Players underutilized vs maximized by Woody

[jerrywest]

Maximized

JJ

Bibby

Flip

Mo Evans

Zaza

Chill

AJ

Leu

Underdeveloped and underutilized

Boris D.

Smoove

Marv

Horf

Acie

Solo

[HawkItus]

Maximized

JJ

Bibby

Flip

Mo Evans

Zaza

Chill

AJ

Leu

Underdeveloped and underutilized

Boris D.

Smoove

Marv

Horf

Acie

Solo

Disagree on Smoove and Horf. He's gotten the best out of a very raw Smith. Horford should have been rookie of the year on a playoff team. That's hard to do.

[crimedog]

Disagree on Smoove and Horf. He's gotten the best out of a very raw Smith. Horford should have been rookie of the year on a playoff team. That's hard to do.

Gotta disagree with you on that. Not gonna touch the whole list but I don't see how you can say Smith and Al wouldn't be an amazing front-court for an up-tempo team that ran the hell out of the pick and roll because they can both get to the hoop, catch the ball on the move, and finish in traffic so well.

Again, I think this is conflating unexpected results with credit without substantive analysis.

[Admin]

I think that there needs to be a middle ground and there should be 2 columns. One for what Woody has/hasn't gotten out of the player and the other for what the player has/hasn't gotten out of themselves.

[mrhonline]

I disagree on Smith and Solo.

Smith has just been slow to adjust to what Woodson wants IMHO, and Solomon just isn't that good.

[crimedog]

I disagree on Smith and Solo.

Smith has just been slow to adjust to what Woodson wants IMHO, and Solomon just isn't that good.

Solo is true, but it is hard for a guy like Smith to adapt to his role in Woodson's offense because he doesn't have the shot to be catching it that far out that often. Even if he makes the right decision and drives the ball from 17 feet, he's driving too far.

To me this is a lot less about "coaching up" or not and more about playing to your players strengths. If Woody is pushing Josh into a roll that doesn't play to his strengths, well I guess you can say that its not Woody's fault that Josh just isn't a good shooter, but there are very few power forwards in the league who are asked to rotate like that on offense and play off of a ball dominant wing, and many that are asked to take long jumpers like that are better shooters.

[AHF]

I think that there needs to be a middle ground and there should be 2 columns. One for what Woody has/hasn't gotten out of the player and the other for what the player has/hasn't gotten out of themselves.

I have a hard time putting any player purely in either column. Take Josh Smith, Bibby, and Marvin for example.

Bibby - you can put him underutilized because we haven't taken advantage of the pick and roll enough with him. You can also put him in maximized in many ways because Woodson has gotten a lot out of him.

Josh Smith is a success story for Woodson letting him take on enough and develop during his time. At the same time, you can definitely say that Woodson hasn't gotten as much as he could out of him because he has given Josh too much rope. When Woodson should have been declaring 3pters off limits and forcing him to shift his focus to interior scoring and rebounding, Woodson let him float on the perimeter and shoot too many jumpers for far too long. And that is just part of his game. Is letting Josh Smith take the ball up the floor on fast breaks underutilizing or maximizing? Too simple.

Another player is Marvin Williams, it is easy to look at TS% or EFG% and say "underutilized" but a signfiicant chunk of blame falls on Marvin for not being more assertive as well. So he is clearly underutilized but that hardly tells the full story.

[Admin]

I have a hard time putting any player purely in either column. Take Josh Smith, Bibby, and Marvin for example.

Bibby - you can put him underutilized because we haven't taken advantage of the pick and roll enough with him. You can also put him in maximized in many ways because Woodson has gotten a lot out of him.

Josh Smith is a success story for Woodson letting him take on enough and develop during his time. At the same time, you can definitely say that Woodson hasn't gotten as much as he could out of him because he has given Josh too much rope. When Woodson should have been declaring 3pters off limits and forcing him to shift his focus to interior scoring and rebounding, Woodson let him float on the perimeter and shoot too many jumpers for far too long. And that is just part of his game. Is letting Josh Smith take the ball up the floor on fast breaks underutilizing or maximizing? Too simple.

Another player is Marvin Williams, it is easy to look at TS% or EFG% and say "underutilized" but a signfiicant chunk of blame falls on Marvin for not being more assertive as well. So he is clearly underutilized but that hardly tells the full story.

If I were really to create a survey for this it has to have over|under utilized by Woody and maximized|minimized by Woody and maximized|minimized by the player since the player obviously cannot over or under utilize themself.

I agree with your assessments on those players though. I just think this would have to be a little more in depth than the original question asks in order to get an accurate assessment.

[PureGreatness]

if smith was playing for any other coach would he be a better player? i think so

Edited February 11, 2009 by hoodstar

[TnDawg]

If I were really to create a survey for this it has to have over|under utilized by Woody and maximized|minimized by Woody and maximized|minimized by the player since the player obviously cannot over or under utilize themself.

I agree with your assessments on those players though. I just think this would have to be a little more in depth than the original question asks in order to get an accurate assessment.

Totally agree with the need for another column. I have a hard time giving Woody credit for maximizing Smith and Bibby..... basically Woody stated " that with Bibby, all he has to do is give him the ball and let him do his thing" (me paraphrasing). That is because of the experience Bibby already had, not anything Woody created with his game planning. As for Smitty....we have read several stories of past offseasons where HE went and sought help to improve his game outside of what the Hawks...ie Woody... provided.

[DrReality]

I think he is doing better with the current team and allowing some of the guys off the bench play. Tonight Flip was amazing. Za has been solid and Mo comes aroudn.