Break up the Hawks

[Jamaaliver]

Outclassed.....again.

This is an embarassment.

Every series, every postseason we get embarassed. It happened in game 7 in Boston.

It happened last year against Miami, and four straight times against CLE.

Milwaukee....just see games 3, 4 & 5. and then....

tonight. Let's face it, this is NOT an elite team. This group (the coach included) have gone as far as they can. Joe, there's no way we can pay him superstar money. GONE.

Woody...GONE.

At least we have hope....a new coach is on the horizon. We'll have some cash available next offseason if JJ leaves. But it's time.

[J the Drafter]

Having an isolation scorer is much more effective when his long twos and tough shots aren't the buk of your offense. Find someone who can teach the Hawks to pass and keep the guy who can put pressure on opposing defenses with his scoring ability.

[djjob23]

That's what's so funny though. THIS TEAM CAN PASS!!! They are solid there. But when you have Woodson as your coach... well... let's just say talents aren't showcased.

[djjob23]

"WOODSON AND JOE, NEED TO GO"
"WOODSON AND JOE, NEED TO GO"
"WOODSON AND JOE, NEED TO GO"

Put that lost money towards a quality coach, then it won't matter that Joe's gone. Give a max contract to Hubie Brown! Seriously though... change needs to happen. NOT A BREAK UP, but change.

[NetsForce]

A point guard who consistently drives the lane would also do wonders for the Hawks...

[ATL DirtyBird]

Dont need to break them up. Change is definitely needed. We should be this bi polar, but we are. Woody at the helm doesnt help at all.

[Harry10]

Lebron, Wade, Bosh, or......... Agent Zero?!?!??!

let Joe walk -> Bibby for Gilbert -> Crawford/Arenas

[azuresou1]

Lebron, Wade, Bosh, or......... Agent Zero?!?!??!

let Joe walk -> Bibby for Gilbert -> Crawford/Arenas

Are you serious?

[evildallas]

Gilbert is not a solution.

[Rod700]

A point guard who consistently drives the lane would also do wonders for the Hawks...

I agree. Across the playoffs, and in any important game, I think that our main problems are:

1. Lack of ball movement
2. Lack of players moving without the ball to get open (everyone just stands there and watches Joe in a lot of games).
3. Switching too much on defense. Too often we see Horford at the 3 point line guarding a Jennings or other fast player.
4. Turnovers in the 4th quarter of some big games.
5. We don't have an answer to the bigger big men who can score in the league like Dwight, Yao, etc.

I know we can have different theories as to what needs to be done to address such issues, but I attribute the above issues to the following:

Mike Bibby: Does what he can at this point in his career and has helped the Hawks tremendously by being a big improvement at the point. There is still a lot of room for improvement though. We have all these young legs and a point guard who cannot penetrate and create for them. I think upgrading the PG position would help with issues #1 and #4 significantly. Having someone who can initiate ball movement by driving inside and breaking down the defense would drastically improve the offense and make it much more consistant. On a side note, improving the PG position might include restricting Crawford mostly to SG in a 3 man rotation with Joe and Marv.
Mike Woodson: Yes, our record has improved each year under his reign (while our young players got older, the cap restriction on our team was lifted, and Horford, Bibby, and Crawford were added to the team.) I see issues 1-3 as being a big responsiblity of the coach though. How can you justify your job when professional athletes just stand there on offense and pursue mismatches on defense? Issue 4 could be coaching as well as our players just seem to come unnerved in some games, and even Issue 5 is somewhat a matter of strategy. Physically, we don't have an answer for Dwight, but that is not a necessity. Many teams have used timely defensive help to contain a dominant big man's scoring. The Bulls were an example as Pippen and Jordan gave timely help to a slow fat Longley or an undersized Rodman when there were numrous superstar big men taller than 7 feet and 250 pounds or more. (no offense to Rodman)

All in all, they are a team and they all share the blame, but we have a roster that performs far below the talent of it's individual players, and the point guard and coach are largely responsible for play creation and strategy.

[Rod700]

Gilbert is not a solution.

He might shoot one of our other players.

[niffoc4]

I don't know about breaking up the team, but I do think a coaching change is in order. Woodson has gotten us this far, but I think he's shown he can't take the Hawks further. Isos work great if you have Michael Jordan... we have Joe Johnson, who is a great scorer, but would score at a much higher percentage if he were playing off of the ball. I think an offensive-minded coach installing something (maybe the Princeton offense?) around ball movement would work quite well.

[aniloman]

I would say no to the Princeton offense. Look what it did to the 76ers! They were a running team just like I consider the Hawks. The Hawks need a defensive minded coach with a better offensive philosophy than what Mike Woodson has. I wonder how much the ownership would pay a new coach... because there are several candidates that I think that fit what the Hawks need.

Avery Johnson-may price himself out of the Hawks level
Byron Scott-waiting to get the LA job
Nate Mcmilian-is he getting fired or would he just leave to come to the Hawks?
Monty Williams-never had a HC job but he is the buzz of the assistant coaches
Thibidou-(sp) he has the defensive philosophy the Hawks need but would he take the Hawks job over the Hornets or 76ers.
Any other candidates that would consider the Hawks or you consider a good candidate?

[Jamaaliver]

Tom Thibodeaux in Boston is my first choice.

After that, I'd like to see what Jeff Van Gundy would ask for to coch the Hawks.

[td00]

Tom Thibodeaux in Boston is my first choice.

After that, I'd like to see what Jeff Van Gundy would ask for to coch the Hawks.

Okay, so bring in the brother rivalry here. No way JVG does anything to outmatch his brother. That is the team we are trying to beat, period. Reminds me of the Bowden rivalry in college football.
No thanks to JVG.

We don't match up to Cleveland or Orlando. We look horrid against both.

One name I would like to see us consider: Tony Parker. The Spurs are in a similar crossroads, only they have more to start with than us.

Look at the Mavs as well. They were a huge disappointment and are probably in need of a shakeup.
If we don't make sweeping changes, the highlight factory will struggle to bring people into the building.

[D21]

Look at the Mavs as well. They were a huge disappointment and are probably in need of a shakeup

Not so sure about that, at least not at this point.
Don't forget that they got Haywood and Butler in February. It's always hard to reach the potential of a roster in two months but when you add a full training camp, it changes a lot.

i don't know if DAL will try to keep the same guys, but they would certainly be better next year than this season.

[Harry10]

Gilbert is not a solution.

after what just happen today...... i'm very confident that Gilbert would do a whole lot better than Joe, and make the series watchable