RealGM

Reporting on front page that the Hawks may be interested. Who knows where they are getting that info from, but I hope it's true!

link

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/52424/20080509/hawks_could_turn_to_avery_or_dantoni/

Hawks Could Turn To Avery Or D'Antoni
May 9, 2008 - 2:07 pm
Newsday -
The Atlanta Hawks could fill their head coaching vacancy with Avery Johnson or Mike D'Antoni.

Johnson has $11 million owed to him from Dallas and that may cause him to be patient to wait for the right opportunity to reemerge. [READ]

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Avery.I don't like D'Antoni.

I wish we could get a combo of both. Dantoni's style of play is perfect for our team, and Avery's mentality is perfect as well.

I'd rather have Avery but I could see why people are getting excited at the thought of D'Antoni's uptempo offense with our roster(although I'm not sure it would work w/o an elite pg).

My first choice would be Thibodeau. He's unproven but he specializes in player development & defensive schemes. I could see him becoming a very good head coach.

Aw, rats. I was "teased" by the teaser into thinking that this "head coaching vacancy" was a certainty, like Newsday had the scoop that Woody's officially gotten the axe. I was like, "Oh, snap, there's REALLY a VACANCY?"

The actual article said that ATL could be a destination for Avery, "if Woodson's not retained by whoever" takes over as GM. Was that somebody over at RealGM providing the summary?

~lw3

Guys, also take in the fact that our best player was coached by D'Antoni (JJ). So our best player can already be in the groove of his coaching style if he came here.

That being said, also with his up-tempo offense, he is my #1 pick for coach.

Also guys like Horford, whom could be the next Amare in D'Antoni's offense, and Smith would have no problem with how he puts in his offense.

D'Antoni could coach a team filled with athletes, and i would like to see Smoove in that style of offense.

but Avery does teach defense and that wins championships and he has gotten his team into the finals.

I was listening to Dallas sports talk on XM the other night and they were discussing Rick Carlisle and Avery Johnson. It seemed in their analysis that Avery was really micro-managing on the offensive end (as is Carlisle). They weren't discussing Avery's attractiveness to other jobs and they weren't intentionally bashing him, but most of what they laid out left me a little concerned about Avery as a head coach. Although maybe it is better to have an overbearing micromanager on the offensive end than a coach with no offensive system whatsoever.

As for D'Antoni, does Joe really want D'Antoni considering he left that system because he didn't like being 4th or 5th option? Also, how much of D'Antoni's offensive success is due to the emergence of Nash as a PG? Last I checked we didn't have that kind of engine. While I'm intrigued with D'Antoni because of his offensive focus, I have to wonder if ownership would get into a bidding war for his services.

Finally, if we really want a defensive coach then Tom Thibadeau (Boston assistant) seems like the best guy, but the knock on him is lack of name recognition. I've been laboring under the concept that we need a coach who commands the attention of younger players with his name or record. Another assistant is his first coaching gig might not be able to reach our core players any better than Woodson.

The micro-managing is what bothers me about Rick. It's as if the team is setting themselves up for another Avery situation. The Mavs needs to run and have some freedom to just play ball. I like Rick, however he needs to tweak the way he coaches (like that's going to happen), and be opened minded if he truly plans on turning the team around.

Theres basically no chance that the ASG would even consider offering D'Antoni the amount of money that it's going to take to have his service. I've talked to some co-workers that are setting themselves up for a heart break expecting him to be the Hawks next coach. Looks like he's waiting for the Bulls anyway even though the Knicks have a large amount of money on the table and an offer that most likely won't be matched or beat. I can't blame D'Antoni if he's trying not to think about the New York job and if he walks away from 30 million.

Didn't D'antoni have 3-4 years to figure out how to beat the Spurs ? At least the Mavs got to do that once. Bottom line, if you want to have a title contender, you go with Avery, if you want to put 110ppg and lose in the 1st or 2nd round, go with D'antoni.

At this point Ill take anyone but Woody No Goody.

D'Antoni would be the ideal coach for this roster. Just an absolute dream. That being said, I don't even expect our ass-clown owners to talk to him because they are incompetent and cheap.

Skyhawk1 wrote:Didn't D'antoni have 3-4 years to figure out how to beat the Spurs ? At least the Mavs got to do that once. Bottom line, if you want to have a title contender, you go with Avery, if you want to put 110ppg and lose in the 1st or 2nd round, go with D'antoni.

Hard to disagree with that point. Either is a step up over Woodson, but it's starting to feel moot.

HMFFL wrote:The micro-managing is what bothers me about Rick. It's as if the team is setting themselves up for another Avery situation. The Mavs needs to run and have some freedom to just play ball. I like Rick, however he needs to tweak the way he coaches (like that's going to happen), and be opened minded if he truly plans on turning the team around.

Yep, that's the conclusion that they were coming to on the radio. That Dallas is basically replacing Avery with another Avery (if not worse), which doesn't exactly seem like the right thing to do with their roster.

And my point was just to question whether Avery's style meshes with our personnel here since we seems best when up tempo? I give it a maybe, he did toughen up a run and gun team and got them to the finals.