Budenholzer Q&A after ‘very intense’ practice for slumping Hawks

[HawkItus]

Budenholzer Q&A after ‘very intense’ practice for slumping Hawks

Updated: 4:09 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015  |  Posted: 3:41 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015

 

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By Chris Vivlamore - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution



 

The Hawks held a spirited — and often loud — practice on Tuesday, a day after they dropped a 100-88 home loss to the Heat. The Hawks are slumping. The loss was their third straight and 11th in the last 18 games since starting the season 7-1.

“Great practice,” Paul Millsap said afterward. “Very intense. Very intense. It was great. Something we needed. Hopefully, it’s the turning point.”

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Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer during a 106-94 loss to the Piston in the first regular season basketball game on Tuesday, ... read more

Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer during a 106-94 loss to the Piston in the first regular season basketball game on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in Atlanta. Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com

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The Hawks’ recent struggles come off a 60-win campaign and a berth in the Eastern Conference finals, which has fueled increased scrutiny as to what is wrong this year.

When asked the reason for the current issues before the loss to the Heat Monday, one team official said “Consistency. It’s as simple as that.”

Through 26 games, the Hawks are 14-12, 10th in the Eastern Conference and fourth in the Southeast Division. (The position is just three games out of the top spot in the crowded conference.) At the same point last season, the Hawks were 19-7, second in the conference and first in the division. That was before they went on a 19-game win streak.

Coach Mike Budenholzer discussed the current state of the team Tuesday. The following are excerpts of his post-practice interview.

Q. Paul described today’s practice as ‘very intense.’ Is that fair?

A. That’s fair.

Q. What did you work on?

A. I would say just trying to raise our competitiveness, build our competitive habits. Probably a little attention to detail and execution. Just our habits.

Q. I know you are defensive first, but when you look at the recent poor stretch you point to the offense as the main failing?

A. I’m a nit-picker for words, so I probably wouldn’t say “main” but I would say the offense is not where we need it to be and the offense is definitely contributing. But I don’t like the word “main” because that makes it sound like that’s what it is. It’s not just the offense. But the offense is contributing, or the lack thereof or the poor execution is part of the problem.

Q. You are 20th in the league in pace of play. That is obviously not where you want to be or where you have been. Do you see that as an issue?

A. Yes.

Q. Then is it fair that what you do (offensively) plays off that?

A. I think the pace stat is actually a tiny bit overrated but 20th is not good. I would say sometimes people are too narrow in how they look at pace. When we talk about pace and think about pace, it’s bigger and broader effort and look and something we want. But 20th is not good.

Q. When you lose three games in a row, does it make you look at the product versus the process any differently? And if you are person who favors the process, do you look at parts of the process that you might have overlooked or back up a couple of steps in the process?

A. I think our process is something that is important to us and something that needs attention, needs to be embraced. It’s a part of any good team, any good organization, anything that is any good. There is usually a process. You have to embrace it. You have to stick with it. We are going to work to make sure we are doing that.

Q. How much does the success you had last year up the bar, so to speak? Do you look at that at all on where this team is now?

A. I think each year is new. The thing that I think is important is to understand why you had the success and are you doing those things currently. Not that just because you had it prior, you are going to automatically have it again. Hopefully, because you’ve had it, there is some understanding of what it takes. I don’t know that it ups the bar.

Q. It does outside the building.

A. I’m sure it does.

Q. You said (Monday) night that how you handle this adversity is going to say a lot about the team and a lot of that is how the players respond. Is that the kind of thing where you will meet with some of the team leaders to make sure you are all on the same page? Or do make sure they are doing the things you want?

A. We have conversations all the time. I think there is good dialog, in good times and in times when you are not playing well or not doing things as well as you would like. Those conversations have been, will continue to and will always be a part of our makeup.

[bird_dirt]

Not to be some kind of homer/apologizer, but I'm not as freaked out by this sluggish slow start as many folks seem to be on here.  This isn't going to be a team that wins 65 or 70 games, but they aren't too far off from last year's team, either. 

How many teams start off hot and finish the season hot, and keep it up in the playoffs? Last year we were hot in the first half and petered off at the end. We can reverse that this year and get hot going into the playoffs,  when it matters most. 

This team has experienced what it takes from last season, so with a swift kick in the pants they can do it again. It will be interesting to see how they react to this realignment of their bball juju chakras. 

[Jody23]

Nothing wrong with what Bud said here.  But, it's not too difficult to say when your next game is against the Sixers and you have Boston and Orlando after that.  Beating those type of teams really means very little.  As long as the Hawks continue to get smoked by the elite teams, it continues to reinforce the fact that this group isn't good enough to challenge for the big prize.  If they want us to believe that's the goal, then they should be held to that.

[benhillboy]

I think the staff really misses Quinn Snyder.  Yeah they did well without him last year but he's a residual effect and consistent discipline guy.  Utah is known as a tough team not because of the players (Gordon Hayward is their face for goodness sake) but Quinn's style of coaching and chewing their asses out at every oppurtunity.  

He got a first round draft pick out of Kanter because he was much too soft, and this is a guy who never attempted to be a stretch 4.  If Favors returned after the offseason talking about he worked on his three Quinn would stare lasers and fireballs through his facial tissue.  I would imagine he and Al wouldn't get along too well over his new style because even Kanter has a much higher true shooting percentage and rebound rate than Al (as he comes off the OKC bench for a cool 16 mill). ENES F&@KIN KANTER!!!!