Questions???

[OGRat]

I think Woody is the key to our success this year.

When it comes down to it, there are only so many shots to go around, and we have several players who can dominate stretches of a game if they have the ball in the right place.

For instance, in last year's Summer League, the team chose to highlight Marvin, and he produced. When Joe has been out of the line up, Smoove has dominated. Also, Chills has shown he can impact a game as a primary. Even Shelden has shown some great potential. Now we also have Horford, Law and a healthy Speedy.

Can Woody put them all in position to contribute at the same time? Could anyone? If trade offs need to be made, whose game will have to be sacrificed?

Lastly, how deep should the rotation go? Last night 11 players got into the game and Salim and Lue did not even play. Can this type of rotation continue?

OG

[Diesel]

Really this is the season that will tell us the most about Woody and BK.

For Woody it's about can he find the right niche for the team.

For BK it's weather this team has any possible chemistry.

Right now, nobody can say for sure... but the games will bear the answer!!

It just might be that there's not enough good chemistry balance to allow this team to be successful.

[thesheedera]

We have an extremely deep, albeit young team that's built to run. We need a Roy Williams clone to command this squad. As more of a college fan than a pro fan, I don't know who the NBA version of RW would be, but that's the guy we need. A guy that knows up tempo basketball but still believes first and foremost in defense (even though some of his teams react better to that than others). A guy that can instill selflessness and has no problem deciding on roles for his players (of course much easier in the college game). A guy that players would run through a brick wall for.

I'm having a hard time getting on the Woodson Up Tempo bandwagon, but I'm gonna do my best. I really hope he shows us something we haven't seen any of in his tenure as the coach of the Hawks.

[warcore]

About having the 11 man rotation, i for one feel that it's essential we use that sort of rotation. Reason being we're trying to be a running team. If you really wanna be a successful running team, you MUST keep fresh legs on the floor at all times. An 8 man rotation would get fatigued in a running system....unless you're in incredible shape like the suns.

[Diesel]

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A guy that knows up tempo basketball but still believes first and foremost in defense (even though some of his teams react better to that than others). A guy that can instill selflessness and has no problem deciding on roles for his players (of course much easier in the college game). A guy that players would run through a brick wall for.

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The amateurs would say Pat Riley... But the real architect of showtime was Paul Westhead.

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In 2007, Westhead coached the Mercury to victory the WNBA championship, making him the only coach win a championship in the NBA and the WNBA.

On September 27th, 2007 he agreed to a contract with the NBA's Seattle Supersonics to be an assistant coach under longtime friend P.J. Carlesimo.

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This is the man we need!!! PJ's looking to run in Seattle!

[OGRat]

I guess my concern is about players finding a groove. I know for me, I need to be in a rhythm to be effective. Get me in a rhythm and I hardly miss, but if I am not in a rhythm I miss easy lay-ups.

[thesheedera]

Westhead has the acumen for the O, but does he have the requisite D that must accompany it?

[Diesel]

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When asked whether he is going to push the ball consistently, here is what Carlesimo said Saturday.

"We're going to try to play at that pace," he said. "We're going to try to walk the line. It's not an easy line to play at this pace offensively and to be a good defensive team. That's not an easy combination nor is it easy to play man and play zone. We want to try to do that. We definitely want to play at a quick pace. We definitely want to be a good defense team.

"The good news, I think, is

we have a number of guys of similar ability so we have a team that will lend itself to subbing and playing a decent rotation.

We're not going to play 14 guys nor are we going to play a tight eight. I think that will be good, I think that will keep a lot of guys in the mix."

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Despite his lack of success at the NBA level, Westhead is considered an offensive guru who took just two years to turn the Mercury from the WNBA's worst team to champions.

Since Carlesimo is a defensive-minded coach, the Sonics were lacking an offensive mind.

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[Diesel]

You can find a defensive coach.

I like the idea of what the Sonics will do... an uptempo offense while having a base defense that is a 1-2-2 zone. With the long arms of Durant, Green, and Wilcox, they will do a lot of damage. It also looks like they will abandon the big Center and go for the PFish Center. I think Wilcox will be their starter.

It's going to be interesting to watch!

[thesheedera]

Good thoughts. I'm pretty torn on this issue. I think there are tons of examples of coaches who needed just a little more time to put it all together, and these days it's refreshing seeing a coach get that full chance at proving himself. Maybe Woody's really a genius and all the waiting is about to pay off?

But more like Woodson is still our coach due to BK's loyalty/stubborness, and due to our ownership situation, NOT because he's the best man for the job who deserves more time to prove that we've been losing because of the youth movement as opposed to his techniques.

A new coach with a real track record and the right personality and game plan would be like an adrenaline shot into this franchise. It looks so ripe to me for an expert to grab the reigns and take it to where we all want it to be.

One question I have: Are we under the impression that we're just NOW hearing about a fast paced offense because we have the depth and healthy bodies to employ it? It would have been nice while we were losing for our foundation to be learning this up tempo game together. It feels like they're all right back at square one now?

And was this Woody's decision, or was it mandated from above?

I don't recall many instances where a coach decides to go in a completely different direction (philosophically) in his 4th year with a team, one that hasn't changed all that much from previous seasons.

[Diesel]

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One question I have: Are we under the impression that we're just NOW hearing about a fast paced offense because we have the depth and healthy bodies to employ it?

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Back since BK took over, he's been talking about up-tempo. I don't think we've waited to employ it, I think Woody's back is to the wall. There is nothing about Woody that said he can coach offense, no less uptempo offense. I've never seen Herb's brother do it either.

We were given a false bill of sale thus far. I think since we drafted Chillz/Smoove we had the personnel to do it. Look how long it took GS to transition. I just think that Woody has been reluctant because he can't really control uptempo. That's the problem most coaches have with uptempo. You truly have to train your team to make decisions for themselves. Most coaches get over that by having a great PG.. however, a great PG is not so necessary. Look at Bo Kimble. What you really need is a commitment to rebounding and filling the lanes and a PG who can make the pass.

Speedy will be a really good uptempo point and so will Law. Lue is not. He's too much of a scorer. I would have loved to see us make a play for Francis. When he was in Houston with Cat, he was a good runner.

[thesheedera]

I agree that Woodson has most likely been told it's time to run, and my gut is that he's faking it.

I hope I'm wrong.

[OGRat]

I'm not a big Woody fan, but I am not willing to lay our not running totally at his feet. I fall more on the side of it being a personnel thing. We haven't had PGs healthy enough to push the ball up the court without turning it over, let alone making good decisions and distributing the ball effectively. That's why we went after Speedy and why I am glad we have Law. This is also why many of us wanted Deron or Paul. I have always believed that the team would have been better with a distributing PG to set the table.

[coachx]

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One question I have: Are we under the impression that we're just NOW hearing about a fast paced offense because we have the depth and healthy bodies to employ it? It would have been nice while we were losing for our foundation to be learning this up tempo game together. It feels like they're all right back at square one now?

And was this Woody's decision, or was it mandated from above?

I don't recall many instances where a coach decides to go in a completely different direction (philosophically) in his 4th year with a team, one that hasn't changed all that much from previous seasons.

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I don't think he has up and changed any system. Most are right when they say we had no real system.

We must remember that just 2 seasons ago the plan was for:

JJ to learn to be a full time PG at 24, Chills and Smoove to start as 2nd year players, Marvin to start as 19 year old rookie, and for ZaZa to start at 22.

That is called rebuilding...that is simply going young and starting over. That was the youngest team in the history of the NBA. These guys were just learning to live independently, shaving for their time, buying a beer for the first time....so to expect anything out of that group was ridiculous. All we could hope for was enought growth to begin to show some since of direction for the franchise.

Then last year we got a quick, though flawed PG in Speedy. His flaw of not being able to shoot was OK b/c the belief was he could get out and run, allowing our young guys to thrive in an uptempp system. Then he got hurt and missed half the season. The games he did play were maybe half tilt.

So last year the intention was to run. Too bad there was no healthy or capable PG to do it.

[thesheedera]

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So last year the intention was to run. Too bad there was no healthy or capable PG to do it.

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I guess I just don't remember hearing about it if that was the case, while it seems like it's been emphasised to a large degree by several sources, most importantly Woodson. It's being talked about as something "new".

If it was part of the overall plan the whole time, I think it would have served us well to at least work on it over the course of the last few seasons. I mean, we thought Speedy was going to be healthy when we acquired him, right? Why wasn't there a bunch of press then about this up tempo style of play?

All I'm saying is that this feels like a departure from where the team has been, and if it was a part of the master plan, it should have been installed over the course of years, not all of the sudden in one training camp.

[Diesel]

Just to beat up on your point a little bit....

IF the plan was to run uptempo all along, why didn't Woody push for us to get an uptempo PG when Speedy got hurt?? There are always a few guys on the wire who can play uptempo...

Francis was on the wire for 2 years now.

If you want somebody cheap...

Hell, Will Conroy, Kyle Davis, and Dickau were available. Hell, we missed out on S. Blake.

Then there's the nbadl... we could have gone with Pooh Jeter or Gerry McNamara (go Cuse).

or

Even Matt Maloney, Frank Williams or Cookie Belcher.

[thesheedera]

It just doesn't make sense. Unless I'm forgetting (very possible) how the ownership, front office and staff have addressed our "style" in the past, I'm fairly certain that there hasn't been much said about fast paced/running game/up tempo basketball until training camp.

I recall a LOT of talk about an "exciting brand" of basketball, but never any explanation of what that would be.

Even if you're thin and your PGs aren't good, you can still play fast paced and be a bottom dweller as we've been while Woody's been here. How could it have been worse? Would we have lost more games? Shucks!

Here's to hoping for the best.

[Diesel]

The funny thing is that a few of the times when we won, we were forced to play uptempo!

[Gray Mule]

I'm not a great fan of Woody.

That said, consider what he has had to work with and through

for all the time he's been in Atlanta.

Year one. A completely blown up roster, filled by our

youngsters and Development league players. A few older

players hanging on for one more year. Then, to make

a bad thing horrible, the sudden death of one of our own.

Year two. Added youth. Shed some borderline players.

Had what would have been a great college roster - Most

was young enough to qualify. Trying to learn the

life of the NBA. Improved over year one. Had to.

Year one was terrible.

Year three. Ownership blows apart. We get JJ added

to our youth squad. Speedy comes on board. Things

are looking up. Then we find Speedy is far from 100%

physically, not just the initial injury, but a bad leg.

Injuries pile up, one after the other until Atlanta

hsa only three or four games all season where the entire

roster is available.

Year four. That's now. Ownership is still a mess with

no end in sight. That can't be good.

The good stuff: Right now, everyone, including Speedy,

seems to be in good health. Sure, we have aches and pains

but nothing major. Some were held out of the first

pre-season game.

We replaced Batista and Ivey with our two draft picks.

Right now, we expect great things from both of them.

Our other young kids are now young veterans, thanks

in part to having to play so much last season when so

many of our starters sat out with injuries.

Thru all this, Woody has kept a positive attitude. How

he has been able to do this, facing all that he has had

to contend with speaks volumes for the man.

Woody has had to be coach, teacher and father figure

for these kids while they grew up. An extra load of

patience thru all this.

Can he now teach this team to be a running team? Does

he have the horses to pull this wagon? I think so.

The parts are in place. It's now up to him and his

staff to make it work. He's the head coach. He must

take the responsibility for what is accomplished. He

can't do it alone. All his assistant coaches must do

their part. Then, the players must preform. It all

ties together, making it a total team effort, from

the head coach to the last man on the end of the bench.

Al Capp, writer of the Lil Abner comic strip many years

ago said it best. Cops in that era were sometimes called

Pig. Al Capp said, that's all right, if you know what

P-I-G really stands for;

Pride - Integrity - Guts.

If our entire Hawks team has these three things, then

look for us to be successful!

Go you Hawk Pig boys!!

[thesheedera]

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Thru all this, Woody has kept a positive attitude. How

he has been able to do this, facing all that he has had

to contend with speaks volumes for the man.

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Would never argue with this. My respect for him as a human being is infinitely greater than my respect for him as an NBA head coach.