I'm Sick of All This Diaw Business

[emeans]

95%?? Not really Lascar. I only see maybe 3 to 5 people who truly see that the Hawks Organization made a big mistake in the handling of Diaw.

Everyone else seems to for the most part think it was all Diaws faught.

The national and local media is definately laughing at us and Pheonix fans are flatout smiling from ear to ear. Only us Hawks fanatics will not admit that we made a big mistake.

Let me ask this question. Knowing what you know about Diaw right now and you had a choice between him or Woody staying as coach. Who would stay??

[Lascar78]

I always thought Diaw would ball. I would still trade him to get JJ any day. As for Woody, I'm not overly impressed, but I don't see the point in firing him if I have no one better lined up. It's not like he's one of the few coaches that would have played Diaw how he did, and asked him to shoot when open. I think most coaches in this league would have done roughly the same thing. D'Antoni is in the minority being one of the very few (perhaps the only) coaches running a very open, unselfish, euro-style system.

Mishandling Diaw is a mark on Woody's record, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm glad that we traded him to get JJ.

[Lascar78]

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Let me ask this question. Knowing what you know about Diaw right now and you had a choice between him or Woody staying as coach. Who would stay??

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And to answer the question more directly, if there is a personal issue where for whatever reason a coach and player don't get along, the player goes. In order for a coach to be able to coach effectively it has to be understood that he has the authority, and that players who won't listen will be benched and/or traded. I think it's disgraceful when you have things like Darius Miles having Mo Cheeks fired.

A good coach should be able to command respect on his own, and apparently Woody's playing hardball with Bo backfired, but Diaw is payed millions to play hard and do what his coach tells him to do on the court. Woody is not paid to do what the players want and cave to their demands.

Who knows, one could argue that after not getting minutes for refusing to shoot when woody told him too, things finally clicked last offseason for Boris and he got the point. And it paid off in Phoenix, and would have paid off here. I don't really think that's what happened, but the point is coaches try to teach players lessons and gain their respect by withholding minutes and/or being harsh. Most of the time it pays off. Sometimes you get a kwame / boris who cave under the pressure.

I certainly have no regrets of having traded Bo, and I'm glad he is doing well. Our D is bad enough without having him at the 4/5, and he has shown that he is not quick enough for the 1/2/3. He needs an all-out offensive team to be really successful at the 4/5. He was just a bad fit here once JT was traded, and he couldn't be in a more perfect situation than he is right now with the MVP, scorers around him, on a team with a euro system that tries to win by outscoring the opposition and forgetting defense.

JJ is a guy you can build around.

[tmac13]

Come on, you guys act like we traded Diaw for JJ straight up..Diaw was no more than a throw in on that deal..Last time I looked it was a 70 million dollar contract, with 20 million the 1st year, 2 1st round draft choices , and Diaw..

Why not just be happy for Diaw ..I have seen him baited on numerous occasions with the attempt to get him to say negative things about the Hawks, and each time Diaw was classy and wouldn't say anything negative..Yet he is bashed daily on this board..

[Lascar78]

I am happy for Diaw, and I said so. At the same time, if you evaluate the deal, you can't include JJ's salary as if it has some bearing on whether the trade was fair. We were willing to pay JJ, Phoenix was willing to pay him.

JJ vs. Diaw, #21 this year, #? next year. I still do it all day

They have a good piece on this right now on ESPN

[drzachary]

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I have seen him baited on numerous occasions with the attempt to get him to say negative things about the Hawks, and each time Diaw was classy and wouldn't say anything negative..

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Really? I just gained a little more respect for the guy.

[Eddielives]

I just can't believe that the differences that caused Boris and Woody to not see eye to eye were all because Boris wanted things to go his way and he gave up. Let's be real. He's not what some would say is your typical NBA bad boy or occasional malcontent. He's not AI or Ron Artest.

I saw many times where after Woody would bench Boris for a few games, Boris would get another shot to play and would just blow you away for the short time he got. In other words, he would do what he is doing in Phoenix in stints when given the chance. Then he would make a bad play or two and Woody would just bench him again. Woody just couldn't accept that Boris was a different type of player and adjust his coaching approach to help Boris fit into what the Hawks were trying to do. You're not compromising the coach's integrity by realizing that a very talented player is being wasted and expecting your coach to adjust his approact to get the most out of that player.

That's what disappoints me with the Boris situation. Until we start showing signs that Woody is lifting this team out of the culture of losing, then I have to think that we may still be another coach, gm or overall philosophy away from ever being good. Sad but perhaps true.

[emeans]

Personally from Day 1 I never like how Woody handled Diaw and Josh Smith. Josh Smith luckily had a few games during his 1st year in the mid-season where he was so good Woody couldn't take him out. But if Josh Smith made one error he was pulled and baraded. Josh made Woody play him by winning a few games with his defense.

Meanwhile Antoine Walker and Al Harrington could have damn near 10 turnovers in a row and he wouldn't even look their way. Not a word, no benching, nothing. Let Diaw make one mistake and he is either benched for 3 games or getting his ear chewed out by Woody. I use to hate that about Woody. He was extremely two faced with preferential treatment of the players he liked.

He has gotten much better this year because he finally started punishing Al for his blunders, but year 1 he was terrible and that is one of the main reason Diaw is not with us and why Diaw could never get going in Atlanta....but Diaw had a lot of talent.