Can Mike Woodson coach freely in survival mode?
by hawksdawgs on Jan 4, 2010 12:58 PM EST
23 comments
I was glad when Mike Woodson was not offered an extension this summer. Not in a vindictive way. I want every person to have a job, to feel valued, and all that other mushy stuff. But Woody had made more money than I will probably see in my life so it was not a budget cuts on police officers situation. And the dude was lucky to still have his job. Our coach got a miraculously competitive seven game series loss that saved his job after the 2008 playoffs. That is a fact. Which means last season was not validation. It was the first round of success, not the second. Woodson again had one more year to prove. It means there were still unanswered questions for the long term. Can he coach consistency? Will the team team take the next step?
But what it also means is he has only ever had a playoff caliber team when he was also coaching for his job. That is a tough place to be for a coach who has improved the team (been a part of the improvement) each year he has coached. And while I am one who firmly believes the Joe show is detrimental to the team and the front court offers advantages night in and night out that Joe Johnson just does not give, I do have a very simple question.
If you were Woody and your team is off to the best start in decades, they have won with one strategy, and your job literally depends on it, who are you going to give the ball to? I know Al Horford and Josh are the in vogue choice on the blogosphere and the talk radio, but is that because our job does not depend on it? I don't mean to say I am resign to the Joe show. I think coaching needs some risk, needs some creativity. However, a nine shot fourth quarter by Al Horford and one shot one by Joe Johnson in a loss is going to get a lot louder criticism than a couple of blogs.
I don't know if Mike Woodson will ever change. I don't know if he would have coached more freely with a contract extension. Shoot, I don't know if 15 fourth quarter shots by the front court would elevate the Hawks to the third seed or down to the fifth. Truth is, none of us know. What I do know though is when you are coaching for your job, you are in survival mode, and the only form that has ever taken for any of us is Joe Johnson. Now that some of us think the team could survive further than Joe Johnson has ever taken us, we want to break out. But if you are the guy actually treading water in the middle of the ocean, it is hard to convince someone to switch directions and start swimming toward a new island.
No matter where you fall on this difficult what if, the Irony of it all is Mike Woodson thinks he deserves a contract extension largely thanks to Joe Johnson. Now Woody might not get one because of him.
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Woody feeling indebted
to Joe Johnson will be the end of him. He has to show he’s grown as a coach and continuing to employ the offense that was used several years ago out of necessity is not showing growth. If they continue down this path, they’ll both be gone at the end of this year. The one thing I really took from our chat with Rick Sund is he’s already written the story on Joe Johnson the player. He knows Joe is who he is at this point. He’s not going to get better, so basically if you invest in Joe you know exactly what you’re getting. Sund has a number, they offered it this summer, and it’s going to take some epic performances for Joe to move that number. He has not done so thus far. Joe might very well play himself out of Atlanta this season if there’s not significant improvement. I’m not sure what Sund will consider a successful season, but if there are obvious places where the team could have done better and the coach made no efforts to do so, that’s cause for firing and or letting walk in free agency.
At what point do you wise up?
How do you start the season off red hot playing one way and lose the last three doing the exact opposite? All jobs require some form of growth. Sund is going to be looking at things other than making the playoffs. He sees just like we do, media analysts talking about the predictability of our offense. Woody has been given ample opportunities to prove himself. How would his in-game adjustments measure up? Not well IMO.
by dstdeelite on Jan 4, 2010 12:07 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Either we’re right about using Al and Josh more or we’re not. If we’re right (and I’m sure we are), then Woody should be doing that to win the Hawks more games and cement his case for an extension or a contract with another club. That’s he not doing that is further evidence that he isn’t really all that good a coach. He’s been fortunate to take over a team that was at rock bottom and that has improved every year simply by adding more, better players.
Now that i am calmer :)
On another post over the weekend, i had stated that may be we should consider getting rid of Woody mid-year. Now that i am calmer, i think based on fact he has improved Hawks record every year, he deserves to be coach to end of this year. My bad.
I fear Woody will not coach differently though. What i was really depressed over weekend, was the fact as a defensive coach, he didn’t make adjustments to hot NY player soon enough on game on Sat (Robinson). As for his offense, he is making a mistake when only relying on JJ in crunch time as everyone else here sees. While NBA is a game where star players get the ball in their hand at crunch time, our star player is not the type of one on one player who can consistently deliver in crunch time. We do best when we spread the ball around. Doubt Josh has the moves to deliver in crunch time yet, and Horford is getting close but may still not be there. Our best chance is move the ball and get ball to free man. I sincerely doubt Woody will do that, he will sink or swim with JJ having ball in his hand. What worked in years past, because of Hawks youth, is not the right course of action now. Use your talent Woody please. Go Hawks
Woody is only a defensive coach in the sense that he actually has a (bad, one dimensional) defensive scheme (always switch) while completely lacking any coherent offense (unless you consider isos an offense).
I am also confused as to why he claims to be a "defensive" coach
but then he really only runs the same defensive “scheme” all the time. All the other teams know this and they run simple pick and rolls to get some of our worst defenders (Bibby et al.) on their dominant players (like Lebron et al.). Sometimes it works but like you said, the real problem is the “playcalling” on the offensive end. I am still annoyed that we don’t move the ball more with all the weapons we have. Every single one of our starting players (and a few of our bench players) are capable of scoring. I can complain all I want but I doubt it will do anything to change Woodson’s conservative coaching strategy. I just hope that we end this losing streak tonight!
I think we play way too much isolation all around
Joe’s the focal point because he’s the star and takes the heat if the shot doesn’t go down. Besides that obvious stuff, we got another road game tonight in which we’ll see if Mike Woodson heeded our advice.
Atlanta will win a championship....someday
not unless he comes ridiculously cheap,...
like for a future second round pick only. And then only if he’d be willing to come off the bench, which appears to be a problem.
We have great people on Hawks
Last thing we need is a has been player, that is going to demand minutes because he was a superstar. Noone know about the T man, how well he will play after his long absence, but the most important thing about the Hawks, is their chemistry. Not a bad apple in the lot. Let’s keep it that way and have the great team we have and build on it with hungry happy people
Well.....
Woody is coaching for his job, and hawksdawg made a valid point. When he is coaching for his job he seems to succeed. But sund may or may not see it that way…
As for the fourth quarter melt down(s)(plural), when they swing the ball their more likely to win. Either way the play goes down the ball is always in jjs hand whether he is shooting or not. They run it through him and I feel as captain he of course gets the luxury of shooting or passing but when he knows the double team is coming he should pass out early. Why doesnt his teammates clue in their captain? Or do they?…….
Joe is always gonna get his quiet 20 and 5 assists but to succeed, the swinging of the ball has to continue. JJ and the whole first unit plays better when they do that too. Teague gets more time when they do this as well…..
I agree.
I would also like to know what the team thinks about the ISO Joe offense. Most players on the team seem fairly unselfish so I wouldnt be surprised if they dont speak up. Now that we have a losing streak going here, maybe players will be more vocal. We shall see tonight…
what I'm actually trying to say is
Whether or not jj has the same relationship with his team as woody. does everyone let him do as he pleases?
by Hawksgirl on Jan 4, 2010 2:05 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Hahah! Yes,
I do miss Flip sometimes! Another thing about your post, I use this logic about Woody coaching for his job as reason for him not to trust Teauge. I actually do not blame him for that. If my job were on the line, I wouldn’t put my fate in the hands of an intern. That’s basically what Woody would be doing by playing Teauge. I don’t like that he won’t be developing this season, but I understand why Woody is reluctant to play him. I don’t think the same should apply to Joe though. He owes the rest of the guys on the team at least a fair shot to win. Letting Joe dribble the air out of the ball is not providing them that opportunity.
Actually....
What would be Woody’s incentive for coaching his butt off if he thinks that the team won’t win a championship? Maybe he thinks the only way to save his job is to get to the conference or nba finals.
Atlanta will win a championship....someday
I think the conference finals
should at least be the goal, or a hard fought 2nd round loss in game 7. Otherwise, the team hasn’t really improved so maybe they should shake things up a bit.
Better record and hard fought second round
If record is measure of a man, then he needs to win 50-55 games, and a better showing that 4-0 even against the mighty Cavs. That is his only salvation, but not sure if that is the best thing for the Hawks
I agree Paul
I don’t think Woody is going to change his coaching style unless he’s forced to which would mean Joe Johnson is either on another team or not available for some other reason. We’re YEARS into this process and he’s still coaching the same way. If he can’t reign in certain players by now, he’s never going to be able to do it.
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