Tonight Drew should be fired

[Mdizzle5]

With a good coach, Josh Smith could.

Who says we can't even compete if there is a good coach in place? And how is the core still very much flawed? Smoove, Horf, and JJ is a very competent core, bordering on elite. This team actually has a lot of similarities with the team who just beat them. The Bulls had an incompetent coach (Del Negro) last year and had a very mediocre season. This year, they hired a much better coach and upgraded their bench without tweaking their core (Rose, Boozer, Noah, Deng). The Hawks should look at what Chicago did as an example of what to do this offseason.

The thing is a coach isn't the full answer josh has to want it himself. A coach isn't going to go into his brain and switch the way his neurons fire. Josh has to want it too.that's what makes a superstar. All he seems to want is to shoot jumpers and eat.

[atlbraves93]

The thing is a coach isn't the full answer josh has to want it himself. A coach isn't going to go into his brain and switch the way his neurons fire. Josh has to want it too.that's what makes a superstar. All he seems to want is to shoot jumpers and eat.

I think that Josh is capable of making adjustments to turn himself into a better player if he has a good coach to push him. Firstly, I think people underestimate his jump shooting ablility. I'm not arguing that he shouldn't take it to the hoop more, because he should - a lot more. If he can make a commitment to improve his inside game as much as he improved his outside game this year, he could become outstanding. He stopped shooting 3s entirely last season, only to improve his mid-to-long range game drastically over the summer. While he does shoot too many long jumpers, his percentages from out there are far from bad. With that kind of committment to his inside offensive game, he could be a beast next year. As far as defense goes, we know Smoove can be excellent. I think a coach who motivates Josh will make him an excellent defender.

[Supporter]

The thing is a coach isn't the full answer josh has to want it himself. A coach isn't going to go into his brain and switch the way his neurons fire. Josh has to want it too.that's what makes a superstar. All he seems to want is to shoot jumpers and eat.

lmao!!! your last sentence had me rolling. "all he wants to do is shoot jumpers and eat...".

[niremetal]

I think that Josh is capable of making adjustments to turn himself into a better player if he has a good coach to push him. Firstly, I think people underestimate his jump shooting ablility. I'm not arguing that he shouldn't take it to the hoop more, because he should - a lot more. If he can make a commitment to improve his inside game as much as he improved his outside game this year, he could become outstanding. He stopped shooting 3s entirely last season, only to improve his mid-to-long range game drastically over the summer. While he does shoot too many long jumpers, his percentages from out there are far from bad. With that kind of committment to his inside offensive game, he could be a beast next year. As far as defense goes, we know Smoove can be excellent. I think a coach who motivates Josh will make him an excellent defender.

It's been 7 years. What you see is what you'll get. And what you'll get is a guy who other teams leave wide open on the perimeter but he still can't convert them consistently...and yet he still continues chucking them.

The first three months of this season was just the second stretch of his 7-year career where he shot better-than-awful on perimeter jumpers (he had a good stretch at the end of '07-'08 or '08-'09 too, I remember). Since the New Year, he's been regressing to the mean, and this month he's awful again. And if by some miracle he started hitting his jumpers consistently, teams would start guarding him out there. And he'd start bricking them all over again.

In any case, don't talk as if Josh is some young malleable rookie. He's a 7 year vet. He's not going to wake up tomorrow and have a consistent jumper.

[lethalweapon3]

It must go deeper than the head coach this time around.

Everyone associated with coaching and player development on this team must go.

Bob Bender, Lester Conner, Kenny Gattison, Tyrone Hill, must go. No one has any answers when, as Conner, says, the team just didn't show up to play today.

Nick Van Exel must go. There's no need to have a player development instructor for players who won't develop.

Greg Ballard, Mark Crow, Ron Meikle, Stephen Giles, Lojze Miloslavljevic, whoever brought us Pape Sy, must go

Wally Blase, Pete Radulovic, Chattin Hill must go. The chef frying Smoove's tilapia sandwiches must go.

This is the house cleaning that should have happened last May.

~lw3

[RedDawg#8]

F' Josh, he thinks he's Joe

F' Joe, he thinks he's Reggie Miller

F' Zaza,he thinks he's Rocky

and F' Drew,he thinks he's coaching

[MoBetta]

LOL @ the Osh Smith fan

Osh needs to leave

[Hawkxan1]

not like woodson himself didnt suck....

Amen.

[Dejay]

It must go deeper than the head coach this time around.

Everyone associated with coaching and player development on this team must go.

Bob Bender, Lester Conner, Kenny Gattison, Tyrone Hill, must go. No one has any answers when, as Conner, says, the team just didn't show up to play today.

Nick Van Exel must go. There's no need to have a player development instructor for players who won't develop.

Greg Ballard, Mark Crow, Ron Meikle, Stephen Giles, Lojze Miloslavljevic, whoever brought us Pape Sy, must go

Wally Blase, Pete Radulovic, Chattin Hill must go. The chef frying Smoove's tilapia sandwiches must go.

This is the house cleaning that should have happened last May.

~lw3

In war, they call this a scorched-earth policy and it is something that's long overdue. Only this time, they need someone who would know what do to with draft picks other than blow them..

[Diesel]

Chicago was on from three.

I was astounding that we shot 50% at the half and were down by 20 something?

They shot 74%. Their threes were on all night. You can't win like that. I don't know what to say other than this is more than just a flukey Chicago shooting night. Our defense was crushed. We got torched. We had no answer..even after the half. We need somebody who will make guys play defense or find themselves on the bench. We need somebody who will stop bad BBIQ or find yourself on the bench.

We need somebody who cares more about building than winning.

[Bluehawk]

A man who calls his son's collegiate coach to tell him that the son is leaving the team is not a leader or a motivator. He is an enabler and he's enabling this team back into the Dark Ages!

I actually heard Gearon say that many of the players lobbied for Drew to get the job. That raised a big red flag for me right there. Wow, an untried coach who is liked by his players and would work cheap. I reckon that criteria "enabled" the ASG to justify his hiring!

We need a smart, kick-*ss coach who will be able to evaluate what he has and get the most out of it. Players don't have to like him. They don't even have to respect him. They just have to play like hell for him!

By the way ASG, if you don't have the stomach for it I'll be more than happy to give Drew his walking papers for you .... the sooner the better!

[TheTruth]

Chicago was on from three.

I was astounding that we shot 50% at the half and were down by 20 something?

They shot 74%. Their threes were on all night. You can't win like that. I don't know what to say other than this is more than just a flukey Chicago shooting night. Our defense was crushed. We got torched. We had no answer..even after the half. We need somebody who will make guys play defense or find themselves on the bench. We need somebody who will stop bad BBIQ or find yourself on the bench.

We need somebody who cares more about building than winning.

We just need someone who cares...or at least acts like it.

[Mdizzle5]

We just need someone who cares...or at least acts like it.

this. i'm convinced the ASG doesn't really even watch the games.... I don't expect them to browse through the fan base on forums and read the complaints but man... how can they NOT see it if they ARE watching the games?

[Guest Walter]

I don't think this squad of misfits would listen to anyone to be honest.... regardless of who the coach was.

I have to agree here. Drew isn't the fix and few people thought he would be but I'm done with alot of these players. Sure they lack the requisite talent and skill set but more importantly (and not entirely known before) they lack heart. Didn't we just have a player's only meeting?!? Isn't that supposed to buy you at least 2-3 games of intensity?

W

[frankthetank966]

I was going to make this exact same post. Tonight was yet another national embarrassment for Atlanta and Hawks fans everywhere. Larry Drew clearly has no clue what he is doing and he has totally lost that locker room. Totally. There is ZERO fight, ZERO heart and ZERO guts on that Hawks roster right now. We have lost 7 out of our last 10 and almost all of those losses are blow outs. We have no defense, we have no offense. We are dead last in the NBA in free throw attempts. This team is lucky to even MAKE the playoffs.

This offseason has to be the one to blow it up and start over again. We have two pieces in Horford and Hinrich the rest of the bums (that includes Joe and Smoove) can be traded elsewhere. Get a real coach and some player who actually give a f*** about playing hard. I am beyond furious at this team at this moment.

J Smoove is one of the most talented players in the league. He has never had a coach who has the guts to put him in check/went about it the right way. J Smoove is like Ron Artest. Everyone said Ron Artest was uncoachable but a great talent waiting to be unleashed. As soon as he arrived in LA, Jackson put him in check. We need someone to do that with Smoove. We can't dump him, anyone who logically wants to move Smoove is crazy. He is extremely talented, his attitude needs to be adjusted but other than that I want him on this team for a while. JJ has really struggled this year. I'm not sure if it's because of his elbow of because he made bank, but lets be realistic, no team will pick up that salary. He is turning into the Mike Hampton of NBA. Hinrich hasn't done anything to prove himself as a fit with the players. He is a solid player but I'm not really so impressed with him to be honest.

The bottom line is, that right now the Hawks don't have a head coach. We have an assitant coach who is trying to be the head coach of the team and doesn't know what he's doing.

[terrell]

You get what you pay for. It wouldn't matter. Any coach willing to be the cheapest paid coach in the NBA wouldn't hardly be any better then Drew.

"You get what you pay for". Not true. Joe makes max money, but plays like a mid level player. And why is everybody so upset? At least we get to look forward to the draft and get to see what JC2 can do next year after Jamal is gone. Oh yeah, my bad. Forgot we traded JC2 and our 1st rdr. Darn it........................................ Edited March 23, 2011 by terrell

[terrell]

And just think, we had Woody and LD on the same staff last year. Wow!

[AHF]

Firstly, I think people underestimate his jump shooting ablility. I'm not arguing that he shouldn't take it to the hoop more, because he should - a lot more. If he can make a commitment to improve his inside game as much as he improved his outside game this year, he could become outstanding. He stopped shooting 3s entirely last season, only to improve his mid-to-long range game drastically over the summer. While he does shoot too many long jumpers, his percentages from out there are far from bad.

Josh shoots jumpers on 64% of his shots this season and draws zero fouls on those. Even without taking fts into the equation, he is shooting a massive 38.3% fg% from the floor on his jumpers, including 32.6% on his 3pters.

Every time he shoots a jumper it means he is not in position to rebound, to post up, to drive, or to go for an alley-oop. How can this be a good thing we are underrating?

That will NEVER make someone like Josh a star. Never.

Josh will never make the All-Star team with a shooting profile like that. The only way he becomes our star is by getting serious about playing inside. Taking his inside game to the equivalent of a 38.3% jumper isn't going to cut it.

Despite the massive increase in his 3pt% (2009-10 0% to 2010-11 32.6%) and massive increase in his free throw % (61.8% in 2009-10 to 73.0% in 2010-11), I think you know his scoring efficiency is exact same as last season (.536 ts% both seasons). What that means is that if Josh just played like he did last season but improved his free throws, he would have put up a career year for his scoring. Instead, he massively improved his free throws and eliminated every bit of that gain by taking crappy jumpers so that it netted out to a big nothing as far his scoring efficiency and netted out to hurt the team with his inability to rebound from the perimeter.

[Bawse]

How much more evidence do you need. This team is broken beyond belief. Fire this coach NOW.

[DJlaysitup]

...The bottom line is, that right now the Hawks don't have a head coach. We have an assitant coach who is trying to be the head coach of the team and doesn't know what he's doing.

While I won't argue that...think about what a difference a year (actually less) makes.

At the beginning of the Season LD was a new NBA Head Coach (getting his break into the bigtime), with a team of players that had shown they had potential (two returning all-stars)...he's installing a "motion offense" to fix the thing Woody couldn't get right...his son is the starting point guard at UNC - a college powerhouse.