And now...Q&A with Woody.

[DJ_Money]

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/h...hawks_0419.html

Quote:

---

Hawks beat writer Sekou Smith sat down with Hawks coach Mike Woodson, who has guided the Hawks to a playoff berth in his fourth and final season under contract as coach of the team.

Q. When did you really believe that this team had a shot at making the playoffs?

To be honest with you, last year I thought we could make the playoffs with that team. We beat good teams. We were always in games. But the injuries hurt us. Up until a month and half to go [when Joe Johnson went down with an injury] we were only two games out of the eighth spot. I think this team started turning the corner last year. But when you're a young team, you can't afford anybody to get hurt.

Q. Do you credit some of your success this year to your team avoiding any major injuries to key players?

Yes. That's a huge part of it. But the main reason for making the playoffs is winning at home. That's something we hadn't done in three years. That was a focal point coming into the season, winning at home. You have to give the fans something to come to the arena to cheer about. And we've done that.

Q. Your name has been tossed around the coach-on-the-hot-seat rumor mill time and again during your tenure here and certainly this season. Has that been the toughest part of the job for you this season?

The toughest part for me is the negativity, the unfair negativity that surrounds our team based on certain critics that don't have a clue as to what this is about, and make sure you print that. I can handle it as a coach but when my wife and daughters have to feel this and hear this negative stuff, sometimes it's just unfair. But we've dealt with it as a family and things just have a way of working out. I truly believe that. If you put in your time and do the work, things always work out.

Q. Could you have imagined a more jaw-dropping set of circumstances when you took this job, from the 13-69 season to the ownership dispute caused by the Joe Johnson deal to the death of Jason Collier to the constant job security headlines involving you?

I could have taken the easy way out and stayed in Detroit the year after we won the title. But my makeup has always been to challenge myself. It was a challenge when I came here and I was willing to accept that challenge. It still is. I love what I do. It was rocky and has been rocky for all the reasons that you mentioned. The devastation of losing a player you can never imagine. And there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of Jason Collier. Other than losing my parents at a young age and losing a brother at a young age, that's the lowest I've ever been. But like any adversity you face in life, you learn to deal with it and find a way to keep going on. We've all had to do that.

Q. It's no secret you've had some dust ups with many of the players you've coached. In hindsight do you wish you'd have handled things any differently?

The one thing I would hope at the end of the day, if I'm here coaching or not coaching, is that those players respected me. None of these players can ever say that I didn't give them a chance to play and I wasn't fair. They might not have gotten as much playing time as they wanted to get. But they can't say I wasn't fair. Because I've played guys when they probably shouldn't have played, when they weren't even ready. And sometimes that can be detrimental to a player because if he's not ready and you play him you damage him for the rest of his career. So yeah, I've been tough. But I think when you're coaching a young team you've got to be tough. They might look at it as tough but I look at it as coaching.

Q. What about the strained relationships around here now between you and members of the front office staff in light of the reports that management recommended you be fired this season (only to be rebuffed by ownership)?

All the behind-the-scenes stuff, I don't even concern myself with because I still have to coach and do my job. And if I concern myself with that stuff I can't focus and do my job the way it needs to be done.

Q. Do you think by making the playoffs you [and your staff] have made a case for new contracts that will allow you to continue the progress that's been made to this point?

No doubt. There's no doubt we made a case. When I took this job we vowed to get this team into the playoffs and we're in. Now I have no control over ownership and what their decision is. And I'm not going to sit here and strain myself and worry about it. My thing is, I hope, again, that my players respect what I've done and I hope they want me back. That's more important than anything else to me.

Q. Do you envision any way in which you and [Hawks general manager] Billy Knight both return in the same capacity next season and lead this franchise and team, respectively?

That's hard to say. It's hard to say. I don't know. But I will say this, as soon as we win the title this year, we're going to sit down and discuss it. I promise you that.

[coachx]

Good interview by Woody !

I really respect him more after that interview.

[frosgrim]

Several things that struck me in the article:

1. He wants the players to respect him becuase he gave everyone a chance- HUH? Bench minutes show that isn't the case. Numerous players obviously had serious issues with minutes. Heck even the GM has issues with the rotations.

2. BK and Woody are at odds with each other. They no longer trust each other. One, if not both, have to be gone for the organization to work. I would prefer both gone, but I don't think Gearon has the huztpah to pull that off.

3. In regards to the unfair nature of critism- he is an NBA head coach, critiscism comes with the job, fair, indifferent or skewed, you take a HC job you get thrown under the bus by some people.

In all Woodson comes out of this interview sounding a little out of touch with reality and defensive.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

But I will say this,

as soon as we win the title this year

, we're going to sit down and discuss it. I promise you that.

W

T

F

[Swish]

Couldn't have said it better, Exodus.

Kind of funny, though. Heck, I'll shave all the hair on my body if we win the title including my eyebrows.

[frosgrim]

Quote:

---

Kind of funny, though. Heck, I'll shave all the hair on my body if we win the title including my eyebrows.

I don't think any of us want to see that, but it would be funny. Then again, maybe we should all make that pledge if it gets to a championship...

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

But I will say this,

as soon as we win the title this year

, we're going to sit down and discuss it. I promise you that.

W

T

F

LOL. . . Woody must've made a deal with the devil or something. Maybe he's going to be like Tonya Harding, and hire somebody to whack KG's knee with a crowbar when he comes to Philips next Saturday.

I like that talk though. He has to talk like that, so that his players can somewhat believe it. As an athlete, even when everyone says that you're overmatched, you still believe that you can possibly get a win, if you execute.

It would be sweet to knock off another New England team that everyone thinks is just going to run ruffshot through the playoffs.

[swolehawk2]

I had to re-read that about three times....and yeah, he actually said that.

[Swatguy]

The Hawks will be the youngest team to reach the Eastern Conference Championship.

[macdaddy]

I thought the same thing. 'No one can say I haven't been fair'??? that's weird. Tony Delk didn't get in a game his second year. Solo has barely played in two years despite usually looking good when he does.

There's obviously a BK Woody rift. Strange to hear him say he doesn't know if they both can come back. He obviously believes he deserves to come back so he's basically saying BK doesn't.

This is a good core of players. Just think if we had Cassell and PJ Brown on our bench. Add in a few guys like that for support and BK's team looks pretty good. And the only reason we don't have those kind of guys is they are expensive. But to make the next level we'll have to spend that money. Heck I wish we had Gugliotta still on the bench to give Horford a little break.

[dalamchops]

I"ll be a bald asian if the hawks win the Championship!!!

[pimp]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

But I will say this,

as soon as we win the title this year

, we're going to sit down and discuss it. I promise you that.

W

T

F

When you start making Isiah Thomas like quotes , then it's time to be fired.

[foeteen14]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

But I will say this,

as soon as we win the title this year

, we're going to sit down and discuss it. I promise you that.

W

T

F

When you start making Isiah Thomas like quotes , then it's time to be fired.

What did u want him to say, "we'll sit down and talk after we get swept by the celtics." i love that our coach has the jewels to say something like that, even if he doesn't believe it. i believe, i think thats the best part of being a fan, the belief that your team, the team you invest so much emotion, thought, and money into can do something amazing. go hawks

[AHF]

Quote:

---

I had to re-read that about three times....and yeah, he actually said that.

I don't mind Woody saying that. The team needs to believe it can win a title before it can be done. That said, how does a team that wins the NBA title not expect to win more than 37 games during the regular season?

Seriously, I thought that was a pretty good interview that had some tough questions that he handled about as well as he could and that included confirmation that he and BK are totally on the outs.