OT: Acie Law out of shape and lack confidence

[Hawks]

http://www.mercurynews.com/sportsheadli ... ck_check=1

Yes it is still early. Some red flags on Acie should be going up. We can blame Woodson all we want. It is becoming very clear Acie just never had that it factor to him to begin with.

[HMFFL]

Reading about Acie blaming everyone else but himself over the years only shows his lack of maturity. I had high hopes for him, but he clearly had no dedication to the game, so we'll see if he can end up turning things around.

[killbuckner]

I still don't get why Woodson is blamed for Acie. What is a coach supposed to do if he gets handed a lottery pick that just isn't particularly good? Acie is going to have his 4th year TO declined just as Shelden had his 4th year TO declined. THese guys were simply not Woodson's fault.

[Master8492]

It said he's not in the best shape... I don't know if that means out of shape. But the one thing stands out is the lack of confidence. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why one of the most confidence players coming out of college lacks confidence in the NBA after couple of seasons. It will take some time for him to re-develop the instinct he once had. I hope Acie the best.

[SAUCERY_SWEET]

I was 1 of those guys that just couldn't understand why Woodson took most of the blame for a guy who obviously wasn't putting his all into the game. You should have been able to see it out on the court, except for a few flashes or 2, Acie always looked disinterested and timid out on the court. Missing bunny layups, turning the ball over carelessly and just a nonchalantness about his game that was a turn off. His shot need serious improvement also, i shudder to think that i actually felt better at times when Josh was loading up a 3 rather than Acie cause i truly believed that at least Josh actually really believed he was going to make it.

[evildallas]

I'm going to defend Woodson on the confidence thing as well. To paraphrase Katt Williams, "it's called self-confidence. How am I responsible for how you feel about you?" Woodson was fighting for his job, he shouldn't have had to coddle an 4 year college player.

I still lay the blame for this personnel foul-up on Billy Knight. 1st it was another example of his TV-based college scouting. He picked Shelden Williams because he'd seen all he needed to see on TV ignoring a flaw in his game that makes him unlikely to even remaining in the league (horrible hands). On Acie, he had the exposure of making big shots in a hot Big 12 season that featured Kevin Durant at a rival school. He ignored that Acie didn't do anything well enough to have an advantage at the NBA level. At least the TV scouting approach didn't fail on Al Horford. The other bad thing was that it was a really weak year for PG. With only Michael Conley Jr. going higher and only Rodney Stuckey and Aaron Brooks as other PG making impacts (those 2 didn't have much TV exposure at Eastern Washington and Oregon). If he had gone PG in an earlier draft he would have been able to draft BPA instead of reaching for Law to satisfy an aggravated fan base and doubting ownership that had enough of his ignoring the position.

Big minutes were being played by other young players. If Shelden and Acie had the talent and put forth the effort I think they would have gotten minutes or at the very least thrived once they left Atlanta. It just hasn't happened (yet).

[killbuckner]

For how much people criticize woodson he actually has done a good job out of getting production from his players compared to what other coaches have.

Bibby has been far better with the hawks than he was the past few years in Sacramento.
Joe Johnson is dramatically better than he was in Phoenix
Woodson actually squeezed decent minutes out of Shelden.
Zaza is far more productive than he ever was with the Bucks.
Al Harrington's value has dropped since leaving Atlanta
Flip was dramatically more productive than anyone thought he would be.

Diaw is the only player I can really think of that has been dramatically better under a different coach. But I'll chalk that more up to a brilliant move by D'Antoni rather than a blunder by Woodson. I don't recall anyone saying that Diaw should hvae been a center here.

The main criticisms of Woodson involve people think that Smith, Horford, and Marvin would be far better off under a different coach. But of course people thought the same things about Salim and Shelden- we will see how Acie does for the Warriors.

[JoshB914]

Man I wish we could dig up some of the old Acie Law posts. My favorite was a guy saying that Woody wouldn't be able to keep him off the court last year as he was about to show off his "all star ability." Hilarious.

[HoopsGuru25]

Bibby has been far better with the hawks than he was the past few years in Sacramento.

Not sure I agree with this.

Zaza is far more productive than he ever was with the Bucks.

Zaza has basically been same player since 2005. The biggest difference is that he started on two crap teams and got more minutes and that he had an awful year adjusting to coming off the bench in 2008.

Joe Johnson is dramatically better than he was in Phoenix

Agreed.

Woodson actually squeezed decent minutes out of Shelden.

Not any better or worse since he left the Hawks IMO.

Zaza is far more productive than he ever was with the Bucks.

It depends what you mean. Zaza had a bigger role his 1st two years with the Hawks...but he has still been the same player since 05. The difference is that he started two years on one of the 3-4 worst teams in the league and that he had a bad year adjusting to going to the bench in 08.

Al Harrington's value has dropped since leaving Atlanta

Same player. The difference is he's 3 years older.

I would say Flip is Woody's best example of getting the most out of a player. Flip made Crawford look like Steve Nash in terms of efficiency prior to playing for the Hawks. I also think that the team getting better every year is a good sign. I didn't buy into it when we were going from 13 to 30 wins or w/e....but 37 to 47 is a pretty huge improvement considering we didn't add a big time FA,didn't have a draft pick,didn't make a trade,and we had significantly more injuries in the front court than the year before.

[Luffy]

Simply put, Acie Law is one of those players that will never pan out or live up to their potential. Good job in trading him in a deal for Crawford.