What do you guys think about Woodson?

[tmac13]

I was just reading about Orlando's interest in Eric Mussellman..I was thinking how our fortunes might have been different if Babcock had fired Lon and named EMuss coach before he left for Golden State..That also brought to mind last year when we were looking and we didn't talk to Doc Rivers, blew off Fratello, and made it a point to hire an assistant..I am not saying Woody is a bad coach, but there are some guys that are proven difference makers..I think Doc, Fratello, and EMuss all fit that category..What if we had went hard after Rick Carlyle,or Larry Brown, or George Karl a few years back..Would we be in ths same place today with a difference maker type coach?

[DominiqueWilkins]

Woodson didn't have alot of talent, but I still didn't like how he kept Boris Diaw out of the lineup. I also wanted Woodson to give D. Smitn and R. Ivey more minutes, but it didn't happen.

I'll give Woodson more time, but he still has yet to grow on me.

[RAHMOR]

I agree. Especially about Boris and Ivey. Early in the season Ivey looked very good and I would like to have seen him get more minutes when he came back from injury. A great coach can make a huge difference, but I think Woodson deserves another year couple of years.

[Diesel]

I think Woody has to have some time with what he has. He's a defensive coach so I think he will be strong in that area. I also believe that he can be like Carlisle. I think the difference is that Carlisle went to a veteran team who could hide his deficiencies as a coach. Woody went to a very young team who can't hide nothing. IF we can get enough talent, I think that Woody's development as a coach will coincide with our teams development....IF Woody is open minded.

[OGRat]

I agree with Niques assessment, but I'll add that there were times when it seemed that Woody was tanking. It seemed that something would be established during a game and he would go away from it.

If he was not tanking, then he still has to grow on me too.

[emeans]

Woodson is not on my approval list yet. He was questionable to me last year and I need another entire year to truly assess his value as a head coach.

I was very disappointed in how the team played at the end of the year. There was no improvement with the team, in fact they got worse. I have heard of tanking but their play was ridiculus and there was just absolutely no motivation.

[Sage11]

I would have to agree with your assessment,this is how I feel also. I need another year to see what is under the hood of this guy.

[macdaddy]

I definitely think not hiring Rivers or Fratello was a mistake. Provided they were willing to come here. I'm not down on Woody but I think either one would have done a better job and created more fan interest. I think the problem is that BK wanted someone he could control more.

I've never seen the fascination with Musselman. What did he accomplish at GS really? Not that he was horrible but they didn't do anything while he was there.

Fratello is a great coach. Memphis is a talented team but they have there fair share of distractions and screw-ups and he still got them to the playoffs in the West.

Doc did really well in Boston with a talented but flawed team there.

[Nicholasp27]

i have to give woody some credit for the development of the rookies...i think he's a fine choice for now, but when we have all of our pieces together and are ready for a championship run, we may get a fratello, etc at that point, depending on how woody does on the other aspects of coaching (in-game subs, plays, etc) the next few years

[KBatPCSOM]

He never once lost his players during the course of the year. A lot of credit for the development of Josh Smith and Josh Childress has to be given to Mike Woodson and his coaching staff. Over the last month of the season, both Smith and Childress were averaging over 15 points per game and 7 rebounds per game. Smith was averaging nearly a double double. I like how Woodson kept a good balance between making Smith earn his playing time while not burying him on the bench. There were times where it looked like Smith was disinterested in what he was doing, but Woody helped him fight through that. Woody also helped him fight through the wall he hit during February.

I also like the fact that Woody didn't abandon Childress early in the year when he was struggling. He made him come off the bench, but he never just completely kept him out of the game. Childress did nothing but get better as the year went on.

[emeans]

Two totally different areas: Development of rookie players and Coaching. Just because he was good in progressing the games of 2 rookies doesn't mean he is a good Coach. Two different skills under the umbrella of the position called a Coach.

What about the development of Ivey (who got progressively worse at the end of the year) and Donte (who was solid but didn't show any progression like the Joshes. Could it be that two potentially Top 10 1st round talents should/will get better with playing time naturally?? I don't know, but time will tell.

This team flatout didn't not play at all at the end of the year. The TEAM got worse by the end of the year. Yes we have two rookies that got better, but what about the team progressing??

When they were getting beat by 40 by Detroit at home and 35 at Philly at the end of the year with no lottery position in jeapardy, my mind changed about Woodson and whether or not he was a good coach. There was absolutely no passion or motivation on the floor to play semi-mistake free basketball. It was ridiculus!!! At least the guys a year ago ended up better at the end of the year. I was looking for improvement and there was absolutely none.

I will give him another year to fully evaluate him, however the jury is still out on Woodson!!!

[KBatPCSOM]

The jury isn't out. Woodson is a fine coach. The Hawks were playing pretty much the last month of the season with the two Joshes as the only source of offense. Al was hurt and Antoine had been traded.

Donta's development is slowed due to his rawness. He showed flashes, but the consistency isn't there. Royal Ivey is as good as he's ever going to be. He's going to be an overachieving player who can come off the bench, run the offense, play good defense, but he won't do much in the way of making plays.

[tmac13]

I can agree with those who say Woodson needs a chance to coach with better talent..I can even agree that the 2 Joshes showed nice developement(though I agree with Hubie Brown when he says any NBA team is gonna score 80 points and somebody has to score them)..But what I cannot see is anyone saying that Woodson is a fine coach..He has done nothing to prove that point..This team didn't do anything to show it was held together or show any improvement as the season progressed..It got alot worse toward the end of the season..I will not say this was Woodsons fault, but his coaching ability did not make this team any better either..The jury is still way out on him..

[RAHMOR]

I think a large part of the problem is the talent we had and a constantly shifting starting rotation. We basically had a roster of rookies and veteran leftovers. The Josh got better because of consistant minutes as well as Woody's coaching.

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This team flatout didn't not play at all at the end of the year. The TEAM got worse by the end of the year. Yes we have two rookies that got better, but what about the team progressing??

When they were getting beat by 40 by Detroit at home and 35 at Philly at the end of the year with no lottery position in jeapardy, my mind changed about Woodson and whether or not he was a good coach.

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As far as the end of the season losses go the last two were to playoff teams on back to back nights 2 days after an overtime road win in New York. I'm sure they were exhausted and the team probably gave up but I don't know if any coach in the league could have made the hawks play any better under those circumstances with that talent.

Also the guys last year were playing for contracts.

I think it is still too early to call Woody a good or bad coach. His record as a coach so far would lead me to say he's not a good coach, but the fact that Larry Brown had enough confidence in Woody to make him his right hand man balances that out IMO.

[emeans]

How can you sit there and say the jury isn't out on a 1st time 1st year head coach. The jury will always be out on a rookie head coach period!!

Woodson hasn't proven he can be a good head coach in the NBA. Now time will tell, but don't say the jury isn't out on Woodson because that is the far from the truth.

They are going to give Woodson 3 years mininum and if he doesn't show that he can improve this team, Woodson will be gone!!

That is the nature of coaching in the NBA!!! The Jury is always out, especially with a rookie head coach!!

[emeans]

exactly.....kBat said he is a fine coach....Based on what?? His record?? Woodson has no history (1 year), so how is he a fine coach.

I am going to give him a chance with better talent, but to say he is a fine coach is way way premature.

And again the jury will always be out on Woodson until PROVEN different.

[Lascar78]

To me Woody has proven himself as a great teacher, and has not yet proven his worth as a head coach.

I expect that he will be great, but it is still up in the air. I saw alot of poor substitutions, but I know that some of those are him teaching players lessons, and establishing himself as an ultimate authority figure. It's also hard to know if he made mistakes or intentionally wanted to lose some of those games. I saw questionable plays down the stretch. This coming year, I don't need alot of wins, but I need to start seeing some cohesion, a plan. I want to know what our go to plays are down the stretch, and what plays we run for Chill or Smith. Off the top of my head I can't name them despite having seen 70+ games. I want to know what our offense is. Basically, I want progress from our coach just like I do from our players.

[Nicholasp27]

one positive is that we had a high rate of scoring out of timeouts...so he can draw up a good plan (when smoove didn't throw it away inbounding the ball, that is)

so we know he is a good teacher and can draw up a plan

we don't know if he can substitute correctly or make other in-game adjustments to become a good/great head coach in the future...

we shall see

[macdaddy]

Next season is really huge for the whole franchise. If the Hawks aren't more competitive and win at least 30 games then Woodson will be gone. This season was just to get some fresh blood in here. Next season is about progress and if there is none then someone is going to be fired. Another 20 win season or less will really doom our free agent chances for the next off season. But if these guys play some exciting inspired ball then we have a chance at some star quality players.

[RAHMOR]

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I want to know what our offense is.

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That is what I want to know most of all. I think that will make the biggest difference next year.

Will we move the ball around and let players make cuts like we did w/o Harrington or Walker or will we just throw it into Harrington and let him go one on one every play hoping he makes the right pass or will be be like Detroit and make our defense spark our offense. I don't know but I hope next season we find out what kind of team we are.

Well, I guess the type of offense you run centers around your best player or players abilities so maybe it depends on if we keep Harrington and if we draft Bogut.

Unrelated question, but is there any other player in the draft besides Bogut we can structure our offensive scheme around. Maybe Paul if we run and gun?