"why do you think?"
by dkrib on Jan 8, 2010 6:07 PM EST
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PrintI recently read the link below in ajc and I would love to hear the comments of the bloggers here. Note the assumption is that Woody does not want to fail obviously so can you all answer the following questions,. To quote the author, Instead of asking folk to judge or criticize, lets challenge ourselves to think of why? Maybe that might improve our understanding of basketball.
Some more additional questions I would like us to look at are:
1. Why doesnt Woody not give Jeff teague more minutes?
The guys at hoopinionblog did an analysis. Based on prior year picks, only Mario Chalmers has been a mid first round point guard that started for his team.So it is an anomaly for a non lottery pick/point guard to play heavy minutes in his first year. When you add the fact that the Hawks are a winning team, that even makes it harder to justify. There is a reason Jeff was passed over by over 20 teams. I am guessing his flaws will probably take more than a year to fix.
2. Why does Woody not call more plays for Al Horford?
My guess is that unlike Joe and Jamal,Horford does not take tough shots. He usually plays within himself.This i think is part of his nature. So the reason he is one of the leaders in FG% is not only that he doesnt get enough touches. Maybe it is because he only takes shots that have a high % of going in, he only calls for the ball on offence where he has his man in an advantageous position or he passes the ball if he does not have a good shot. Should Woody tell him to be more agressive on offense? I dont think so. He is in his 3rd year and still working on his post moves so right now, it might be more advisable for him to play within himself and continue to improve.
3. Why does Woody switch on defense?
From the 2 to the 5th position, the hawks have players that are between 6ft7 and 6ft9. They all weight between 240 to 250 pounds. That is a very little variation. Why bother fighting through screens and risking missing assignments. You don't have to worry about going under screens and getting burnt. Usually switching happens at the top of th key and the worse case scenerio is Bibby in a mismatch with a big or Al with a pg. With Josh and Al good shot blockers and help defenders, the Hawks are not really at a disadvantage when they switch. Also, by switching all the defense.
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good......no great questions
Its like some are bent on living in the past instead of the now(woody) but players like al and Crawford refuse to let that happen. they come in and play with all heart and refuse to give up. Their attitude should reflect this team because the more they progress the better the record will be and hopefully woody will see it that way or sund will find someone who will see it that way.
by Hawksgirl on Jan 9, 2010 3:39 PM EST via mobile reply actions
ok....
1. Why doesnt Woody not give Jeff teague more minutes?
To your answer: I don’t believe Woodson looked that up and said “Oh, it is an anomaly for a non lottery pick/point guard to play heavy minutes in his first year, so I can’t play him situationally, I have to play him very sparingly.” I doubt he thought Teague was that flawed otherwise they would have drafted the center from Ohio State, the one a lot of analysis said who’s game reminded them of Chris Kaman. I don’t agree with playing Teague a lot of minutes just play him in situations where needed. Like driving to the basket on offense or playing defense on a speedy star point guard to make him give it up, play uptempo and push the ball up the court. Did we not see this at the beginning of the year when he played?
2. Why does Woody not call more plays for Al Horford?
I’m all for a player playing within himself to learn the game. And I would never say give to the guy with the highest FG percentage. But when you want to get the other teams bigs in foul trouble and get high percentage shots you want to get shots closer to the basket. I don’t think you made a good argument:
" Maybe it is because he only takes shots that have a high % of going in, he only calls for the ball on offence where he has his man in an advantageous position or he passes the ball if he does not have a good shot" Wouldn’t you want your player to do that? And wouldn’t you want to reward him by giving him the ball?
3. Why does Woody switch on defense?
I would have to say this argument makes sense to a point. It does not solve the dribble penetration problem and/or may leave smaller players to rebound.
Atlanta will win a championship....someday
1. For all the usual reasons. Woody doesn’t trust rookies. Teague is a raw talent that needs a lot of work to justify playing big minutes. Crawford is just a much better player than Teague. Teague doesn’t shoot well. Woody probably could find more minutes for Teague here and there, but this is one area where I think he has done a reasonable job. Teague is not the next Chris Paul and until he starts playing like that his minutes will necessarily be limited.
2. Because Woody is a bad coach who can’t come up with an offense more complicated than isolations. If the team played inside out more (whether Horford took more shots or just threw it back out if he didn’t have a good look), JJ, Bibby, Marvin, and Jamal would get better, higher percentage shots and the offense would be more efficient.
3. The similarity in physiques with Joe, Josh, and Marvin is plausible, but how do you explain switching Mike Bibby onto Lebron James, etc.? Again this is mostly just because Woody is a bad coach and anything more complicated than always switching goes over his head.
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