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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > May > 07 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USKeeping Woodson makes sense
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He’s coming back, and he should. It’s just not official that Mike Woodson will receive a contract for a fifth season and beyond with the Hawks. Instead, Michael Gearon Jr., among the team’s eight owners with Atlanta Spirit, kept suggesting Wednesday from his Vinings office that the coach who nearly had his talented but flawed team do the impossible against mighty Boston in the playoffs isn’t going anywhere.
This ranks as the best non-firing in Atlanta sports history.
Just last week, Woodson discovered ways to help the Hawks overcome their two blowouts on the road in Games 1 and 2 to push the Celtics to a seventh game in the first round before losing. “Once we gave him another seasoned veteran [Mike Bibby] to complement Joe [Johnson], there certainly was more pressure,” Gearon said. “The expectations were higher. We think he did an excellent job.”
That’s because Woodson did, especially since the Hawks were a No. 8 seed to the Celtics’ No. 1. Even Doc Rivers, the former Hawks great and current Celtics coach, told Gearon to cherish Woodson for his ability to keep his youthful and inexperienced bunch playing hard no matter what. It was nice of Rivers to say so, but Gearon already had such a mind-set after watching Woodson take a mostly pitiful Hawks team from 13 victories in his first season to 26, then to 30, then to 37.
Added Gearon, “We’ve got a lot of momentum as a franchise right now, and what’s important to us is that we do not disrupt that.”
Makes sense to me. The same goes for Gearon saying, “I cannot see a situation where Woodson is not here.” Which brings us to the following: All this Woodson bashing, stretching from the past to the present, is ridiculous. He didn’t put together a bunch of dysfunctional rosters. He just had to coach them, and he did so well, despite having one of those eight owners suing the others, a player’s death before the start of a season, the NBA’s youngest team for most of those years and no decent point guard until Bibby arrived in February.
Billy Knight was the problem, but he isn’t anymore. Thankfully, he announced Wednesday that he’ll resign when his contract as general manager expires at the end of June. He’s the one who was obsessed with giving Woodson a bunch of “long and athletic” players to the detriment of common sense. Mostly, he’s the one who made the biggest NBA draft gaffe of our time and in the vicinity of all-time.
Let’s just say whenever you see Chris Paul doing something extraordinary from now in the playoffs with the New Orleans Hornets until he dribbles close to the Hall of Fame, you may scream. Knight thought Paul was too small or something during the 2005 draft. Not only that, in Knight’s estimation, Marvin Williams was a better pick than Deron Williams.
You may scream again. Knight chose Marvin Williams because he was another “long and athletic” player, but the Hawks needed a point guard. The Hawks needed Paul or Deron Williams, now doing potent things for a Utah Jazz team that also is in the second round of the playoffs.
Woodson had zero say in personnel decisions, by the way. He just kept his mouth shut and did the best he could with a starter out of high school (Josh Smith), another just a year out of college (Marvin Williams), a power forward playing center (Al Horford), no point guard worth mentioning before Bibby, no depth on the bench beyond Josh Childress and a dearth of shooters.
Said Michael Gearon Sr., who joins his son as Atlanta Spirit’s primary owners dealing with the Hawks, “[Woodson] is patient. He doesn’t panic, and he’s not worried about his job.”
He has a job. The same one.
Permalink | Comments (33) | Post your comment | Categories: Hawks/NBA
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By oldmike
May 8, 2008 12:21 PM | Link to this
It’s too bad because regardless of what you may point out I firmly believe the hawks underperformed. A coach should be able to make his team better. 37 wins in the East is not better. 45 wins would have been. Think of how many games where defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory. Look at games 1, 2, 5 and 7. Blowouts. Why? if wahetever worked in gaesm 3,4 and 6 wasn’t working our coach came up with no answers. No schemes. No different patterns. Just throw it to Jow and hope for the best. Ain’t gonna do it in the NBA. But, who’d want to come here and work for the Spirit anyway. Thoughts, Terence?
By Veteran Fan
May 8, 2008 12:27 PM | Link to this
STUPID! I love Mike Woodson as a person, but these young gazelles do not listen to him! He is a half- court coach with a team that is built to run like the wind! We need Avery Johnson or Mike D’Antoni and if we hired one of those coaches we would be top four in the East for the next five years. Chicago, New York, Miami, and Charlotte all will have new coaches with only New York with less talent than us. If we do not make this change NOW we will sink out of the playoffs for the forseeable future. This reminds me so much of the Thrashers two years ago it is eerie! A taste of the playoffs and a stand pat mentality! They didn’t make the playoffs and the team is being rebuilt again. We do not have a draft choice, this is the team! If the purpose of the Hawks is to make the playoffs and lose because we do not win enough games to advance with home court then this may be the right move! But if the purpose is to compete for championships and put people in the seats and establish a solid fan base for the next 10 years, this is a disastrous non-move! The Spirit ownership does not want to get into a bidding war for these coaches with New York and Chicago as an excuse, they do not have to. Avery and Mike would come here for the young talent that is here and the opportunity to win right away. Let us not forget Coach Woodson finished 8 games under 500 and his team did not even compete on the road in Boston. Mr. Gearon that is not momentum!
By MsDee
May 8, 2008 9:40 PM | Link to this
Don’t worry, Woodson will be gone if he is not at or above .500 after the 1st 5 games!!
By DanR
May 8, 2008 11:05 PM | Link to this
The Atlanta Spirit needs to hire a new GM, and let him decide whether Woodson stays or goes. While I’m certainly not sad to see Knight leave, it doesn’t sound like he had much power when he couldn’t determine Woodson’s fate.
Personally, I’d like to see former Hawk Steve Smith take a shot at coaching the team assuming he has any interest in coaching.
By dig003
May 8, 2008 11:38 PM | Link to this
Try watching the actual games, Terrence. The Hawks weren’t motivated by Woody, they were inspired by the crowd and the energy, and feeded off the environment and their emotions to play the up-and-down, aggressive (look at the FT totals) style that favors our personnel. If Woody was the motivator we would have played well on the road, instead of getting absolutely handled in Boston. Also, we would have actually improved throughout the series instead of getting torched in games 5 & 7.
Also, look at his actual DECISIONS instead of buying into the hype… although I’m not sure if you actually watch games or know anything about basketball. He has no offensive system (just hand the ball to JJ), makes poor substitions, and is inept at developing his bench. I know you’re supporting him because he’ll probably come back, and this way Woody will hook you up with stories, interview, etc. but if you had any journalistic integrity (or basketball intelligence) you wouldn’t have wrote this trash…
By No Dawgs Here
May 9, 2008 7:10 AM | Link to this
I disagree. The Hawks need a coach that can well… coach. Woodson is a good guy and all that. But, his coaching abilites just aren’t there. With the Hawks having such a young team, they need a coach that can share their knowledge and also be tough.
By cedward
May 9, 2008 8:17 AM | Link to this
T. Moore, you’ve got to be kidding me! Mike Woodson is a decent coach and would be an excellent assistant coach for the Hawks. Those young guys need an experienced leader that can keep their level of play up for the entire season as well as play well on the road. They made the playoffs not so much on what they did as to what other teams didn’t. They had opportunities to clinch and couldn’t and clinched when Indiana lost! 37 wins, you’ve got to be joking. Atl Spirit better get a coach before this team falls apart in free agency. There are a lot of good coaches available now.
By Deezy
May 9, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this
Man, T. Moore, you are a fool. The Hawks young players are the victims of being poorly coached. Poorly motivated. They should be playing the Cavs right about now, regardless of the personel that they have. We all saw a No. 8 seed absolutely dominate No. 1 Boston. Woodsons pregame chat in Boston consisted of “Lets go out here and try to win one.” He refused to call T.O.’ and make substitutions at key points in the game and allowed his starters to waste away to nothing before halftime. WHy wait until you are 40 pts behind to put Acie Law in over a struggling Bibby. He’s a coaching nightmare and has been for the longest. They should have won 50. You can’t be satisfied and pat yourself on the back because you won 37 games and barely made the playoffs. Listen. The Hawks are a GOOD TEAM. THey have been for the last 3-4 yrs. THey just have not had a GOOD Coach who knows how to use them. Good Day…..Idiot.
Readers, Terence Moore has ZERO sports sense.
By CED
May 9, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this
If we’re keeping Woodson, Im fine with that. He has just got to run his team better offensively! Deffesively we play pretty good for the most part, especially not to have a true center and no shot blocker other than Josh. But offensively we did under perform all year. I think coach Woodson didn’t run and push the tempo as much as we were supposed to, we ran more in the playoffs than we did ALL YEAR. Woodson has got to use his ENTIRE roster better and utilize those players like Richardson and Jones. Richardson can shoot and Jones is a big man who can be develped into a good role player off the bench. Other than only playing 6 or 7 guys all year I thought Woodson was doing a pretty good job.
Sign JOSH SMITH…SIGN JOSH SMITH… We do that and maybe trade Marvin we’ll be a better team next year than we were in the playoffs. Lets Get it HAWKS!!!!!
By Traci
May 9, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this
Bring on AVERY JOHNSON!
IT’s time for the RUN AND SHOOT!
By JP
May 9, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this
I actually agree with Terence on this one. Mike has had some of the worst talent without any say in the matter. I like what he was able to do with the talent that he had this year. I don’t think one more year is too much to ask. They really have something to build on. Besides, when you change the head coach, all you do is set things back even further.
By TFHJ
May 9, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this
the hawks will start next season in the same fashion the thrashers started this one. within the first month of the season, woodson will be gone for the very reasons stated in this and previous blogs.
By Eric
May 9, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this
Woodson is a terrible coach, if you look closely they are winning games on talent alone. Woodson doesn’t make them play any team defense, everybody funnels there guy to Josh Smith and expects him to block every shot. Very evident in the playoffs, he has no idea of how to put together any half court offense. His idea of half court offense is to give the ball to Joe and get out of way. I can see the Hawks being an 8th seed again next year if they keep this guy, when we have enough talent to be a 4th or 5th seed with good coaching.
By earldaddy
May 9, 2008 12:15 PM | Link to this
If you look at the big picture, blaming the coach for all of the team’s deficiencies is short sighted and narrow-minded. Read ANY newspaper in ANY NBA town and the media and fans blast the coaches all the time. Check out how Boston fans KILL Doc Rivers, and they won 66 games. Mike Woodson makes lots of mistakes, and all the players don’t like him, but that’s tru of any coach. Think of hom many players didn’t like Pat Riley. Now, the GM situation, that’s something different. I actually like Billy Knight, but his mistakes were too big to retain him. Back when we needed a point guard we should have taken one - PERIOD. Everybody in the league was sold on Marvin’s potential, but he never accomplished anything in college, and he’s just an average player now. Mistakes like that set back franchises several years, so Billy has to pay for it. Anyway, leave Woody alone. He is not the greatest coach in the world, but by far he’s not the worst.
By earldaddy
May 9, 2008 12:18 PM | Link to this
By the way, did you notice? NOBODY is competing on the road in Boston. They are a GREAT TEAM and the Hawks ran in to the same buzzsaw LeBron is facing. Don’t point to that as the reason he’s not a good coach.
By JD
May 9, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this
It’s unfathomable that the owners are going this route. If they want this franchise to build off of the success of the post-season, wholesale changes need to be made. First and foremost, they need to get a general manager that knows how to build a team while keeping the core group of players intact. That means signing both Josh Smith and Josh Childress. Mike Woodson needs to be evaluated, which means they need to take a look his body of work over the time frame of his contract. It ain’t good, that’s what I know. You can heap all the praises on him for getting by with an unbalanced roster, youth, whatever. But at the end of the day, a coach is supposed to be able to use what he has to his advantage, not let the other teams dictate how you’re gonna play. Woodson’s a good guy and all, but he just does not allow his team to dictate pace and he does not adjust well. He’s got mismatches across the board on most nights and he does not take advantage of them. That’s just not good coaching.
I can understand not wanting to make a change for the sake of change (never know what you’re gonna get), but when you can’t win on a consistent basis in a weakened Eastern Conference against some of the worst teams, then a change needs to be made. They didn’t hesitate to fire Bob Hartley when he lost the first 6 games of the Thrasher’s season. Why not go ahead and make the change to a coach that understands the essential make-up of this team and how to best use them because it’s clear that Mike Woodson, good guy that he is, doesn’t know.
By _sturt_
May 9, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this
One thing I never understand with you people who have such perfect 20-20 hindsight with regard to drafts… what about the 16 teams that passed on Josh Smith who needed a power forward? Shouldn’t their GMs all be laughed off the planet?
No. They shouldn’t.
Why is that?
How you answer that question must be congruent with how you deal with this mindlessly repetitive Marvin vs. CP3 temper tantrum.
Teams are at different stages of development.
When you’re building long-term, it’s about accumulating talent assets, not filling this gap or that gap on the roster.
The team with good, TALL assets can always deal for other teams’ good SHORT assets, and ordinarily the former will get the better end of the deal.
Drafts present an opportunity to accumulate assets, but also present an opportunity to accumulate busts. Better to bust with a TALL player than a SHORT player.
Add to all of these previous assertions the fact that Marvin Williams, on SEVERAL draft boards and mock drafts, was evaluated by SEVERAL—that is, several whose opinions are so much better informed than the common AJC sportswriter that they actually GET PAID to scout and evaluate talent for a living—to be THE MOST TALENTED player in the draft, including eventual #1 Bogut.
If we had the luxury of hindsight, indeed, CP3 would have been the choice. On the other hand, no one has that luxury, except for certain people in the media like you who, for some reason, choose to hideaway your crystal balls until you can report the obvious and criticize the past.
But the reality is, Billy Knight made the choice that, at that moment in time, knowing what was able to be known, and supported by the consensus of expertise, was the smart choice.
And… by the way… how old did you say Marvin is? The kid took the team on his shoulders in a handful of games this season. I’ll go out on a limb and make the “astonishing” prediction that he’ll do some more of that in 2008-09, and still more in 09-10. He may never catch-up to CP3, but there’s plenty of reason to think he could become a key member of a championship team in ATL before the fat lady sings.
By _sturt_
May 9, 2008 12:58 PM | Link to this
There ought to be a law that prevents a sportswriter who campaigned so fervently for MIKE CONLEY instead of AL HORFORD in the most recent draft from EVER writing ANOTHER WORD about Williams vs. Paul.
By KB
May 9, 2008 2:00 PM | Link to this
Mr. Moore you are way wrong. I don’t know what team you were watching all season, but this team does not have a clue of how to play offense. This is the direct result of a strictly defensive-minded coach with no idea of how to run an NBA offense. He also makes very poor adjustments during games when our opponent is playing good defense. Thank you Mike Woodson for teaching this team to play defense but we need an offensive-minded coach to take these guys to the next level.
By AJCFanatic
May 9, 2008 3:00 PM | Link to this
I agree and disagree. The one thing I’ve noticed in all sports, and I think someone did an article on this recently, is that organizations with stability have proven to be the most successful year after year. Think about the Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs, Pittsburgh Steelers, When you keep a coach around despite a cold streak or a rough start, good things will happen. With this being said TMoore is right, Woodson has way too many SG,SF,PF hybrid players to create a championship team, but the Hawks did underachieve and look poorly coached at times this season. My solution.. Give Woodson one more year to prove the Hawks are a 45+ win team and then reward him with a contract.. Stability Stability Stability
By Howie
May 9, 2008 3:35 PM | Link to this
Terrence-
Do you agree with Veteran Fan’s take that Woodson is a half court coach? I am not sure about that, but I do feel strongly that the players do listen to him…they could not have won 3 playoff games if they did not. Also, He has increased wins every year, as you point out, and if he gets all of these players back, with hopefully a veteran or 2 added in, he should be expected to improve to 45 wins and hoem court in the first round.
By Trey J
May 9, 2008 4:23 PM | Link to this
I don’t normally write, but this needs to be said. Thanks Mike Woodson for keeping the ship afloat and yeah you deserved to have had a point guard about 2 years ago, but these guys don’t listen to you.
I’m not saying you a bad person just not the right person for this job.
Spirit Group if you don’t have a coach already lined up for this job then shame on yall. I want our team to stay in the playoffs and make a run for the championship, so do the right thing and get us the right person. If not then bring back Woodson and next year we will win 6 or 7 more games but won’t be any closer to championship.
By BT
May 9, 2008 4:25 PM | Link to this
Terrance,
I appreciate your thoughts but I do not agree. Veteran Fan put it well saying that the players don’t listen to him. If the greatest coach in the world has lost his players he needs to move on.
You feel so strongly on the disastrous job that Knight performed. I agree but I don’t remember over the years that you were calling for him to be fired. Lately you have been less than glowing but you certainly did not speak out in the last few awful years. You have taken a stance on many issues but on the Hawks you were very non committal on what you thought should be done. Easy to say NOW that Knight was a disaster but most of the fans have felt that way for years.
By HyunATL
May 9, 2008 5:54 PM | Link to this
once again another stupid article by Terence Moore. Your saying that Woodson was the one that got the Hawks fired up to play well at home? I am happy with the series. But obviously we were good enough to beat the Celtics. we did it 3 times, if Woodson was good at getting the team fired up, then he would have gotten them to at least play one decent game on the road against Boston. Mentally, the hawks are not there yet. Woodson needs to help with that. but thats not the main thing thats wrong with Woodson, Its his bonehead mistakes and substituions. Smith gets two fouls in the first quarter and decides to sit him as soon as he gets an amazing block and the hawks gets momentum. Why sit him at the worst possible time? I dont care if he has 2 fouls, so did Pierce and Garnett but they stayed in. And if you sit him, dont sit him for the entire half. Then they ask him if sitting Josh so long killed his momentum and what does he say? he says “yeah, it did we shouldnt have sat him.” This has happened before, learn from you mistakes. Plus,lets see what is Woodsons gameplan every game. Isolation with Joe at the top EVERY TIME.its not working. but he still does it. and why was he trying to run a trap with Solomon Jones and Zaza, like Rondo won’t blow past them. Rondo blew past them everytime they did it, and he continued to do it over and over and over again in game 7. Woodson is not a good coach, pure and simple. and why the crap do people want Steve Smith as our new GM? what has he done to prove that he will be a good GM? He’s our freaking commentator and even then he only states the obvious.
By Ken Strickland
May 9, 2008 11:13 PM | Link to this
Obviously Terrence, you don’t know much about good coaching, especially when it comes to basketball. If Woodson is retained as HC, it won’t be because he did a good job. You see, good coaching involves the following:
(1)Developing a bench. Woodson did absolutely nothing to develop or utilize his bench. He let circumstances{injuries and foul trouble)dictate going beyond his 6 man rotation.
(2)Developing young players. Woodson did nothing to improve the contribution of PG ALaw, C SJones, PG/SG SStaudamire, SG/SF Richardson or SG/PG DWest. In fact, he retard their growth. Salim got more mins and had more production his rookie yr. Acie was much better at the beginning of the season than at the end. Woodson has come awfully close to destroying their confidence.
(3)A good HC is able to make adjustments during gms. That is certainly one of Woodson’s major weaknesses.
(4)A good HC has the ability to manage the gm and his players, especially their mins. Woodson refuses to manage either. He basically plays 6 players and he plays them into exhaustion and lets the chips fall where they may. We’ve lost numerous big leads in the 4th qtr because of player exhaustion.
(5)A good HC puts the welfare of his team above any individual issues. Woodson consistently put his issues above the team and players best interest. We’ve seen numerous incidents where Woodson has berated a player, usually a young player or rookie and then refuse to play them for long stretches at a time. That’s no way to develop individual players or a cohesive team.
By Eric
May 10, 2008 12:27 AM | Link to this
One more year, Coach. If the players tune you out, or you can’t motivate ‘em next year, you’ve got some problems. Steady, albeit SLOW progress is an okay thing though… and that means a winning record next year.
Eric Gray
By Proud dawg
May 10, 2008 1:19 AM | Link to this
37 wins…. in a weak conference… barely making the playoffs… 3 wins there all at home… 4 losses on the road complete blowouts! Yeah hes a great coach… SOSDD!!!!!!
By count_schemula
May 10, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this
No way. The team underperformed and never reliably beat inferior/less talented teams. They looked lost on the defense and they looked lost on offense. 37 wins in the East was underperforming. We saw in the home playoff games what this team could look like, so, why is it that we only saw that team those three times? That’s on the coach.
By Terence Moore
May 10, 2008 6:29 PM | Link to this
oldmike,
Woodson didn’t have a point guard until February, and that’s the most important position in the NBA these days.
Can’t expect him to do much without a decent point guard. So, no the Hawks didn’t underachieve.
Even when the Hawks did get Mike Bibby, he wasn’t 100 percent, and it took a while for the team to adjust to him.
Take Dallas, for instance. The Mavs never adjusted to Jason Kidd who was acquired about the same time the Hawks got Bibby.
By Big Man
May 10, 2008 11:14 PM | Link to this
You have got to be the worst sports writer ever. Even worse than your fellow jokes of colleagues Jeff Schultz and Mark Badley. Did you even watch the Hawks throughout the season? I am convinced that you only followed them in the standings. Mike Woodson is the worst coach in the NBA. He runs ZERO offensive sets and his team plays no defense. If he is retained it will be a set back to the franchise similar to the Jim Mora era with the Falcons. The AJC needs to clean house and get some real writers. The paper isn’t even worth reading because it is easy to tell that most of the time you have NO idea what you are writing about. Your columns are reactionary, never innovative. Get off the golf course and get on your JOB. You know… the job you get paid to do???
By deja vu
May 11, 2008 8:06 AM | Link to this
Face it, Terence, all other circumstances being equal, if Woodson was white, you’d be calling for him to be fired. This ‘improvement’ is in the sorry eastern conference! There is no offensive movement and Josh Smith still shoots threes at a lofty 25%. What do you think Jerry Sloan or Popovich would have done?
By suwanee
May 11, 2008 10:09 AM | Link to this
Why are we considering GM’s from WAshington,Philly and Charlotte? How are they different from ATlanta?Portland is the front office to consider.They are doing it right.They will be therenext year.
Granted Woodson didn”t have much but when did anyone ever say “that was a brillant adjustment/play/defense in the last 3 years?
I’d rather have Avery Johnson.
By suwanee
May 11, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this
Thank god D antonio is taken.He proved in the Spurs series he can’t coach defense.