Josh Smith

[NDaATL]

Blaming Mike Woodson any time the Hawks struggle is really getting played out. We have nobody (yet) who can draw a double team in the low post. And we have nobody (yet) who can penetrate into the lane and create a shot for others. Maybe Horford and/or Smith will develop a consistent post game. Maybe Law will develop into a true point guard. Neither has happened yet, and this offense will be mediocre until that happens.

So you agree with Woodson's insistance on playing Lue and Zaza when they are having terrible games? You agree with his offensive philosophy of "it will take care of itself"? You agree with him holding our team to the slowest paced team in the league despite having one of the most athletic teams in the league, even AFTER he said we'd run more this season? You agree with him playing JJ to leading the NBA in minutes per game?

I honestly don't remember seeing any offensive sets run this entire season. Our team's offense is downright terrible, many teams score better with less options. I think y'all are seriously underestimating the talent we have on this team.

[conleyorbust]

Blaming Mike Woodson any time the Hawks struggle is really getting played out. We have nobody (yet) who can draw a double team in the low post. And we have nobody (yet) who can penetrate into the lane and create a shot for others. Maybe Horford and/or Smith will develop a consistent post game. Maybe Law will develop into a true point guard. Neither has happened yet, and this offense will be mediocre until that happens.

Actually, technically our offense is heavily based on Joe and Josh penetrating and kicking out. Its true that we don't have a point guard who can consistently do that but there have been plenty of teams in the past that have used non-point guards or post players as the primary playmakers. Anyway, Mike Woodson has never been known as a great offensive mind but that doesn't mean he can't be a great coach in the right situation. Larry Brown isn't a particularly innovative coach on offense but he is has been successful. Personally I don't think we take advantage of our athleticism in the half-court nearly as much because we do use a penetrate and kick out offense so much... the spacing can get ruined if you have your bigs cutting to the basket all the time. Woody has started to let Josh go into the post when he has a mismatch like G-Wallace, Hedo Turk, or Haslem so thats a good thing...

Woody has his flashes and he has his head scratchers. He is still a first time coach and he still has some kinks to work out of his game. I think he has done a good job making the guys pay attention to D, at the same time he hasn't ever really come around to innovating on offense and he (has admitted that) has trouble keeping track of all his players which hurts on the subbing patterns. We'll see.

[killbuckner]

Sorry- I meant he doesn't have the ability to get to the basket in a productive way against backups so I don't see any reason why he should be put out there against the starters. Acie just isn't producing even when they are trying to pick and choose the spots where he could do well. If you want to see him play signficantly more minutes I simply think you should also say that you are OK with the hawks losing some games because of it.

[evildallas]

#1 There is plenty of blame to go around to Woodson, to BK, to the players. My New Year's resolution is not focus on the blame but to focus on putting it right. For instance, I want to deal Shelden for whatever we can get and then replace him in the 2nd round next year.

#2 Acie has been pretty good at getting to the basket, but I'm not sure about his conversion percentage. He's a rookie and there will be aspects of his game that need more work than others. Don't expect him to get big minutes though because PG is a position that provides more opportunities for mistakes that hurt the team. It would have been nice if our PG of the future had been acquired earlier to mature with the rest of the squad, but it's too late for that now.

#3 Josh Smith as an offensive focus is new for him. Give him some time to fully embrace the role. Last year when Joe was injured, Josh stepped up but it was more on the perimeter like a poor man's Joe clone trying to create off the dribble starting at the 3 point line. This year he is posting more and starting his drive from a closer point. He needs to continue doing this and eventually the defenses will have to adjust to it. That's when Joe, Marvin and Al will start to truly benefit from it.

#4 Mike Woodson is a first time coach who has done a lot of learning on the job. My honest evaluation is that he hasn't developed enough in this stint to merit an extension. He just doesn't get passing marks for his in game coaching and his offensive design. He probably is a quality assistant, but I don't think he's the answer as a head coach. As for his trouble with keeping track of players, we have a ton of assistants, what exactly do they do? Shouldn't someone be helping him with some of the minutia?

[JoshB914]

-= original quote snipped =-


So you agree with Woodson's insistance on playing Lue and Zaza when they are having terrible games? You agree with his offensive philosophy of "it will take care of itself"? You agree with him holding our team to the slowest paced team in the league despite having one of the most athletic teams in the league, even AFTER he said we'd run more this season? You agree with him playing JJ to leading the NBA in minutes per game?

I honestly don't remember seeing any offensive sets run this entire season. Our team's offense is downright terrible, many teams score better with less options. I think y'all are seriously underestimating the talent we have on this team.

Lue and Zaza's minutes have diminished. So I don't see the logic there.

Bottom line is you cannot play at a high pace without a good PG to run it.

[NDaATL]

Bottom line is you cannot play at a high pace without a good PG to run it.

First of all that is completely wrong. And I'm not saying we need to play like PHX, I'm saying we need to push the ball up the floor when we get the chance. There is a BIG difference.

Secondly, why did Woodson say that we were going to run much more this year if we don't have a PG to do it? Was he talking just so he could hear himself talk?

[NDaATL]

Lue and Zaza's minutes have diminished. So I don't see the logic there.

Wow, it only took him 30 games to realize. What a great coach!

[tontoz]

The Hawks have 67 fast break points in the last two games. I think that would be hard to do if they weren't pushing the ball up the floor.

[JoshB914]

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Wow, it only took him 30 games to realize. What a great coach!

And how many of those games was Lue injured? You are backtracking here big time. Lue lost his backup PG job to IV because he was not playing well and then got hurt.

Zaza he wanted to push because he has prove that he can be serviceable. He has continued to fail and his minutes have also plummetted.

I don't see a team out there that runs up and down the floor without at least a decent PG. We can run if the other team agrees to do so and we can score buckets in transition with guys like Smoove and JJ leading the break. However, because of our PG situation the other team will almost always have the game being played at their pace.

[NDaATL]

The Hawks have 67 fast break points in the last two games. I think that would be hard to do if they weren't pushing the ball up the floor.

Well that's certainly good news. I haven't seen much of the last 2 games because one wasn't on TV and I was busy for the other one. Regardless I am glad to hear that. I just get sick of seeing us walk it up the court so slowly, hopefully we keep this up.

[NDaATL]

And how many of those games was Lue injured?

LOL

I don't see a team out there that runs up and down the floor without at least a decent PG.

Again I'm not talking about constantly running up and down the floor like PHX or the showtime Lakers. I'm just saying we need to push the ball when we get the opportunities. I've seen us PURPOSELY slow the ball down and walk it up numerous times after rebounds when there are opportunities to run.

because of our PG situation the other team will almost always have the game being played at their pace.

We are usually the team that controls the pace, we constantly walk the ball up the court when we get chances to push it. WE should be the ones dictating it into a faster one. Everytime we push the ball when given the opportunity (even in slow paced games), we usually do well and can get baskets. But then the next play we'll slow it down again. When you can't get baskets in the half court (which we can't do), why not TRY pushing it up the court. As tontoz said, we have pushed it better the last few games so hopefully we keep it up.

[HoopsGuru25]

I'm watching Orlando and Sacremento and they just showed a stat that said Josh Smith is 2nd in points in the paint for the month of January(16.7 a game). 3 of the other top 4 are Al Jefferson,Yao Ming,and Eddy Curry...

[JoshB914]

We never dicate the pace. When we played teams like the Pistons it was a slow game and there was nothing we could do, but teams like PHX that were willing to run with us have done so.

Name one team out there that runs with a PG rotation as bad as ours. Memphis tried to with Damon Staudamire, and even with legit pieces around him in Gay, Gasol and Navarro they are getting beaten. That would be us if we were running.

We do try to take advantage of fast breaks. Just not as many present themselves when the game is too slow.

[NDaATL]

^ So HOW do we have 67 fast break points in the last 2 games? It's impossible without a good PG, right?

[JoshB914]

So do we play a slow offense or not? Make up your mind.

Bottom line is that to run consistently (and that is what people are calling for), you need a decent PG to do that and we don't have any. Once again, look at Memphis for proof it doesn't work.

[NDaATL]

So do we play a slow offense or not? Make up your mind.

Over the entire season, we have one of the slowest paced offenses in the NBA. Yet these last 2 games (as tontoz pointed out), we have scored 67 points on the fast break. That means we have attempted to push the ball, which I am glad to see. Isn't that what I said earlier? That WHEN we push the ball we usually do well, problem is we rarely do it. I am happy that we have ran more in the last 2 games, hopefully we continue to do so. So I'm asking you how we did it if it wasn't possible without a good PG? That's been your point all along right?

[killbuckner]

NDaATL- you are aware that the Hawks lost the past 2 games by a combined 28 points right?

[NDaATL]

Only because JJ has completely sucked. The Nets game would've been won if JJ didn't shoot 4-16 and 0-5 from three. We only lost that by 6.

The Pacers just beat us bad, JJ had another terrible game and Granger and Dunleavy went off for career nights..

[JoshB914]

-= original quote snipped =-


Over the entire season, we have one of the slowest paced offenses in the NBA. Yet these last 2 games (as tontoz pointed out), we have scored 67 points on the fast break. That means we have attempted to push the ball, which I am glad to see. Isn't that what I said earlier? That WHEN we push the ball we usually do well, problem is we rarely do it. I am happy that we have ran more in the last 2 games, hopefully we continue to do so. So I'm asking you how we did it if it wasn't possible without a good PG? That's been your point all along right?

This happened because the other team was willing to run with us. We cannot force a running game upon anyone. Not to mention we lost both of those games anyway.

[JoshB914]

Only because JJ has completely sucked. The Nets game would've been won if JJ didn't shoot 4-16 and 0-5 from three. We only lost that by 6.

The Pacers just beat us bad, JJ had another terrible game and Granger and Dunleavy went off for career nights..

This excuse doesn't fly anymore because JJ has been terrible shooting the ball all season. If it was just one game then it would make more sense.

And we also had 40 turnovers in those two games.