Should LD be extended?

[Diesel]

I don't believe that you should sit in a man's kitchen, lick your fingers after the meal and say he's a bad cook.

Everybody is praising the games of Horf, Teague, and Korver... and I see no LD love. In fact, nobody expected us to be here. So here's the LD love question.

[yungsta]

NO! when you let certain players damn near give games away with their bad decision making and you dont bench him. you need to go.

No more player coaches

Edited February 27, 2013 by yungsta

[AHF]

If you are bringing back Josh Smith then "no."

If you aren't, then I would see what else is out there on the market but LD is definitely not the worst coach in the league. I love the passing we have seen from this team this season. So, for example, I would rather bring back LD than hire Mike Brown.

[Jody23]

Agree with the above. The relationship between Smith and LD must end.

[benhillboy]

I'm with it. Our team plays to their strengths, limits fast break points while piling them up, no one shares the ball more except the Dynasty, we go ham from downtown, winning on the road, get much more out of our perimeter defense than we all expected, PG is budding, frontcourt duo among the top in the league, get zero fan support, you can make an instructional tape of his out-of-bounds plays, and only been blown out what twice? I know I sound like a comolete optimist who diesnt know the deficiencies of this team: I do. Not having Josh on a leash at all times is a problem. Rebounding is a problem, but even with those I dont sweat it too much. The King and them are awful, they got rings to show how poor they are on the boards. As far as offensive rebounding, I dont mind it at all because trying and failing compromises our good transition defense. He's only going to get better as long as the players buy in to his team concept. I fu@ks with Drew heavy. Props to his staff as well, some tough guys on there seems like. If a household name, past Finals appearance coach were interested, of course I'm open. Just don't lowball the guy and disrespect him when negotiations come up because he's done a fine job IMO with this cheap payroll and I was very critical of the hire after his introductory period.

Edited February 27, 2013 by benhillboy

[turnermx]

LD has done a good job but not great so far this year. I don't think its fair to LD to blame him for all of Smoove's bad decision making / lack of discipline at times but at least part of the blame must fall on him. I agree that if we end up re-signing Smoove to another contract LD needs to go and a more disciplinarian coach brought in, and if Smoove were to go LD should be ok here vs other options. I want to stay the hell away from Mike Brown as coach. That would be Woody Part Deaux.

[TheTruth]

There are too many things for me not to like about LD despite us playing good basketball lately:

1) Ridiculous sub patterns

2) Lack of accountability for Josh Smith

3) Ivan freakin Joshnson...

4) Anthony Tolliver

5) Seems to create lineups that don't force opposing teams to adjust to us

6) Not using Pachulia more in big lineups

Now, LD has improved in certain areas. Seems as though he isn't as stringent with the 2 early foul rule. He also doesn't appear to be sitting players that get hot early as much as he used to. He's also pretty danged good at drawing up plays after timeouts.

I would look for an upgrade and go from there. He's not the worst, but I feel we can do better. We need someone who can come in, demand accountability (with or without Josh), and have this team play disciplined and maximal effort basketball...instead of these hot stretches at a time that we see from the Hawks now.

[Bahamut]

Agree with the above. The relationship between the Atlanta Hawks and LD must end.

[BrazilianHawk]

YES! Provided DF lets Josh walk.

If Josh gets resigned, then we need a coach who will try and make Player S play the way he should.

Who knows, we could even dream of contending if Josh finally 'gets it'... Pipedream...

[Cwell]

Drew actually isn't that bad to be. I like him wayyyyyy better than I liked Woody. My only problem is, like what has already been said, is him letting Josh do whatever the hell he wants to and his subs at times. Do I want a better coach? yes but if Josh doesn't come back and the only coaches available are dodo dookie then i'd say stick with him. This is the first time in years i've actually seen growth out of ANY players on our roster. Nobody got better under Woody except Josh who had no choice since he was 100% raw coming out with no defined skills.

[coachx]

If you are bringing back Josh Smith then "no."

If you aren't, then I would see what else is out there on the market but LD is definitely not the worst coach in the league. I love the passing we have seen from this team this season. So, for example, I would rather bring back LD than hire Mike Brown.

This

[ATLscrubLove]

If we get a top 4 seed and get to at least the 2nd round we should keep him. That would be impressive considering we only had 4 guys return from last years roster.

[lethalweapon3]

I'm washing my hands after the meal.

~lw3

[Eddielives]

The only thing that bothers me is the Josh thing. I want a coach who isn't afraid to criticize his player for making consistent boneheaded plays and forces him to change or benches him. If a coach with a better resume were to want to come here, then I would let LD go. But, as was stated by AHF, LD is not a chump of a coach either. He has done, overall, a pretty damn good job. I would only extend him if there weren't a better option.

[tonegully]

I would like a coach with no ties to the Hawks organization.

[DrReality]

Don't think LD can coach smith but then I don't know who could........apart from the old Zen master

[Hawkfan89]

simply no