COY=Crow ?

[Swatguy]

How many on this board will eat the "Crow Pie" when Coach Woodson wins "Coach of the Year"?

It is no mistake, to a man they point towards Woodson as the main reason of our recent successes.

If you have missed it, when guys speak of our defensive prowess, they are speaking of Woodson.

Some have seen his worth in spite of the players he had to work with. And yes the Hawks are playing Over their heads in terms of their youth.

[Diesel]

They will give the COY to either Doc Rivers or Flip Sanders... You can rest easy.

[coachx]

Quote:

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They will give the COY to either Doc Rivers or Flip Sanders... You can rest easy.

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?

If ATL finshes 4th in the EAST I think Woody stands a better shot of winning COY then coaches with very talented veteran teams. Just my opinion.

I'm pulling for Woody to get it b/c if he does the Hawks would have to have had a kick a** season.

[WraithSentinel]

Nobody will be eating crow. It is good to see the players finally buying into what he has been coaching. I mean it only took 3 years. If Woodson want to prove everyone wrong about what has been said about him in his first 3 years. He need to put together a string of playoff runs with the Hawks. First though he has to finish this season out by leading the Hawks to the playoffs. Just like there is a history of players doing well in the last year of their contracts. The same goes for coaches as well. A few recent examples is Nate McMillian and Sam Mitchell.

[frosgrim]

I have been one of Woodson's biggest critics, but he's seemed to have changed the way he coaches in the game. His substitution patterns are getting better, though I still think Sheldon needs more PT. So, if Woodson wins COY, I will eat crow, but more so, I will be happy that the Hawks won enough games to garner that honor.

Here is my current take on the Coach:

Woodson has let more offensive sets be introduced into the game. Those double screens that were run for Marvin last night have been what I have been calling for. He needs to keep adding in more plays so that in the 4th quarter the Hawks can keep teams guessing as to what is going to be run.

The defensive rotations are working now for two reasons: 1) Al Horford is a basketball player who can move on defense, 2) Marvin Williams understanding the rotations better (this is due to experience and Woodson's coaching). Those two improvements have helped a lot. What we now need is a PG who can handle the quicker guards that AJ* can no longer handle.

*Don't take this as a dig on AJ he has the offense going, but his legs just don't let him keep up w/ TJ Ford, Paul, ect.

[Diesel]

I've seen Jerry Sloan do a very good job with a Utah team for several years and never win coach of the year. It's like they don't care about a tremendous coaching effort. It's like all that they care about is who gets on ABC the most!

[KB21]

Oh, give me a friggin break!

There isn't a coach in the NBA that could have won with the team Mike Woodson inherited, and I highly doubt many other coaches would have done as good of a job of developing these younger players into a team.

Mike won't take the credit for it, but these young guys on this team are maturing largely because of Mike's coaching. He has stressed the importance of playing defense when most of you would have rather gone after a Paul Westhead type that would have ignored defense and told his athletes to just run up and down the court like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off.

Mike didn't do that. He stayed true to the basketball fundamentals he believes in and have been proven time and time again.

It doesn't matter what sport it is. You win with defense. It isn't some big mystery that this team is suddenly winning now. This team is the 5th best defensive team in the NBA over this past month. It's not a coincidence.

Mike Woodson is a heck of a coach. He always has been a heck of a coach, and unlike some other young coaches who get opportunities in bad situations, he was given a chance to grow along with his players. Billy Knight stood by his guns, and much like his player acquisitions during his time as GM of the Hawks, his decision to hire and retain Mike Woodson will be making a lot of you eat crow.

[WraithSentinel]

Let him accomplish something first. Then the respect will come. One thing that has always frustrated me when it come to this Hawks team over the last 3 years. Everyone always had a built in excuse ready to go. Now there is no room for any excuses. He lead this team to the playoffs then the respect for him as a coach will come.

[thesheedera]

Quote:

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How many on this board will eat the "Crow Pie" when Coach Woodson wins "Coach of the Year"?

It is no mistake, to a man they point towards Woodson as the main reason of our recent successes.

If you have missed it, when guys speak of our defensive prowess, they are speaking of Woodson.

Some have seen his worth in spite of the players he had to work with. And yes the Hawks are playing Over their heads in terms of their youth.

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I'll happily eat crow if the Hawks have a season deserving of a COY award for Woody.

I've repeatedly expressed my opinion that I have a ton of respect for him but don't have faith in him leading the franchise to contending territory. But if he can win COY (which would require a season several games over .500 I think) and we can get to contending territory soon, I'll be glad to jump on his bandwagon.

I'm cheering him on.

[Traceman]

Scott Skiles and Rick Carlisle were being hailed as two of the games best coaches and now both are jobless after their teams didn't perfrom up to expectations. If he's not careful, Lawrence Frank might be right behind them.

Doc Rivers was on the verge of being fired last year and now he is a COY candidate. Funny how 3 superstars with games who compliment each other perfectly can make you look smarter huh?

I have always thought that Woody has done a terrific job of developing our young players but a horrible job of making in game decisions. Now that we are winning, his sub patterns all of a sudden look a lot better or is it now that his sub patterns are better, we are all of a sudden winning? Bottom line? Who cares! Whatever is going on, Woody is CLEARLY doing a better job.

[DrReality]

If he deserves it and gets it . . . . . I'll gladly eat the crow.

[Final_quest]

Is there any chance that his "better" substitution patterns are the result to injuries? I mean if a guy is injured you can't rotate him in. If Lue would not have gotten injured and killed our offense would we even be in this position. Woodson is forced to play Marvin, JJ and AJ big minutes and all of a sudden we start playing well. Wonder what would have happend if all of those guys weren't injured at the same time?

[Gray Mule]

Our young guys are growing up.

Our coach has had a lot of growing to do also.

Woody is a lot more mature now. He didn't have

the horses to make a major push when he started.

As the players have matured AND Woody has grown

as a coach AND they, team and coach, have gotten

the time to grow together, we are seeing the results.

[Final_quest]

All of the sudden Woody has to make decisions with a full team, and we start playing bad.

Hmmmm................coincidence

Look who's eating crow now.

[Guest Walter]

Did KB go and have 2 surgeries like myself. Another conspicuous absence. Perhaps he's one of the 3 that voted "for" BK.

W

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Good call Quest, although Lue and Zaza don't play nearly enough to be the difference between wins and losses.

The Portland losses, getting blown out by Phoenix, losing to the Clips, and most of the other losses this month, can't be blamed on Lue and Zaza.

And like I said, if Mario West is the key to us winning, we're in trouble to begn with.

The recent troubles of JJ are a big reason. Also, we're not stopping anybody as a team recently.

One more thing, look at who we played in December. I forgot who said this during the win streak, but it could've been that we were feasting on teams worst than us, or teams struggling at that time ( Utah )

Come to think of it . . HOTLANTA said that !!!

It could be that we're good enough to beat bad teams most of the time, but struggle with teams at or slightly above our level . . especially on the road.

To me, these next 4 games will be very telling for us.

Jersey and Philly are definitely winnable games.

The Lakers will be in the middle of their long road trip without Bynum, so that's a winnable game.

And Cleveland is a little different squad withoit Varejao, so that should be a game we can take as well.

If we lose all 4, Woody should definitely be fired, because the confidence will be completely gone. If we lose 3, a trade should be imminent. If we split, nothing will be done, and the Hawks will just try to ride things out.

But if we win 3, it'll kind of back up my theory that the Hawks might just be a much better home team, than road team. Win all 4, and that will definitely be the case.

We're a team without a good veteran leader, so it may be that these young guys need the comfort of home in order to play a their highest level. On the road, the role players won't show up. At home, they usually perform well. On the road though, JJ probably needs to go off, in order for us to wn.