680the fan is reporting in their interview with Gearon

[td00]

That the Hawks are committed to keeping and building around Woody.

I don't think I like what I am hearing here. We are going to have to prove to the ASG that we see what they don't: Woody is overmatched and does not provide us an advantage when on the road.

While we have begun to see some advantages to playing at home, I don't see what Woody does to warrant him coming back and winning the battle with BK. Both had/have issues and need to be replaced while we aren't on the hook to pay them for not being in their position.

Oh well, the fire that we have been developing suddenly doesn't seem so exciting. Maybe Woody will be offended with a 2 year offer? Please don't give him a multi-year 3 or 4 year deal!

[HMFFL]

I'm not sure how the ASG believes a respectable GM will come here if he can't even decide on the coaching situation himself. I was able to catch some of the interview before they jumped to the Thrashers.

[HoopsGuru25]

I'm not sure how the ASG believes a respectable GM will come here if he can't even decide on the coaching situation himself. I was able to catch some of the interview before they jumped to the Thrashers.

Like the poser Hawks said earlier...it's looking more and more like Gearon is the GM. He wouldn't let his GM fire the coach and he's basically forcing a coach upon our new GM who will probably be someone in our front office who is unqualified and will work on the cheap. NOTHING will change if we keep Woodson and hire a GM with his hands tied.

[JoshB914]

I honestly could care less if Woody comes back or not. It's clear that we don't have an ownership group who are willing to spend top dollar on a proven coach, I'd rather stick with the guy who at least knows our team because of that.

However, if Woody is retained, ASG should make it very clear that he needs to change some things. He must try and develop some semblance of a rotation early in the season. It was unfair of him to stick Mario, Solo, Salim, J-Rich, and Law at the end of the bench and just forget about them. He has to give everyone a chacne to play. We also need to run more, but I think he started to realize that and allow us to run more once we got Bibby.

[HMFFL]

Well, it's hard to let go of a coach when your star player supports him. I guess Joe really does like Coach Woodson and now we all must pay for it.

[Master8492]

Well, it's hard to let go of a coach when your star player supports him. I guess Joe really does like Coach Woodson and now we all must pay for it.

I saw his quotes supporting Woody, but what I don't get is when he said something about the coaching staff is one of the reason that attracts him to Atlanta... why so? Does someone have ties with him?

[evildallas]

This is depressing. They are letting 3 good home games in one series wipe out 4 years of evidence of poor coaching. I think this decision will haunt the team if it plays out.

If they are worried about disrupting the progress of the team then I anticipate the next bit of news will be keeping Mike Bibby for his last contract year instead of parlaying his expiring contract into a talent upgrade from a team looking to shed salary.

[JoshB914]

If we are thinking about retaining Woody, someone has got to sit down make sure the young players are willing to follow him. It appeared that although the players liked him, they didn't respect him and didn't trust him. If that is true we can't keep him, if they say they believe in him now after the C's series then I have no problem keeping him around.

[CWell]

yeah build around the worst coach in all of sports?How is that possible?We need new owners.Why does the atlanta teams get stuck with owners like this?

[HoopsGuru25]

If the Hawks really aren't willing to pay for a good coach then they should have taken on the extra $14 million for Mike Bibby this coming year. I'd trade Bibby/Woody for a good coach in a heartbeat.

[LL Cool Scott]

Woodson has a LOT of respect around the league, especially among players. Every quote you read outside of Atlanta from other players and coaches is glowing. I don't have an opinion one way or the other on the dude. It's pretty obvious most fans dislike him, but apparently most of his former and current players really like him.

I'd rather us go after D'Antoni, but I don't expect our ass-clown owners to do anything but sit on their hands and make either a bad decision or no decision at all.

[JoshB914]

yeah build around the worst coach in all of sports?How is that possible?We need new owners.Why does the atlanta teams get stuck with owners like this?

Come on now. Woody is not the worst coach in all of sports. We don't win 3 games against Boston with a coach that bad.

He's not a great coach but a lot of people were blaming the shortcomings of our personnel on him. Like I said, if he is retained ASG must make it very clear that they expect him to play his bench early in the season and make his offense more conducive to a faster pace. I think he would be willing to do that.

[fo_o_fo_404]

This interview supports my argument that an in-house promotion will probably happen.

The only person other than Harold Ellis in Basketball Operations is Mike McNeive, who is Director of Basketball Operations.

Both McNeive and Ellis are the same age, both 38

Harold Ellis has the edge over McNeive IMO because he has played in the league and has served in all levels of scouting for the past five years. From Scout, to Advance Scout, to Minor League Coordinator, to Director of College Scouting.

McNeive was an Asst. Coach under Terry Stotts from 2002-2004...and was player development in Seattle under George Karl, where Stotts was an Assistant.

My guess is that it will be between these two candidates.

[td00]

1) Woody has been paid handsomely for what he has done here in Atlanta. The ASG owes him nothing at this point. One playoff run is going to allow him to keep his job and we will continue to see players who will not buy into the system.

See Smoove and Salim.

2) The makeup of this team will not change much for these reasons:

- The ASG apparently doesn't feel big changes are needed.
- We have zero draft picks.
- Our current starters are not going to come off the bench should we bring in a veteran player. And a vet is going to struggle to come here and play behind Marvin and Smoove.
- I am not sure the ASG would have removed BK. That move to send his brother down to congratulate them after Game 6 was a prick move by BK and I would have canned him with that move alone.


There will be a lot of discussions ongoing, but IMO we will probably lose Larry Drew as an assistant should he be able to get a more guaranteed slot elsewhere. His son starts at UNC this year, so Charlotte might be a normal progression towards getting closer to his son and work at the same time under Larry Brown.

Oh well, so much for hoping. A GM change alone doesn't push us up the ladder to a better playoff slot next year.

[Skyhawk1]

I think that it'd be a big setback for this team if we keep Woodson. He's not the right coach for the kind of players we got. On the top of that, the young guys have not developed as much as they should have IMO. It doesn't seem that he's got a good relationship with some players (mainly Smith), so how you keep Smith for big bucks and let a coach who can't get the best out of him around ? I mean, he plays guys 40+ min a night and his rotation is absurd, doesn't make any sense. Anytime a guy has 2 fouls he simply freaks out. In those 4 years I've seen very few games where he did a terrific job. I think he's lost this team many times. We were not competetive in most games on the road this season (his best). That's the least you expect from a good coach. Your team must compete. I think he fails in many aspects that I consider essential in a coach. I still hope ASG changes their mind if they really want to keep Woodson.

[AU hawksfan]

Like many have said, I think Woodson is a great assistant. He knows how to develop players.

As far as a coach though, we have seen his incompetence. He doesn't know how to direct the floor come game time. We all want to see better substitutions and it sucks knowing that probably won't improve now with Woody.

We need bench help, but even if we get it who knows if those players will ever see the floor?

[conleyorbust]

Actually I don't really know if this means Woody will stay. I doubt Gearon would say that they were gonna can Woody in the interview. He did say that he wanted BK to stick around in his AJC interview.

[Mr. Myogi]

Everyone on here is always talking about get rid of Woody, get rid of the Joshes, trade Bibby. The Hawks need stability and does not need to keep being a farm team for all of the other teams in the NBA.

The only only player that I see is regressing is Marvin Williams. He is a good player, but he need to come off the bench simply because Childress is a better player.

Keep them all together and as long as they are improving every year I'm fine with that. Add a couple of bench players preferably someone like Damien Wilkins and Diop. If they can do that the Hawks (being 1 year older w/ playoff experience and hunger for more) will be a much better team without getting rid of key pieces.

I'm happy Knight resign simply because I never understood the back to back Williams' picks. Which he SOMEWHAT made up for by getting Bibby who is a solid PG. Acie will be great for the Hawks but he is still a little raw.

ASG, I don't have a problem with. Its their millions if Woody can't do it, but they have improved every year under his guidance. Its not his fault when your go to guys are 5 for 35 (exhaggerated) in a half.