"Right Coach Could FIX the Hawks"

[JackB1]

http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/2010/05/11/an-nba-man-says-the-right-coach-could-fix-the-hawks/

I spoke for 30 minutes Monday with a man who has been an NBA head coach and who knows the game and its personnel as well as anyone. We spoke about the Hawks. He made these points:

• Mike Woodson is a good coach who deserves great credit for lifting the Hawks from 13-69 to 53-29 over the course of five seasons. But it became clear in these playoffs that his players had stopped listening, as players invariably will after hearing the same voice for so long.

• It’s one thing to go down swinging in the playoffs, but no good team should ever be beaten the way the Hawks were by Orlando.

• Even though Joe Johnson pulled another playoff disappearance, he remains one of the toughest players to defend in the league. He’s the focal point of every opposing scouting report.

• Josh Smith is a tremendous talent who has become a very good player, but his relationship with Woodson has become poisoned. Whoever the next coach is — this man believes Woodson and the Hawks will indeed part ways — he must be able to correct Smith’s excesses without seeming to browbeat him.

• Al Horford is the one indispensable man on the Hawks’ roster — a terrific player who’s also a leader. That said, the man noticed that even Horford was guilty of matador defense during the Orlando series, a telltale sign that the team had stopped responding to its coach.

• Mike Bibby has little left and could well become a distraction if/when he loses his starting job. The Hawks probably need to move him.

• Marvin Williams has been a huge disappointment.

• Woodson’s basic precepts — Iso-Joe on offense, switching every screen on defense — can work well in the regulation season, where opponents essentially have to show up and play, but they don’t work in the playoffs because teams have a chance to prepare at length. Both Milwaukee’s Scott Skiles and Orlando’s Stan Van Gundy outflanked the Hawks.

• Jamal Crawford was the reason the Hawks went from 47 wins last season to 53 this.

• Assuming it comes open, the Hawks’ coaching job will be seen as a plum. Even if Johnson leaves, this won’t be a team starting over. Horford, Smith and Crawford are major talents, and there’s no telling what Johnson could fetch in a sign-and-trade. The right coaching hire could elevate this team immediately.

Edited May 11, 2010 by JackB1

[Wretch]

Yep.

[OldTimeHawk]

right on

[GameTime]

This guy is really bigging up Crawford. He isn't that good. He is a scorer and that is it. He is a below average passer, rebounder and defender at his position and can't start for us. The reason we won six more games was we were more healthy this year more so than Craw (Though he was an upgrade over Flip Murray)

[AUhawksfan]

And this is why I'm not too worried about the offseason. Just hire the right coach and S&T JJ if he doesn't want to stay (which it's looking more and more like he doesn't).

[Diesel]

This guy is really bigging up Crawford. He isn't that good. He is a scorer and that is it. He is a below average passer, rebounder and defender at his position and can't start for us. The reason we won six more games was we were more healthy this year more so than Craw (Though he was an upgrade over Flip Murray)

I think you missed the part where he is the highest ppg averaging 6th man in the history of the award.

He was almost unanimously voted 6th man of the year... that's over Terry and Ginobili.

He was also the 2nd highest scorer for our team.

[GameTime]

I think you missed the part where he is the highest ppg averaging 6th man in the history of the award.

????

Terry and Manu both averaged more ppg when they won it? And that is just off the dome.

[Dsinner]

????

Terry and Manu both averaged more ppg when they won it? And that is just off the dome.

I think he had the highest 4th quarter ppg?

[Guest]

I agree that a different coach might be able to "FIX" the team, but if Joe leaves and we replace him with Jamal, we lose our bench punch and a Bibby and Jamal backcourt will be putrid, our bigs would be in constant foul trouble. And Jamal also has a tendency to dribble away the shot clock like Joe. If we lose Joe, we will need a lot.

[drzachary]

I think you missed the part where he is the highest ppg averaging 6th man in the history of the award.

He was almost unanimously voted 6th man of the year... that's over Terry and Ginobili.

He was also the 2nd highest scorer for our team.

Here's my quick take on Crawdaddy -- he had never been on a team as good as the Hawks before this year, and he thrived by having teammates who took defensive attention away from him (JoJo, Joshua "Long Ball" Smith and Al "The Keeper" Horford.) I think he can still thrive, offensively, even when JoJo isn't part of that picture. Defensively, however, he's going to give up a lot more. So, replacing JoJo with Crawdaddy in the starting lineup wouldn't be like replacing him with the pre-Hawks inefficient Crawdaddy, nor would it be like replacing him with the 6th Man Crawdaddy, but would be somewhere in between. (And our bench would suck immeasurably.. but that's why it's a bench.)

[coachx]

http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/2010/05/11/an-nba-man-says-the-right-coach-could-fix-the-hawks/

• Al Horford is the one indispensable man on the Hawks’ roster — a terrific player who’s also a leader. That said, the man noticed that even Horford was guilty of matador defense during the Orlando series, a telltale sign that the team had stopped responding to its coach.

Thanks for sharing Jack.

1 thing that seemed very obvious to me watching the Hawks 1st and 2nd rounds was the difference in how Horford approached K. Thomas and Howard. After Thomas kept Horford in foul trouble the game plan seemed to be for Horford to sit back and play conservatively in order to stay out of foul trouble. I remember early in the 4th quarter, in game 2, Horford gave a guy a lay up. He looked over to Woody as if to say..............Now can I start playing defense ? Woody simply nodded nodded yes, without looking the least giving his all too familiar look of disgust, and from that point on Horford played aggressivedefense and quickly racked up some fouls very quickly in doing so.

Did anyone else notice this or am I alone ?

Edited May 11, 2010 by coachx

[Atlantaholic]

I think he had the highest 4th quarter ppg?

I think he either shared or owned the record for 20 point games in a season coming off the bench.

[Dsinner]

I think he either shared or owned the record for 20 point games in a season coming off the bench.

Now I do remember that. But that's no where near what little D claimed. Maybe he meant Marvin?

[Crank]

Jamal had 32 twenty point games off the bench and had the second highest scoring average for a player who never started a game second only to Ricky Pierce .

Jamal is not replacing Joe and if Joe goes and a new coach comes in it would be something totally different. I seriously doubt it becomes iso jamal although I must say we didnt isolate by design nearly as much as people claim Joe just held the held the ball when it got to his side but that comes from years of him doing it .Old habits die hard in get paid years especially

[coachx]

Jamal had 32 twenty point games off the bench and had the second highest scoring average for a player who never started a game second only to Ricky Pierce .

Ricky Pierce. There is a blast from the past. He was on those good Bucks teams of the 80's withCummings, Pressy, Lucas, Moncrief, Roberts, and Sickma. Man they had some deep teams They had some serious battles with the Hawks as I was growing up.