It's time for new direction......................

[Vol4ever]

Now I can understand the Piston blowout with this team, but are we really that far behind the Bucks?

The coach unfortunately has lost this team, the team is soooo young there are no veterans to step up. There is NOOOOO defense being played and the effort is not there.

I know there are some on this board will say this is just a young team and this is what happens and it takes time to develop, but there is NO excuse for lack of effort and no apparent effort to play defense.

Coach has said after the Pistons and Bucks the defensive effort was not there.

It's time to bring in a veteran coach who can motivate players and if they don't show effort put there asses on the pine!

[kooshdoctor]

Quote:

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but there is NO excuse for lack of effort and no apparent effort to play defense.

Coach has said after the Pistons and Bucks the defensive effort was not there.

It's time to bring in a veteran coach who can motivate players and if they don't show effort put there asses on the pine!

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i'm afraid i have to agree. al harrington could probably be a good player if he cared. imagine how could he would be if he had any defensive ability? i say we get bob knight. i'm sure we could offer him enough money. he'd get this team in shape!

[Spiral]

I agree about the lack of effort tonight. That finger can be pointed at just about everyone. Zaza gave Michael Redd an uncontested dunk. Smoove loafed down the court and gave up a lay-up that he could've at least contested, if not a flat out blocked. I was very disappointed to watch a team who seemed to just flat out not care at times. I don't mind getting beat from not having enough talent or just having no answer for someone from the other team, but when we just go through the motions, it really pisses me off. If these guys won't play for Woody, we need to get someone else in there. Personally, I'd like Stan Van Gundy, but I doubt that will ever happen.

[bralin1]

Woodson is the worst coach in the league but his best friend is the GM. You would think that ownership would be able to spot when a guy is this over his head. Apparently, the Atlanta Spirit guys aren't the swiftest. I am amazed that Woodson is still coaching this team. It hasn't dawned yet on Billy that we haven't played defense in a long time. This team is just so poorly coached...what would it take to get this dolt fired? Do we have to lose a certain number of games in a row? Do we have to give up a points record or something? Its so obvious a change needs to be made why in the hell can't the management see it?

Does anybody in this organization know what they are doing? Apparently not.

[Devon]

23-97...

We fired Terry Stotts for going 58-74.

I'd gladly take the Terry Stotts' coached Hawks over this pathetic excuse of NBDL players and coaching.

I said it before and everyone on the board jumped down my throat, but, FIRE MIKE WOODSON RIGHT NOW!!!

Did you see all of those people dressed up like empty seats? Do you really wonder why NOBODY wants to be a Hawk? This team is a disgrace to the league and it's because of BAD COACHING!!!

They've obviously quit on Woodson, so the only solution is to get rid of him NOW!

If they don't I certainly won't be renewing my season tickets for next season. I'm tired of watching a bunch of overpaid millionaires not give a flying rats a$$ about getting blown out night in and night out.

[Gangstur]

Woodson is awful.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/nba/sportsnation/coach?coachId=75

[MoonKnight]

is mentally impacting young guys like JChill, JSmoove, Ivey, and others. The climate around this team must be poor with no light at the end of the tunnel. Sadly, I think BK will not make a coaching move until the offseason. Could Herb Brown do any worse on an interim basis? I simply cannot imagine a professional coach forgetting about his starters on the bench or looking anymore dumbfounded when momentum changes occur during a game. I can only imagine what Fratello could have done with this roster.

[KB21]

Fratello might have 3-4 more wins at this point, because the problems this team has is related to their inexperience level. It isn't a talent problem nor a coaching problem. I maintain that this team has lost more games this season due to poor officiating than they have lost due to poor coaching.

Young and inexperienced basketball teams have growing pains like this. I have seen nothing that is out of the ordinary with this basketball team relative to the natural progression that a young basketball team makes over the course of their development.

[Eddielives]

^^^On one hand, I love your optimism but on the other hand, you're whistling past the graveyard. I think this team is not being coached the way they should. It shows when Woodson doesn't get in his players face enough when they continuously foul up defensive plays and the lack of heart our players show when out there at times. I'm not saying it's all the coaches fault or that we should be a playoff team. I am saying it's becoming more apparent to me that Woodson cannot get through to these young guys like a true coach should. I'm sure he would be ok with a veteran team but not a young rebuilding team.

[er9dverk]

that's generally true.

we need a beast. we've got some great athletes. we've got some skilled swingmen. the guards are pretty good.

we have no beast. aldridge is the closest i can see in the draft.

really good teams have a guy you dread playing. we need that guy.

[KB21]

Yeah. The same type of crap was said about Terry Stotts and will be said about every damn coach the team could bring in until the players gain the type of experience they need.

Mike was initially criticized for being too much of a taskmaster. Now, he doesn't get onto his players enough. Which is it?

I remember all the talk about Terry Stotts. Fans were saying such things as "he has lost his team", "What the hell is he thinking", "His rotations suck", "why doesn't he get onto his players."

I think Terry Stotts has turned out to be a pretty damn good head coach.

Personaly, I wouldn't mind seeing Eric Mussleman as the head coach of this team. It wouldn't make much of a difference right now though. Those that are constantly criticizing Mike Woodson for everything he does right down to the way he farts will do the same thing with EMuss if he were here. It's simply because this team isn't ready to win yet. They just don't have the experience.

[KB21]

I watched Greg Oden play Thursday night, and I officially hate the rule the NBA has instituted after watching him play.

There is no doubt that I would take that guy with the #1 pick if he were in the draft. None whatsoever. He's got a long way to go offensively, but he's ready to step right in defensively in the NBA. He may be the last of a dying breed, and he reminds me a lot of a young David Robinson.

[SmooveTheFuture]

If Smith wasnt in so much foul trouble that shot would have been contested.

[Spiral]

Quote:

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I maintain that this team has lost more games this season due to poor officiating than they have lost due to poor coaching.

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I strongly disagree. Earlier in the year, the officiating might have cost us 5 games or so, but they sure didn't cost us the other 23.

[KB21]

Poor coaching didn't either.

[pathway23]

KB I have watched all the games except 2 and I think it is obvious the team isn't being coached up properly. They have actually regressed, they aren't improving from the start of this season.

You can say all you want to that this is a young team and that is why they are losing, but if that was the case, how did this team beat San Antonio and Indiana? They have the talent to win some games in this league it is just that when things aren't going their way they don't know what to do.

They play how Coach Woodson looks on the sideline. Clueless. His expressions and comments after games say it all.

The Hawks players don't know how to respond to adversity. Most of all, they don't exert effort particularly on defense.

They play the pick and roll and screens the same way all the time, never adjusting to what team after team does with that.

The players have to be very stupid for Woodson not to come through to them on that mistake which is mental. I think the main problem is coaching.

[KB21]

I'm sorry, but after starting out 2-16, this team is 8-12. That is an improvement over not only the start of the year, but it is is also an improvement over where the team was at this time last year.

Do you honestly think another coach would have this team at or close to .500 at this point during the season?

Like I said. All of this crap was said about Terry Stotts as well, and look how that has turned out.

[Diesel]

I think the players have given up on this coach. I think for good reason to. They have had some small victories coaching wise, but for the most part, they have been terribly mismanaged.

[Diesel]

Actually, KB, you're arguing an artifact.. not reality.

We started off poorly because we started off on the road against western teams. We came home against easier to beat teams and went 8-12. However, now, the road stiffens again and we just don't look so good.

Our players have given up. The effort is not there. Moreover, Woody as a coach has failed to try everything. I mean, how can you justify not playing Delk 1 minute when you are the worst team in the league?? How can you justify your team not being able to stop a pick and roll, screen, or stop the man dribbling the ball. Gaurds are never forced to pick up their dribble so they score season highs on us day in and day out.. There are some very simple things that we don't do. That's coaching.

[KB21]

Whatever.

Terry Stotts apparently lost his team at one point, according to the expert fans.