Coaching Rumors

[evildallas]

I keep here scuttlebutt about the following guys possibly losing their jobs if they exit early:

Mike D'Antoni
Avery Johnson
George Karl

My favorite of that group is actually Mike D'Antoni, but any would be a massive improvement for the Hawks. I invite everyone to comment on each of them (or any other candidates) on the off chance that Mike Woodson isn't back.

[Master8492]

Rick Carlisle is my guy.

[evildallas]

I could get behind Carlisle, but I'm worried that he'll get hired by Chicago before our season is over.

[HoopsGuru25]

I'm not that high on D'Antoni to be honest. The only big difference between him and Woody(besides the obvious bone headed mistakes Woody makes)is that the Suns are committed to running while the Hawks aren't. I think Nash is basically their coach. He rides his top 7 players hard(like Woody)and has never won a playoff series where they didn't have home court advantage. The Suns also were trash w/o Nash the year before which likely means D'Antoni would suck here unless we got a elite point guard.

Carlisle probably isn't a good fit personality wise or style wise but I think his teams generally overachieve. He is also a defensive coach and his teams have never finished lower than 11th in defense. The Hawks who preach "defensive and rebounding"(when they clearly should have been a fast break team) have finished consistently in the 20's while peaking this year at 18. Frattelo is also a similar coach to Carlisle who I wouldn't mind having.

Avery would be my first choice if he got fired. Thibodeau seems interesting(Boston's defense is literally perfect)but his resume sounds alot like Woodson's before we hired him. Larry Brown maybe the best overall coach available but he may be the most risky. Billy Knight better not be around to hire the new coach. On top of being a bad evaluator of talent, BK has also make 2 AWFUL coaching hires(the sad thing is I believe he hired his "friends". If you hire Sidney Lowe....you must have seen something in him that other's didn't because Lowe coached an awful Minnesota team...and to no one's surprise did another horrible coaching job with the Grizzlies. He also hired Woody(the idiot who has preached defense and rebounding while not pushing the tempo)and repeatedly drafted undersized/athletic players who would fit best in a fast break offense.

[Jamaaliver]

Just aslong as we get an EXPERIENCED coach with a track record of success in the pros.

Lon Kruger, terry Stotts, Mike Woodson. I am SOOOOO tired of 1st time coaches overseeing the reclamation project that is the Atlanta Hawks. That is in large part why we've been so bad so long.

Inexperienced leadership.

My list
1-Dave Cowens
2-Avery Johnson
3-George Karl

Last year I wanted Rick Adelman or Stan Van Gundy. And they both had pretty terrific seasons with new teams.

How we passed on Stan the man Van Gundy is beyonnd me.

[Skyhawk1]

I do not know if I'd like any of these guys. G. Karl is a disaster IMO. I have the feeling he's lost his team a while ago. They play no defense and seem to be clueless about their role on the court. I'm really not sure about the Suns coach. We do not have the players he seems to like to work with, but honestly I do not think he's great at all. SVG is the coach you want to have if you want to slow the game down. His teams (and Carlisle's) are very good defensive. Our team doesn't fit that mold when you think our strengh is our athleticism, so we got to run. I do not know much about A. Johnson, but what's it that almost every good/great player turns out to be a disaster coaching ?

[JoshB914]

If you guys hate our slow offense now, then I don't see why you would want Carlisle?