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Thursday, February 21, 2008
Crumpler tries to heal, move on
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Like any other player, Alge Crumpler returned to the Falcons’ practice facility after the season to clean out his locker. Unlike any other player, he seemed intent on wiping clean any evidence that he was ever there.
“I took everything,” Crumpler said Thursday. “I even took my pictures down. I didn’t want to have to do that Green Mile walk in the building later on, when the team did something.”
A staple in the Falcons’ offense for seven seasons, Crumpler’s tenure with the team officially ended last week. He was released with six others, the start of a roster flush by the new regime.
No specific reason was given for his release, Crumpler hearing the standard, “We’ve decided to go in another direction,” from new coach Mike Smith. But the biggest issue clearly is health, because it’s not any of those other things a coach wants in his locker room: talent, character, heart, desire, leadership, a sheer love for the game.
It follows that Crumpler is headed to an unusual event for four-time Pro Bowl tight end: the scouting combine. On Thursday he left Phoenix, where he has been working out, for Indianapolis, and will begin talking to prospective teams Friday.
“My agent was getting so many phone calls that I thought it would easier just to go there and meet with everybody,” he said, listing at least seven teams that he may meet with: Green Bay, Buffalo, Detroit, Seattle, Carolina, Tampa Bay and Tennessee.
“I’m not looking for the red carpet treatment. I’m just looking for a team I can win on. I’m not bitter. It’s not like I have to be in the NFC South so I can play the Falcons twice. I’m more concerned about the team that I’m going to play for.”
Winning has always been his primary objective. It’s why he took the last few seasons harder than most. It’s why he was stunned last April when he went to meet with new coach Bobby Petrino — whose name Crumpler won’t utter — waited for 20 minutes in the lobby, then was told to come back another day. He later received a phone call from assistant coach Hue Jackson, who said, “The coach wants me to take care of this.”
Crumpler: “I just wanted to know what my role was in the new offense. I wasn’t there to slow the train down.”
The problems with Petrino were easier to forecast than his health issues, or the extent to which the season would fall apart. In October, he vented following a loss at Tennessee, criticizing the offense and suggesting Petrino was phasing out veterans. The next day, he said, he told owner Arthur Blank of the communication gap between Petrino and the players.
“Arthur expressed that there needed to be an open door policy,” Crumpler said.
By the time the season ended, new regime or not, Crumpler believed he was done in Atlanta. So he wasn’t shocked last week. Smith phoned him twice — first on Thursday to say a decision hadn’t been made, then on Friday to deliver the news. “He wanted to do it face to face,” Crumpler said, “but I was in Phoenix. I appreciated the call. It’s something I know wouldn’t have happened under the old regime.
“My family was taken aback by everything, but I tried to prepare them. When the new coach was hired, I didn’t have any contact with him. When the new GM was hired, I didn’t have any contact with him. It was radio silence. I just had that feeling. I trust my gut on a lot of things.”
Now he’s trusting his body. He recovered quickly from arthroscopic knee surgery three years ago, playing in the Pro Bowl five weeks later. He expected a similarly short rehab period when he surgery in April, when doctors removed an osteophyte, commonly known as a bone spur.
But Crumpler labored. In August he went to see renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews. “He told me, ‘Oh, this is a six-month deal,’ ” Crumpler said. He was floored. In November, he saw two more specialists at Duke and in Cleveland, and was assured all he needed was rest, not further surgery.
Crumpler stopped just short of criticizing Falcons’ team doctors. “I’m not going to put it out there that I was misled,” he said. “I’ll just put it out there that there were different opinions. We’re talking about one team. I’m not going to let one team mess up the direction I want to go.”
He says he’s armed with medical reports and has been given assurances that he can make a full comeback. “I’m not trying to stir up any controversy but I understand how this business works — it’s a dirty business,” he said. “I’m not out to take shots at anybody. I just want to be prepared.”
He believes he can play “for four or five” more years. He said he harbors no resentment against the Falcons, but then adds, “Arthur and Rich [McKay] were getting advice from a guy who quit on us. His opinions of me weren’t good. But if I felt like I was anywhere close to retirement, I would hang it up.”
Teams will probe his knees. There’s no need to question his passion.
Permalink | Comments (57) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC
Surely no one could do worse than Woodson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Presumably buoyed by five days off and the ballyhooed addition of their long-sought point guard, the Hawks went back to work Tuesday night in Los Angeles. With 53 seconds remaining in the first half, they trailed 69-28. Think about that.
To be outscored by 41 points in 23 minutes — for mathematical convenience, we’re rounding off those seven seconds — means you’ve been beaten by 1.78 points in each of those 23 minutes. That’s the rough equivalent of yielding an extra two-point basket every minute you’re on the floor. In a league governed by a salary cap, that cannot happen through an inequality of resources. It can only happen when one team doesn’t try.
What those 23 minutes (plus seven seconds) told us is that the Hawks, even at the one moment in their recent history when they should have been primed, couldn’t bring themselves to compete. And this latest example wasn’t the fault of Mike Bibby, acquired over the All-Star break. It was, as ever, the fault of Mike Woodson, the wholly overmatched coach.
We flash back to Feb. 6. The Hawks beat the Lakers — the same team they trailed by 41 not two weeks later — at Philips Arena, and afterward Ed Peskowitz, one of the team’s several owners, could be overheard suggesting to a reporter: “We have arrived.” Being the Hawks, they haven’t won since.
Two nights later, they lost at home to Cleveland, which was missing four regulars. “We just didn’t come out ready to play,” Woodson told reporters.
The next night, the Hawks lost by 19 points in Houston after trailing by 25 at the half. His team, Woodson told the media, “should have stayed at the hotel.”
Does anyone listen to this man? Does anyone in power care whether the Hawks win or lose?
Whenever a coach says his team wasn’t prepared or didn’t compete, he’s indicting himself. The First Rule of Coaching — it’s in all the manuals — is: Get your team ready. After nearly four seasons on the job, Woodson can’t even manage that much.
If nobody could have won with the talent Woodson was handed in 2004, almost nobody could lose with the talent he has now. But he’s doing it. The Hawks are 7-18 since Dec. 29. They’ve lost 13 of 17 and six in a row. If the playoffs began today, they wouldn’t qualify.
In fairness to Woodson, he has had Bibby for only two games. That said, what about this coach makes anyone believe he can maximize anything? He has had the core group — Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams and the two Joshes — since 2005, and he has had Al Horford for 60 games. The Hawks have beaten enough good teams (Dallas, Phoenix, the Lakers) to show they can play with anybody, and yet they’re in danger of being 12 games below .500 when they return from this trip.
Woodson’s career record is 90-207. It’s apparent some Hawks have stopped paying attention, assuming they ever did. If he can’t get them to play hard coming off the All-Star break, when will he ever? And if the Hawks were willing to spend so heavily to land Bibby, why do they continue to tolerate this lack of direction?
They could have fired Woodson — his contract expires June 30, which means there are no full seasons to buy out — when they lost seven of eight at the end of January. They should have fired him over the All-Star break when they’d lost four in a row and fallen to ninth in the East. Instead they dealt for Bibby, which was fine on its face, but where’s the wisdom in handing Jeff Gordon’s racecar to Fred Flintstone?
Mike Woodson has had nearly 300 games to prove he’s capable of winning, and all he has proved is that he isn’t. While there’s still a season to salvage, the Hawks need to hand this roster to assistant Larry Drew and see if he can do better. Surely no one could do worse.
Permalink | Comments (238) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
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