"Keeping the Core"

[Swatguy]

AJC

When Mike Woodson watches the Oklahoma City Thunder, he sees the Atlanta Hawks.

.Young, athletic and stockpiled with first-round picks, the Thunder may not yet be ready to compete in the stacked Western Conference. Woodson hopes they get the chance.

"You see teams a lot of times that panic and give up too soon and they trade all their young players away to try to win now," Woodson said. "I've seen that happen, but that hasn't happened here."

Since Woodson's hire in 2004, the Hawks have given fans plenty of opportunities to panic, if not lose all hope. They lost a team-record 69 games in Woodson's first season, misfired in the draft and saw their postseason drought extend to eight seasons before breaking through in 2008. Woodson acknowledges he "could have easily been sent somewhere else."

However, the Hawks have stuck with their plan to keep and develop an athletic core of young players, starting with guard Joe Johnson, forward Josh Smith and center Al Horford. At 14-6, they have the team's best record after 20 games in 12 seasons and have racked up wins over strongholds such as Boston, Portland and Denver. Saturday, they won in Dallas for the first time since Woodson's hiring. The Hawks have demanded the NBA's attention.

"It's another year with the same group," said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra. "They seem to just get better. It's a blueprint that could actually be followed more in the NBA because it took them a long time to get to this point."

"[Woodson] has been able to develop a team that can beat anybody at any time," Houston coach Rick Adelman said. "You don't always get that nowadays in the world of sports. You get one or two chances and you'd better do it."

The Hawks drafted Smith out of high school in 2004. In 2005, Johnson came in a trade, forward Marvin Williams was picked in the draft and forward Zaza Pachulia was acquired through free agency. Center Al Horford was drafted in 2007 and midway through his rookie season, they traded for guard Mike Bibby. This has been the core, together now of 152 games, that has taken the Hawks to back-to-back postseasons.

Pachulia, Bibby, Williams and sixth man Flip Murray all were free agents this past summer. General manager Rick Sund said he wasn't tempted to turn over the roster, re-signing all but Murray (who went to Charlotte) and trading for Jamal Crawford, the team's new sixth man.

"My big thing coming here was, hey, let's keep the core together," said Sund, in his second year with the team. "A lot of people come in and say, ‘We're going to make changes. Let's move this player, that player.' It was a good blueprint and you have to follow the blueprint through."

Both Sund and Woodson acknowledge the role of former general manager Billy Knight, who resigned inMay of 2008, in putting the team together.

"Make no mistake about it," Woodson said. "The foundation of this team was under his watch."

The cohesion that the team has developed is palpable.

Forward Jason Collins, an eight-year veteran, said the chemistry of the starters, in particular, was obvious as soon as he got to his first Hawks training camp in September. On defense, for instance, he saw players who knew their roles when the offense rotated the ball and innately trusted their teammates to do theirs.

"You could tell they've been playing together for a little bit," said Collins. "That trust has to be there. The coach, he puts in great schemes and stuff like that, but it's up to the players to execute them and you can see that the players really have that trust."

Said Spoelstra, "They're really on the same page. Their communication, I think, happens all with just eye contact."

Swingman Mo Evans, signed as a free agent two summers ago, is starting to feel a camaraderie similar to what he felt as a member of the 2005-06 Detroit team that had the best record in the NBA.

"Guys are more confident and guys ... you're going to know what to expect," Evans said. "We know that when we need a bucket, obviously you're going to go to Joe Johnson, but we know what Smoove (Smith) is going to bring. We know that he's going to be there. If I pressure up on a man and I get beat, I know that he's going to be there to contest or block a shot."

The rapport has spread beyond the court.

"A lot of times, you get people where they're by themselves. On the plane, they do their own thing," Bibby said. "But [with the Hawks] everybody stays together and has fun with it."

Sitting in his Evans' locker Monday was a robin's egg blue bag from Tiffany's. With a baby girl due in January, Smith had gotten her a present.

"Everybody pulls for one another," Evans said. "You've got to have that, especially if you're going to be around a group of guys for eight months. I think that comes with teams being together for awhile."

Edited December 9, 2009 by Swatguy

[MaceCase]

"[Woodson] has been able to develop a team that can beat anybody at any time," Houston coach Rick Adelman said. "You don't always get that nowadays in the world of sports. You get one or two chances and you'd better do it."

"A lot of people come in and say, ‘We're going to make changes. Let's move this player, that player.' It was a good blueprint and you have to follow the blueprint through."

These are two quotes, one by a very respected coach and another by our current GM, that will make quite a few upset in regards to our coach and former GM.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

These are two quotes, one by a very respected coach and another by our current GM, that will make quite a few upset in regards to our coach and former GM.

Yep.

People talk about Oklahoma City following this blueprint, but the other team following this, is Memphis.

The addition of Zach Randolph, a much maligned player, has given that team an extra scoring punch on the frontline, to team up with the scoring of Gay and Mayo. The trade of Pau Gasol to the Lakers helped LA out, but it also gave Memphis the rights to his brother, Marc Gasol. That guy is a good, fundamentally sound center that is on par with Horford.

The weak link right now, is Mike Conley, but even he came up big last night. The Iverson fiasco actually was a blessing in disguise for them. They added another much maligned player in Jamal Tinsley, a true PG that they can bring off the bench.

Now all of a sudden, they're a dangerous team. They've won 8 of their last 12, with wins @ Portland, vs Dallas, and last night vs Cleveland ( funny, I thought elite teams don't lose games to below .500 teams ).

The move to get Randolph was similar to the move we did to get Bibby.

Don't be surprised if that Memphis team doesn't come to ATL next week, and battle us to the death. They're one shooter off the bench away from being a playoff threat in the West.

[HawksFan87]

LOL please, it has more to do with the growth of our players than it does with Woody's coaching. I don't care if phil jackson had made the statements.. Doesn't take away from the fact that Woody is still a terrible coach.

[AtlHomer]

Forward Jason Collins, an eight-year veteran, said the chemistry of the starters, in particular, was obvious as soon as he got to his first Hawks training camp in September. On defense, for instance, he saw players who knew their roles when the offense rotated the ball and innately trusted their teammates to do theirs.

"You could tell they've been playing together for a little bit," said Collins. "That trust has to be there. The coach, he puts in great schemes and stuff like that, but it's up to the players to execute them and you can see that the players really have that trust."

I found this quote most interesting. It somewhat confirms that 'team chemistry' is a key ingredient to overall success. Players have to know there roles within the team concept and believe their teammates can live up to their expectations...