I am one of Woody's biggest supporters ... but

Admin · February 26, 2008

if this team doesn't come out and wipe the floor with the Kings by running them ragged, or at least play under control and smart basketball without turning it over 25 times I will be done supporting him. I don't think that we have any chance without a 2nd PG and a healthy Bibby and although I believe we have a team loaded with players with low basketball IQs I am definitely blaming the coaching staff for putting our players in a position to fail more often than not. When Rathbun has to comment on the mysterious absence of Horford in the 4th that is pretty sad.

The only thing that I can see saving Woody's job now is a big turnaround on this coming home stand.

Murat · February 26, 2008

mike.woodson.jpg

Easy now Dolfan, i am not that good.

GameTime · February 26, 2008

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Nicholasp27 · February 26, 2008

the horford thing really upset me...our leading rebounder, best pick setter, and top 1st half scorer and he is forgotten about on the bench while zaza/smoove are picking up fouls

i couldnt even watch the play...was too busy watching the clock tick down while woody forgot our roy

Lascar78 · February 26, 2008

That's why I don't understand your position. You're a smart guy, and you know he's a horrible coach. And that stands even if we beat Sacramento by 30 (we won't). I know that it's annoying when you have a bunch of people blaming everything on Woody when Woody is not responsible for everything. The fact is that everything we've seen over the past 3 and a half years confirms that Woodson is a HORRIBLE coach. We usually win in spite of him, and he frequently is the cause of our loss. Not every loss, but it happens a lot. An NBA caliber coach usually does not cause losses. He might fail to find ways to make you win, but they don't usually actually directly cause the loss. This has happened on a regular basis with Woody.

All year the commentators have had a better grasp of what's going on with the team: we need to run, Horford needs to play, don't put 3 PG's in at a time when you just played 10 minutes with no PG's, etc...

Not to mention that we have no strategy to take advantage of our strengths or minimize our weaknesses. Woody has a general game plan (which includes virtually no offensive scheme), and it just so happens that he has the players that he has. Nothing has been tailored to match our team. It's insanity.

There is plenty of blame to go around, but I don't see how anyone could question how bad Woody is, and that's without even considering his W/L record.

I'm not sure why the Kings game is necessary to see this after 3.5 years, but anyhow I hope for your own sanity that you'll have a moment of clarity.

TheDude · February 26, 2008

But good lord this game was obvious. Totally whiffs on putting Horford in there. Our team continues to make turnovers and play dumb basketball. To me that is a reflection of the coach. I will admit that woody can have these guy playing some good defense sometimes but honestly the fact that they make so many mistakes is a direct correlation to coaching.

Admin · February 26, 2008

Well I have been saying all along that I felt like Woody deserved the chance to show whether he could lead this team with a complete roster and while I don't think we are complete, we are more than capable of performing at a high level now that we have a real PG to lead the team.

I don't think a big win against the Kings can turn things around and make him look like a good coach, what I do think is that if we bomb in our first game back at home after getting Bibby then that will probably force a move by the team. If we come out and play well and continue to play well for a while Woody will deserve a little more time.

If there was a guy out there who I thought could coach this team to be a lot better I would be all for replacing Woody, but I just don't see that guy being out there. I really wish we had made a move to get Stan Van Gundy here but it's too late for that. Adelman would have been great but it's too late for that as well. Nobody is going to let a currently employed coach leave right now so that would mean that Drew would be coaching the team for the rest of the season and that would really be setting him up for failure. The one coach that I would consider would be Skiles. I feel like he got shafted in Chicago and deserves another shot but I could be wrong.

Lascar78 · February 26, 2008

Honestly I don't see a great replacement out there but I really can't take Woody anymore. I'd take Bibby as a player/coach over Woody, and I'm not even joking. And we might win more.

In all seriousness, firing Woody would probably mean an assistant taking over for the end of the season, and then hopefully trying to get a real coach this summer after the yearly coach firings.

AHF · February 26, 2008

In fairness to Woody, Al was only 5 fouls away from fouling out. What if he was brought in and fouled five consecutive possessions and then we didn't have him for overtime? Then everyone would be like "Aargh! Why didn't Woody sit Horford for the entire game to make sure we had him for overtime. What an idiot!" There is real value in saving something in the tank as the team goes in the tank.

capstone21 · February 26, 2008

I think we have a talented team here and our record reflects really bad coaching.

I have been frustrated with the way Woody has coached this team for the last 2 years.

He does not understand matchups, he doesn't adjust in the game and he overall he does not take advantage of our strength which is athleticism. We should be a running team.

I am ready for some new blood in here. Someone who can take this team and show them how to win.

I think Woody should stick to being an assistant or go be the coach of Indiana. Anywhere but here.

coachx · February 26, 2008

The team was FLAT in the 3rd quarter. Coach Woody has to fire up his boys to come out and play better. The 3rd quarter seems to be the Hawks worst quarter over the course of the season. The 3rd quarter is supposed to be when coaches make adjustments. Either Woody does not make the right adustments or he is not motivating the players with his halftime speeches or we have the dumbest players in the NBA. I see opposing coaches come out with a different lineup to start the 2nd half all the time (as Popovich did to us last night). I cannot recall one game this season where Woody has started the 2nd half with anyone but the starters. This leads me to believe the problem is lack of coaching and adjustments at halftime.

Woody has to do a better job finding a way to get more out of Marvin. Right now Woody cannot get 80% to 90% effort and production from all the guys at the same time. He has to find a way to keep Marvin productive in the offense. Right now Marvin is lost and forgotten about with Bibby, JJ, and Smith all demanding the ball more then he does. Either Marvin needs to come off the bench, or Marvin has to take it upon himself to be more aggressive, or Bibby has to take it upon himself to get more out of Marvin, or Woody has to draw up a few plays to get somthing out of Marvin. Right now Marvin's talent is not being maximized and that is the coaching staff's responsibility.

If Marvin is going to continue to be a passive catch and shoot player we can play the D-Leaguer minium salary to that quite well. We need the old Marvin back to get to the next level. When Marvin is a aggressive it make the defense worry about 4 scorers and they normally have a weak defender to exploit on one of the scorers. Normally that weak defender is on Marvin. I cannot count how many times the oppositions center or PF has been matcvhed up on Marvin on purpose b/c Marvin fails to take them off the dribble where he has an advantage. They just back off and let him hoist jumpers.

Marvin needs a fire lit under him. Maybe taking him out of the starting lineup for a stint would be the wake up call to wake him up.

If Marvin is hurt and cannot be agressive right now, then Chills would be a better fit in the startign line up.

jerrywest · February 26, 2008

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If there was a guy out there who I thought could coach this team to be a lot better I would be all for replacing Woody, but I just don't see that guy being out there.

How about my grandma? Anyone could do better than Woody.

DrReality · February 26, 2008

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Easy now Dolfan, i am not that good.

Great picture. Maybe he has a future as a clown????? That's what he looks like on the bench.

coachx · February 26, 2008

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Easy now Dolfan, i am not that good.

Great picture. Maybe he has a future as a clown????? That's what he looks like on the bench.

Or a mime.

pimp · February 26, 2008

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Easy now Dolfan, i am not that good.

Great picture. Maybe he has a future as a clown????? That's what he looks like on the bench.

NJHAWK · February 26, 2008

Horford had a horrible 3rd quarter. Once Smoove couldnt help on the double team Horford was getting abused. Zaza was the most efficent offensive player we had last night, its sad, very sad but its true. We lost our lead quick with Horford out there and he took some dumb ayss shots. Im not saying this loss was Horfords fault but ZazA WAS ACTUALLY THE BETTER OPTION. Al had a great 1st half but cost us in the 3rd quarter. I agree with Steve Smith when he said Horford and ZazA should have been out there together because Kurt and Timmy were too big. Either that or Smoove should have just left Horry and made that old bastard beat us.

TheDude · February 26, 2008

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Horford had a horrible 3rd quarter. Once Smoove couldnt help on the double team Horford was getting abused. Zaza was the most efficent offensive player we had last night, its sad, very sad but its true. We lost our lead quick with Horford out there and he took some dumb ayss shots. Im not saying this loss was Horfords fault but ZazA WAS ACTUALLY THE BETTER OPTION. Al had a great 1st half but cost us in the 3rd quarter. I agree with Steve Smith when he said Horford and ZazA should have been out there together because Kurt and Timmy were too big. Either that or Smoove should have just left Horry and made that old bastard beat us.

i would have put both zaza and horford out there AND smith since marvin wasnt doing anything at all and having all those big men might have stopped them driving in the lane.

is it me or does marvin never complete his postups? he posts up against a smaller guy for like a foot then turns around and shoots...BE A MAN MARVIN, WORK HIM DOWN TILL YOU LAY IT UP OR PASS OUT OF THE DOUBLETEAM.....

forcing doubleteams is almost the entire philosophy of offensive basketball.

AHF · February 26, 2008

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forcing doubleteams is almost the entire philosophy of offensive basketball.

mike.woodson.jpg

WOAH THERE! Slow down. The philosophy of what? Ah forget it, if we play defense the other side of the court will take care of itself.

TheNorthCydeRises · February 26, 2008

Coach, these are professional players. If they need some sort of rah-rah speech with a 7 point lead going into the 3rd quarter, then I truly don't know what to say about them. There are so many problems with this team, especially when they go on the road, it isn't even funny.

You talk about 3rd quarter adjustments?

- JJ and Bibby had consecutive turnovers to begin the quarter.

- Then they missed their first 4 shots

- Then JJ and Bibby had consecutive turnovers AGAIN

- By the time Smoove finally hits a little bunny shot, the game is tied at 39.

- We didn't hit a shot outside of 5 feet THE ENTIRE QUARTER and were 3 - 17 overall in the quarter.

I mean, seriously. What would you have done differently to start the 3rd, as far as a lineup?

It wasn't like Chill was playing like anything, so why even take the time to bench Marvin? Unless you bench Marvin for ZaZa, and move Smoove to SF, which is a disaster in itself.

So do you bench Smoove in favor of ZaZa? I say that, because Horford did have a pretty good first half, so the logical person would be to bench Smoove, right? I'm sure people would've had a fit if Smoove didn't start in the 2nd half.

The problem with this fan base, is that most people think the answers are so simple. You guys should know better. Most of us either watch or follow very closely what this team does on a nightly basis. This team has found every way possible to lose a game this year, from bad coaching moves/plays/decisions, to players just playing like garbage after playing great the quarter or half before.

We get a legit PG who is also a shooter, but now we turn the ball over like a 9 year old YMCA team?

Everybody's favorite bench players finally get some time, yet, they can't hit or do ish when they get in a game?

Go to Marvin more . . when he's only shooting 36% FG and has failed to score in double figures in 5 games this month . . after having only ONE sub 10-point game the entire year before February? His eFG on his jumper has now fallen below 40%.

So seriously man, what would you have done differently, that would've prevented the cold shooting and the dumb turnovers that caused them to rapidly lose the lead last night?

Packfill · February 26, 2008