Some things and some dangers.

[Diesel]

Drew has pretty much been the coach of the second team. A second team that was competitive with it's veteran first team.

One thing that I think should happen is that Sund ought to swallow his pride and bring back Childress. No SNT. We need him if we're going to be a ball movement team.

2nd. Drew is putting a whole lot of pressure on Teague. I am a Teague fan, but the whole offense is built on Teague's ability to run it.

3rd. I haven't heard Drew say anything about Craw. I think I heard it said that Bibby will be a OG. That must mean that we're not keeping Craw. Disappointing.

4th. I don't know if Joe will buy in. I have to go with the assumption that we will lose Joe. However, if we lose him, I hope that we either get a player that Drew could use or nothing at all.

One thing is that our offense will be much different. Something the league has never seen before. This has the potential to work or it could be a problem. However, I like what Drew said about Smoove. He wants Smoove scoring moving to the rim without much need to dribble. I think if that's the case, Childress would also flourish in this offense. I suspect that Drew couldn't implement this offense under Woody because Woody thought it would hurt his defense. The point is that whoever Drew brings in to fix our defense will have to get in sync with Drew.

There doesn't seem to be a great change for Center position. I think our offense will make up the difference. Right now, the most important thing is a good defensive coach and a big man's coach.

[NineOhTheRino]

my fear:

anyone else notice that Drew has never used the word 'defense'. I understand everyone's frustration with offense but truthfully this team will still suck if they offset better offense with poor defense.

[DrReality]

In the Q and A in the paper they asked specifically about the switching defense and he did not answer it. He'd better hire a tough minded defensive assist.

[Swatguy]

Drew has pretty much been the coach of the second team. A second team that was competitive with it's veteran first team.

One thing that I think should happen is that Sund ought to swallow his pride and bring back Childress. No SNT. We need him if we're going to be a ball movement team.

2nd. Drew is putting a whole lot of pressure on Teague. I am a Teague fan, but the whole offense is built on Teague's ability to run it.

3rd. I haven't heard Drew say anything about Craw. I think I heard it said that Bibby will be a OG. That must mean that we're not keeping Craw. Disappointing.

4th. I don't know if Joe will buy in. I have to go with the assumption that we will lose Joe. However, if we lose him, I hope that we either get a player that Drew could use or nothing at all.

One thing is that our offense will be much different. Something the league has never seen before. This has the potential to work or it could be a problem. However, I like what Drew said about Smoove. He wants Smoove scoring moving to the rim without much need to dribble. I think if that's the case, Childress would also flourish in this offense. I suspect that Drew couldn't implement this offense under Woody because Woody thought it would hurt his defense. The point is that whoever Drew brings in to fix our defense will have to get in sync with Drew.

There doesn't seem to be a great change for Center position. I think our offense will make up the difference. Right now, the most important thing is a good defensive coach and a big man's coach.

I'm not buying #3.

It may be just, no Joe. You cannot lose the "6th man of the year" with him under contract. Teague cannot be the solution at point. He is green. I suspect Jamal is more the solution than not, unless we bring in a vet PG (via trade).

[coachx]

One thing that I think should happen is that Sund ought to swallow his pride and bring back Childress. No SNT. We need him if we're going to be a ball movement team.

Sund has to swallow his pride ? What are your talking about ? Chillz is the one with pride to swallow. Sund offered him around $5 to $6 mill a year to play in Atlanta with annual raises. No other team offered him any more then the Hawks did. He thought he was worthy of more and left for Greece. Now it appears all he will get is a MLE deal of a flat $5.5 mill without raises each year.

I think Chillz is the one with pride to swallow. Sund wanted him back for his price. He played Smoove the same way. That is just the way it is with restricted free agents. The market dictates how much your contract is for, not the player. Chillz is a Stanford guy so he knows this but he is also human and his pride is in the way some. Maybe Chillz is fond of Drew and would be open to a return to the Hawks.

Edited June 17, 2010 by coachx

[coachx]

I'm not buying #3.

It may be just, no Joe. You cannot lose the "6th man of the year" with him under contract. Teague cannot be the solution at point. He is green. I suspect Jamal is more the solution than not, unless we bring in a vet PG (via trade).

Totally agree there.

Some people let their imagination get the best of them when reading between the lines.

[coachx]

In the Q and A in the paper they asked specifically about the switching defense and he did not answer it. He'd better hire a tough minded defensive assist.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/q-a-with-hawks-550772.html

Q. Woodson used switches on defense extensively, in part because of personnel limitations. Do you plan to do the same?

A. I have my philosophies defensively. Certainly every coach in the league does. I am going to implement things that I do believe in, certain coverages.

Q. Can you be more specific?

A. I will say this: I believe in holding every individual accountable defensively. I think players are too good. If you get caught up in too many gimmick defenses. ... We weren't a big gimmick defensive team, but at the same time my philosophy is to hold guys accountable to defend their individual guy.

My interpretation. The Hawks will still switch occaisonly but not near as much. There are situations where switching is warranted but it should not be the game plan to do all the time. You have to mix it up and be less predictable.

[ATLBob]

My interpretation. The Hawks will still switch occaisonly but not near as much. There are situations where switching is warranted but it should not be the game plan to do all the time. You have to mix it up and be less predictable.

That's how I saw it too.

Also, seems like he didn't want to throw Woody under the bus.

But he did answer the question, just subtly.

[Swatguy]

Sund has to swallow his pride ? What are your talking about ? Chillz is the one with pride to swallow. Sund offered him around $5 to $6 mill a year to play in Atlanta with annual raises. No other team offered him any more then the Hawks did. He thought he was worthy of more and left for Greece. Now it appears all he will get is a MLE deal of a flat $5.5 mill without raises each year.

I think Chillz is the one with pride to swallow. Sund wanted him back for his price. He played Smoove the same way. That is just the way it is with restricted free agents. The market dictates how much your contract is for, not the player. Chillz is a Stanford guy so he knows this but he is also human and his pride is in the way some. Maybe Chillz is fond of Drew and would be open to a return to the Hawks.

Sund offered and Chillz was good with it. You must remember, Sund put Chillz on the shelf and held him there until Josh Smith's contract was done. That pushed Chillz to Greece.

[Diesel]

Sund has to swallow his pride ? What are your talking about ? Chillz is the one with pride to swallow. Sund offered him around $5 to $6 mill a year to play in Atlanta with annual raises. No other team offered him any more then the Hawks did. He thought he was worthy of more and left for Greece. Now it appears all he will get is a MLE deal of a flat $5.5 mill without raises each year.

I think Chillz is the one with pride to swallow. Sund wanted him back for his price. He played Smoove the same way. That is just the way it is with restricted free agents. The market dictates how much your contract is for, not the player. Chillz is a Stanford guy so he knows this but he is also human and his pride is in the way some. Maybe Chillz is fond of Drew and would be open to a return to the Hawks.

Sund has to swallow his pride because Chillz turned down his original offer and went to Greece. The only player in NBA history to do so. Sund has to swallow the embarrassment of that situ and do what's best for the team.

[AUhawksfan]

I don't necessarily think Drew is putting pressure on Teague. If anything, I think saying that he has confidence in Teague would help. Teague should see it as finally getting a chance to truly show what he's made of without having to look over his shoulder for fear of getting pulled like Woodson did.

[Swatguy]

I don't necessarily think Drew is putting pressure on Teague. If anything, I think saying that he has confidence in Teague would help. Teague should see it as finally getting a chance to truly show what he's made of without having to look over his shoulder for fear of getting pulled like Woodson did.

As was Woody, if Teague does not perform he will be Pulled. So his fear may still be there. He can't be weak at the point, and play.

[RedDawg#8]

Confidence goes a long way in a players game. I dont think Drew believes Teague is the messiah at point, but he knows that he lost confidence after the stellar preseason he had, and he is trying to bring it back back being vocal in his support of Teague. Teague when he see's these articles and listens to the interviews cant help but feel energized about next season and natural feel better about his own game.

[frosgrim]

I am still concerned about this magic offense that no one has ever seen before. Those things usually fall flat on their faces. See: Jim Bates and his hybrid defense. That worked so well that Bates was fired 1/2 through the season and the Falcons went back to a normal 4-3 instead of some strange 4-2-5. June Jones and the RnS was also a failure.

My point is that you can't really be smarter than the room, and if you think you are, you are going to fail.

Optimistically, Drew is going to install something like what Lenny ran, but with more cutting of Smith to the basket. That is they are going to try and use Smith's leaping ability and speed advantage to get him easy buckets. This will then be used to free up others as defenses start converging on Smith's cuts.

The premium will be on the PGs to get Smith the ball in the right place at the right time. Or, to find open guys when they run fake plays to Smith.

[Diesel]

I don't necessarily think Drew is putting pressure on Teague. If anything, I think saying that he has confidence in Teague would help. Teague should see it as finally getting a chance to truly show what he's made of without having to look over his shoulder for fear of getting pulled like Woodson did.

This is a LD quote from an MC article.

"–LD offered more evidence that the Hawks are all-in with Rook’ (I’ve decided he’s Rook’ until the league officially changes years on July 1).

“I believe in both guys,” Drew said. “Both have the capabilities of running this offense; both guys will benefit from this offense. Mike is getting closer to my age, but the thing he brings to table is he can still shoot the basketball. [The offense] will create for him instead of him creating for himself. I believe in Teague. I think he has the ability to make team better and have an impact. I think the offense will benefit him with his speed and quickness and ability to break the defense down.”

In other words, the ball is out of J.J.’s hands, in Rook’s hands and Bibby is a spot-up shooter.

– Raise your hand if you think the Hawks are in trouble if this Rook’ experiment doesn’t work out. Because then wouldn’t the temptation be great to turn it back over to J.J. and Bibby again? Good luck going out and finding a legit vet point guard and a center with that mid-level."

[Diesel]

Confidence goes a long way in a players game. I dont think Drew believes Teague is the messiah at point, but he knows that he lost confidence after the stellar preseason he had, and he is trying to bring it back back being vocal in his support of Teague. Teague when he see's these articles and listens to the interviews cant help but feel energized about next season and natural feel better about his own game.

Being the coach of the second team and getting the opportunity to see Teague on a daily basis (during the season) I wouldn't be surprised if LD has enough confidence in Teague to give him the reigns and let him run the team for a while.

Speed Kills as we found out in the playoffs.

[Chinky_eyed_hawk]

As was Woody, if Teague does not perform he will be Pulled. So his fear may still be there. He can't be weak at the point, and play.

Here is the thing I think we as Hawk fans forget due to our lack of quality pg play for years. When other teams draft rookies, its not like they start the first game of the season and are bonified quality players from the get green. PGs like Rondo, Jennings, Law, Holiday, etc all the new class of pgs so to speak, are allow to play and play and play thru mistakes as part of the learning curve. You learn what not to do by playing through these mistakes seeing how it affects the team win/loss ratio learning along the way. If you pull a point guard only a few mins in, or after a mistake then you run the risk of never getting over that hump. Where I think Acie had a bigger curve to get over, I think teague mos def has the skillset to be like these other up and coming pgs. Because we werent in San Antonio(Parker), Dallas(Roddy B) N.o.(Collinson) etc to see their mistakes and progress, its easier to admire the highlights of a more refined product. I say give Teague much playing time and let him and Bibby sort out the mistakes and see what he can do.

[thecampster]

This is a LD quote from an MC article.

"–LD offered more evidence that the Hawks are all-in with Rook’ (I’ve decided he’s Rook’ until the league officially changes years on July 1).

“I believe in both guys,” Drew said. “Both have the capabilities of running this offense; both guys will benefit from this offense. Mike is getting closer to my age, but the thing he brings to table is he can still shoot the basketball. [The offense] will create for him instead of him creating for himself. I believe in Teague. I think he has the ability to make team better and have an impact. I think the offense will benefit him with his speed and quickness and ability to break the defense down.”

In other words, the ball is out of J.J.’s hands, in Rook’s hands and Bibby is a spot-up shooter.

– Raise your hand if you think the Hawks are in trouble if this Rook’ experiment doesn’t work out. Because then wouldn’t the temptation be great to turn it back over to J.J. and Bibby again? Good luck going out and finding a legit vet point guard and a center with that mid-level."

I'll eat crow if JJ is back this year. I don't buy it, it's too long term an investment when you can send him packing in a sign and trade taking back an exemption and bring back Childress. Signing Joe means getting rid of other pieces to sign Horford (who I think will require 12 million per).

[Diesel]

I'll eat crow if JJ is back this year. I don't buy it, it's too long term an investment when you can send him packing in a sign and trade taking back an exemption and bring back Childress. Signing Joe means getting rid of other pieces to sign Horford (who I think will require 12 million per).

The thing that nobody is considering is maybe JJ is playing the market to get a max and in his heart of hearts, he wants to stay in Atlanta with a strong sidekick?

[Swatguy]

The thing that nobody is considering is maybe JJ is playing the market to get a max and in his heart of hearts, he wants to stay in Atlanta with a strong sidekick?

I don't think so D. I think he is gone.