

A buyout just means that you have agreed to an alternate compensation package if you do clear waivers. In order for a team to claim him they would either need the caproom to do so or a disabled player exception large enough. The Hawks can't claim Alston off Waivers. Once he clears the Hawks would have the MLE available to offer to him so he is still a definite option for the team.

You said "Orlando probably does need a new coach". If you don't mean that the Magic should fire their coach do you think they should be hiring a new coach alongside Van Gundy? I just think its funny how some people always blame the coach. To me the NBA is the league where coaching matters the least.

If Woodson had benched Smith during the KNicks game and early in the Heat game and the hawks lost don't you think people would be here blaming Woodson for that as well?

I believe the Colts held a players only meeting a few days ago- I really don't think its a big deal at all. When you think that all that needs to change is more effort and paying more attention then I think a players only meeting is the way to go. So much of this stuff should be taken care of internally. I don't have at all have a problem wtih players wanting to make other players take accountability- I did the exact same thing when I was the captain of my team in college. Meanwhile a vote of confidence means that the team really is in a tailspin and there is little that can pull the team out. To me thats really when a team is in trouble. If the Hawks come out in a few days and give Woodson a vote of confidence then I'll start to worry about this team.

I disagree- the worst words for a sports team are "vote of confidence"

So Macdaddy- of the top 4 teams in the east how many of the coaches jobs do you think should be safe?

clearly the coach needs to be fired. Thats what people always say after a loss right?

The Hawks already had 2 empty roster spots before waiving Hunter.

Rafer Alston was just bought out. Sounds like he wants to play for the Heat. Maybe that means that Arroyo would get waived by them. Unfortunately while I think Arroyo is a very useful player I don't think he is at all what the Hawks need. http://www.nj.com/nets/index.ssf/2010/01/nj_nets_rafer_alston_set_free.html Figured I'd put in a link. Its a shame that Alston's outside shooting has gone into the toilet. He is a solid defender and takes great care of the ball.

I think its more to do with the fact that his contract would have become guaranteed this week.

What I am saying is that I think the league doesn't take the timing into account as much as fans would want them to. There are plenty of clock errors at all points of the game- and because they league doesn't go back and cause redo's earlier in the game then I think they don't ever want to put a line in the sand saying a mistake at this point is enough to cause a redo- a mistake before this is allowable. They don't want to be a part of the slippery slope. With the Disqualification no matter when it happened I think the League would intervene. Its not something that is normally overlooked but would be taken seriously in the last minute. Once you open up that can of worms then every situation in the last minute gets a ton of extra scruitiny. And like I said- when the Hawks appeal gets turned down I'm sure people will jsut complain about how the hawks never get a break. but to me the Raptors not getting credit for the basket was a much bigger deal and there was no replay of that game. Honestly I think a big reason why the Hawks were made to replay the Heat game was that they had just screwed up the Raptors game the year before so badly.

If you want to say that You are fine with letting Joe walk and getting just a trade exception in return then thats definitely a viable trade scenario- I don't see that as being a good move for the hawks but thats certainly attainable in a S&T. Trades like Kaman and Gordon for Joe are just not realistic at all. I am just trying to remind people of what the team could really expect in a S&T when the Hawks have such little leverage. But no question large trade exceptions can be very useful for teams that are willing to take on major salary. If you really don't think that Joe is worth the max then this is a perfectly reasonable direction for you want the team to go in. I have to see it as a step back- but maybe its a necessary step back to you.

Dolfan- but the point is that you couldn't count on it. If Joe was going to sign with the Knicks it likely wouldn't be as part of a S&T- it would just being him signing. It reduces the leverage the Hawks have. It doesn't eliminate the leverage- but it greatly reduces it. Funny you use the example of Hedo Turkoglu- you do know that the Magic got nothing in return but a little cash for their part in the S&T? The same thing with Rashard Lewis- the Sonics got a heavily protected second rounder... When a player has the option of signing straight out the team with the rights has very little leverage in a S&T.

Why would you assume that the hawks could get "good" value for Joe if they traded him? THis offseason so many teams will have caproom that he will have lots of options to go wherever he wants to. At the deadline teams wouldn't give up a lot not knowing if they could resign him. In the offseason the Hawks would have very little leverage to do a S&T since Joe would have plenty of options to go wherever he wanted. I don't even think that its an option to Pay him the money now since he has big financial reasons to wait until he is a free agent to sign. To me the realistic choices are: 1. I think its worth to pay Joe max money in order to keep him. (If the Hawks are willing to max him out they can give him more $$ than anyone else and he would stay) 2. I don't think that Joe is worth max money- he should be traded now so we can get what we can out of him even though he is an expiring contract and teams won't give a ton since he could walk after the season. 3. I don't think that Joe is worth max money but I don't think anyone else will offer him max money. I'm fine with letting him walk away with zero compensation if he gets a big offer in the offseason. Anything we get in a S&T is bonus but I know we can't count on that. If no one offers him a big contract and he is willing to take a smaller contract then we can bring him back. Anything else is just an unrealistic scenario that doesn't apply. So I'll say the Hawks have to do what they can to Resign Joe even if it means maxing him out. I think that SOMEONE will absolutely offer him the max this offseason- there are too many teams clearing room for players they have little or no chance of getting. They have so few options to improve in FA that losing him for little or no compensation would be an absolute disaster. If the Hawks had never made the Crawford trade and would have max caproom this offseason even if Joe walked then maybe I would feel differently but right now thats not the situation they are in.

Sort of interesting to think about whether the team would be better off with Crawford or with Flip and 8 million dollars in expiring contracts to use in a trade. So many teams are trying to get 2010 caproom that the Hawks would be in PRIME position to upgrade the roster.

I suppose the question is whether people think the ASG would actually pay the luxury tax to keep this team together. I just don't see it happening so in my book Marvin is a luxury too expensive to keep.

A team like Minny would take Marvin- would they give up significant assets on top of that at his salary is the question. In the offseason it was possible to look at Marvin's deal and think the Hawks got him at a bargain. But right now i just can't see how a team would think he is worth MORE than his contract.