Horford on 680 this morning

[coachx]

fun interview:

1. He is in Vegas with US Select team. It was 6:20 AM out there when the interview began

2. He hopes both Josh's are back but has not spoken to them.

3. He had never heard the rumors about Smith and Woodson (BS !)

4. He went to Italy with Terrel Owens for "Fashion Week." Talked about how strict TO's diet is. TO had 16 egg whites one morning for breakfast.

5. Said he hopes the Josh's situation is concluded before camp so they know what they will have to work with

6. Said he thinks Josh needs to understand the new GM (Sund) brought coach back for a reason. He really thinks this group can continue to grow.

7. He enjoyed seeing Morris and Brown in the gym working out in Atlanta. He then said Morris especially which kind of suprised mne since Sekou said that Brown looked more impressive on their first day but we know they were there 2 days. He then said we need a COUPLE of bigs like that to come in and banf if we are going to make some noise in the playoffs and to battle through the regular season.

[JackB1]

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fun interview:

1. He is in Vegas with US Select team. It was 6:20 AM out there when the interview began

2. He hopes both Josh's are back but has not spoken to them.

3. He had never heard the rumors about Smith and Woodson (BS !)

4. He went to Italy with Terrel Owens for "Fashion Week." Talked about how strict TO's diet is. TO had 16 egg whites one morning for breakfast.

5. Said he hopes the Josh's situation is concluded before camp so they know what they will have to work with

6. Said he thinks Josh needs to understand the new GM (Sund) brought coach back for a reason. He really thinks this group can continue to grow.

7. He enjoyed seeing Morris and Brown in the gym working out in Atlanta. He then said Morris especially which kind of suprised mne since Sekou said that Brown looked more impressive on their first day but we know they were there 2 days. He then said we need a COUPLE of bigs like that to come in and banf if we are going to make some noise in the playoffs and to battle through the regular season.

The fact that he said #6 means that he knows about #3

Anyone with eyeballs can see that Smoove doesn't like Woodson. I saw many times when at games in person, Woodson would bark something at Smith when he came to the bench and Smoove would just ignore him. That's not someone who has respect for his coach. Can't say I blame Smoove, but he's still a kid who needs to listen to words of experience.

Look at the difference in "attitude" between Smoove and Horf. Just shows how valuable that college experience is.

[Seano]

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Anyone with eyeballs can see that Smoove doesn't like Woodson. I saw many times when at games in person, Woodson would bark something at Smith when he came to the bench and Smoove would just ignore him. That's not someone who has respect for his coach. Can't say I blame Smoove, but he's still a kid who needs to listen to words of experience.

See, I don't care for that disrespect shown by Smoove for his coach one bit. Even if you think your coach is an absolute idiot, you don't openly disrespect him like that. I mean really, all that does is make a difficult and uncomfortable situation that much worse for both Woodson and Smith. I guess I'm kind of an old-schooler that way....I always learned that your coach is the absolute authority when it comes to events taking place on the field or the court, and that you respect that authority ALWAYS, and without question. It is not your place as a player to question the man's decisions when it comes to what's actually taking place during games.....and to do so openly and with such blatant disrespect as Smoove does with Woody, it would just be unthinkable to me. I mean talk about the inmates running the asylum....

I hope that's just due to Smoove's emotional immaturity, because then at least there's always the hope that he'll grow out of that kind of behavior. God knows he's a fiery and competitive young player (which is a good thing), and I'm sure that plays a role too. But Smoove learns to need to channel that fire and competitive energy in a positive way, and not take it out against his coach.

[AtLaS]

I don't think that means he doesn't like Woody. Smith is a VERY emotional person on the court. He gets very upset when things aren't going well, and he's just mad overall and not necessarily at the coach or showing dis-interest in the coach. I've seen the guy since high school when he was at McEachern, he's ALWAYS been like that. He's a very emotional person and if he isn't playing well, he gets emotional. I don't think he's doing it out of hate for the coach.

When people are mad and upset at something that's went wrong, they don't want someone in their face telling them what they did wrong, they KNOW what they did. I've snapped at good friends before for stuff like that. 10 minutes later I'm fine. All I'm saying, is it's hard to be nice when you're pissed off.

[crimedog]

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Anyone with eyeballs can see that Smoove doesn't like Woodson. I saw many times when at games in person, Woodson would bark something at Smith when he came to the bench and Smoove would just ignore him. That's not someone who has respect for his coach. Can't say I blame Smoove, but he's still a kid who needs to listen to words of experience.

See, I don't care for that disrespect shown by Smoove for his coach one bit. Even if you think your coach is an absolute idiot, you don't openly disrespect him like that. I mean really, all that does is make a difficult and uncomfortable situation that much worse for both Woodson and Smith. I guess I'm kind of an old-schooler that way....I always learned that your coach is the absolute authority when it comes to events taking place on the field or the court, and that you respect that authority ALWAYS, and without question. It is not your place as a player to question the man's decisions when it comes to what's actually taking place during games.....and to do so openly and with such blatant disrespect as Smoove does with Woody, it would just be unthinkable to me. I mean talk about the inmates running the asylum....

I hope that's just due to Smoove's emotional immaturity, because then at least there's always the hope that he'll grow out of that kind of behavior. God knows he's a fiery and competitive young player (which is a good thing), and I'm sure that plays a role too. But Smoove learns to need to channel that fire and competitive energy in a positive way, and not take it out against his coach.

The whole "disrespect" thing is legit but there is a reason Woody gets into sh*t with so many of his players. He is disrespectful to him. If a partner at my firm yelled at me all the time in front of a lot of people even though he wasn't anything special himself, I wouldn't yell back, but I wouldn't respect him either.

By the way, there is a long history of great players getting their coaches fired, for better or for worse.

[BusBoyIsBack]

Woody may not be the greatest coach but some of that disrespect may just be immaturity on the part of Josh.

For instance, when Woodson admonishes Josh for taking those long range shots, that is something he SHOULD be admonished for.

[coachx]

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Woody may not be the greatest coach but some of that disrespect may just be immaturity on the part of Josh.

For instance, when Woodson admonishes Josh for taking those long range shots, that is something he SHOULD be admonished for.

I totally agree.

There are only 3 guys I can remember fueding with Woodson over a 4 year period:

1. Salim pouts when he subbed out and JJ is subbed in......LOL

2. ZaZa pouts when he is subbed out and Horford or Smoove come back in.....LOL (I think ZaZa has learned his role but it took some getting used. He seems to now understand Horford earns his playing time and he needs to do the same.)

3. Smoove for long range shots with time on the clock and turnovers.

I feel Woody was in the "right" on all 3 of those cases. At time I wished he cracked the whip more often then he did but with this young and immature team he did a decent job with what he had from a discipline stand point.

[crimedog]

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Woody may not be the greatest coach but some of that disrespect may just be immaturity on the part of Josh.

For instance, when Woodson admonishes Josh for taking those long range shots, that is something he SHOULD be admonished for.

I totally agree.

There are only 3 guys I can remember fueding with Woodson over a 4 year period:

1. Salim pouts when he subbed out and JJ is subbed in......LOL

2. ZaZa pouts when he is subbed out and Horford or Smoove come back in.....LOL (I think ZaZa has learned his role but it took some getting used. He seems to now understand Horford earns his playing time and he needs to do the same.)

3. Smoove for long range shots with time on the clock and turnovers.

I feel Woody was in the "right" on all 3 of those cases. At time I wished he cracked the whip more often then he did but with this young and immature team he did a decent job with what he had from a discipline stand point.

Shelden and AJ too...

[DrReality]

He the only coach he's had as a pro. That's some poor exposure to coaching variety.

Listing to Dennis Scott on the radio and he mentioned a trade for Smoove and Gamby> Anyone else here that. I missed ost of it.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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I don't think that means he doesn't like Woody. Smith is a VERY emotional person on the court. He gets very upset when things aren't going well, and he's just mad overall and not necessarily at the coach or showing dis-interest in the coach. I've seen the guy since high school when he was at McEachern, he's ALWAYS been like that. He's a very emotional person and if he isn't playing well, he gets emotional. I don't think he's doing it out of hate for the coach.

When people are mad and upset at something that's went wrong, they don't want someone in their face telling them what they did wrong, they KNOW what they did.

I've snapped at good friends before for stuff like that. 10 minutes later I'm fine. All I'm saying, is it's hard to be nice when you're pissed off.

Atlas, come on now. We're not talking about friends or co-workers on the same level here. We're talking about coach and player. That's what coaches do . . . get in your ish . . . especially if you keep doing the same bad ish over and over.

Like it or not, Smith makes more bad passes and takes more ill-advised shots than anyone on the team. So of course a coach is going to show his displeasure toward Smith. If he doesn't like it, Smith needs to stop doing the things that gets him talked to.

LOL . . it's funny. One of my co-workers, who is a die hard UT Volunteers fan, absolutely hates when Phil Fulmer does that . . "that's OK, we'll get them next time" clap . . right after the team turns the ball over, doesn't get a 1st down, or misses a FG.

In Phil's defense, it's the assistant coaches that do all the yelling and correcting at the players. But my co-worker would much rather see Phil whine like Spurrier, and see him correct the player right there on the spot.

[Swish]

I too love the Vols and hate Fulmer's attitude sometimes!

Woodson I think just doesn't chew guys out.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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Shelden and AJ too...

LOL

Woody actually gave into AJ, after that stunt he pulled in pre-season. If that would've been any other Hawk that did that, they would've been suspended. LOL . . let Salim pull that stunt, and they may have waived him right then and there.

BK and the ASG should've sat AJ down, and flat out told him that he was the 3rd PG, no matter what. But they let Woody handle it, and he gave AJ a chance in preseason to get some PT. And AJ played well enough to be named the starter, with Acie as the backup, and Lue as the hired gun off the bench. The move worked for a while, but AJ just didn't have starting PG talent. He had the leadership to run the spot, but not the talent.

With Shelden, that's totally on him. People forget that he DOMINATED the RMR summer league last year. He had every chance to win the starting spot at center. Both he and Zaza had that chance. But Horford outworked them both.

Then, all Woody asked both of them to do, is come into a game, bang people around, rebound and play defense. And neither of them did that in the regular season. Shelden can sulk and blame whomever he wants, but the fact is that when he got into the game, he didn't do his job. If he had the work ethic of his woman, he may have been our version of Jason Maxiell.

And I was both a Shelden and Salim supporter. But they have no one to blame, but themselves.

[crimedog]

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Shelden and AJ too...

And I was both a Shelden and Salim supporter. But they have no one to blame, but themselves.

Wasn't making a qualifying judgement on the individual circumstances, just pointing out that Woody doesn't always get along with his players. He has an abrasive personality. Sekou pointed it out in that post:

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But you’d be surprised, his relationship with Woodson is better than Woodson’s relationship with some other guys on the team (lots of guys chafed under Woodson’s gruff style the past four years but didn’t shoot back at him the way Smith did).

Point is that Woody probably isn't cut out to deal with the situation he was thrust into. He isn't much of a development coach if you want to go by empirical evidence and doesn't seem to instill much confidence in his players.

Not to say he couldn't be an excellent coach in a Detroit/Dallas sort of situation.

I was just pointing out that a player having a problem with Woody doesn't make him an outlier.

In terms of Smith taking too many jumpers, yeah he does. Obviously. I still contend that if we didn't have Chil playing a center and taking 75% of his shots from the painted area, we wouldn't have to have one of our power players on the perimeter. Obviously this isn't a fault of Woody, Smith, or Childress (although he used to be able to take jumpers) but a problem with BK making a team where only two rotation players are consistent perimeter shooters.

[AtLaS]

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Atlas, come on now. We're not talking about friends or co-workers on the same level here. We're talking about coach and player. That's what coaches do . . . get in your ish . . . especially if you keep doing the same bad ish over and over.

Like it or not, Smith makes more bad passes and takes more ill-advised shots than anyone on the team. So of course a coach is going to show his displeasure toward Smith. If he doesn't like it, Smith needs to stop doing the things that gets him talked to.

LOL . . it's funny. One of my co-workers, who is a die hard UT Volunteers fan, absolutely hates when Phil Fulmer does that . .

"that's OK, we'll get them next time"

clap . . right after the team turns the ball over, doesn't get a 1st down, or misses a FG.

In Phil's defense, it's the assistant coaches that do all the yelling and correcting at the players. But my co-worker would much rather see Phil whine like Spurrier, and see him correct the player right there on the spot.

Yeah, I know what you're saying, I guess I didn't explain what I meant very well. When you're pissed at how things are going on the court in regards to how you are personally playing, it's hard to not be showing emotion while someone is correcting you, even if that emotion isn't directed towards the coach. Observers will think that he's ignoring or disrespecting Woodson, when Smith is not intending to do that, even if it looks like it. Obviously Smith needs to learn to control his emotions sometimes, but it doesn't mean he hates Woodson IMO. And, I thought he improved very much this past season with his emotional outbursts.

I've seen players do that TONS of times, even to their teammates when angry at the current situation. It's not that they don't like the other guy, but they just need to cool off. To an observer it will look like they are being disrespectful when in reality they are just heated.

[Zone034life]

You can go down to the Run N Shoot right now and argue with your teammate or opposing player because when you are in competition(if you are a competitor) it can and will get heated. After the game you say good game and its all over. Smoove is a competitor and he shows his emotion on his sleeves. Just because he seems to not be listening doesn't mean hes not. He is just dissapointed in himself. I'm not advocating disrepect only pointing out a possible reason for Smooves facial expression and body language going to the bench.

Maybe if some of these go to the YMCA and play a pick up game they can understand.

[Traceman]

Just kidding. Seriously, Smoove DOES often have a scowl on his face when he comes off the floor and a lot of the time he is mad at himself and not Woody. I think Salim is the same way and it CAN be misinterpreted. Still, Smoove (and Salim) needs to understand that perception can become reality and if people PERCEIVE that you have an attitude problem or that you disrespect the coach, that can cause problems for you.

[crimedog]

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Just kidding. Seriously, Smoove DOES often have a scowl on his face when he comes off the floor and a lot of the time he is mad at himself and not Woody. I think Salim is the same way and it CAN be misinterpreted. Still, Smoove (and Salim) needs to understand that perception can become reality and if people PERCEIVE that you have an attitude problem or that you disrespect the coach, that can cause problems for you.

True, although Smith does seem to get unfairly singled out. Joe spent the first four months of the season with a pissed off looking on his face (even though he couldn't hit the ocean with a rock) and dropped explatives in an interview talking about his young teamates, no one seemed to care.

I don't really care about either, I just think if you are going to complain about people's attitudes, no one gets a free pass.

[Traceman]

Well maybe an argument can be made that the "free pass" was "earned" but the classic example of this is Michael Jordan. Jordan certainly went off on the coaching staff, teammates and others on NUMEROUS occasions but it was always attributed to his "competitiveness." If Smoove or even JJ did HALF of the things that Jordan did with regard to yelling at coaches and teammates, they would be branded as problems. Its like the old saying goes though, winning cures everything.

[Zone034life]

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Well maybe an argument can be made that the "free pass" was "earned" but the classic example of this is Michael Jordan. Jordan certainly went off on the coaching staff, teammates and others on NUMEROUS occasions but it was always attributed to his "competitiveness." If Smoove or even JJ did HALF of the things that Jordan did with regard to yelling at coaches and teammates, they would be branded as problems. Its like the old saying goes though, winning cures everything.

If Smoove and JJ did the exact same thing,lets say speaking out in the media, Smoove would be the one who got critisized far more. It goes back to what you said about perception and Smooves perception is of a whiny young player who doesn't like to be coached. JJ's is a veteran who wants to win. Its not fair but it seems to be reality.

[Dsinner]

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Well maybe an argument can be made that the "free pass" was "earned" but the classic example of this is Michael Jordan. Jordan certainly went off on the coaching staff, teammates and others on NUMEROUS occasions but it was always attributed to his "competitiveness." If Smoove or even JJ did HALF of the things that Jordan did with regard to yelling at coaches and teammates, they would be branded as problems. Its like the old saying goes though, winning cures everything.

If Smoove and JJ did the exact same thing,lets say speaking out in the media, Smoove would be the one who got critisized far more. It goes back to what you said about perception and Smooves perception is of a whiny young player who doesn't like to be coached. JJ's is a veteran who wants to win. Its not fair but it seems to be reality.

There is always a little truth in perception.