Jeff Schultz: Fire Knight First

[LL Cool Scott]

This should not be taken as an endorsement of Mike Woodson, because it

[LL Cool Scott]

Can I get an amen?

[HoopsGuru25]

How BK managed to keep his job after the Shelden pick is amazing. You would think that his job would be on the line after watching Paul light up the league his rookie year. To completely waste a pick the 5th pick(Shelden)after bricking the 2nd pick in the previous draft is grounds for any GM to be fired. Do any of the other owners actually watch basketball or keep up with what's going on around the league?

[will]

Oh crap!

I've been so busy dissing Woody all these months.

Come to think of it, Billy needs to get canned. Quick.

It is pretty incredible to believe Billy still has a job after butchering the #2 overall and #5 overall picks a few seasons ago.

No offense to Marvin and Sheldon, but they should be producing a bit more though.

[HMFFL]

If Billy goes it could very well mean some of your favorite Hawks go. A new GM could totally scrap Al, Josh and Marvin starting together. By all means I'm not defending Billy here and am open to changes.

No offense to Marvin and Sheldon, but they should be producing a bit more though.

Not sure how many games you've watched lately, but Shelden's not getting off the bench, and I personally feel Marvin is coming along nicely.

Coach Woodson's not executing Billy's plan to have Shelden play backup to Al and to play both the 4/5.

[conleyorbust]

Yeah, however mismatched the roster is, its not without potential. One of the reasons I watch the team is that I like some of the players. Particularly Smith and Horford. I have mixed feelings about having a new GM come in and get trade happy with all my favorite players. Knight needs to go for sure, but I'd hate to see him SnT Smith for Devin Harris or something.

[evildallas]

^^^ I've thought the same thing about a new GM possibly meaning a complete rebuilding which has the potential to lose me as a fan for a while depending on how it's done. After sitting through some of the worst season in franchise history with patience, I'm not sure I can handle a revisit to the gutter with at least some success in between. If I'm ownership I'd make it clear that the incoming GM can't rebuild in his own image by going to the bottom of the standings and is instead charged with the task of getting over the top. I'm not saying he has to keep the team intact, but rather not dump key players just for cap room or picks.

As for Woodson, I've never understood how he is BK's man because they never seem to embrace the same vision for players. To be honest, most of BK's claims do seem off the mark (Joe as PG, Shelden as C), but Woodson doesn't give them much time to pan out.

All said though if I'm an owner who's paying attention I can't be happy with the state of the team. This is BK's 5th season of putting his players together and they'll need an amazing month just to reach .500 in the standings. Attendance is underwhelming. And not to bring up old wounds in detail, but some important opportunities have been missed. To me, the window to succeed is the next 2 seasons (length of Joe's max contract). If we aren't competing for the Conference title by that time then the whole BK plan and era was a failure. I guess I tend to agree if we make it to the trade deadline with no changes and the message to just stay the course, then they should sack BK on the grounds that as currently constituted we are too far away from accomplishing that goal in that window.

Before anyone says I am being unrealistic, I said competing. Not winning an NBA title, or even an Eastern title, but making it deep into the playoffs with a realistic chance of going further. Furthermore, if the team doesn't make the playoffs this year then I sack him also. I want to see how Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, and even Josh Childress play in playoff situations before breaking out the checkbook. I want to see how far Joe Johnson can go as a leader before I have to decide on his next deal.

Also, in my eyes Woodson isn't coaching to save his job, he's coaching in hopes of ever getting another job. I replace him at the end of the year playoffs or not. It would take a magical playoff run (like winning 2 series) to change my mind. I just don't think he's a good enough coach to get where I want to go.

[conleyorbust]

For all BKs faults his biggest one seems to be his reluctance to use common sense. He put together a group that could actually be successful but he refuses to add the finishing touches. Anyway, I guess I agree with you but I think a good GM could replace Knight without blowing it up... young talented players can be built upon by the new guy. We'll see.

[JoshB914]

Of course we have talent because we had all those high picks. But BK refused to draft players that would fill holes over the past few seasons and it has killed us. He has essentially ignored the PG position and we would have the exact same holes as last season if we didn't luck out in the lotto.

Like COB said, we have some talent, but he refuses to give us the pieces we need to make it all come together.

[reazun]

our team is so young and talented it would be pointless to gut out the whole team and rebuild. I think the main problem is that we are missing crucial pieces and Woody isnt exploiting our strengths properly. Still, its obvious that big changes will probably be made with a new GM. I could see Marvin leaving and Josh moving to SF and letting Al play the 4. But who knows what I new GM would do. Honestly, I dont care I like everyone on the team, but Im willing to part with anyone on the roster, except Smith, thats really only because he is from Atlanta and I kinda like that hes on the team. We gotta make sacrifices to make the team better and Im pretty sure whoever is added on will grow on us too

[JoshB914]

I think a good GM would love to come in here. We have good young talent, some obvious weaknesses (so not as hard to fix), and we have money to spend over the next two years.

[conleyorbust]

I think a good GM would love to come in here. We have good young talent, some obvious weaknesses (so not as hard to fix), and we have money to spend over the next two years.

I think the concern is a new GM would want to build the team "his" way just as BK has attempted to do... although we don't know what way that is. The new GM would have a whole lot of assets to move around and start over with whoever he wanted. I think a good GM would just come in and plug up the holes, and so do you but they all want their legacies.

[JoshB914]

I don't know. BK built the team his way because we were in a situation where we had to tear it down. And we had no good players in the first place. If a GM comes in here I think it could be like Colangelo in Toronto. This is a good situation for someone that knows personnel.

[_BBIB_]

Fire Jeff Schultz sounds more like it.

BK built this team from scratch and with wheeling and dealing put together the 2nd most promising young roster in the league.


This tool bag just like the rest will jump on the bandwagon and have "known all along" or at least won't admit he was wrong if this team maeks a deep playoff push next year

[HoopsGuru25]

BK is a moron BBIB... 2nd most promising young roster? Have you watched Portland,Toronto,or New Orleans play this year? Orlando and Cleveland based on the strength of Dwight and LeBron alone have more promising young rosters(though their GMS are just as dumb as BK). You also said that by the end of the year Acie Law and Marvin would have more value than Chris Paul. I'm still waiting for that to happen.

[jagstang76]

IMO, BK absolutely has to make a move this trade deadline. Here's why:

1) We have no 1st rd pick in the next draft, so that means we have to look to FA or trade to improve.

2) We will have no money for FAs because we must resign Smoove and possibly Chill.

3) This team is not good enough to compete unless we improve the overall talent.

We've come to an impasse. If BK does nothing, there will be no chance of making this team better until the 2009 offseason - about 1 1/2 seasons away! That's too long for no positive progress. We basically only have two seasons of JJ left unless we spend more money resigning him. We might have enough of a core in Smoove, Marvin, Horford, and Chill to build beyond JJ, but probably 3 or 4 years of their careers will be wasted unless progress continues. I'm of a mind to say that this trade deadline is important because we could make a move that could improve this team now and give us more flexibility later. If we can get Andre Miller or Mike Miller for example, it would vastly improve this team and still allow enough cap room to resign Smoove. Andre makes more sense because he would fill a major need and come off the books in time to resign Marvin. Also, we would hope that Law is up to speed by then so losing Andre wouldn't be a difficult transition. Mike Miller wouldn't be bad either, except his contract ends with JJs and wouldn't help that much with our weak spot at point. He will however provide a solid shooter and his contract, along with JJ's, would provide for nearly $25 mil in cap space to work with in 2010.

If BK sits on his hands again, ASG should seriously consider finding someone who will realize the when it's crucial to do something and act on it.

[conleyorbust]

^Makes too much sense to ever happen...