What are the chances Acie Law, IV starts?

[bumpyphish1]

A poll, for various stages of the season.

[exodus]

Assuming you voted in your own poll our answers were identical. Go figure.

[TexasPete]

Woody tends to go slow with rookies so it may be awhile. Plus, the Woodmans job is on the line from game 1 so he may view a rookie starting PG as a risk. I want Acie to play a lot either way to see if he's finally the answer.

I'm tired of PG so I hope he pans out as a franchise future type PG.

[exodus]

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Woody tends to go slow with rookies so it may be awhile. Plus, the Woodmans job is on the line from game 1 so he may view a rookie starting PG as a risk. I want Acie to play a lot either way to see if he's finally the answer.

I'm tired of PG so I hope he pans out as a franchise future type PG.

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I am confident that Acie will outplay Speedy so badly that Woody will be forced to start him.

[TexasPete]

Speedy will likely keep building houses on offense. He's a good defensive PG off the bench and I hope Acie gets a death grip on the job and doesn't let it go.

Lue just dribbles too damn much and doesn't get his teammates involved but Woodman likes him.

If Law gets off slowly I would not be shocked for Woody to ride the vets cause that's his M.O.

[Buzzard]

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If Law gets off slowly I would not be shocked for Woody to ride the vets cause that's his M.O.

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I went 50/50 due to the veteran is a safer play mentality of some coaches...

[thesheedera]

I don't think Woody has underplayed rookies at all. Smith, Childress and Marvin all played a lot as rookies and 2nd year players. Salim has actually gotten decent minutes for a 2nd rounder. Shelden got a lot of burn when healthy, but was in the doghouse for a long stretch. And as much as we all hope Solomon has potential, he's lucky he got drafted and isn't in the NBDL.

What young guys has Woody held back?

[bumpyphish1]

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Assuming you voted in your own poll our answers were identical. Go figure.

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Yeah, I guess it is only Horford you are sadly ignorant about.

[exodus]

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Assuming you voted in your own poll our answers were identical. Go figure.

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Yeah, I guess it is only Horford you are sadly ignorant about.

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Yeah it is pretty ignorant to think that the Hawks couldn't succeed with the smallest starting center in the NBA.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

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I don't think Woody has underplayed rookies at all. Smith, Childress and Marvin all played a lot as rookies and 2nd year players. Salim has actually gotten decent minutes for a 2nd rounder. Shelden got a lot of burn when healthy, but was in the doghouse for a long stretch. And as much as we all hope Solomon has potential, he's lucky he got drafted and isn't in the NBDL.

What young guys has Woody held back?

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Show me some proof that they all played a lot of minutes under Woody as a rookie. Like someone else said, you have to force the issue for Woody to play the rookies.

[OGRat]

I am expecting Acie to be a big part of the team this year. Even if he does not start, I expect him to get about 25 min per game.

I think he will be starting before the All Star break, because I expect Speedy to be in a suit by then, and we already know that Lue and AJ should be back ups. Acie will get his chance.

[thesheedera]

J Smith played 28 minutes and started 59 games as a rookie. He's started 145 out of 152 games since then. he was only a #17 pick. He showed he had crazy talent, Woody played him.

Childress played 30 minutes and started 44 games as a rookie. His starts have decreased with Marvin's presence and or need for him to backup at SG, but he's averaged 30 and 37 mpg in the following two seasons.

Marvin played 25 mpg as a rookie, started 7 games, and then 34 mpg as a 2nd year guy starting 63/64 games he played in.

Salim played 20 mpg as a 2nd round draft pick rookie. That's pretty dang solid for a 2nd rounder! His pt actually decreased from his rookie to sophomore season to 17 mpg.

Shelden played 19 mpg and got 31 starts as a rookie, even with a banged up shoulder for a majority of the season.

Solomon got 12 mpg and 8 starts as a 2nd round draft pick rookie. He played in 58 games. Many 2nd rounders either don't make rosters, get sent down to the NBDL, or only play in a handful of games in trash time.

Not all of them are getting a ton of playing time, but they've all been given significant opportunities considering where they were drafted. It's in large part because Woodson hasn't really had any other options, but it's ridiculous to me to say that he has a problem with playing young guys.

Almost all he plays are young guys!

[Diesel]

JSmoove's rookie Numbers increased when Al got hurt and Walker was moved.

[thesheedera]

That doesn't mean that Woodson doesn't play young guys though.

The evidence is overwhelmingly clear that he plays a lot of young guys for a lot of minutes. As a I wrote above, much of it is out of necessity, but no other team other than possibly Charlotte and most likely Seattle this season has been giving this many minutes to rookies and second year players.

I think the only case that can be made is that Shelden didn't get a humongous amount of minutes, but he did have a shoulder injury almost teh whole year.

What young players' have been getting the short end of the playing stick? And if you have examples of guys, who among them would be getting minutes under any other coach for any other team?

Woody's been playing young guys at least as much as any other coach would.

[Johnnybravo4]

I think Salim would get more time. In terms of skills there is no difference between him and Ben Gordon.

[Diesel]

I think when you look at the timing of our injuries and the needs on the floor, there's a better correlation to our Rookies mpg than for just Woody playing the rookies.

There was no need to not play Smoove and Chillz more in their rookie year... I mean.. Come on: Kenny Anderson and Kevin Willis.

Then there's his track record with guys like:

Batista, Diaw, Solomon, Salim, and Ivey... Not to say that any of these guys were World beaters but it became obvious that Woody is more likely to play Vets... Look at how much he plays Lue and Lo?

[thesheedera]

Lo's pt is the only one that I agree with. I have no idea why that man's being paid by an NBA team at all. Put him in a suit and get a clipboard in his hand asap.

But I can't agree that Woody's been hesitant to play young guys across the board, as some seem to think. There's been way too much pt for rooks and sophs for me to get on board with that.

In some cases he definitely chooses the vet over the young guy, but I don't think that's uncommon at all in the NBA. We don't see practices, we don't see behind the scenes, we don't know when a guy's on the bench because of something he needs to learn or something he did to deserve the pine.

There seems to be a blanket assumption that Woody won't give young guys opportunities. I think it's a case by case thing. Some guys have been given every possible chance regardless of their age, while some have been limited. But you can't say it's an absolute that he won't play young guys.

[exodus]

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I think Salim would get more time. In terms of skills there is no difference between him and Ben Gordon.

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[MoonKnight]

Given our current roster development, we need to acquire team chemistry as soon as possible for this season to have a chance of success. We cannot build team chemistry with a point (Craig) who will only play 30 to 40 games a year due to injury and will need to sit down a game to "rest" his joints after every third game. Law should have a great chance to start the season if not soon thereafter. Lue has said he is a backup point guard and AJ will likely be the starter if Law falters and when Craig breaks down for good this preseason. Law is truly the "X" factor this season.

[AtLaS]

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Assuming you voted in your own poll our answers were identical. Go figure.

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Yeah, I guess it is only Horford you are sadly ignorant about.

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Yeah it is pretty ignorant to think that the Hawks couldn't succeed with the smallest starting center in the NBA.

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Ben Wallace?