Woody vs. Drew

[Wurider05]

Is there a big difference between the two. I mean Drew has been here since Woody got here and what type of influence has he had on the team. Did Woody take advice from him? Were they at odds over strategy!! What would be the justification in hiring him as coach other than his cheap salary! I am confused here. Its like he just recently became a candidate out of the blue!!

[KB21]

Is there a big difference between the two. I mean Drew has been here since Woody got here and what type of influence has he had on the team. Did Woody take advice from him? Were they at odds over strategy!! What would be the justification in hiring him as coach other than his cheap salary! I am confused here. Its like he just recently became a candidate out of the blue!!

Question. Would you consider Phil Jackson to be the same as Doug Collins? If no, then why is it automatically assumed that Larry Drew will be the same as Mike Woodson just because he was on Woodson's staff? The reason I bring this up is because Chicago fired Doug Collins and promoted his assistant, Phil Jackson, to take his spot. The rest is history.

Avery Johnson was an assistant on Don Nelson's staff in Dallas, and he is a very different coach than Don Nelson.

Lionel Hollins was on Marc Iavaroni's staff in Memphis, and he is a very different coach. Lionel did a great job this past season with a young basketball team.

There is really no evidence out there that supports the premise that an assistant coach will have the same philosophy as the head coach whose staff he is on.

With Larry Drew, we simply don't know. He's never gotten an opportunity to run his own team, though he has been deserving of an opportunity for several years now, IMO. If we are going to judge him by his association with Mike Woodson, then why not look at all the other head coaches he has coached with as well? Larry was an assistant for Del Harris with the LA Lakers. He was also on Alvin Gentry's staff in Detroit when Rick Sund was the GM there. He was also an assistant on Doug Collins's staff, on Byron Scott's staff, and on Lawrence Frank's staff.

[DJlaysitup]

Is there a big difference between the two. I mean Drew has been here since Woody got here and what type of influence has he had on the team. Did Woody take advice from him? Were they at odds over strategy!! What would be the justification in hiring him as coach other than his cheap salary! I am confused here. Its like he just recently became a candidate out of the blue!!

Drew is not even close to NBA head coach material........not even close.

[Diesel]

The thing is that when Avery was an assistant under Nellie, you could see his impact on the defense. Nellie doesn't teach defense but when Johnson was hired, that Mavs defense spiked from being one of the league's worst to being closer to the top 10.

You're right, Avery didn't have an offensive influence on what Nellie did.

In that same breath... has Drew's influence been seen on our team already. PGs... we haven't developed a starter with 2 1st rounders. Offense, we were very effecient but played to much Iso ball. Is that Drew's contribution??

[NJHAWK]

The thing is that when Avery was an assistant under Nellie, you could see his impact on the defense. Nellie doesn't teach defense but when Johnson was hired, that Mavs defense spiked from being one of the league's worst to being closer to the top 10.

You're right, Avery didn't have an offensive influence on what Nellie did.

In that same breath... has Drew's influence been seen on our team already. PGs... we haven't developed a starter with 2 1st rounders. Offense, we were very effecient but played to much Iso ball. Is that Drew's contribution??

Woody's offensive contribution was Joe Left , Drew's offensive contribution was Joe Right.

[coachx]

What I see when attending a games, and watching on TV, is that the players listen to Drew much more then Woodson. We see the players tune Woodson out and look in the other direction when he is talking. Then Drew will walk up and get the players ear immediately. For whatever reason the players listen to him.

As far as a difference in coaching philosophies..............Drew apparently has some type of actual offensive philosophy and Woody had no offensive philosophy. What Drew's philosophy is would take an insider to know.

For Drew to be a final contender for the job makes me believe that the players had to give Drew a glowing report. One would assume that Sund would ask players direct questions about a current assistant being a head coaching candidate.

I will not be quick to judge anyone based ojn things I do not know. I do know this. The Bulls sure are glad they gave Phil Jackson a promotion to head coach, when he had no head coaching expierence, to take Jordan and the Bulls farther then Collins could. They could have hired a big name and Phil Jackson would have never been the same coach we know today.

[NineOhTheRino]

I challenge anyone here to give concrete proof that Woody was a bad coach.

[Sothron]

Is there a big difference between the two. I mean Drew has been here since Woody got here and what type of influence has he had on the team. Did Woody take advice from him? Were they at odds over strategy!! What would be the justification in hiring him as coach other than his cheap salary! I am confused here. Its like he just recently became a candidate out of the blue!!

The ASG can spin it however they want but if they hire a laughable candidate like Drew as head coach it only shows they once again went the cheapest route possible with this team.

[tremor]

I challenge anyone here to give concrete proof that Woody was a bad coach.

What about this year play offs?

[NineOhTheRino]

What about this year play offs?

Woody did his job. He had his guys prepared. Did the players execute his gameplan? No. Much the same way that Dallas' players didn't execute Avery's gameplan when he was fired from the Mavs. Too much culpability falls upon coaches when thing don't go well yet the players get all the credit when things do go well.

Edited June 9, 2010 by NineOhTheRino

[macdaddy]

Woody did his job. He had his guys prepared. Did the players execute his gameplan? No. Much the same way that Dallas' players didn't execute Avery's gameplan when he was fired from the Mavs. Too much culpability falls upon coaches when thing don't go well yet the players get all the credit when things do go well.

Seriously? They looked prepared to you? At the very least wouldn't the players failing to execute the coaches gameplan in big games time and time again reflect negatively on the coach?

We will see if any other team thinks Woody did a good job. So far..no.

[macdaddy]

If i remember correctly Drew tried to leave the staff but wasn't allowed. The one advantage he has is he probably knows what to fix. If ASG had done the right thing and trust their GM to handle 'basketball' decisions like Gearon is always laughably claming they do then we would have seen what Drew could do on an interim basis finishing out a season and make a much better determination if he could lead a team.

[NineOhTheRino]

Seriously? They looked prepared to you? At the very least wouldn't the players failing to execute the coaches gameplan in big games time and time again reflect negatively on the coach?

We will see if any other team thinks Woody did a good job. So far..no.

Think about this: Boston was prepared to fire Doc Rivers that year they landed KG & Ray. Doc was receiving the same criticisms as Woody. Did Doc become a great coach overnight? No. He landed the right players. Give Woody 3 HOF level talents and I guarantee the outcome of some of those ugly playoff losses would have different.

I say this to say I hope Larry Drew gets his shot. If you're pro or anti Woody you cannot judge his competency based on Woody's

Edited June 9, 2010 by NineOhTheRino

[Diesel]

If i remember correctly Drew tried to leave the staff but wasn't allowed. The one advantage he has is he probably knows what to fix. If ASG had done the right thing and trust their GM to handle 'basketball' decisions like Gearon is always laughably claming they do then we would have seen what Drew could do on an interim basis finishing out a season and make a much better determination if he could lead a team.

The problem is that that suggests that he knew what to fix while Woody was here and didn't do it.

[macdaddy]

Think about this: Boston was prepared to fire Doc Rivers that year they landed KG & Ray. Doc was receiving the same criticisms as Woody. Did Doc become a great coach overnight? No. He landed the right players. Give Woody 3 HOF level talents and I guarantee the outcome of some of those ugly playoff losses would have different.

I say this to say I hope Larry Drew gets his shot. If you're pro or anti Woody you cannot judge his competency based on Woody's

I'm pretty sure if you give me 3 hall of fame level talents i could steer a team past the Bucks with ease. Most coaches would take 3 all-star level talents which is what the Hawks have and we were not very competitive in our 7 post season losses.

I do agree. Judging Drew on Woody's performance is a mistake.

[macdaddy]

The problem is that that suggests that he knew what to fix while Woody was here and didn't do it.

I don't think so. To me Woody's weaknesses were player rotations and offensive system. I don't think he was relinquishing control of either of those things.

[coachx]

Woody did his job. He had his guys prepared. Did the players execute his gameplan? No. Much the same way that Dallas' players didn't execute Avery's gameplan when he was fired from the Mavs. Too much culpability falls upon coaches when thing don't go well yet the players get all the credit when things do go well.

"You're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose. "

Lou Holtz

There is truth in that most of the time. However, quotes from Mike Woodson like this: "I don't give a sh*t about offense." Now there lies the problem. 1/2 the game is offense. After preaching better defense exclusively when the road gets tough, and ignoring offense, the message gets old and predictable.

Edited June 9, 2010 by coachx