Can Woody Win Enough Games Next Year To Justify

[Traceman]

the Hawks bringing him back? I'm just curious if there is ANYTHING that he can do to satisfy this group. Something tells me that if we win 50 next year, many here will be saying we would have won 60 with a real coach.

In my opinion, if we win 50 or more next year, bringing Woody back was a GREAT decision. If we win between 45-49, it was a good decision. If we win 43-44, it was an okay decision. If we win 42 or less, it was a bad decision.

So is there a number that Woody can win that any of you will admit that bringing him back was a good decision? This should be interesting.

[AHF]

I think your numbers are pretty reasonable Trace. If the Hawks win 50, I will be the first to buy Woodson a beer and thank him for sticking it out.

I don't see any justification for not having a winning record next year, assuming we return our core. This team has significant talent and now has some real experience under their belts with guys like Chillz and Josh Smith being in their fifth year. 45+ and I'll say I was wrong about how Woodson would handle this team going forward. Anything other than a winning record and I will absolutely feel ownership/Sund set this team back by returning Woodson.

[AtLaS]

I don't think so. JJ played an additional 25 games, Childress and Marvin played more, we added Horford and Acie, and had Bibby for 30 games and STILL only improved by 7 wins. If we were healthy LAST year we probably could have accomplished that.

[thefloydian]

If we win 50 next year I won't complain, but I will still feel like Woody is holding the team back. He is a horrible coach. Unless he completely changes the way he approaches the game, my opinion won't change.

[Traceman]

This team should be above .500 WORST CASE next year (assuming no catastrophic injuries of course - nagging injuries are to be expected). I don't think Woody can use youth as an excuse going forward either. This team still has a few holes (most teams do) but with a healthy Bibby on board and with the core returning, this team should be ready to become relevant.

If Sund can add veteran size and a veteran shooter, Woody will REALLY have no excuse. I wonder what Mike Finley will command on the open market? He could be just the type of cheap vet who can really help this team.

[coachx]

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In my opinion, if we win 50 or more next year, bringing Woody back was a GREAT decision. If we win between 45-49, it was a good decision. If we win 43-44, it was an okay decision. If we win 42 or less, it was a bad decision.

If we wind up with the 4th seed or higher I would call it a great move no matter what the win total is. I would not expect Phil Jackson to win 50 games with this young bunch next year.

The line between great, good, and OK is razor thin.

46 wins and up = great decision (9 win improvement is great enough for me)

45 wins or less but 4th seed in East = still a great decision

44 - 43 wins = good decision (while finshing 5th - 6th in East)

41 - 42 wins = OK decision / expected progression of a young team / 4-5 win improvement

38 - 40 wins = poor decision and very possible major changes to he core of the roster

37 wins or less = fans may run the ASG out of town and major changes definately happen to the roster.

[Traceman]

[Admin]

Are you serious? If we win 50 games you will feel like another coach could have gotten us more wins? It seems to me that you are showing no ability to keep an open mind that just as young players improve, so do young coaches.

To answer the original question, anything over 45 wins and I will consider it a great move. Anything under 42 wins and I will consider it a bad move. Anything in between will be a questionable move as it's possible another coach could have gotten more, but at the same time could have gotten less.

I'd like to see us win 27 games at home next year and 18-20 on the road. I really don't think that is an outrageous expectation. That would be a 2 game home improvement and 6-8 game improvement on the road.

[EazyRoc]

We better not limp into the playoffs next year. I could care less if we've got 45 or 50 wins, but if we are not able to secure a playoff spot without praying Team X loses, etc. then it will have been a terrible move. I'm not a big fan of Mike Woodson, but there are worse coaches out there. Even though he hasn't really been all that good, and as much as I hate to admit this, he deserves another year after riding out with a team that has been the youngest in the league for some time now.

[frosgrim]

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Are you serious? If we win 50 games you will feel like another coach could have gotten us more wins? It seems to me that you are showing no ability to keep an open mind that just as young players improve, so do young coaches.

To answer the original question, anything over 45 wins and I will consider it a great move. Anything under 42 wins and I will consider it a bad move. Anything in between will be a questionable move as it's possible another coach could have gotten more, but at the same time could have gotten less.

I'd like to see us win 27 games at home next year and 18-20 on the road. I really don't think that is an outrageous expectation. That would be a 2 game home improvement and 6-8 game improvement on the road.

I agree winning on the road is critical next season. Road wins comes from two places: vets and coaching. On a young team, coaching is going to mean a lot more than on a more vet team. Thus, Woodson, with current roster, needs to show serious improvement in how he manages games.

For me, the team should win 44 games next year (+/-3). With those wins then I think Woodson has done a good job with the team. Anything less than 41 wins and its an abject failure.

50 wins, then I will take back everything I have said about the man. That would be increadible. I don't think the current team can get there, but if Sund pulls off a trade for a shooter or a big man, then that win total should move up to around 46-48.

[TheTrueSiete]

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the Hawks bringing him back? I'm just curious if there is ANYTHING that he can do to satisfy this group. Something tells me that if we win 50 next year, many here will be saying we would have won 60 with a real coach.

In my opinion, if we win 50 or more next year, bringing Woody back was a GREAT decision. If we win between 45-49, it was a good decision. If we win 43-44, it was an okay decision. If we win 42 or less, it was a bad decision.

So is there a number that Woody can win that any of you will admit that bringing him back was a good decision? This should be interesting.

I'll agree with these specs...

7

[thefloydian]

Quote:

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Are you serious? If we win 50 games you will feel like another coach could have gotten us more wins? It seems to me that you are showing no ability to keep an open mind that just as young players improve, so do young coaches.

To answer the original question, anything over 45 wins and I will consider it a great move. Anything under 42 wins and I will consider it a bad move. Anything in between will be a questionable move as it's possible another coach could have gotten more, but at the same time could have gotten less.

I'd like to see us win 27 games at home next year and 18-20 on the road. I really don't think that is an outrageous expectation. That would be a 2 game home improvement and 6-8 game improvement on the road.

Yes, I'm serious. Woody is an awful coach. There isn't an aspect of his coaching that I would consider "good." I'm amazed the ASG has decided to bring him back.

What shocks me is that if the team won 50 games next year, you wouldn't think Woody was holding them back. I'm willing to watch next year, and if Woody changes his coaching, and actually helps the team out, I will admit it, but I'm not expecting it.

[Admin]

How can you possibly say that a team that wins 50 games (a 13 game improvement no less) has been held back by their coach?? In order for you to justify that statement you are saying that with another coach we would be a 60 win team. Do you honestly believe we have the talent (at this point in their careers) to win 60 games? Only ONE team in the league won that many games this year and that is one of the most talented teams in recent memory.

The Lakers with arguably the best player on the planet and arguably the best coach ever only won 42 games last year. Were they held back by Phil Jackson? They were certainly as talented as us and had more veteran experience plus a true superstar.

[Diesel]

42 being the magical number is fair.

I expect having a healthy Bibby and maybe a healthy Speedy could catapult us a little. BUT.. the East will be stronger. Sund needs to consider that.

[Admin]

I wouldn't count on the East being stronger. We thought that coming into this season, just as we do every year at this time.

[AtLaS]

45+ wins will make me happy. That's assuming we resign our key players, though.

[JackB1]

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the Hawks bringing him back? I'm just curious if there is ANYTHING that he can do to satisfy this group. Something tells me that if we win 50 next year, many here will be saying we would have won 60 with a real coach.

In my opinion, if we win 50 or more next year, bringing Woody back was a GREAT decision. If we win between 45-49, it was a good decision. If we win 43-44, it was an okay decision. If we win 42 or less, it was a bad decision.

So is there a number that Woody can win that any of you will admit that bringing him back was a good decision? This should be interesting.

I don't judge Woody on his record anyway...even with it being as horrible as it is. I judge him by doing what a good coach is SUPPOSED to do:

-motivate his players

-have them prepared for their opponent

-draw up plays during key timeouts

-adjust to what's happening on the floor

-command respect and attention from his players

-substitute players appropriately

-help players reach their full potential

-get the most out of each player's abilities

-coordinate offensive and defensive strategy

IMO, Woody is terrible at all of these. Oh yea and he has a horrible record too

The Hawks improved last year due to one thing.........Al Horford. Not because of

Woody's coaching. We won those 3 games vs Boston at home because of the

crowd...not because of Woody. We BARELY made it into the playoffs and we stumbled

in backwards. Does anyone remember Miami owning us with their scrubs?

[Plainview1981]

How are they going to get better? They don't have a playing style or a bench and the Hawks are one of the worst defensive teams in the league. How can you win games like that? How can you really expect to win with no playing style?

[Gray Mule]

If we have these two on the same page - This is what we need - And this is how we do it.

Then, we can expect good things to happen. Somehow, I get the feeling that everyone

wasn't together before - You don't try to fire the Head Coach if you are working closely

with each other. Someone was wrong. We don't really know which one, we just know

that there was a major disagreement.

Apparently, from what we hear, if we can believe what's been said, most of the players

wanted Woodson back. We know that at least JJ did. We assume others did also.

We all see weaknesses in the Hawks. We expect some moves to be made by the

new GM, whether thru trades, free agents or undrafted kids coming out, since we

have no pick this season. We can't trade away our next year's first round pick.

I believe the NBA forbids a team going two years with no first round pick.

Should be interesting to see who we have for assistant coaches for the upcoming

season. This can make or break a team, IMHO, because a head coach can't do

everything by himself. Hopefully, we have some great ones and we really work them.

Hawks ended up far below my hopes of a .500% season last year, yet managed to

secure the final spot in the playoffs. There they looked like a bunch of bums on

the road but played like championship contenders at home. Two entirely different

teams.

Woodson ain't the top coach in the NBA. Far from it. Our team needs to improve,

especially on the road. Can't blame it all on Woodson - but he played a part in

our road record. With our young guys growing into mature, veteran players AND

our Head Coach growing into a veteran, mature coach, I expect much more out

of both the team AND Woodson in the upcoming season.

If we can't play a few games over the .500% this upcoming season, them the only

excuse I will find reasonable is major injuries to key players. Another sub .500%

season just doesn't cut it. We know winning is possible - We all witnessed it in

the playoffs against the Celtics in Atlanta. We expect more of that same effort

in the coming season from everyone involved with the Hawks.

[thescout5]

Woody better have this team playing above 500 or he needs to be fired period. This guy has had 4 yrs to put it together and now 1 to 2 more yrs depending how he does. The players probably wanted him back so they can play like they are now one on one matchups and not have anyone crack the whip at the them.

This will be the year the players need to wake up or there needs to be significant player movement to get better none of this wait till they mature crap. If we see the same blundering mistakes by Woody and players not performing again they'll have no excuse to fall back on. Oh except that get one more easy year before they move on meanwhile the fan is stuck with another year wasted and a new crew to come in.