Did we even interview Avery.

[adrian]

He would have been great but too late know.

[Cwell]

no chance.He's said he has the best job of all the coaches thanks to Mark Cuban......getting paid to sit on his azz.

[Lascar78]

We didn't interview anyone.

[coachx]

We would have had to have waited unitl July 1 to interview anyone.

As has been said about the Avery and Saunders wet dreams. Simple economics and common sense would have never let either come to Atlanta for obvious reasons.

[AHF]

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We would have had to have waited unitl July 1 to interview anyone.

Not really. We would have just had to openly let it be known that our new GM was going to interview Woodson and other candidates for the head coaching job -- and thereby risk Woodson getting insulted and leaving on his own. There is nothing magical about July 1 or the fact that Woodson had a month left on his contract, though. Had Sund been hired on July 1, it would have been the exact same situation. He could not have interviewed candidates without risking losing Woodson -- and could have interviewed them if he was willing to let Woodson walk.

[coachx]

I think Woodson would have to fired or his contract would have to run out before you interview any one.

You cannot interview coaching candidates with a coach under contract. Woodson's contract ran out July 1. That is what is "magical" about that date.

[Lascar78]

Since when do you have to let a contract expire before you search for possible replacements? You absolutely can interview before the contract ends, especially when he has no duties left between the end of the season and the end of his contract. The only risk is woody getting upset and no longer wanting to return.

As for avery or flip being unattainable, you only think that because you have typical hawks' 2nd class citizen mentality. "Oh surely a poor sh!tty NBDL team like us couldn't get a real coach, so don't worry about it guys..." If we are to be a top notch team, we need to behave like one. Instead we make the worst coach in the east the longest tenured one and don't even ATTEMPT to interview the many better coaches that were available. Pathetic

[coachx]

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Since when do you have to let a contract expire before you search for possible replacements? You absolutely can interview before the contract ends, especially when he has no duties left between the end of the season and the end of his contract. The only risk is woody getting upset and no longer wanting to return.

As for avery or flip being unattainable, you only think that because you have typical hawks' 2nd class citizen mentality. "Oh surely a poor sh!tty NBDL team like us couldn't get a real coach, so don't worry about it guys..." If we are to be a top notch team, we need to behave like one. Instead we make the worst coach in the east the longest tenured one and don't even ATTEMPT to interview the many better coaches that were available. Pathetic

I guess I am wrong on the contract thing. Dolfan pointed this out to me yesterday and I took his word on it. I have been out of the country the last week so I thought I was repeating old news but maybe not.

As for Saunders and Avery you are just letting emotion get the best of you as you did last week when the same topic was discussed. Does a team have to pay their coach over $2,000,000 a year to be considered a first class organization in your book ? What is Doc Rivers making ? The Celtics kept Doc Rivers after a dissapointing season last year. Then they lost the lottery and traded away their Josh Smith (Jefferson) for KG and their high draft pick and Wally Z for Allen. Now with a solid veteran club people are saying Doc Rivers did the best coaching job in Finals history the other night. How quickly things can change.

I just have the common sense to know that a guy may not mind sitting on his rear for year to collect a $2,000,000 pay check. Call me crazy ! We have to pay either more then $2,000,000 a year for them to make $1 more then they would by spending the year on a Carribean island sipping Pina-coladas all year.

It all boils down to money Lascar and your smart enough to know what is practical and what is not under the ASG ownership with the court battle unresolved vs. one of their richer partners. Some money has been taken out of the pot by Belkin and some money has been taken out of the pot for the legal battle. Knowing this and rationalizing this is not the same as having a 2nd class or NBDL mentality as to why over $2,000,00 can't be coughed up right now while at the same time resigning the Joshes and filling out the roster.

[bronnt]

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Since when do you have to let a contract expire before you search for possible replacements? You absolutely can interview before the contract ends, especially when he has no duties left between the end of the season and the end of his contract. The only risk is woody getting upset and no longer wanting to return.

As for avery or flip being unattainable, you only think that because you have typical hawks' 2nd class citizen mentality. "Oh surely a poor sh!tty NBDL team like us couldn't get a real coach, so don't worry about it guys..." If we are to be a top notch team, we need to behave like one. Instead we make the worst coach in the east the longest tenured one and don't even ATTEMPT to interview the many better coaches that were available. Pathetic

I guess I am wrong on the contract thing. Dolfan pointed this out to me yesterday and I took his word on it. I have been out of the country the last week so I thought I was repeating old news but maybe not.

As for Saunders and Avery you are just letting emotion get the best of you as you did last week when the same topic was discussed. Does a team have to pay their coach over $2,000,000 a year to be considered a first class organization in your book ? What is Doc Rivers making ? The Celtics kept Doc Rivers after a dissapointing season last year. Then they lost the lottery and traded away their Josh Smith (Jefferson) for KG and their high draft pick and Wally Z for Allen. Now with a solid veteran club people are saying Doc Rivers did the best coaching job in Finals history the other night. How quickly things can change.

I just have the common sense to know that a guy may not mind sitting on his rear for year to collect a $2,000,000 pay check. Call me crazy ! We have to pay either more then $2,000,000 a year for them to make $1 more then they would by spending the year on a Carribean island sipping Pina-coladas all year.

It all boils down to money Lascar and your smart enough to know what is practical and what is not under the ASG ownership with the court battle unresolved vs. one of their richer partners. Some money has been taken out of the pot by Belkin and some money has been taken out of the pot for the legal battle. Knowing this and rationalizing this is not the same as having a 2nd class or NBDL mentality as to why over $2,000,00 can't be coughed up right now while at the same time resigning the Joshes and filling out the roster.

Regarding Doc Rivers:

I think a lot of his problems come from Boston fans. They are a fickle and passionate fanbase. Personally, I can't speak to how well or how poorly he was doing his job. I do know that he used a deep rotation in the regular season this year, and it helped him to get solid contributions from his bench and kept his starters fresh. Glen Davis, PJ Brown, and Eddie House were all more valuable than ANYONE (except Chillz) off of our bench all season, and those guys are the bottom of the Celtics bench. Boston fans clamor and make a ton of noise at the first sign of trouble-they've wanted to fire Terry Francona of the Red Sox a few times, even after 2004 when the Red Sox finally won a championship.

Personally, I've always tried to be fair to head coaches. I defended three straight coaching regimes for the Falcons and have tried to talk to the loud-but-empty vessels who want to fire Bobby Cox. But Mike Woodson is perhaps the worst coach/manager of any sport in Atlanta since I've been old enough to follow them.

[Lascar78]

It is absolutely not just money. These guys want to coach basketball and this is one of the 30 available at this level. Every year there are only a handful of jobs available. It happens all the time that a coach chooses to go coach rather than sit on their ass or being a commentator on tv. A guy like avery who's only had one gig and disappointed in the playoffs is probably already itching for a new chance to prove himself. And other than ownership, a highly talented young underachieving team like ours is a GREAT situation for a coach to prove himself.

Look at Blank, even though the falcons are in a waaaaaaay worse situation, he wasn't afraid of getting rejected by top names because he's a winner. If you want to succeed you can't be afraid of failure. Every sign is that the hawks are committed to accepting mediocrity and its sad

[bronnt]

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It is absolutely not just money. These guys want to coach basketball and this is one of the 30 available at this level. Every year there are only a handful of jobs available. It happens all the time that a coach chooses to go coach rather than sit on their ass or being a commentator on tv. A guy like avery who's only had one gig and disappointed in the playoffs is probably already itching for a new chance to prove himself. And other than ownership, a highly talented young underachieving team like ours is a GREAT situation for a coach to prove himself.

Look at Blank, even though the falcons are in a waaaaaaay worse situation, he wasn't afraid of getting rejected by top names because he's a winner. If you want to succeed you can't be afraid of failure. Every sign is that the hawks are committed to accepting mediocrity and its sad

Arthur Blank also has a huge pocketbook, and can pretty much let the potential coaches name their figures.

[dlpin]

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Regarding Doc Rivers:

I think a lot of his problems come from Boston fans. They are a fickle and passionate fanbase. Personally, I can't speak to how well or how poorly he was doing his job. I do know that he used a deep rotation in the regular season this year, and it helped him to get solid contributions from his bench and kept his starters fresh. Glen Davis, PJ Brown, and Eddie House were all more valuable than ANYONE (except Chillz) off of our bench all season, and those guys are the bottom of the Celtics bench. Boston fans clamor and make a ton of noise at the first sign of trouble-they've wanted to fire Terry Francona of the Red Sox a few times, even after 2004 when the Red Sox finally won a championship.

Personally, I've always tried to be fair to head coaches. I defended three straight coaching regimes for the Falcons and have tried to talk to the loud-but-empty vessels who want to fire Bobby Cox. But Mike Woodson is perhaps the worst coach/manager of any sport in Atlanta since I've been old enough to follow them.

It goes way beyond just boston fans. First of all, he took over a playoff team, lost in the first round (just as he had in Orlando), and then managed to miss the playoffs with basically the same team. It took him 9 years in the NBA as a head coach to win a playoff series. And it wasnt just Celtics fans saying nasty things about him:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-32-3...hy-Scandal.html

" There are a lot of coaches who do a poor job with what I call the mathematics of the game, but to be fair, maybe they are better at other aspects of their job like motivation or player development.

However, I have a hard time believing that Doc Rivers could ever make up for his in-game strategy with his ability to motivate or develop players. I would like to have seen how the Celtics would have fared this year if they didn't hire Tom Thibodeau to install a great defensive system. If Popovich is the guy you lean to if you are unsure of what to do, Rivers is certainly the guy you look to if you want to know what NOT to do."

And this is exactly what most have thought, not just Cs fans: Doc is a great motivator, "player's coach," who has no idea about the Xs and Os. Some people have tried to say that outcoaching Phil Jackson has been his doing, but Doc himself has said that the strategy for game 4 (going small) was decided by the assistant coaches.

[Lascar78]

The price difference between woody and a top notch coach is chump change compared to the overall salary for both teams. They had no problem trading for a 15 million per season PG, and suddenly people act like they couldn't afford an extra mil or two for a head coach.

On his first deal woody made 2 mil per year. You have to assume he's getting 2-3 mil per year. Avery was making what 3-4 mil per year?

Again, if we are committed to winning it should be no big deal. These guys ok'd JJ at 12 mil per, bibby at 15 mil per, speedy at 6 mil per... There is no reason they shouldn't pony up 4-5 mil per year for a real coach if thats what it takes.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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It is absolutely not just money. These guys want to coach basketball and this is one of the 30 available at this level. Every year there are only a handful of jobs available. It happens all the time that a coach chooses to go coach rather than sit on their ass or being a commentator on tv. A guy like avery who's only had one gig and disappointed in the playoffs is probably already itching for a new chance to prove himself. And other than ownership, a highly talented young underachieving team like ours is a GREAT situation for a coach to prove himself.

Well why did every team who had an opening, pass on Avery? Especially teams like Chicago, Phoenix, and Detroit? The money is definitely an issue in this equation.

And you're going to really dislike this comment, but the fact that you and others aren't renewing season ticket packages, is a small part of the reason why ownership either won't or can't make an all out commitment to significantly upgrade the team quickly.

While I don't agree with it, I've always understood where you were coming from. But you also need to understand that when an organization doesn't have a strong fan base to draw revenue from, they're not going to splurge for a top notch coach. Our situation is made even worse due to the fact that the ASG is a fractured organization due to the Belkin situation.

Fans don't buy tickets to the game and buy team merchandise . . management doesn't go all out to make the team better. That's pretty much the nature of sports on the professional level.

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Look at Blank, even though the falcons are in a waaaaaaay worse situation, he wasn't afraid of getting rejected by top names because he's a winner. If you want to succeed you can't be afraid of failure. Every sign is that the hawks are committed to accepting mediocrity and its sad

I disagree. You can maybe say that about the Woodson re-hire, but you can't say that about the Bibby deal. The Hawks could've easily let those contracts expire, and not do anything with that leftover money but re-sign Smoove and Chill.