The decision on Woody.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I just wonder what the reaction by the fan base will be, if the Hawks are 21 - 10 at the New Year's break, like we were last year.

OR WORSE

If we're 23 - 8 . . with the 3rd best record in the East.

It'll be DOOM AND GLOOM, because the Hawks and Woody are doing so well . . . with an 8-man rotation

[AHF]

LOL. . you'd think that this team won 30 games last year, judging by the posts on this board. It KILLS people that a Woody-led team won 47 games last year. Either that, or they expected us to win 50+ games, and get to at least the Eastern Conference Finals.

(( searching for that thread ))

I just wonder what the reaction by the fan base will be, if the Hawks are 21 - 10 at the New Year's break, like we were last year.

OR WORSE

If we're 23 - 8 . . with the 3rd best record in the East.

It'll be DOOM AND GLOOM, because the Hawks and Woody are doing so well . . . with an 8-man rotation

Our record matched up with our potential for the first time in the Woodson era last season, IMO. All credit to Woody for making that happen. If the team starts off 23-8 with the 3rd best record that is great with me!

If we burn out our starters and JJ doesn't even deny he is too tired to play after playing too many minutes to play well in the playoffs then that is a problem in managing the rotation. I hope we never see that again.

[Brotha2ThaNite]

Most of the "problems" I see in this thread are things we already see.

- Woodson running a tight rotation. Check.

- Woodson playing starters bigger minutes than they should play. Check.

- Players tuning Woodson out. Check.

If this openly happened in prior years where Woodson was not on an expiring contract why would we not expect it to continue, extension or not?

:thumbsdownsmileyanim: One point you are missing! When has Woody's job ever been safe???

[laved11]

I just wonder what the reaction by the fan base will be, if the Hawks are 21 - 10 at the New Year's break, like we were last year.

OR WORSE

If we're 23 - 8 . . with the 3rd best record in the East.

It'll be DOOM AND GLOOM, because the Hawks and Woody are doing so well . . . with an 8-man rotation

I think that many fans on this cite understand that the NBA is a player-driven league and just because the players are getting older we all know they are getting better. However, as many Hawks fans have seen, we don't know how much influence Mike Woodson has on this team on a nightly basis. We as fans get the players and coaches talk about how unprepared they were to play, or unmotivated. Honestly, anyone one of us can stand on the sidelines, play the same people and never make adjustments even when our brains are getting kicked in.

Holla!

[AHF]

:thumbsdownsmileyanim: One point you are missing! When has Woody's job ever been safe???

How was his job not safe for (at a bare minimum) the first three years of his contract? He also got signed to an extension last offseason making him pretty safe. The guy is among the longest tenured coaches in the entire league. If you keep him on, you know what to expect: playing a short rotation, playing JJ too much, either failing to coach some important things or getting ignored on those points, etc.

[Brotha2ThaNite]

How was his job not safe for (at a bare minimum) the first three years of his contract? He also got signed to an extension last offseason making him pretty safe. The guy is among the longest tenured coaches in the entire league. If you keep him on, you know what to expect: playing a short rotation, playing JJ too much, either failing to coach some important things or getting ignored on those points, etc.

Man, I 2 year deal is not safe. That was "I'm going to give you a little more but I still don't feel very good about you" deal. You heard all year long if Woody did not make the playoff he would not be around.

A 5 year plus deal is when I coach can feel safe.

A 2 year deal only says, "If you f this up you will have 1 more year to find another job." In these days how is that safe???

[AHF]

Man, I 2 year deal is not safe. That was "I'm going to give you a little more but I still don't feel very good about you" deal. You heard all year long if Woody did not make the playoff he would not be around.

A 5 year plus deal is when I coach can feel safe.

A 2 year deal only says, "If you f this up you will have 1 more year to find another job." In these days how is that safe???

He had a 4 year contract with the team that gave him plenty of authority, IMO, to not run JJ into the ground and to enforce some ground rules for Josh Smith, etc. at the outset of his coaching career in Atlanta. If he doesn't committed to doing those things after 5 years in Atlanta, I don't think an extension is going to change that. I do understand your argument about the 2 year deal not making him feel safe, but frankly even coaches on 5 years contracts don't always feel safe and even guys on interim status can do the right thing for their teams.