Bringing up an old topic.

[Lrenfro]

I had a nice long conversation with Nique last week. It was a real talk type conversation where he told me how he really felt and not the typical superstar fan convo. With that in mind I will not discuss the details of the conversation because I am not sure that what he told me would exactly make him employee of the month. But we did discuss his thoughts on being a coach or part of the coaching staff. I know when we brought this up before there were mixed feelings. I just wanted to know what the opinnion of the board was to date. We talked about HawkSquawk he told me that the front office is well aware of Hawksquawk and the opinion of the fans are heavily concidered when making decisions. He told me that in order for him to become coach the "City" would have to get behind him. The City would have be heard. I just wonder what the city (Fans) would have to say when they are heard.

[ATLBob]

Every aspect of such a possibility excites me except one: experience. Anyone care to describe Nique's coaching style?

Were I to become convinced that he could coach this team, and strong assistants were on board, I would sign on quickly.

In other words, I think he would likely need to join the coaching staff in some meaningful capacity first, which I'd really like to see.

I mean, it's 2007 and Nique's still the man most synonomous with Hawks basketball.

[AtLaS]

Yeah I agree, I'd like to see him as an assistant for at least a couple of years. I don't know that he could just step in and become a head coach. I do like the idea though, because Nique actually represents what's good in our organization.

[Popeye]

Anyone except Woodson!

[hawksfan_21]

Quote:

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Yeah I agree, I'd like to see him as an assistant for at least a couple of years. I don't know that he could just step in and become a head coach. I do like the idea though, because Nique actually represents what's good in our organization.

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i agree about the assistant, but love the idea of him as a hawks coach, but if he did step in he prolly could do a better job...

[macdaddy]

This might be his year. As a midseason replacement for Woodson it give the owners basically a free trial under the interim tag to see what he can do. Bird and Thomas never had assistant coaching jobs (that I remember). And what evidence do we have that good assistants make good head coaches?

Nique for coach.

[Diesel]

I love Nique and the Nique years. For that reason, I don't want him to be coach. We are in a position that is 60% chance of failure by any coach. I'm not saying Nique doesn't have the knowledge but there's historically two things killing him being a part of that Magic 40%...

1. His experience. Has Nique coached anywhere? I mean, he didn't really have a look of a future coach hen he was playing (Like Doc Rivers, Mark Jackson, Byron Scott) did.

2. Rarely do superstars make good coaches.

I would rather see Nique become a GM in the mold of Larry Legend, Elgin Baylor, and Joe Dumars. For him, I think it's a better fit. He speaks well to the press. I think he could make sound business decisions & Half of the guys playing now (who are superstar talents) idolize Nique and would probably love to play for his team.

[coachx]

For Nique to be the coach he must be in a win / win situation. The situation must be one set up for him to succeed. I don't think the current situation is right for Nique.

If Woody is ever fired then the next coach will have pressure for instant improvement and success.

I don't like the face of the franchise being the head coach. To much criticism and too much to lose. I don't want the city to turn against Nique if we find out he is not cut from the NBA head coaching cloth.

[Lrenfro]

Thats just it, over the years the bar for improvement has drasticly lowered. I asked why Billy and Woody have so much security with the owneres? He said they don't, if we have another bad start I.E 2-8, Heads will roll. The way I see it is if we do start off that bad, with the team we have now it will not last. I think that would be a gelling process carried over from preseason. With that said and the fact that It does not take a hell of a lot to improve from last season How bad can Nique look. He told me he worked with Josh Smith for 15 min and changed his whole prospective on Basketball. He told me that he was the reason for The JS change the second half of the season. If that is true then Imagin what he could do with the team for even half a season. Granted he would work better with our bigger men and may leave our back court a little shabby. But isn't our team 70% or better big men. I mean Nique did not have the best handles in the NBA, but he could sure show us some postup moves.

[coachx]

Good points.

I wish Nique would work with Marvin like he did Smith. If he could get Marvin to be more agressive on the floor it would be a miracle. Get Marvin to do the spin move off the dribble that Nique perfected. This would help Marvin overcome his slower then average 1st step vs. SFs. Have Nique break out the old clips and show Marvin how to try to finish in traffic rather then just going for body contact and hoping for a foul. Give avoiding the contact a try so you can finish rather the purposely jumping into the heart of the defense when they are licking their chops. Utilize a pump fake for heaven sake. Use the long arms for some baby hooks. Help him take the next step. Marvin needs to show some growth. If he does not add to his limited offensive repretoir it is directly due to lack of work.

I really like Nique in a Assistant GM and Head of Player Development role. I would love to have Tree Rollins working with the bigs, Nique working with the Fowards and wings, and Mark Jackson, Mark Price, or Even Mookie in charge of developing Law at PG. Steve Smith seems to have a coaching mind too. He was alwayse very cerebral as a player.

I guess Alston is teaching the bigs...even though he was horrible as a player soes not mean he will be horrible as a coach.

[atlien]

lol, any hint on how negative 'Nique was on the prospects of this team?

1-10 scaleage maybe?

And I agree with what has been said; putting our most popular player of all time in a position where he is doomed to fail is good for nobody.

[TheDude]

Dominique would have to really get his feet wet as an assistant or coaching in NBDL or something before he should take the reigns of the team. Honestly I think that he might be better suited for GM.

[Johann]

I am skeptical about Nique as a head coach.

If it were my money and I were wanting to hire a nube to coach the Hawks, I would check out Stockton and see if he might be willing to give it a go.

[Lrenfro]

So to put a bottom line on things. Is it safe to say that if Nique needed support from the Squawk to become Coach of the Hawks if the need arises, he would be hard press to find it here?