Stotts must hate Dickau.

[pathway23]

Takes him out after playing well, puts in Terry who proceeds to stink up the court, and leaves him in until the lead evaporates and we have a deficit, then grudgingly gives Dickau PT in garbage time. Terry was just awful. He didn't run the offense at all he didn't hit a shot until garbage time, he didn't play defense, what gives? Stotts should be fired. I was willing to give him benefit of the doubt because the team has played better lately but I think it is more because of some chemistry they have developed together than it is his coaching style. He continues to substitute players based on patterns rather than performance and fails to take control of situations on the court. Bring Fratello in here, trade JT for an average PG

[KB21]

I know I sound like I'm defending Terry Stotts, but he's in a situation where he knows he will be out of a job at the end of the season. If he plays the young guys like Dan Dickau and Travis Hansen, he is basically rebuilding for the next coach.

If he plays Jason Terry and Dion Glover, he thinks he is giving himself a better chance at winning and possibly keeping his job.

Doc Rivers recently had an article at nba.com where he talks about this issue (not Terry Stotts per say, but the issue over coaches and the need to win now).

[cyman3]

It seemed like a sure victory midway through the fourth quarter...

Van Gundy decides to play SMALL BALL and go with a small lineup. He made ADJUSTMENTS.

And what about STOTTS?

ditto! nothing. he figures he puts in the most talented group and hopefully the come out on TOP.

c'mon stotts!

I also blame JT tho. He took tooooooooo long to set up his teammates. He forgot that HOT POTATO leads to either a BAD SHOT or a TURNOVER.

[dickaufan12]

I must say, it was awesome seeing Dan go in and perform as well as he did. He set up the offense so well, and the box score does no justice to what he did. It looked like he was holding back and passing it around like a full-blown true PG at first, but then he hit the hole for his driving layup. I was very upset though when he went out for JT, and JT went out and played like sh** to finish the game. I assumed that Stotts was at least somewhat intelligent from a basketball standpoint. Clearly, I have been proven completely wrong by his substitution choices tonight.

[KB21]

What exactly was he going to do to counter act it? Atlanta already has a small basketball team with Theo and Reef down low.

What do you do? Bring Glover and Crawford off the bench?

The only thing I think he could have done was leave Dickau in the game. I still say the brain dead players cost us the game.

[chillzatl]

You're trying to blame one person for a team let down. JT didn't play well, Theo didn't play well, Dion didn't break 15pts off the bench. Diaw didn't play well. Unless those things happen we aren't going to have a freakin chance of winning.

Putting in [censored] Dickau isn't going to get us a win. Putting in Travis Hansen IS NOT going to get us the win. Sorry, but it's not.

So c'mon, stop trying to point fingers at one person. WE SUCK. period. We won two in a row for the first time. We're almost half way through teh season. WE STINK. Face it. Stop blaming one person for team failures. If I was stotts I wouldn't be playing Dickau or any of those scrubs either.

[KB21]

The fact that the team sucks is the reason Terry should give more time to the young guys on the team to see what he has. However, Terry knows he is in a no win situation and realizes his lame duck status at the moment.

The team, as is, will never win. I don't care who the coach is.

I don't really care if it is Terry Stotts, Doc Rivers, Bob Hill, or Jim O'Brien, whoever the Hawks decide to hire as the coach of this team after this season, they MUST make a commitment to that coach. No more 2 year deals and no more setting expectations so high that a sour season causes you to dump yet another coach. A coach has to have enough job security that he's willing to give guys like Dickau and Hansen a look to see what he has for down the road.

[chillzatl]

the Hawks org. have sent down word to Stotts that they need to lose games. Because he's still playing to win, for better or for worse. That means putting his best players on the court. He's going with what he knows will give him the best chance to win, as most coaches would do.

Personally I would prefer to see the bench guys playing. They aren't going to make us better an they aren't going to get us any more wins. But at least they'll be better prepared for the future.

[pathway23]

I don't care what you say, that was a poor coaching job by Stotts.

[TROUBLEMAN69]

That loss is the fault of the players. Coaches can diagram any play they want, but if you don't have the execution the play will fail. Houston was collapsing into the paint, and every offense, no matter what level of basketball, has multiple options. Unfortunately the Hawk's dumb players, did not use their other options.

Dan Dickau, although he played well in his time yesterday, would not have done any better in crunch time. Against Boston he showed that he is prone to turn the ball over, just like the rest of the Hawk guards. In crunch time, coaches go with their best players, and that is exactly what Stotts did.

TROUBLEMAN

[pathway23]

I disagree. Everybody was turning it over against Boston, not just Dickau, and it was primarily due to the lack of preparation for the full court press, Anybody would turn the ball over against a full court press if they are trying to bring the ball up the court all by themselves, which Dickau was because he was forced to, nobody was helping him.

[KB21]

Again. That's because our players are too stupid to realize that they need to come to help the man getting trapped.

Coach Stotts can tell them what to do till he's blue in the face, but if they don't listen to him, what good does it do?

The only time this team plays well is when they do what Coach Stotts wants them to do. This coaching staff has stressed all season long to make the extra pass on offense, to get good ball movement going offensively, and to rotate well on defense. Yet, these players simply can't get it through those numb skulls of theirs. They will go a few games where they do this well, then they go back into their one on one, poor shot selection, no defense ways.

[TROUBLEMAN69]

Quote:

---

I disagree. Everybody was turning it over against Boston, not just Dickau, and it was primarily due to the lack of preparation for the full court press, Anybody would turn the ball over against a full court press if they are trying to bring the ball up the court all by themselves, which Dickau was because he was forced to, nobody was helping him.

---

C'mon Path, Dickau wasn't bringing it up against two people. Every point guard in the NBA should be able to bring the ball up the court in one-on-one press situations. In my post I also included the statement "like the rest of the Hawks guards", which means I wasn't only talking about Dickau. I know everybody was turning the ball over against Boston, but most of the turnovers were unforced errors. People were trying to make the Sportscenter highlight pass instead of hitting people that were open.

TROUBLEMAN

[dickaufan12]

FYI: He did bring it up against two guys more that a few times. I was probably watching more intently the way he played than anyone else, and they brought two guys on the press several times.

[pathway23]

I saw that too dickaufan12, wanted to make sure I didn't need to get my eyes checked ....

hey but if two guys are checking Dickau in the back court, somebody is open...it doesn't help when the other back court mate is already down at the other end of the floor instead of there with you. To represent Stotts lack of faith in Dickau, when Dickau is in the game he often has Glover or Diaw bring the ball up. Dickau gets to the other end of the floor early and sometimes doesn't even touch the ball. What a waste. Will we ever get to see what he has? Why should we be surprised that he lacks some confidence, when the coach clearly doesn't trust him....and for what reason, what has he seen of him where it counts?

[TROUBLEMAN69]

So you guys are telling me the other 4 Hawks were down at the other end of the court while Dickau struggled to get the ball against a press? That's not what I noticed, but I'll take your word on it. lol I saw Dickau play against the Celtics, and I know he struggled with one on one pressure defense. Even "Stinger" said the gameplan against Dickau is to pressure him one-on-one because the league believes he can't beat you off the dribble. It seems to me that even Dickau's teammates do not have faith in him. I saw Nazr get a rebound last night, and totally ignore Dickau on the outlet pass. Apparently Dickau is not that impressive in practice either. If he is not impressive in practice against the Hawks guards, then what in the heck will he do against the rest of the league?

TROUBLEMAN