Billy Knight: Exploring the mind of our GM

[BHayley]

Most of us can describe Billy Knight with 6 words:

Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Brandon Roy. However, I have started a thread where we examine his tenure with the Hawks and list his positive and negative traits thus far.

Positives:

-Despite the players he passed on, he has formed a very exciting nucleus with great potential (JJ / Smoove/ Marvin / Horford / Law /Sheld*E*n)

-Doesn't let other teams jack us off in trades (#11 for Ridnour / ZaZa+Marvin+Lue+two picks for Amare)

-Disciplines players correclty and doesn't show preferential treatment (suspended Smoove and Salim accordingly)

Negatives:

-TERRIBLE public speaker. If you heard his interview the day after the lottery, it went something like this "um we are um looking to get um players um that will um help um this team um." Basically, every other thing he says is "um" or "we are looking for players to help us be a better team."

-Very stubborn when looking into franchise-changing or franchise-ameliorating trades

I feel I could've added much more to both aspects, but will maybe later.

Thoughts?

[Hawk88]

I really believe Billy Knight takes way to much heat. He is actually proved to be a good talent evaulator. Think of the Hawks picks before Knight, maybe the worst of any franchise of any sports, the list is amazing....Keefe, Bowdler, Edwards, Priest Lauderdale, McLoud...unbelievable. They just sucked.

Knights picks Gasol, M. Williams (ok, yuck), Josh Smith (@17), Josh Childress, Diaw (worked for Phoenix, but aren't we all glad we are paying him 9 million a year, folks forget this when analyzing the Johnson trade), brought in Joe Johnson. Joe Johnson who wants to be a Hawk.

Speedy and Sheldon (over Roy) are weak, but it's not over with them yet. They should both perform better this year.

We have 0 bad contracts right now, and Billy Knight is very limited in the trades he can make. Face it, these Owners aren't looking sign or trade for anybody to a max contract.

So given the situtation Billy is in he has put this franchise in a enviable position talent and money wise.

SO as long as it's not a personality contest, I like what BIlly Knight has done.

Hawk88

[pound4pound]

Loyalty to Mike Woodson: There is no plausible explanation as to why a coach with 13, 26, and 30 wins the past three years would get an opportunity to have a fourth year.

[atlien110]

seriously who knows what's going on in bk's head. i have to say he has been somewhat of a fair talent evaluator. but on the flip side he obviously has some kind of infatuation with players that are long, versatile and can play multiple positions. this usually translates into 6'8 swingmen or 6'8 forwards/centers. i think in order to be a good gm you have to believe in your philosophy and yourself. however, i just think sometimes he needs to re-evaluate the worth of other positions on a team. sure pg's and centers don't look as exciting as swingmen that can shoot and jump out the roof but they are also positions that need to be manned by quality players.

hopefully it all works out, i just wouldn't bet the house on it.

[AnakinJoe]

I will NEVER believe that a GM would rather have 8 players earning rookie salaries (6 of whom will likely be among the 9 most used players), rather than acquire proven vets through trades or FA signings. So I firmly believe that unlike most GMs, BK operates with one hand tied behind his back and little if any safety net. Dumars makes a bone-headed draft day decision, he makes a trade for an expiring big contract and a 1st round pick. We get stuck with our mistakes because we can't get all 87 owners to agree on anything.

My biggest problem with BK is that he doesn't know how to hire a great head coach. And in my opinion, that is far more important than acquiring talent for the roster. A great coach with a great scheme could get middling NBA players to over-perform (at least for a while). A bad coach can ruin a group of talented players. See Nellie and GS for the former and LB and Knicks for the latter. BK built a good roster in Memphis but refused to hire the right coach. It was Hubie Brown that made that roster sing. BK would NEVER have hired Hubie. Much like now, he would never hire Bill Laimbeer (who would do wonders for this team).

Woody is a remarkably bad game day coach. This team has no playing personality. He has 1 secret game time weapon, an effective zone defense. I think he is probably good for the immature players when they lose focus, but isn't that the job of a great assistant, to build those mentoring relationships with individual players? Woody is a very good assistant and a very bad Head Coach. Woody has no idea how to execute BK's vision of 5 ball players without defined positions. And that further promotes the dysfunction that permeates this entire organization.

[BHayley]

I completely agree with everything you said. Didn't we pass on Karl Malone for John Koncack (I don't even know if that's the right name...I'm only 18).

I am also glad we have no bad contracts. JJ is earning every cent of his contract, Josh Smith has the best current contract in the league (1 million for someone probably just as good as someone soon to make 18 times as much [Rashard])

[AHF]

Quote:

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I completely agree with everything you said. Didn't we pass on Karl Malone for John Koncack (I don't even know if that's the right name...I'm only 18).

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Yes. We passed on Malone, Chris Mullin, Charles Oakley and others.

[Guest Walter]

Quote:

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My biggest problem with BK is that he doesn't know how to hire a great head coach. And in my opinion, that is far more important than acquiring talent for the roster. A great coach with a great scheme could get middling NBA players to over-perform (at least for a while). A bad coach can ruin a group of talented players. See Nellie and GS for the former and LB and Knicks for the latter. BK built a good roster in Memphis but refused to hire the right coach. It was Hubie Brown that made that roster sing. BK would NEVER have hired Hubie. Much like now, he would never hire Bill Laimbeer (who would do wonders for this team).

Woody is a remarkably bad game day coach. This team has no playing personality. He has 1 secret game time weapon, an effective zone defense. I think he is probably good for the immature players when they lose focus, but isn't that the job of a great assistant, to build those mentoring relationships with individual players? Woody is a very good assistant and a very bad Head Coach. Woody has no idea how to execute BK's vision of 5 ball players without defined positions. And that further promotes the dysfunction that permeates this entire organization.

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Anyone have an idea about Bill Laimbeer's readiness for a head coaching position? Should we ever resolve our ownership problem I hope the first thing we do is bring in some talent at the coaching position. We might be stuck with BK's picks and there isn't a pick coming up this offseason so we could use a good look at them without Woodson and while BK can conceivably do little harm.