CashMoney wrote:JamesKPolk wrote:I don't care who is favored to win, 2 straight years swept out of the playoffs is awful.And Larry Drew hasn't done any worse than Woodson...which shows you Woodson's caliber as coach.
MDA wasn't a good coach but YOU brought up the record. There was a reason why his record was bad. Many factors that you failed to acknowledge. YOU tried to use the record as the end-all-be-all to an argument and failed. Yeah, I'm sure your original post was not in defense of Woodson. Yet you've spent the subsequent posts defending Woodson with strawman arguments.
If D'Antoni had the same team now he'd have a similar record. Because right now we're using D'Antoni's system. So I guess D'Antoni's much-maligned system is good now, right? It's a joke. This system wont win anything and a bunch of flip floppers are in here ranting and raving every day about how people disrespect Woodson and the Knicks. Look in the mirror! You're hypocrites!
Woodson improved the Hawks every season that he was there and he is a damn good coach. Drew hasn't done any worse but the Hawks aren't any worse than when Joe Johnson was the franchise.
PERSPECTIVE. We were swept once. We lost to the Heat in 5 last year! Awful sure, but not as awful as missing the playoffs for 10 freakin years! We were also banged up both years!
Saying If MDA had the same team that Woody has now we'd have a similar record is the same as saying that Woody could do the same for the Lakers. In fact Woody had the same team that MDA had and went 18-6.
Woodson's regular season achievements are simply overstated.
Woodson's arrival coincided with additions of Joe Johnson(free agent), Josh Childress, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, Al Horford.....and while some of these players didn't leave up to their draft positions they were never bad players all Lottery Talent. I would hope your team improves from a Lottery vantage point especially if the team remains healthy for most of his tenure there.
Here's a couple reminder posts for the last time please Frame In The Family Dining Room...THANKS!
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You gotta love how things are perceived when changes are made. Woody "father figure"?
Well let's see what the temperament was when "father Woody figure" was replaced by Larry Drew
"Woody has been here six years and had basically been the only voice that many of these players had heard," the GM said at the time. "The shelf life for coaches and management in the NBA is short, particularly for coaches, maybe two or three years. In Woody's case, he has gone six. The compelling thought for me was maybe it's right for a change."Sund believes a new coach might be able to take the Hawks to even higher levels, though he acknowledged it was a risk to dump someone coming off a playoff appearance.
"Sometimes in professional sports, change is good -- not only for the individual, but for the organization," he said. "Hey, it was a tough decision any way you go. If it doesn't turn out, it's the wrong decision. If it turns out, maybe it was the right decision, I don't know."
The hiring of Drew will surely be popular with the players, and the Hawks may be hoping that keeping a familiar face on the sideline will help them re-sign Johnson and smooth the transition for the rest of the roster.
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The Hawks have decided to hire Larry Drew as their next head coach, people with knowledge of the decision said today.Drew was Atlanta’s lead assistant for six years under Mike Woodson, who was let go last month. Drew and the team are working out the details of a contract this evening and the official announcement of his hiring is expected on Saturday.
Drew, 52, emerged from a group of finalists that also included Avery Johnson, Dwane Casey and Mark Jackson. Once Johnson agreed to coach the Nets early in the week, that left Atlanta’s ownership group and GM Rick Sund to choose from among the other three candidates.
This will be Drew’s first head-coaching job after he’s been an NBA assistant for the the last 14 seasons. He worked for the Lakers, Wizards, Pistons and Nets before joining Woodson’s staff for the 2004-05 season. Drew played 714 games over 10 NBA seasons from 1980-91.
“He’s very experienced, just being around the game,” Hawks guard Jamal Crawford said. “He’s very knowledgeable. I think he is prepared for a lot of different situations.”
When Sund decided not to retain Woodson, he said the team needed “another voice” after the team lost in the second round of the playoffs the last two years. The Hawks apparently decided Drew will have a leadership style distinct from Woodson while also having the advantage of established relationships with players and familiarity with the team’s issues.
“He knows the faults of our teams,” Crawford said. “It’s not like we are a bad team. Now we can continue to build; we don’t have to start over.”
Drew inherits a team that won 53 games next season and, among its core players, has all but Joe Johnson under contract for next season. But he will face some challenges as the Hawks look to break through after getting swept in the second round of the playoffs in consecutive years.
Drew is popular among players but now his role changes from sometimes-confidant to the person in charge of their playing time and involvement in the offense. He also will have to reprimand players for their mistakes while trying to maintain relationships and team chemistry.
“Everything is going to be a first for him,” Crawford said. “But I think it will be a little bit easier transition because he knows our team. He doesn’t have to come in and learn the different personalities, what makes people tick and how to motivate them.”
When the Hawks let Woodson go, among the concerns expressed by players and management was what they considered Woodson’s differing levels of accountability. They said Woodson didn’t rebuke certain players as often as he did others, leading to some resentment in the locker room.
The Hawks also want to move away from an isolation-heavy offensive approach that was influenced by guard Joe Johnson’s playing style. Johnson is eligible to become a free agent next month, and the Hawks still want to re-sign him.
A person with knowledge of Johnson’s plans said he’s still open to returning. But the person said the new coach would have to sell Johnson on relying more on his teammates in the offense and ensure him that locker-room chemistry would improve.
