Woodson, Smith learning together with Hawks

[HMFFL]

Solid read and I rarely say that about the AJC because lately the articles have been garbage. Click the link because it only contiues....

Here is a different view of the Mike Woodson-Josh Smith dynamic, often cast as a cola-meets-paint-shaker kind of relationship.

Yes, coach and player have had their blow-ups over the last five-plus seasons. They are, after all, two emotional sorts whose fortunes are married. So why not behave like any other couple?

But as Woodson has told his young star and now tells us, there always has been a baseline of affection beneath the turmoil.

Go over to the coach's house — hypothetically, this is not an actual invitation. Peek into his office. Know what you'll find?

"The only picture you're gonna see in there is of Josh Smith [it's one of Woodson hugging Smith, nicknamed J-Smoove]," the Hawks head man said.

"Why? Because he started with me from scratch and he's still hanging in there with me. He probably caught more hell than any player I've coached. Smoove's still with me; and his picture has been there for the last two years."

They cuss and fuss, you see, because they care.

Starting together

They arrived at the Hawks pretty much simultaneously in 2004 - Woodson, the first-time head coach of a team that would win but 13 games that season; and Smith, the home-grown mercurial talent who, at 18, would be playing his first NBA game.

"Me and him, we have been here the longest, been here a long time," said Smith, sounding like an old soul at 24. "We both came in as rookies at our position. I've grown as a leader and a player on and off the court, and I think he has grown as a coach." Link