Fire Larry Drew

[frankthetank966]

I dont need to type a whole short essay listing reasons as to why we need to fire Drew my case and reasoning is watch a Hawks game and notice their performance. Enough said. He should not have been hired in the first place, the point of firing Woodson was to improve our coaching situation not to bring in someone who was his ASSISTANT coach.

[TheTruth]

Ok, let me tackle this. While it is too early to tell what we have in Coach Drew, I will agree with you that he shouldn't have been hired in the first place. If our owners were willing to spend money on a decent coach, Drew wouldn't have been hired. That I firmly believe.

As for the rest, although I am not enamored with the job he is doing so far, Drew is crippled by a terrible ownership, underachieving players, a 120 million man who doesn't show leadership skills on the court, no bona fide Center or PG, no one who can defend either of those two positions, a vastly-talent PF who is STILL inconsistent, a starting SF who should have had his job taken years ago, and no bench.

It's hard for a coach to win that way long term...especially against good teams.

With all that said, his substitutions leave a lot to be desired, his management of players is questionable, and his inability to hold accountable his players is alarming.

Drew may in fact be one of the problems (I will maintain it is too early to say so definitively), but we have MUCH bigger more pressing issues surrounding our team right now.

[Vol4ever]

I dont need to type a whole short essay listing reasons as to why we need to fire Drew my case and reasoning is watch a Hawks game and notice their performance. Enough said. He should not have been hired in the first place, the point of firing Woodson was to improve our coaching situation not to bring in someone who was his ASSISTANT coach.

I said it from the start he should have never been hired. When he was hired most on here was kissing his butt big time and saying how much better he was than Woody. Dang I bet Woody has a big smile on his face about now. Sorry cheap and inept ownership.

I hope we make the playoffs................

[TheTruth]

Woody had to go. Period. The players tuned him out long ago, and he had proven that his system and philosophy could do nothing more than rack up a decent amount of regular season wins, but when it counted, it got exposed and destroyed.

So we did get that one right. The problem is we stopped there. We didn't make major strides to improve the team, nor did we hire a coach that would command respect and stick a boot up these guys' azzes to get them to play consistently. Now we are saddled with an average team, with no accountability, and questionable coaching.

It's a bad situation all the way around. But by no means do you fire Drew right now.

[Atlantaholic]

Hmmm... we played the way we are playing so far this year the entire playoffs last year. Clearly the players are the problem. Firing Woodson was getting rid of one problem and now we can see what the bigger greater problem was all along. We have absolutely no leadership on this team, and our best highest paid player is the one with the least heart and leadership ability on the entire team. Looking at Joe Johnson's career so far it is obvious that the man cares about one thing and one thing alone: and that is $. He left a championship caliber squad so that he could become the go to guy on a terrible team and earn a hefty paycheck. Heck, after last years playoffs after he totally quit on the team and then called out the fans I was pretty sure he had played himself out of a huge contract but we were dumb enough to give him the money anyway. Now with his payday in the bank we are seeing even less effort from Joe. Absolutely no defense whatsoever and no driving to the basket whatsoever. Hopefully when his non shooting hand gets better he'll be able to occasionally make a jumper every now and then.

[Gray Mule]

:write a letter:

Atlantaholic: I agree.

When Woodson was the head coach, he lost control of the team. Then, the animals began

running the zoo. They did what they wanted, when they wanted and no one could tell them

what to do or how to do it.

Now, whether this was the fault of Woody or the ownership, we all agree that this happened.

Woody had no control. The rudder was missing from the good ship Hawks.

This attitude has apparently carried over. No one tells us what to do or how to do it. These

players are supposedly lead by their multimillion dollar all star who shows no heart. Face it.

He won't be elected to the all star game. The way he's playing, who would be crazy enough

to add him to the roster?

We don't know if we have a good coach or not. He's not allowed to coach. No one listens.

This team has an attitude problem. Drew wants us to play with a lot of energy. We'll show

him. Lolligag around until our opponent has a nice big lead. Miss shot after shot. Miss all

the rebounds you can unless they come directly to you and you have to either grab it or be

hit in the face with the ball. At least, that has been the formula used by the Hawks in the last

two games. When the game is over in the first five minutes, nap time is over and the Hawks

come out of their shell.

:temperature:

Edited November 24, 2010 by Gray Mule

[GST]

I don't think Drew has enough authority from management to address this team's issues. Drew needs to be able to discipline his players without having management side with the players. You can replace the coach, but you will end up with the same problems.

[AnthonyI11]

u don't fire a coach 15 games into the season of his first year. this is why you will never work for an NBA organization.

[DJlaysitup]

...Drew wants us to play with a lot of energy. We'll show

him. Lollygag around until our opponent has a nice big lead....

LD: You guys. You lollygag around the court on offense. You lollygag your way around the court on defense. You lollygag going for loose balls. You know what that makes you? Larry!

Larry: Lollygaggers!

LD: right....Lollygaggers.

[Sothron]

LD: You guys. You lollygag around the court on offense. You lollygag your way around the court on defense. You lollygag going for loose balls. You know what that makes you? Larry!

Larry: Lollygaggers!

LD: right....Lollygaggers.

+1 for Bull Durham reference.

I also don't think it would be fair to fire Drew in his first season. We've said for YEARS the same things repeated over and over:

We need a real center

We need a point guard that isn't older than Moses

We need Marvin to grow (and he hasn't)

We need a better bench (and we don't)

We need a new coach (which we have)

Woodson is gone. He was the worst coach I've ever seen and ten thousand Larry Drews can walk through that door and out before I'll even think about reconsidering that opinion.

We still have an imbalanced roster. We still have no bench. We still have a number 2 pick that is content to settle for the bare minimum starter quality level at his position. We can't win in the playoffs with this and now with the Eastern Conference being vastly improved we can't even seem to win in the regular season with this.

The only remedy is to have a new ownership that is willing to spend into the luxury tax to bring in better players and a better coach but we all know that's not going to happen. We are stuck with a lousy ownership that has foolishly wasted what little budget they have on keeping a flawed core together. It will take a miracle late round first pick to save this franchise from being nothing but a playoff chewtoy for real contenders for the next several seasons.

[coachx]

+1 for Bull Durham reference.

I also don't think it would be fair to fire Drew in his first season. We've said for YEARS the same things repeated over and over:

We need a real center

We need a point guard that isn't older than Moses

We need Marvin to grow (and he hasn't)

We need a better bench (and we don't)

We need a new coach (which we have)

Woodson is gone. He was the worst coach I've ever seen and ten thousand Larry Drews can walk through that door and out before I'll even think about reconsidering that opinion.

We still have an imbalanced roster. We still have no bench. We still have a number 2 pick that is content to settle for the bare minimum starter quality level at his position. We can't win in the playoffs with this and now with the Eastern Conference being vastly improved we can't even seem to win in the regular season with this.

The only remedy is to have a new ownership that is willing to spend into the luxury tax to bring in better players and a better coach but we all know that's not going to happen. We are stuck with a lousy ownership that has foolishly wasted what little budget they have on keeping a flawed core together. It will take a miracle late round first pick to save this franchise from being nothing but a playoff chewtoy for real contenders for the next several seasons.

+1

I see this as a roster problem as well......not a coaching problem.

[Vol4ever]

:write a letter:

Atlantaholic: I agree.

When Woodson was the head coach, he lost control of the team. Then, the animals began

running the zoo. They did what they wanted, when they wanted and no one could tell them

what to do or how to do it.Now, whether this was the fault of Woody or the ownership, we all agree that this happened.

Woody had no control. The rudder was missing from the good ship Hawks.

This attitude has apparently carried over. No one tells us what to do or how to do it. These

players are supposedly lead by their multimillion dollar all star who shows no heart. Face it.

He won't be elected to the all star game. The way he's playing, who would be crazy enough

to add him to the roster?

We don't know if we have a good coach or not. He's not allowed to coach. No one listens.

This team has an attitude problem. Drew wants us to play with a lot of energy. We'll show

him. Lolligag around until our opponent has a nice big lead. Miss shot after shot. Miss all

the rebounds you can unless they come directly to you and you have to either grab it or be

hit in the face with the ball. At least, that has been the formula used by the Hawks in the last

two games. When the game is over in the first five minutes, nap time is over and the Hawks

come out of their shell.

:temperature:

Gray

I agree that Woody did lose control of the team, but at least it wasnt after 15 games like LD has and second of all, it is the players and not the coach! Sorry I'm not gonna sugar coat this thing, if this were a corporation we would be looking at bankruptcy right now.

Edited November 24, 2010 by Vol4ever

[Gray Mule]

Vol4ever - Yeah. That's what I said. It's the players - and their attitude.

If they will not do their job that they are capable of doing, no one can make them.

If Drew has the authority, he needs to put some hinies on the bench and let them

gather splinters for a while.

Everyone says, bench our starting SF, Marvin. Fine. Do it. And, so he won't be

lonesome there, our multimillion All Star should join him there. JJ is pathetic.

He's playing injured. Keep him out until he heals both physically and emotionally.

Hawks may need to make some trades, if for no other reason than to shake things up.

All Hawk players, or almost all, seem to believe they have a lifetime job in Atlanta.

Everyone gripes and complains about Jeff Teague. He ain't great but he shows

a lot more "want to" out on the floor than a lot of our players. The talent may be

a little short, but the drive and desire are right there.

:conversation:

GO BIG ORANGE!!

Edited November 24, 2010 by Gray Mule

[GameTime]

Emo Joe always plays injured (emotionally)

[macdaddy]

Woody had 6 years to make something of this team. He improved but they were still not a feared team at all in this league. Drew can't make that happen in two months so fire him? That makes sense.

[Vol4ever]

Vol4ever - Yeah. That's what I said. It's the players - and their attitude.

If they will not do their job that they are capable of doing, no one can make them.

If Drew has the authority, he needs to put some hinies on the bench and let them

gather splinters for a while.

Everyone says, bench our starting SF, Marvin. Fine. Do it. And, so he won't be

lonesome there, our multimillion All Star should join him there. JJ is pathetic.

He's playing injured. Keep him out until he heals both physically and emotionally.

Hawks may need to make some trades, if for no other reason than to shake things up.

All Hawk players, or almost all, seem to believe they have a lifetime job in Atlanta.

Everyone gripes and complains about Jeff Teague. He ain't great but he shows

a lot more "want to" out on the floor than a lot of our players. The talent may be

a little short, but the drive and desire are right there.

:conversation:

GO BIG ORANGE!!

Yes we agree on these things. Just let Teague play already and develp, he may be really cooking by playoff time.

and YES GO BIG ORANGE..........I will as usual be in attendance in Knoxville saturday.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

[99PROBL3MS]

Firing Woodson is pretty much all they did. They did not make much effort at all to fix the fatal flaws that have held this team back. They didn't address the Pg and Center positions. They could have signed shaq but wouldn't offer more than the vet minimum. They didn't go offer a veteran coach. They didn't improve the bench. We could go on and on. We have made Woody out to be MUCH more of the problem than he actually was. This team looks so unmotivated it is a joke. I don't know whether Drew has "lost" them, but it sure seems like it.