Woodson's offer, knew it was coming

conleyorbust · Post #1 » by **conleyorbust** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:55 pm

two-year contract for Hawks coach Mike Woodson has been extended and awaits only his signature to be completed, according to two people familiar with the situation.

Woodson's current deal expires June 30, as do the contracts of his entire staff. But after two weeks of evaluations, new Hawks general manager Rick Sund has decided to stick with Woodson by offering him the new deal.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sport ... _0613.html

damn shame

tontoz · Post #2 » by **tontoz** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:02 pm

Sultanofatl · Post #3 » by **Sultanofatl** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:04 pm

actually, considering what Pheonix and Chicago.....two better situations came up with......I'm almost of the opinion this was the right move. We know this team can overcome Woodson's flaws and be successful. So 2 years to see if he and Sund are a better mix makes sense.

killbuckner · Post #4 » by **killbuckner** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:09 pm

will be interesting to see what happens with the assistant coaches that tried to leave but were not allowed to

Hawks · Post #5 » by **Hawks** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:29 pm

Well we knew they were not going after a big name coach because of the money it would cost. It is no surprise they would bring him back. A two year deal is fair to both sides. Give Woodson the chance to prove he can actually coach. I just hope he let Acie make his mistakes this year and stick with him. Right now his job is get Acie prepare to take over the PG position after Bibby leaves.

DirtybirdGA · Post #6 » by **DirtybirdGA** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:33 pm

sigh. Bring on Summer League.

JoshB914 · Post #7 » by **JoshB914** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:37 pm

Well at least this we know what direction we're going in for the time being. Now let's go get some depth on the FA market.

conleyorbust · Post #8 » by **conleyorbust** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:37 pm

Now I don't think this will have any effect on whether we bring Smith back, in a league ruled by talent, he's much more important than Woody.

I do think however, that Woody and Smith should sit down for coffee or something, very informal-like, and talk about their thoughts on basketball (specifically offense because Woody loves what Smith does for his defense - be it). Those two, more than Salim or Zaza or Acie or any other scrub that Woodson has managed to completely alienate during his disastrous tenure, need to be on the same page for this team to function.

td00 · Post #9 » by **td00** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:02 pm

A two year deal is fair to both sides. Give Woodson the chance to prove he can actually coach.

Hawks, well, what have we been doing the last 4 years, watching Woody establish realtionships in the city? You see as much as I do that he lacks a lot as a HC. You don't remember those games that sits a guy down after 2 fouls? The ones where he plays Joe every minute until Joe can't respond in the 4th quarter? The ones where he has run-ins with Zaza, Smoove, Salim and who knows on the coaching staff that we don't hear about.

Simply put, we don't know what $$ Woody has signed for but I know that anyone on this board could find a qualified candidate that equals the coaching skills of Mike Woodson.
This isn't a slam on Woodson the man; it is a slam on what he believes will get us more than 106 wins in 4 years. How long will it take for him to be a career .500 coach? He'll never make it, because no other organization will give him this much time!

I think we will see some defections here, and probably some that will not be for the betterment of this franchise.

parson · Post #10 » by **parson** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:15 pm

This is a solid move. If Vinnie Del Negro is the best CHI can do, the prospects must be pretty thin. Better to punt when there're no better options out there.

2 years means Woody is on a make-good deal. If this team is about to explode, good.

If he's the problem, it'll be evident.

BUT, ... if this is just a cost-saving move and we lose our assistants (rats leaving a sinking ship), yikes.

NWO4Life · Post #11 » by **NWO4Life** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:29 pm

NWO4Life wrote:As far as Woody goes I want him to remain in place. Yes I said it. I know you can quote me times past about his removal but he should stay.

Woody has been stuck with the moves BK made. That being said the team has improved and I feel that he has improved as well. Experience is on his side now. It seems out in the open that the players trust him and there are no candidates that just jump to the front that just jump to the front as an improvement.

I see a 2 year with a club option on the third being the out come and if the head coach and the GM can be on the same page we should have a bright future.

With the ownership still in limbo and BK gone seems we need to keep some cohesion and whats on the floor on game night is whats most important.

Does anyone agree with this assessment?

Who's Awesome?

I'm Awesome! :nod:

Called it right for a change.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #12 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:38 pm

I knew this was coming....all the signs pointed to Woody coming back but I thought they would only offer one year. The Rick Sund hiring just got lowered to a C to a D with his 1st move(and the ASG remains a huge joke as always). How the **** can you not interview anyone else for a head coaching vacancy? I'm just thankful that BK turned us down(and holding out some hope that Woody does the same).

I really hope they get a new coaching staff though besides the Fizdale guy(who I believe is there for player development). The entire coaching staff is just at fault for the 2 foul rule as Woody for not reminding him in the pre-game meeting. The Hawks also got constantly got outplayed in 3rd quarters due to their lack of adjustments made at half time.

Hawkeyes · Post #13 » by **Hawkeyes** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:48 pm

When we win, we win inspite of Woodson, when we lose, we lose because of Woodson. I think some of you are just looking for an easy target to blame, but he hasn't been the issue over recent issues..our roster has been pretty below average, or full of young players with alot of potential in recent years. Put Woodson in Avery Johnson's spot at Dallas or Flip Saunder's spot at Detroit and I bet he would look like a genius.

td00 · Post #14 » by **td00** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:01 pm

If you ask Woody, yes Woody would say that he is a genius.

I have only one opinion, and mine is from the outside looking in of course. I don't see what goes on behind the scenes, but honestly, is there another coach with the 2 foul 1st half rule? What could he possbily be waiting for. Him saving his players for the 2nd half every game doesn't work. He needs to make in game adjustments and put more trust in his players.

An example of Woody's in-game decisions:

Remember the best chance we had to win a game in Boston? Wasn't it Game 5, when Joe got 2 fouls, and sat for a real 30 minutes when Boston started making their presence known? Didn't Woody also play Game 5 like it wasn't that critical? That was the game that had to be won to get a shot at beating them. It doesn't matter who it is....if you get 2 fouls, you sit!
I guess shaving the head and wearing his championship ring was all that should have been needed!

Well, he is here and let the differences of opinion continue for at least the next 6 months. Its almost time for the predictions to come out and see where the Hawks should be by the end of the '08-09 season.
I don't expect much to change as far as wins/losses go. If we get to .500, then I guess Woody gets another extension because we improved again...by 4 games!

Skar · Post #15 » by **Skar** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:03 pm

I was correct when I said Woodson will be resigned.

killbuckner · Post #16 » by **killbuckner** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:06 pm

I don't think that woodson is a great coach, but I don't think the ASG would pay what it takes to get a great coach in here. I don't think that Woodson was the problem with this team and I was perfectly fine with making a change so that people could see that. I really think if you flipped Woodson and Avery the past couple seasons I think that Avery would have looked horrid here and Woodson would look a ton better.

Rip2137 · Post #17 » by **Rip2137** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:22 pm

Sigh....

I am in the "anything is better than woodson" camp. I would rather chance it with someone out there instead of going with a guy that is too stubborn to be a good coach.

I will say this again, Mike Woodson shouldn't have won his first two seasons here. The team was too young and simply not good enough. But he still did a bad job coaching. I still go back to Nate McMillians first year in Portand. That team was too young to win but they were well coached and were building for the future. People keep assuming good coaching = Wins. That isn't the case. You can do a great coaching job and lose. That is what I want out of a coach. LIke I have said many times over, Terry Stotts did a good job coaching here. The team just lost. Reggie Theus, Marc Iavroni, they did a damn fine job coaching this year. Their teams just loss. Our team was losing AND was being coached horridly. Only casual fans equate losing to bad coaching. Anyone that knows anything about basketball can see there is more to it than that.

Woodson played Lo Wright, Anthony Johnson and Tyronne Lue over younger players when it was obvious the team was going to lose. I am not even going to get into the in game flaws he has, but that right there is a franchise damaging move.

You have a guy that has alienated players, his staff tried to jump ship on him last season and were blocked, and the former GM tried to fire him 3 times. EXTENSION!!!! Really?

HoopsGuru25 · Post #18 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:40 pm

Here comes the pro Woody vs anti Woody argument thanks to Rip.

I think the most upsetting part of this is how the Hawks have basically been on Woody's nuts the last 4 months. I said it a couple days ago...it never felt like we had a head coaching vacancy even though we were the last team in the NBA to hire a coach. The facts are that Gearon said Woodson deserved to come back before we hired Sund...Billy Knight was NOT allowed to fike Mike Woodson...and Sund never even interviewed anyone else for the job during his "evaluation". There is a good chance that Rick Sund is either an idiot or a front man.

Rip2137 · Post #19 » by **Rip2137** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:52 pm

The funny thing is, there is no Pro woody side. There is a coaching doesn't matter that much vs Woody Sucks argument really.
That alone makes me say that he shouldn't be rehired. There should at least be a pro woody side.

mattlanta · Post #20 » by **mattlanta** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:00 pm

Hawks wrote:Well we knew they were not going after a big name coach because of the money it would cost. It is no surprise they would bring him back. A two year deal is fair to both sides. Give Woodson the chance to prove he can actually coach. I just hope he let Acie make his mistakes this year and stick with him. Right now his job is get Acie prepare to take over the PG position after Bibby leaves.

Three years wasn't enough? I reailze Woody helped us get to the playoffs, but he still hasn't gotten over the .500 hump in his career.