A dynamic that needs to be evaluated

[KB21]

I thought about this in the thread that is about Joe Johnson wanting Mike Woodson to come back, and I wanted to make this topic a separate thread. An interesting dynamic to keeping Mike Woodson has to be evaluated.

The first thing the Hawks need to evaluate is what they are going to do with the president/general manager position in the front office. A couple of questions need to be asked about this.

1. How true are the reports that Billy Knight tried to fire Mike Woodson on three separate occasions this past season?

2. Depending upon the truth of those rumors, is the relationship between Mike Woodson and Billy Knight strained beyond repair?

The decision to keep Mike Woodson will be a difficult one. Based on interviews that I have heard from Mike Woodson ever since the rumors came out about Billy trying to fire him, it really sounds to me like that relationship is strained to the point that one of the two men is going to have to leave the franchise.

Now, what this does is create another dynamic. If the Hawks desire to keep Mike Woodson as the head coach, and Billy Knight decides to leave the organization, who will the Hawks get to be the general manager? Keep in mind that in this situation, the general manager would be coming in without having any say in who the head coach will be, so the Hawks will be in essence trying to find a GM that is willing to work with Mike Woodson.

Do the Hawks look to promote from within? Gary Fitzsimmons is the Hawks assistant GM and interviewed last offseason for the Seattle Supersonics GM position. Will they look to promote from within since Gary is familiar with Mike Woodson? Will they look to give Mike Woodson a little more say in the personnel decisions that he has openly criticized recently? Will one of the owners try to act as the general manager?

With Joe Johnson coming out in support of Mike Woodson, the chances of him being kept as the head coach increase. So, it will be interesting to follow what the Hawks end up doing with the general manager position if they decide to give Mike a new contract.

[Admin]

Let's say that the ASG decides to bring them both back, with all of the drama that came out I would be shocked to see them be able to work together again if what was said was true. So what if Woody decides that he doesn't want to come back? I think it's entirely possible that could lead to us having to bring in a new coach even if the ASG doesn't want one.

[Swatguy]

I believe BK is gone. He may find himself in NY. Fitzsimmons has to be a Strong consideration as well as 'Nique. Yep 'Nique in tandom with Fitzsimmons is attractive. As far as staff I see Alton Lister staying as well as Bender but Drew, Fizdale, and Brown will walk to Sactown, ???? and Charlotte.

Woody is back but not surprised if JSmith is moved. I wouldn't mind a JSmith and Marvin for Maggette and Kamen.

[KB21]

That could certainly be the case, and it is something I didn't think about when making this post. I really think this is going to be a situation where Mike and Billy both take the "either he goes or I go" stand.

[Admin]

Then again if what we have heard is true then a he or I stance would lead to BK's exit since the ASG has seemingly backed Woody thus far. Of course that's all based on speculation from the Sekou article and what not, but it will be interesting to see where this goes.

[frosgrim]

I see two possibilities from the ASG side:

1) they will clean house this offseason- firing Woodson in the middle of the season made no sense to them since they already had plans to replace both the GM and the coach.

2) The ASG wants to keep the status quo. They will find a way to mend fences between Woodson and BK to keep things moving the way they are.

IMO, #1 is more likely considering:

A) Woodson and BK are not talking to each other. That much is certain. Woodson is almost daily pandering to keep his job (yes he wants to come back to the Hawks). This evidence suggests strongly that Sekou was right-on with his report.

B) There have been reports in both the Atlanta and national publications that the Washington faction of the ASG wants to clean house. Gearon has stayed those off. My guess was that the ultimate decission was to wait until the offseason and fully evaluate where the Hawks are. Washington at this point I don't think stands for keeping either BK or Woody.

C) The continuing rumors that the ASG is talking to the likes of LB. The ASG can't keep a secret- almost every rumor that has started around this ownership group has been shown to have some validity.

D) The firing of Bernie Mullen: I think Mullen supported BK during the firing talks of BK. Mullen took a bullet for BK in this discussion. Something along the lines of, if you don't support your basketball people to make decissions then I don't want to be a part of this organization. This makes sense due to the fact that Phillips Arena, which Mullen ran, has been a cash cow for the ASG outside of the sports teams. Just because the teams aren't pulling in a lot of income doesn't mean that the ASG are loosing money; in fact, that arena is giving them all the income they need. Mullen was in charge of the arena, thus Mullen left due to a deep rift in the way he thought things should be run on the basketball side- just my speculation.

FWIW, I think Gearon believed in #2 for a while. I am not sure where he is today. I do think that Gearon believes himself to be the ultimate voice in what goes on with the Hawks and he is acting like it. The rest of the owners will have to convience Mike that he isn't the most knowlegable cat in the room and he needs to heed what others are saying.

I endorse a Fitz/Fratello brain trust. Once hired the ASG just needs to say: here is the pot of $, go spend it the way you see fit.

[KB21]

Good post.

Knowing how much of a fan that Michael Gearon Jr. is of this team and how long he has been a fan of this team, it would make sense that the coach he would like to get if he wants to make a change is Mike Fratello.

Do you think Gearon might just push for a Dominique Wilkins/Mike Fratello combo to run the organization? I think it is a very possible set up.

[frosgrim]

Quote:

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Good post.

Knowing how much of a fan that Michael Gearon Jr. is of this team and how long he has been a fan of this team, it would make sense that the coach he would like to get if he wants to make a change is Mike Fratello.

Do you think Gearon might just push for a Dominique Wilkins/Mike Fratello combo to run the organization? I think it is a very possible set up.

That is certainly a possibility. Nique is the voice of the Hawks right now. Having go into the FO makes some sense. I do know that the ASG has been delaying giving Nique partial ownership due to the Belkin saga. Moving Nique to GM, then makes some sense. My questions about Nique:

Can he play poker? That is can he bluff his way through a trade? I am not sure that this is a strong point of his.

Can he evaluate talent? Again, I have seen Nique only praise players. That is normal for the position he's in, but I wonder if he can actually be critical?

I am just not sure of Nique's credentials as a GM. I would rather see a guy that has already been involved heavily with GMing be the next GM. An assistant GM Fitz or someone from a successful organization just seems like the better overall choice.

[KB21]

It seems that the players that become GMs end up putting the team in salary cap hell. Look at Isiah Thomas in New York and now Steve Kerr in Phoenix. It does seem like a wiser move to get an assistant GM or a GM that is currently out of work.

[thescout5]

Building a team starts with the GM and I am not sure Nique has the skills to scout talent. The draft is the best way to build and to often you get players like Thomas that doesn't know how to scout so they just buy known players putting the team in cap hell. The Hawks need to find the best talent evaluator and then add the right free agents. BK has shown he can't put a team together he has had 4 yrs . Phoenix seems to find players out of no where at least before Kerr got there that is the type of GM needed whoever that was a solid talent evaluator.

[bronnt]

Agreed on almost all points. Love Nique, but I'm not sure that former players make the best GMs. Nique is best off in the position that he's in, and I believe he'll be made a partial owner once the Belkin dispute finds some kind of resolution.

I just have to believe Woodson is gone. The ownership right nwo must be evaluating whether BK is the man they want running the basketball side of this organization. There's probably some debate on both sides (personally I wouldn't mind keeping him) but either way it doesn't look good for Mike Woodson. The decision about BK will be made first.

If BK is not fired, then it means the ownership group elects to trust him and he'll be able to hire his own head coach. It's obvious he doesn't want Woody any more and would almost certainly hire someone else.

If BK is not retained, ASG will hire a GM. Assuming this is a guy with some experience, either as an established or assistant GM, he'll want to bring in his own head coach, who presumably shares philosophies with him. Woodson is not retained and we move forward with a new head coach.

I'm just assuming that the ownership group is presently debating whether BK is retained or not. It could be that they'll try to mend the rift between BK and Woody (hopefully that's not what's going on) and move forward. I really hope that they'll trying to get D'Antoni in here for an interview, though. Otherwise he'll be signed before we have a chance to get our FO in order.

[KB21]

D'Antoni doesn't give enough attention to the defense for my tastes. When a coach like Mike Fratello is available, I don't think you go with D'Antoni who will be all offense and no defense.

[AnakinJoe]

I had never heard or read anything about Levinson and his crew wanting to make a move with the Hawks GM/Head Coach. Are you sure that you are thinking about the Washington group and not Belkin in Boston?

Also, I never read anything that proved Gearon (or anyone esle with the Hawks) were talking to LB. I read the speculation but nothing that validated the rumors. And given that he accepted a lesser job with Charlotte, I figured the rumors were bad.

I miss things just like everyoe else, so I may have missed those reports/articles. I'm REALLY surprised at the news regarding the D.C. owners, given that they had previously been in lock-step with Gearon (at least seemingly). Heck, Levinson doesn't want to fire Waddell and he is every bit of a disaster at his job as BK.