Al's interview for Hoopshype

[T21]

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A short, but very honest interview with Al. We don't even have to read between the lines to understand the message... Drew's an upgrade over Woody... Bibbster is done... Teague is not even close... We're not championship caliber team...

... no secrets, just confirmations of what we all know... I guess We, "The Hawksquawk", should run this team!

[Guest Walter]

Name of external link

A short, but very honest interview with Al. We don't even have to read between the lines to understand the message... Drew's an upgrade over Woody... Bibbster is done... Teague is not even close... We're not championship caliber team...

... no secrets, just confirmations of what we all know... I guess We, "The Hawksquawk", should run this team!

I think your summations were spot on. No mention of Teague. Wow. Maybe I should temper my frustration with him not being played by Drew some. Still, my biggest frustration with Drew, though.

Let me be clear about how I see Drew relative to Woody. I DO see Drew as a slight upgrade over Woody. I do NOT like some of his rotation decisions by playing Evans and not playing Teague (especially from early on and taking some lumps with him when we could more afford it) and more jump shooting (although they are more open shots IMO). Still, he is slightly better than Woody OVERALL, especially in terms of less predictable offense, not overplaying his starters as much (JJ at 36 instead of 38-40 MPG), better interview (hey, I am a fan). However, IMO there isn't enough of a difference so far that after 2-3 years of Drew I wouldn't be equally frustrated with him if we don't win.

Still, I have enough confidence in Drew, while not perfect, that the team's play under his coaching confirms my worries about it. It wasn't all coaching. A majority of it wasn't coaching (coaches can make a big impact (see Thibideau) but not generally. It is talent, positions, and skill sets. Not enough talent. Skill set and positional needs (even moreso now at the Pg position because I held out hope for Teague). Which brings me back to Horford's comments, which I think support this and what most of us now agree with.

Someone recently said we cannot solve all these problems. Agreed. Especially talent. However, I DO think we could address if not solve positional and some skill set needs. A Pg that can break down defenses and defend his position (Sessions can seemingly do this). A more competent true center that at least allows 20-25 MPG of Horford at the 4. Here's hoping ownership is listening to Horford.

[T21]

I think your summations were spot on. No mention of Teague. Wow. Maybe I should temper my frustration with him not being played by Drew some. Still, my biggest frustration with Drew, though.

Let me be clear about how I see Drew relative to Woody. I DO see Drew as a slight upgrade over Woody. I do NOT like some of his rotation decisions by playing Evans and not playing Teague (especially from early on and taking some lumps with him when we could more afford it) and more jump shooting (although they are more open shots IMO). Still, he is slightly better than Woody OVERALL, especially in terms of less predictable offense, not overplaying his starters as much (JJ at 36 instead of 38-40 MPG), better interview (hey, I am a fan). However, IMO there isn't enough of a difference so far that after 2-3 years of Drew I wouldn't be equally frustrated with him if we don't win.

Still, I have enough confidence in Drew, while not perfect, that the team's play under his coaching confirms my worries about it. It wasn't all coaching. A majority of it wasn't coaching (coaches can make a big impact (see Thibideau) but not generally. It is talent, positions, and skill sets. Not enough talent. Skill set and positional needs (even moreso now at the Pg position because I held out hope for Teague). Which brings me back to Horford's comments, which I think support this and what most of us now agree with.

Someone recently said we cannot solve all these problems. Agreed. Especially talent. However, I DO think we could address if not solve positional and some skill set needs. A Pg that can break down defenses and defend his position (Sessions can seemingly do this). A more competent true center that at least allows 20-25 MPG of Horford at the 4. Here's hoping ownership is listening to Horford.

I'm unhappy with the way both Woody and Drew handle rotations and use the bench.

We can always say that we have thin bench, but we have some good players there who weren't given true chance, or they were used in wrong fashion...

If you want to win in this league and keep playing at a high level, you need to develop your bench and rotation... and that is the job of our coach! Especially if we all understand that Hawks are at their best playing up-tempo, end to end total basketball to truly realize potential and athleticism of this group...

[MaceCase]

Interviewer:

What’s your take on the point guard position? Seems like the team is searching for help there. Mike Bibby maybe is a little old, Jeff Teague maybe is too young… Is that the team’s weakest spot?

Horf:

Well, I think Bibby is doing a good job, although it’s clear that in the future we’re going to need another person. We don’t know for how long he’s going to be able to keep it up.

Yikes, Jeffrey. Hope Al doesn't mean someone other than you.

and oh, in before the obligatory "Al should stop making himself available to the media and talking!" post by Nineoh.

[AHF]

Interesting comments on Woody:

In which aspects do you feel you’re a better player compared to last year?

AH: I’m more aggressive offensively. This year’s coach is giving me more freedom to go out and play and that has helped me a lot.

Are you happier with Larry Drew than with Mike Woodson?

AH: No, I liked Woodson, you know? It all comes down to my maturation process as a player and being able to fit better with the rest of the team.

How have the Atlanta Hawks changed as a team with this new coach?

AH: Well, I think we’re a little bit more organized as a team. We had more of a free wheeling system. Now we’re more organized.

[Joker]

I felt Woody was a top 10 NBA coach. A lot of things that you can't account for that Woody did as the coach. But in all fairness, we are dealing with a rookie coach. He's needs time to grow, he's shown flashes but he has lost us games which Woody rarely did. Woody knew the personnel like the back of his head and knew what he had to do to win. Woody had flaws, a couple very noticeable but I like Woody. He was good coach in his last two seasons. I miss him at times. The poor offense didn't bother me since the personnel wasn't that good anyway. He really should get another HC job in the future.

[AHF]

I felt Woody was a top 10 NBA coach.

He really should get another HC job in the future.

Not many top 10 NBA coaches hang out without being pursued this long. We'll see if he does get another HC job. If so, I hope he performs like he did in Atlanta and that we see him in the playoffs.

[Joker]

Not many top 10 NBA coaches hang out without being pursued this long. We'll see if he does get another HC job. If so, I hope he performs like he did in Atlanta and that we see him in the playoffs.

Who knows, I agree, he got a bad rap due to his lack of passion to offense. His gameplan were amazing on defense when executed. Even though we switched a lot, we gameplan each match-up to cut off the other teams strengths and we hid Bibby which was another plus. Offensively, it was a mess. No real structure which was better for Jamal and Josh. Josh understands this offense well but his BBIQ and decision making bite him in the rear. Jamal runs it well when he wants like Joe. They don't run the motion offense all the time. They can Iso it and do it quite often still. I felt like Woody teaching was really good. There was a lot I like about Woody. More I like than hated. Drew on the other hand is more of a X's and O's guy who really doesn't come off as a coach. Woody didn't at first either as did Doc Rivers. It takes time and the right personnel. He doesn't have the personnel part and probably never will. He's an average NBA coach from everything I've seen that I could quantify. He could become much better than Woody if he ever gets the personnel. He has potential and his use of the Princeton offense is mixed in with a strong touch of Iso's from Woody lack of offensive system.

Edited February 20, 2011 by nbasuperstar40

[AHF]

Who knows

You can look at the number of openings and how many pursued Woodson as their top option and compare that to other top 10 coaches.

BK and Woodson have not been seriously pursued by any team to date.

[Joker]

You can look at the number of openings and how many pursued Woodson as their top option and compare that to other top 10 coaches.

BK and Woodson have not been seriously pursued by any team to date.

I can't speak for other teams but maybe they thought Woody is topped out or maybe they were looking his direction. Most of the coaches who got job were assistants or coaches who haven't coached for awhile. I see what you are trying to say but it's doesn't change what I knew about Woody from players on the team. BK sucks to me. I've never liked him to even be mentioned.

Do you think anyone could have done better than Woody given the personnel?

How many times did we get blown out last season?

[AHF]

Do you think anyone could have done better than Woody given the personnel?

Last season was the first season Woodson really excelled in the regular season. I think he got about as good a regular season record as any coach could have. Prior seasons, he clearly underachieved, IMO.

I don't think any coach could have had the team less prepared or executed a gameplan and adjustments worse in the post-season. I have a hard time deciding whether the Milwaukee debacle was better or worse than the record-setting #2 seed v. #3 seed sweep against Orlando but I tend to think the Bucks series was worse since the talent difference between the Hawks and Bucks was a larger gap than the Hawks and Magic.

[Joker]

Last season was the first season Woodson really excelled in the regular season. I think he got about as good a regular season record as any coach could have. Prior seasons, he clearly underachieved, IMO.

I don't think any coach could have had the team less prepared or executed a gameplan and adjustments worse in the post-season. I have a hard time deciding whether the Milwaukee debacle was better or worse than the record-setting #2 seed v. #3 seed sweep against Orlando but I tend to think the Bucks series was worse since the talent difference between the Hawks and Bucks was a larger gap than the Hawks and Magic.

I agree about last season being a great year by Woody. I felt last year's playoffs just exposed our lack of personnel. The Bucks did one thing smart that Atlanta couldn't answer to. Started Defino and Ilyasova instead of LRMAM and drew Smith out of the paint and attacked Bibby with Jennings and Salmons step his game above his level. It didn't help Atlanta didn't come to play v. Mil for part of the series. The Orlando series showed a lot of weaknesses for us at PG and C. Everyone on our team was exposed. I feel no different this season. Once the playoffs start and everything tighten up, the Hawks will get exposed and probably swept.

He had a decent gameplan v. Milwaukee but how can you adjust. Especially when Horford struggled to score on Thomas. We tried PnR with Horford but he was pulling up short. I think we went as far as our personnel let us. Any team that's only three players with some help from a great scoring 6th man and gets into sets with an over the hill super high BBIQ PG can only go so far. Atlanta wins a lot of games due to the fact that they tiring teams down in the regular season and teams don't have a lot of time to gameplan for Atlanta athletes. Once you gameplan for the Hawks, it's easy. Their just three players and two of them can't create for themselves. Woody is not totally responsible for that ineptitude shown last year. But it was time for him to go. They needed a change to see where they were going and to see if they respond to a different voice. Since the season is half way over. It's clear, they just aren't that good. A very good regular season team who is a solid playoff team. Not hard to gameplan for. No real threats. Joe can be contained if double teamed. Defense could be exposed easily no matter what defense their in. Slow on rotations. From Bibby to Collins, all of them. They just aren't good the basics and don't have the talent to overcome. No coach is the answer. It's a need for a major talent infusion. It's only worst that the Eastern teams are much better than before. I think Orlando is as good as they were last year when the playoffs get here. The rest are even better than last year by a good margin.

Edited February 20, 2011 by nbasuperstar40

[AHF]

You are right.

GIve Woody a kick-butt roster like this and send him against last year's Hawks team and there is obviously no way to adjust for this kind of great talent. That series was going 7 games and it was only Woody's excellent coaching that helped us win:

Rk Player Age G MP FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA ORB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS FG% 3P% FT% MP PTS TRB AST

1 Brandon Jennings 20 7 249 49 120 12 41 21 26 5 21 25 8 4 8 19 131 .408 .293 .808 35.6 18.7 3.0 3.6

2 John Salmons 30 7 285 44 109 4 23 27 28 7 26 28 10 4 12 19 119 .404 .174 .964 40.7 17.0 3.7 4.0

3 Carlos Delfino 27 7 226 26 73 15 37 3 4 3 28 18 5 2 12 14 70 .356 .405 .750 32.3 10.0 4.0 2.6

4 Ersan Ilyasova 22 7 157 24 50 5 14 15 18 21 53 3 5 1 10 14 68 .480 .357 .833 22.4 9.7 7.6 0.4

5 Luc Mbah a Moute 23 7 178 26 50 0 2 12 20 14 39 5 2 0 7 15 64 .520 .000 .600 25.4 9.1 5.6 0.7

6 Luke Ridnour 28 7 121 21 45 5 14 10 12 4 13 13 4 1 10 13 57 .467 .357 .833 17.3 8.1 1.9 1.9

7 Jerry Stackhouse 35 7 144 14 43 5 15 18 20 1 12 8 5 1 5 4 51 .326 .333 .900 20.6 7.3 1.7 1.1

8 Kurt Thomas 37 7 199 17 35 0 0 4 5 12 55 11 3 4 8 26 38 .486 .800 28.4 5.4 7.9 1.6

9 Dan Gadzuric 31 7 76 9 17 0 0 1 4 10 24 1 1 5 6 15 19 .529 .250 10.9 2.7 3.4 0.1

10 Primoz Brezec 30 4 25 4 7 0 0 1 2 1 3 0 1 0 0 5 9 .571 .500 6.3 2.3 0.8 0.0

11 Royal Ivey 28 3 11 2 6 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 4 .333 .000 3.7 1.3 0.0 0.7

12 Charlie Bell 30 3 8 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .000 .000 2.7 0.0 0.0 0.0

Afterall, think about that team:

Frontcourt of tough and athletic guys like Ersan Ilyasova and 37 year old Kurt Thomas. H-O-T guys like Brandon Jennings who shot 40.8% from the field against us along with a stellar 29% from 3pt range. Well, don't forget how H-O-T their #2 scorer was: Salmons shot 40.4% from the field and a massive 17% from 3pt range. And their #3 scorer? Carlos Delfino almost shot 36% from the field. Those guys were so talented and amazing. Impossible to scheme for that kind of production.

How do you overcome that with just 3 All-Stars (Josh Smith was at that level last season) and the 6th Man of the Year along with perfect health?

Edited February 20, 2011 by AHF

[APE]

he has lost us games which Woody rarely did.

Lol!!!

[Joker]

You are right.

GIve Woody a kick-butt roster like this and send him against last year's Hawks team and there is obviously no way to adjust for this kind of great talent. That series was going 7 games and it was only Woody's excellent coaching that helped us win:

Rk Player Age G MP FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA ORB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS FG% 3P% FT% MP PTS TRB AST

1 Brandon Jennings 20 7 249 49 120 12 41 21 26 5 21 25 8 4 8 19 131 .408 .293 .808 35.6 18.7 3.0 3.6

2 John Salmons 30 7 285 44 109 4 23 27 28 7 26 28 10 4 12 19 119 .404 .174 .964 40.7 17.0 3.7 4.0

3 Carlos Delfino 27 7 226 26 73 15 37 3 4 3 28 18 5 2 12 14 70 .356 .405 .750 32.3 10.0 4.0 2.6

4 Ersan Ilyasova 22 7 157 24 50 5 14 15 18 21 53 3 5 1 10 14 68 .480 .357 .833 22.4 9.7 7.6 0.4

5 Luc Mbah a Moute 23 7 178 26 50 0 2 12 20 14 39 5 2 0 7 15 64 .520 .000 .600 25.4 9.1 5.6 0.7

6 Luke Ridnour 28 7 121 21 45 5 14 10 12 4 13 13 4 1 10 13 57 .467 .357 .833 17.3 8.1 1.9 1.9

7 Jerry Stackhouse 35 7 144 14 43 5 15 18 20 1 12 8 5 1 5 4 51 .326 .333 .900 20.6 7.3 1.7 1.1

8 Kurt Thomas 37 7 199 17 35 0 0 4 5 12 55 11 3 4 8 26 38 .486 .800 28.4 5.4 7.9 1.6

9 Dan Gadzuric 31 7 76 9 17 0 0 1 4 10 24 1 1 5 6 15 19 .529 .250 10.9 2.7 3.4 0.1

10 Primoz Brezec 30 4 25 4 7 0 0 1 2 1 3 0 1 0 0 5 9 .571 .500 6.3 2.3 0.8 0.0

11 Royal Ivey 28 3 11 2 6 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 4 .333 .000 3.7 1.3 0.0 0.7

12 Charlie Bell 30 3 8 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .000 .000 2.7 0.0 0.0 0.0

Afterall, think about that team:

Frontcourt of tough and athletic guys like Ersan Ilyasova and 37 year old Kurt Thomas. H-O-T guys like Brandon Jennings who shot 40.8% from the field against us along with a stellar 29% from 3pt range. Well, don't forget how H-O-T their #2 scorer was: Salmons shot 40.4% from the field and a massive 17% from 3pt range. And their #3 scorer? Carlos Delfino almost shot 36% from the field. Those guys were so talented and amazing. Impossible to scheme for that kind of production.

How do you overcome that with just 3 All-Stars (Josh Smith was at that level last season) and the 6th Man of the Year along with perfect health?

IIyasova wasn't tough he just took Smoove out of the paint. Thomas was and still is tough, look at his impact this season with Chicago. Salmons was great in that series, no need to bring up stats because in the games they won, Salmons play was great. I understand where your going but it just wasn't like you are trying to say. And yes, Woody was out-coached by Skiles last year but Doc out-coached Phil in the last two Finals that featured Bos-LA, so is Doc better than Phil?

Edited February 20, 2011 by nbasuperstar40

[AHF]

IIyasova wasn't tough he just took Smoove out of the paint. Thomas was and still is tough, look at his impact this season with Chicago. Salmons was great in that series, no need to bring up stats because in the games they won, Salmons play was great. I understand where your going but it just wasn't like you are trying to say. And yes, Woody was out-coached by Skiles last year but Doc out-coached Phil in the last two Finals that featured Bos-LA, so is Doc better than Phil?

Milwaukee may have been the worst 6th seed in NBA history. They had no shotblocker, no impact interior player, and 3 guards who were their offense that collectively shot under 40% from the field. That was an epic failure to end up down 3-2 in that series. Following it up with the worst sweep in NBA history - not in a 1 v. 8 matchup but a 2 v. 3 matchup was also inexcusable.

Phil is overrated to me given the elite talent he has had to work with but with his long history of championship success, I can't give Doc (who is a good coach but not an All-Time Great coach) the edge overall. Woodson has a terrible career record, the worst sweep in NBA history, and two 7 game first round series wins with home-court advantage against a signiifcantly less talented Miami team and a woefully less talented Bucks team. I'll Skiles every time over Woodson. We'll see what NBA teams think going forward.

Edited February 20, 2011 by AHF

[Joker]

Milwaukee may have been the worst 6th seed in NBA history. They had no shotblocker, no impact interior player, and 3 guards who were their offense that collectively shot under 40% from the field. That was an epic failure to end up down 3-2 in that series. Following it up with the worst sweep in NBA history - not in a 1 v. 8 matchup but a 2 v. 3 matchup was also inexcusable.

I would also take Skiles every time over Woodson. Phil is overrated to me given the elite talent he has had to work with but with his long history of championship success, I can't give Doc (who is a good coach but not an All-Time Great coach) the edge overall.

And we were world beaters as a 3rd seed too. I agree, Atlanta had no business going down 3-2 to them. That's on everyone, Joe, Woody, Josh, etc. The will to win wasn't there but is it ever with this personnel outside of Al and even with Al he can be contained by a decent center defender. This is just a solid playoff team, they aren't hard to gameplan for, even with a new offense, the personnel is still weak overall.

I wouldn't take Skiles over Woody. This season makes it even clearer. Skiles peaks high and low too much for my liking. He's a good coach but his career pattern waves bother me too much. Woody is underrated. He's no where near Phil or Doc but he's a very good coach, on the same level with Stan Van Gundy and a couple others last season who were in the 8-12 range with Woody. I think Skiles best ability is his will that his teams always play hard. Skiles is a good coach and isn't too far from Woody. Look at Woody record. The only coach since Red Archbach to improve his team record each of his first five season.

[AHF]

Woody is underrated. He's no where near Phil or Doc but he's a very good coach, on the same level with Stan Van Gundy and a couple others last season who were in the 8-12 range with Woody. I think Skiles best ability is his will that his teams always play hard. Skiles is a good coach and isn't too far from Woody. Look at Woody record. The only coach since Red Archbach to improve his team record each of his first five season.

Only coach ever to lose a playoff series as bad as last season's loss.

Career .419 WP%

Playoff .379 WP%

Skiles has a career .509 WP% and has never had 3 consecutive losing seasons. Woodson got 4 consecutive losing seasons to get his legs under him. I'm not sure if there is any coach in the NBA who got that kind of run.

Skiles has also been hired by 3 different teams and taken all 3 teams into the playoffs. We'll have to see if and when Woodson gets his next chance.

Your comparison coach Stan Van Gundy has never had a losing season and has posted a career .652 WP% and .592 WP% in the playoffs.

Of course, both Skiles and Van Gundy last season got their playoff WP%s increased from having faced off against Woody so that may not be a fair comparison.

Here are the four (4) current coaches with lower WP%s than Woody:

Jay Triano .394 WP%

Keith Smart .368 WP% (though he will have passed Woody by the end of the season if he stays on his current .473 pace this season)

Kurt Rambis .279 WP%

John Kuester .345 WP%

All of them have better WP%s than Woody did at the same point in his career.

For perspective, Jerry Sloan has coached for 26 years and has fewer losing seasons than Woodson has in 6 years. There are others with serious experience like that such as Rick Adelman's 19 completed seasons with fewer losing seasons than Woody.

Man, I wish we would have fired Woody and hired Adelman a few years ago.

[Joker]

Only coach ever to lose a playoff series as bad as last season's loss.

Career .419 WP%

Playoff .379 WP%

Skiles has a career .509 WP% and has never had 3 consecutive losing seasons. Woodson got 4 consecutive losing seasons to get his legs under him. I'm not sure if there is any coach in the NBA who got that kind of run.

Skiles has also been hired by 3 different teams and taken all 3 teams into the playoffs. We'll have to see if and when Woodson gets his next chance.

Your comparison coach Stan Van Gundy has never had a losing season and has posted a career .652 WP% and .592 WP% in the playoffs.

Of course, both Skiles and Van Gundy last season got their playoff WP%s increased from having faced off against Woody so that may not be a fair comparison.

Here are the four (4) current coaches with lower WP%s than Woody:

Jay Triano .394 WP%

Keith Smart .368 WP% (though he will have passed Woody by the end of the season if he stays on his current .473 pace this season)

Kurt Rambis .279 WP%

John Kuester .345 WP%

All of them have better WP%s than Woody did at the same point in his career.

For perspective, Jerry Sloan has coached for 26 years and has fewer losing seasons than Woodson has in 6 years. There are others with serious experience like that such as Rick Adelman's 19 completed seasons with fewer losing seasons than Woody.

Man, I wish we would have fired Woody and hired Adelman a few years ago.

Personnel should really be taken into account but regardless Adelman would be a much better hired than Woody.

[AHF]

Personnel should really be taken into account but regardless Adelman would be a much better hired than Woody.

Personnel should definitely be taken into consideration both for overall record and for the fact that the team "somehow" improved while adding Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Joe Johnson, Zaza Pachulia, Marvin Williams, Al Horford, Mike Bibby, and Jamal Crawford. The idea that improving from 13 or 26 wins represents great coaching is a stretch for me.