How important Series.

[Diesel]

Last year...

With one offensive play: Isolation for Joe Johnson.

And

An occasional pick and roll...

We made it to game 7 of the first round of the playoffs as an 8th seed.

This season, it seems that the East has grown stronger.

We should feel some pressure from Charlotte, Milwaukee, Miami, Chicago, Indy, and possibly NY from Below. From above, I don't see anybody falling out of the race..

30 something games won't be enough.

The one thing that most Hawks fans will agree on is this. During the playoffs, Woody did some of his best coaching ever. He made timely subs. He flashed the ring. He even showed up with the bald head Mr. Potato head look for Motivation. And the players responded.

Woody has a new contract.

Woody has a new boss.

Woody has some new coaches.

How much does Job security and new coaches help Woody coach this team?

Is this team dependent on Woody to be a better coach?

Does Woody hold this team back from being a better team?

How important is Woody??

[josh_pwns_newbs]

this post will end with diesel picking a fight over nothing (on his way to spamming the board with nonsense)

[Cwell]

kick him to the curb. He'll lead us to another losing season. He's important,but the effect is a negative one.

[Cwell]

this post will end with diesel picking a fight over nothing (on his way to spamming the board with nonsense)

lol. I just so happened to highlight over it and saw what it said.

[AtLaS]

I know our offensive flow will probably suck again this year, but if nothing else I want to see the P&R with Bibby a LOT more. People on this board keep saying Bibby isn't a playmaker and is essentially a shooter, he's not, he's been one of the best P&R players in the NBA for the past 6-7 years. That is his bread and butter. The few times we ran it, he did it well. I just hope we give him that chance and we'll see a much improved Bibby playmaking wise.

Edited August 20, 2008 by AtLaS

[DrReality]

We just don't know what happened between BK and Woody. BK was the invisible man and thus there is no way of having a clue about his influence on Woody . . . . . good or bad. There were reports that the relationship went south toward the end of theseason, but before that I have questions on what kind of expectations did BK have, or direction that he gave him. We may learn more about Woody this year given that he has a new boss, but only time will tell.

[Swatguy]

We just don't know what happened between BK and Woody. BK was the invisible man and thus there is no way of having a clue about his influence on Woody . . . . . good or bad. There were reports that the relationship went south toward the end of theseason, but before that I have questions on what kind of expectations did BK have, or direction that he gave him. We may learn more about Woody this year given that he has a new boss, but only time will tell.

I talked to BK in camp last year and he told me he expected a deep rotation, 9-10 deep. He expected Shelden to be a force as well as Zaza. At that time Speedy looked like Speedy and was counted as big minutes. Well we know what happened (in part). Speedy got hurt, Lue was gimpy, Zaza got hurt, AJ had the load and Shelden faded to bench.

BK probably soured earlier than late. IMO.

[macdaddy]

I think Woody is very important. And I really have no faith in him. He has improved as a head coach but I still don't think he can take a team to elite status. He seems incapable of changing his style. Last summer all we heard was how they were going to push the ball. But they didn't really do that much and he didn't seem to insist that they play that way. This summer we hear that he wishes he had used the bench more but I'm sure after the first two weeks of the season we'll be down to a 7 man rotation with the other guys playing 30 seconds at the end of a quarter.

This is my opinion but I hope I'm wrong. I'm open to giving him credit when due. Plus at this point I don't trust Sund or ASG to replace him with someone better. We could do worse. Horford, JJ, Smoove is a great core so I feel like we have a good chance at being a winner this year despite some bonehead coaching. I'd feel better about Woody if someone in addition to JJ (the guy who never sits on the bench and gets every play run for him) shows some support for him. 'I've got no issues with coach' is not really a glowing recommendation.

[Diesel]

We just don't know what happened between BK and Woody. BK was the invisible man and thus there is no way of having a clue about his influence on Woody . . . . . good or bad. There were reports that the relationship went south toward the end of theseason, but before that I have questions on what kind of expectations did BK have, or direction that he gave him. We may learn more about Woody this year given that he has a new boss, but only time will tell.

My thought on the matter is that ASG originally told BK that by the third year, they would dip into their resources and hire a new coach (more established) that could lead. I think BK started hearing rumors that Avery Johnson would be available and he wanted to give one of the assistants a shot at running the team midseason. I don't know what kind of deal Woody made with the ASG, but the ASG took Wood over BK. Maybe it's because ASG is cheap... or Maybe it's because JJ set the wheels in motion for Woody to stay.. Who knows? (Levenson)...

[Wretch]

This is a hard question for me to answer. I think he has some motivational skills. I think he has some good coaching qualities. He just lacks...well...brains. He needs to put the offense in someone else's hands and get out of the way. He really needs to understand that. Woodson needs to focus on what he does best - defense. Honestly, I am a HUGE fan of defense. I know that it's the difference between good clubs and great clubs. It is the difference between winning and losing.

He needs to trust his players more too, but I don't see that happening. Woody's got a new contract, which ain't worth s***...because they will fire him in a heartbeat if he doesn't produce. He's still treading water and I believe that will have an effect on who he trusts with the offense and how long he plays his starters.

Verdict on Woody?

He's critical to our success and the exact opposite at the same time. I look for the players to carry him after he burns our more consistent guys (read:starters) into the ground.

[khaos7]

The one thing that Woody does a decent job of is coaching defense. There are two occasions where I questioned his decisions on the defensive end, from last year. 1) The first game of our double header with Philly at the end of the season. Everybody and their mother knew we should have played zone defense on them; they couldn't shoot. They won the game. The next game, we made the adjustment and played zone. We won. 2) In the playoff series, we ran guys beneath screens. We got burned everytime and never made an adjustment.

All that said, I've seen him set up some solid defensive gameplans, particularly on big men. Say what you want about Josh and Horford playing out of position. However, rarely have they been exploited by other guys bigs, save for guys who you'd expect them to (Yao for instance). No harm in that. We play Dwight Howard pretty well. Usually, if we look bad on defense, it's because guys missed assignments. The biggest problem we had with bigs was not enough depth on the bench to spell Horf or Josh and Zaza's lackadasical play.

Alot of glowing remarks about Woody's coaching, huh?

With all the good I can heap on his defensive mind, offensively, he sucks. Rarely have I seen him implement wrinkles in the offense to exploit our mismatches. His offensive game plans are so bad, they negate the good I see on defense, in my eyes. That's why I wanted a coaching change so badly. I believe the right coach (Avery Johnson?) would have stuck to some of Woody's philsophies on defense, yet created more ball movement.

[Atlsportfanz]

I think Woody is going to have to improve in several areas for this team to go further than last year. He will have to have more creativity in his offense than "Joe, make something happen." He'll have to use his bench more. I actually hope that the loss of Childress will force him to do this. Maybe a blessing in disguise. He's going to have to break his substitution patterns occasionally. If a player is hot, you don't take them out just because they normally come out.

[JackB1]

I think Woody is very important. And I really have no faith in him. He has improved as a head coach but I still don't think he can take a team to elite status. He seems incapable of changing his style. Last summer all we heard was how they were going to push the ball. But they didn't really do that much and he didn't seem to insist that they play that way. This summer we hear that he wishes he had used the bench more but I'm sure after the first two weeks of the season we'll be down to a 7 man rotation with the other guys playing 30 seconds at the end of a quarter.

This is my opinion but I hope I'm wrong. I'm open to giving him credit when due. Plus at this point I don't trust Sund or ASG to replace him with someone better. We could do worse. Horford, JJ, Smoove is a great core so I feel like we have a good chance at being a winner this year despite some bonehead coaching. I'd feel better about Woody if someone in addition to JJ (the guy who never sits on the bench and gets every play run for him) shows some support for him. 'I've got no issues with coach' is not really a glowing recommendation.

I agree with everything macdaddy said. I was sooooo disappointed that they resigned him with better options out there. Woody has never shown the ability to be a positive difference maker in a game and the team seems to win in spite of his ineptitude. A coach with any b*lls would bench Smoove when he continues to hang out at the 3 pt line or address JJ when he continues to wait too long to pass out of double teams. He doesn't command respect because he's never been a "winner". His subbing patterns are too mechanical and he desn't know how to get the most out of his players. His motivational speeches in the playoffs were as boring as watching paint dry.

So YES...he is important, but since we are stuck with him again, one can just hope he doesn't screw up too many games and that the team overcomes his bad coaching.

[frosgrim]

Isn't there some tru-ism in proball that a HC wins or losses you 5 games a year. Woodson is definately on the loss side of that equation, thus if you are using W/L record as the ultimate measure, then Woodson is very important as we can count on him costing the Hawks ~5 games next season.

[capstone21]

I am still in shock we resigned him for 2 years.

SIGH

He is not a good NBA coach period. He has been a source of frustration for me since he came here. His lack of understanding of how to exploit matchups or making adjustments in the game are notorious.

He seems to have a good gameplan going into the games but he doesn't know how to adjust during the games. The first half we would be competitive. The opposing team would make some ingame changes but Woody never would. The second half the other team would take it to us and we would lose.

His substitution patterns are obvious. Marvin ALWAYS went out at the 4 - 6 minute mark of the first quarter no matter how good he was playing. He could be hot but he still went out. All of Woodys patterns went like that. It was like the players would know when they were coming out before the game began. Did not matter the situation. Unfortantely the other team knew too.

Joe never came out. He never got a rest. Another problem.

There were so many good coaches available this offseason...I have no idea why we did not take the next step with a quality coach. I think Woody is always meant to be an assistant coach.

I hope I am proven wrong.

[DJlaysitup]

kick him to the curb. He'll lead us to another losing season. He's important,but the effect is a negative one.

I agree with Cwell...kick him to the curb...but it won't happen with these owners, obviously. I'm hoping for the best but the 37-45 with a few home playoff wins prior to losing in the first round of the NBA playoffs could very well be the "high water mark" for the BK five year plan.

My primary hope is that JS gets even better and JJ continues to play well. If Marvin also improves and Bibby stays healthy we may have a shot at 41-41...or better. But it won't be because of Woody's genius...unless I have truly missed something watching all those games.

[JackB1]

I agree with Cwell...kick him to the curb...but it won't happen with these owners, obviously. I'm hoping for the best but the 37-45 with a few home playoff wins prior to losing in the first round of the NBA playoffs could very well be the "high water mark" for the BK five year plan.

My primary hope is that JS gets even better and JJ continues to play well. If Marvin also improves and Bibby stays healthy we may have a shot at 41-41...or better. But it won't be because of Woody's genius...unless I have truly missed something watching all those games.

The problem is, as Smoove gets more money and notoriety around the league, he will feel the need to listen to Woodson less and less and disrespect him more and more. I can see it happening already in my mind. That's what happens when your coach is less important than the players. The players eventually realize this.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Isn't there some tru-ism in proball that a HC wins or losses you 5 games a year. Woodson is definately on the loss side of that equation, thus if you are using W/L record as the ultimate measure, then Woodson is very important as we can count on him costing the Hawks ~5 games next season.

Cosign.

Woody can cost the Hawks ~5 games like fros said... which the Hawks definitely need for playoff reappearance.

[High5]

The players responded to Woodson in the playoffs??? Really? By getting blown out 4 times, the worst beating being game 7? The players responded to the insane Phillips crowd that they never had before that. If Woodson isn't the worst head coach in basketball I don't know who is.

[Swish]

Um, High5? Two words:

Isiah Thomas.