Atlanta Hawks: Larry Drew to return as coach

Post #1 » by **HMFFL** » Fri May 18, 2012 9:02 pm

The Hawks said they’ve exercised the option on coach Larry Drew’s contract for next season. The team signed Drew to a two-year contract with an option in 2010.

The Hawks have posted an 84-64 record with Drew as coach. They lost to Boston in the first round of the playoffs last week, ending a streak of three consecutive years in the second round. But the team’s owners and management cited the team’s 40-26 regular-season record as a success in light of several injuries to key players, including center Al Horford.

“Larry did an outstanding job this season in guiding our team to the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference, despite a condensed schedule and unfortunate injuries,” Hawks GM Rick Sund said in a statement released by the team. “The Hawks have reached the postseason in each of his years on the bench, and we feel Larry’s experience, expertise and dedication to the game were a key ingredient to our success.”

Sund’s contract expires next month. He’s been in talks with the team’s owners about re-signing but hasn’t committed to a return or publicly addressed his future. Sund’s other options include retirement or taking a part-time role with the Hawks or another team. http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2012/05/18/a ... logs_hawks

Post #2 » by **HMFFL** » Fri May 18, 2012 9:03 pm

Mark Bradley: The Hawks move to keep Larry Drew, and more hope fades

The Atlanta Hawks could have changed a lot this offseason without doing very much. They could have said goodbye to both general manager Rick Sund and coach Larry Drew without having to buy either out. By announcing Friday that they’ve chosen to keep Drew another season, the Hawks have again sent the message that they regard being pretty good as good enough.

Sund’s fate — his contract expires June 30 — is still unknown, but it seemed rather significant that he was the only one quoted in the we’re-keeping-Drew release. (Would a GM who’s actually leaving be allowed to vote yea or nay on a coach? These being the Hawks, maybe.) And if you wondered how long Sund would wait to invoke injuries as an excuse for remaining status quo, the answer was 25 words.

Then this: “The Hawks have reached the postseason in each of his years on the bench, and we feel Larry’s experience, expertise and dedication to the game were a key ingredient to our success.” http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/ ... ope-fades/

Superiorblogman · Post #3 » by **Superiorblogman** » Fri May 18, 2012 9:22 pm

Blow it up and save us the grief. This sucks big time more of the same bullchit :evil:

Post #4 » by **ATL Boy** » Fri May 18, 2012 10:05 pm

This is just wow, the ASG are ruining the game for this generation of players, the Hawks' owners might be the only ppl in the world that I genuinely hate

jagstang76 · Post #5 » by **jagstang76** » Sat May 19, 2012 1:36 pm

I am not surprised in the least. Honestly, my belief is there are very few coaches who can actually make a difference. LD has his strengths, but we've all discussed why he's not a great coach. I'm a firm believer that the players make the coach more so than the coach makes the players. It probably isn't likely, but say the ASG gets a new GM who miraculously finds a way to move JJ. The overall chemistry of this team would change drastically. Smoove isn't likely to resign with us after his contract expires, so that changes things even more. The two biggest issues we talk about are moved out and eventually replaced with talent that aids the chemistry. We really need to develop a new core as smoothly as possible. JJ and Smoove honestly should not be a part of that core. Al and Teague could be, but they cannot be the key stars. They could be great complimentary core players, but we need a new guy to hang our hat on.

Post #6 » by **HMFFL** » Sat May 19, 2012 3:53 pm

Does anyone know the terms and any details of Drew's contract? Was it simply an option that the ASG picked up, or had they not picked the option up, would they been stuck paying Drew an undisclosed amount of money?

MaceCase · Post #7 » by **MaceCase** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:21 pm

^^^By not picking up the option on Drew it would have been the same as if his contract expired completely.

I don't see what the big stink is. A lot of board members like to talk up the record without Al and mak claims like only the Heat are better next season......well who exactly coached the team through all of that? How does LD not get any credit for any of the achievements people were spitting out all season?

ALL HAIL · Post #8 » by **ALL HAIL** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:51 pm

MaceCase wrote:^^^By not picking up the option on Drew it would have been the same as if his contract expired completely.

I don't see what the big stink is. A lot of board members like to talk up the record without Al and mak claims like only the Heat are better next season......well who exactly coached the team through all of that? How does LD not get any credit for any of the achievements people were spitting out all season?

Indeed, but personally, if I felt like their was a more than 50% chance that my team looks really different next season, I would have let him go.

IF mostly everyone is staying for next year then I understand the move a lot more.

In fact, this is probably a signal that this team will probably look the same next year. Sund is fighting for his job and probably does not feel safe making big changes when the team, as presently constructed, is a high seeded playoff team (albeit a middle of the road, very expensive one, with no cap flexibility in the future).