Atlanta Hawks: Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson on Hawks
Jackson and Van Gundy offered their takes on the Hawks.
Got on a conference call today with ESPN NBA analysts Jeff Van Gundy (who of course is the brother of Magic coach Stan Van Gundy) and Mark Jackson (who of course was a candidate to succeed Woody).
Asked both analysts if it is realistic for L.D. to mold this group into a championship-caliber defensive team. Here are their answers. . .
Van Gundy:
“Somebody has got to tell me what Mike Woodson did so wrong, No. 1. He took over a team that won [13] games, and he kept winning more and more and more. Sometimes you just get beat by better teams. Orlando swept them–and you can say the blowouts [were a problem]–but Orlando is a better team. That’s just how it is. If they fired coaches that got beat by better teams, a lot of guys would be fired.
“I watched the exhibition game last night with Orlando, and it looks like they are trying to install some Princeton-type of movement offense. Defense is really coach-based. It is influenced by personnel, but it’s more [about] what you believe in. Offense is a matter of going to your best strengths. To me, it remains to be seen if they can play well on the move. A lot of people said they isolated too much and it put pressure on Joe Johnson. It will be interesting to see when Teague gets back what he can give them offensively and if Jamal Crawford can repeat what he did.
“There will be limits to their team defense. They are a small, small, team. They are small at the point, small at center and small at power forward. I think they have overachieved dramatically.”
Jackson:
“They should be a playoffs basketball team, anything short of that disappointing when you look at what they’ve done the past few years. . . . As for getting better on defense, you certainly can do that if you have the mindset and across the board there is accountability and you are preaching and teaching it all the time. It certainly can be better. The schemes take away what the other team does effectively and you have the principles you go by as a team and you execute those principles. It will be interesting to see if they have the mindset and are willing to do that.”
MC
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192 comments Add your comment
darrell starks
October 19th, 2010
5:54 pm
Woody is not a good head coach, but assistant maybe.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!
darrell starks
October 19th, 2010
5:59 pm
The only owner in ATL who want’s a championship and would do anything for 1 is ARTHUR BLANK.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!
cp
October 19th, 2010
6:13 pm
Didn’t really say anything groundbreaking. Hopefully they play a lot harder Thursday than they did last night. I didn’t like the effort by a few of the guys. They were just going through the motions.
Hawkfan2000
October 19th, 2010
6:23 pm
First of all guys it’s Preseason. Second Lester Conner is known league wide as a fantastic defensive coach. The Head Coach doesn’t have to personally teach every concept of the game. But he has to have a very capable coaching staff and i think LD has done a great job of selecting his staff. Just like 96 or 97 when they overacted to us losing to the Knicks. They did it again…No matter what some of you guys think WOODY did not deserve to get fired. Management needs to learn to take the fall for their mistakes..Who knows if the problems with ownership were resolved then who knows what players we would have been able to acquire.
ILL-Logical
October 19th, 2010
6:28 pm
The ASG’s new mantra is: the beatings will continue until morale improves!
Hawk n the Ham
October 19th, 2010
6:38 pm
Can anyone get the practice live stream to work?
niremetal
October 19th, 2010
6:44 pm
Jeff Van Gundy told Shane Battier to focus more on offense and Mark Jackson said that winning in the playoffs is “not about getting stops. It’s about doing your job.” Wake me up when you get a comment from Hubie, Fratello, or Snow…
truthspitter
October 19th, 2010
6:45 pm
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=3×2n82j
Bibby
Williams
Zaza
Possibly a 1st round pick and 2nd rd pick
for
Gilbert Arenas
Javal McGee
Why they do this to get rid of Arenas contract which is longterm. Unfortunately that’s the same reason why the Hawks would not do it.
New lineup
Teague/Crawford/Jordan
Arenas/Crawford/Jordan
Joe/Smoove/Evans
Horford/Smoove/Powell
McGee/Horford/Collins/Thomas
Good news we are a better team. Bad news we go into 2011-12 offseason with like $66 million in payroll after resigning Al with only 7 players under contract. We will need to sign 6 players with $4 million or so to stay under luxury.
Hawk n the Ham
October 19th, 2010
6:45 pm
Oh wait……nevermind. I was cONFuSEd!!
Mike10
October 19th, 2010
6:48 pm
I agree with Van Gundy 100% I don’t care what people thought about Woody he definitely improved this team and now you start over with a new coach your not going to start where you left off I think the Hawks are going to struggle big time but make the playoff as the 6-8 seed.Orlando was the best team and it showed you can’t Blame Woody the Hawks need better personnel to me you blame ownership.
Mz. Hawkdafied
October 19th, 2010
6:49 pm
Extend, trade, or cut?
http://allball.blogs.nba.com/2010/10/18/extend-trade-or-cut-young-centers-edition/?ls=iref:nbahpt1
drmaryb (*_*)
October 19th, 2010
6:56 pm
I would do that Gilbert Arenas trade in a heartbeat!
He is a googy guy, he is not a Thug! Just made some silly choices.
He would fit perfect in Atlanta.
Why not try to get Melo in here?
Nobody on this team should be untouchable.
Twin was impressive to me last night. Why not start him at
Center with Zsa as his Back up. Let Josh and Al rotate the PF and battle for who starts or base it on match ups. Start playing a Bigger team out there.
Sund should be working feverishly to help this team look like a solid and normal line up!
Mz. Hawkdafied
October 19th, 2010
7:03 pm
Cause For Concern???!!!
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2010/10/19/cause-for-concern/
:-/
Orlando sure does know how to make a Hawks fan cry.
Total domination and annihilation. I respect their game but I’m starting to hate them more than I hate the Boston Celtics.
Najeh Davenpoop
October 19th, 2010
7:24 pm
“Woody also got fired because he seemed to make no adjustments whatsoever.”
Yeah, I was just tired of running down the laundry list of reasons that we have all talked about all year.
Najeh Davenpoop
October 19th, 2010
7:26 pm
“The thing about the NBA that I don’t like is its too hard to rebuild. It seems like there are only 3 or 4 legit teams to win the whole thing every year. It’s not like that in football, baseball, or even hockey. The Hawks were terrible for a decade and now it looks like they have maxed out as far as how far they can go in the playoffs to the second round. It just sucks. If you don’t get a Kobe Bryant in the draft forget about actually competing for a NBA title.”
This is very true. Baseball gets criticized for not having parity, but it is possible to build a team of many good but not great players in baseball and win a title. In basketball, if you don’t have a superstar, it is damn near impossible, and if you don’t luck out into a lottery pick in a year when a franchise player is available, the chances of landing one is slim to none.
northcyde
October 19th, 2010
7:30 pm
Some of you still don’t get it.
Van Gundy and Jackson were right on the money. And keep in mind, they’re talking about the Hawks in the form of a championship caliber team. They both know that we should definitely be a playoff team. But we don’t have the elements that other championship contending teams have.
Not only are Smoove and Horford an undersized PF and C, they don’t play strong AND big all the time. And when you’re a 6-9 PF and a 6-10 C, you better play bigger than your size. If you can’t, the talented bigs in this league will eat you alive.
LOL @ someone saying Detroit was small when they won the title.
- Billups ( 6-3 ) . . and one of the strongest PGs in the league, could defend both the point and the 2
- Hamilton ( 6-7 ) . . best conditioned player in league, would tire his opponent out by constantly running.
- Prince ( 6-9 ) . . great man defender and better help defender, could guard 3 positions if need be
- R. Wallace ( 6-11 ) . . great man defender and decent shot blocker
- B. Wallace ( 6-9 ) . . 2nd strongest player in league, great man defender, help defender, dominant defensive rebounder and shot blocker
Then you had McDyess ( 6-11 ) and a very good defensive backup PG in Lindsey Hunter ( 6-1 ) who wouldn’t cause the Detroit defense to lose a beat.
People should NEVER compare the Hawks to that Pistons team, just because they didn’t have a bonafide offensive superstar.
No . . . what they had, were 4 DEFENSIVE superstars, with 3 or 4 other guys who could play good defense as well.
The Hawks have nothing close to that here, nor do we have enough offensive superstars.
NorcalHawk
October 19th, 2010
7:39 pm
This has the makings for a very dull NBA season: Heat, Magic, and Lakers vying for the title while everyone else fights for the crumbs. LD is a nice guy who faces an impossible task: matching last year’s successes with an older and less inspired bunch.
Hmmm
October 19th, 2010
7:55 pm
McDyess, Did not win a title with Detriot. He came the year after.
Grandad
October 19th, 2010
7:55 pm
Woodson is gone and Van Gundy was out of line to answer MC’s
question with that response. It had nothing to do with the
question and it was very self serving.
Now can we all agree, it’s LD’s team until it’s not.
We need to upgrade [size].
I both agree and disagree at the same time with ol’ Van Gundy.
We -are- small up front. But, Orl has Jameer Nelson + Duhon
and nothing was mentioned about the size of the magic pg’s.
In the meanwhile LD’s workin’ hard and workin’ smart.
What more can we ask.
Now Sund needs to roll up his sleeves and go to work.
Vacation times over.
dstdeelite
October 19th, 2010
7:59 pm
Hubie called a spade a spade.
Quote of the night: “He blew by him like he wasn’t standing there. Damn near got pneumonia.”
LMAO!!
Sautee
October 19th, 2010
8:17 pm
Ramon,
Ok, I went back and found your “approved” definitions of “stated”.
Here’s what you posted:
“Sautee, state also means – to say-. Don’t just post one definition when a word has over 15 definitions.”
Then you posted this:
“Or what about 19. definition for state (as defined by dictionary.reference.com) 19. to articulate in words; utter …”
Ramon, here again is your original post that I disagreed with:
September 28th, 2010
5:27 pm
“Section 303, is Al whining when he states (over and over) that he can’t win without playing the PF position, when he knows he’s not the best PF on the team? Is that doing what’s best for the team?”
OK, Ramon, according to your post AND your definitions of “state” Al either SAID (your first definition) “that he can’t win without playing the PF position”
or he “articulated in words” or “uttered” “that he can’t win without playing the PF position”.
This is BS because Al NEVER SAID, ARTICULATED IN WORDS, OR UTTERED that phrase.
The link you provided was to a blog of MC’s from the off season and NOWHERE in that blog does Al say what you claim.
Ramon, it’s as easy as saying “yeah, that’s my take on what he meant”. I have NO problem with you THINKING that about Horford, only with you claiming that he “stated” those things, when he clearly did not.
So how about a mea culpa?
Will
October 19th, 2010
8:17 pm
The hawks have looked really bad this preseason, they need a good point guard that is very vocal out on the court.
northcyde
October 19th, 2010
8:20 pm
Hmmmm . . you’re right. It was 6-11 Elden Campbell and 7ft Meme Okur who were on that team.
6 years later, Okur is still one of the best defensive centers in the league, mainly because he plays great position defense.
Like drmaryb says . . . size matters.
And not only that, the size has to be of quality. Just can’t throw a useless big man out there, and say you have size.
Hmmm
October 19th, 2010
8:24 pm
northcye, I agree and i’m tierd of this. We have to find a way to get our hands on a decent center immedately.
Hmmm
October 19th, 2010
8:24 pm
northcye, I agree and i’m tierd of this. We have to find a way to get our hands on a decent center immedately.
Hmmm
October 19th, 2010
8:24 pm
Oops lol
Hmmm
October 19th, 2010
8:26 pm
LMBO @ Sautee
KevinM
October 19th, 2010
8:28 pm
You know the offense will be a work in progress all year. We could easily drop to under 15 in the league in offense.
If that happens, the defense has to be smothering and so imposing on the interior, no one would want to drive to the basket.
- Problem is, no fear of Al and Josh
- Problem is, no perimeter defense…..Joe could not stop Carter last night, and picks and screens will have Jordan Crawford scrambling around late every time.
Its about Lester Conner and his defensive schemes as much as it is about the new passing offense.
Losses from last year according to NBA TV: Joe Smith, Josh Childress, Coach Woodson……really?
We lost nothing off this roster, and that is the real problem here, because Sund thinks we have enough to compete.
Those empty seats last night? Get used to it with that effort they put together last night.
What I saw was so much chummy chummy with Dwight and the rest of the Magic. The Hawks look like little brother in this division.
Will they show up against Miami? They will have to run to have a chance because this 1/2 court stuff looks like a bunch of long jumpers to me.
The most boring GM in the game: Rick Sund……keep the core, move the malcontents.
Sautee
October 19th, 2010
8:32 pm
KevinM,
No fear of Josh? Which games were you watching?
Dude changes shots every time he steps on the court. Ask Boston.
KevinM
October 19th, 2010
8:32 pm
“Will
October 19th, 2010
8:17 pm
The hawks have looked really bad this preseason, they need a good point guard that is very vocal out on the court.”
Based on what has happened so far, Teague is going to have to be the savior for this team to compete. He has to be our Rondo on both ends.
ryan
October 19th, 2010
8:39 pm
ASG is finished Rick Sund should be fired we need to find some way to fire everyone in this crap origination can’t there be some type of petition to throw the bums out .
newkid
October 19th, 2010
8:40 pm
If Van Gundy is correct, and Sund/ASG don’t (or can’t) make a series of moves, could it be Sund/ASG headed for deep lottery (like 3-7) in ‘11? Chumps of the first order.
northcyde
October 19th, 2010
8:42 pm
@ Grandad . . . it’s because Nelson and Duhon don’t play down to their size. They both play like bigger PGs, especially defensively.
If Bibby didn’t play so weak, he wouldn’t be viewed as “small”. And Teague, while 6-2, is a slight 6-2 . . . not rock solid like a Derek Fisher.
When a team plays small, they’ll be viewed as small.
Even JJ at 6-7 plays small at times.
When this teams decides to not hold their mouths and cry, everytime they get hit in it, they won’t be viewed as “small” anymore.
tidog
October 19th, 2010
8:47 pm
Hawks always get props for their length and being athletic. The may be light in the arse but they aren’t small. I’ll sell VanGundy analysis.
kwooden1
October 19th, 2010
9:00 pm
Did anyone see the open practice tonight?
MsDee
October 19th, 2010
9:23 pm
kwooden1,
The way the Hawks have played thus far, I dont think the players thought it was an OPEN PRACTICE today cause it may have turned out that the only ones in the gym were them and the coaches.
They really have to get it together with the defense or they will continue to be embarrass by the NBA world and their fans…all I ask for is show that u care to win by not letting your opponent walk/drive all over yall, ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!
Hawks Fan In New Orleans
October 19th, 2010
9:26 pm
Thanks northcyde for bringing the facts through the tale of the tape. We don’t and never have measured up to the 04 Pistons-period
Until Rund man’s up and the ASKG pony up the funds, The Hawks will never rise up to elite status-period
Until Drew starts benching starters and holding them accountable for playing “small” and being soft punks, our defense will be weak as one ply toilet paper.
i_am_soulstar
October 19th, 2010
9:28 pm
Van Gundy basically says “The Hawks need more adequate players at their positions.”
Although Josh doesn’t seem to have a problem with too many power forwards in the league IMO.
The Truth
October 19th, 2010
9:32 pm
Another observation I notice while I watch at Phillips, was the lack of free throw attempts by the Hawks. This team has no attack dog mentality when trying to get the line to overcome struggling perimeter shooting. Listening to LD press conference, he overly stated the team inability to make open jumpers something they routinely do. Josh Smith seems also surprise they weren’t able to hit the open shots but no mentioning from either about the lack of free throw attempts. Again this validates the Hawks is just a jumping team. The best way to counter and slow down an extremely aggressive Orlando defense is to attack the rim and draw fouls. It was though they were ultra-worried about D Howard shot blocking ability, they were afraid to challenge him. As usual the Hawks settled for jumpers and when struggling on the perimeter also explains the loss. Hopefully Teague can add this new wrinkle.
The Truth
October 19th, 2010
9:33 pm
* a jump shooting team
Hmmm
October 19th, 2010
9:42 pm
Apparently Hubie Brown had an interview with 680 the fan about the hawks recently? Does anyone have link to this?
Hmmm
October 19th, 2010
9:47 pm
I couldnt find it on their site
True hawk fan
October 19th, 2010
9:54 pm
I love the hawks but the truth is going to hurt us! By getting rid of Woody was a big mistake. It’s already showing in the preseason! WE BE LUCKY IF MADE THE PLAYOFF!!!! There is to much competition in the conference!!! Our record will show…. just wait and see! (40-42 *2010-2011)
O'Brien
October 19th, 2010
10:07 pm
Hmmm,
The interview was right after the magic blowout series in the playoffs, so it was a while back. He had some good insights though, about how coaching can affect t playoff performances.
And although his playoff resuis not so good, I thought he made some interesting points.
Sautee,
You are not going to get the admission from Ramon. Although all he has is al saying for the hawks to be any kind of contender, they need more size, and him and Josh need help.
I don’t recall al saying “for the hawks to win, he has to play PF”. The closest thing might be al saying they need more size, and he wants to play more minutes at PF.
I have yet to see Ramon post a link that quotes al saying exactly what ramon said.
Joe's place Joe speaking
October 19th, 2010
10:13 pm
MC or anyone who can answer,
I know this is kind of random and off subject but… Does anybody know what colleges were recruiting Josh Smith out of high school? Or what college he would have gone to?
Melvin
October 19th, 2010
10:21 pm
For those who are worried about preseason play, Smoove said not too. Smoove posted this on his blog today.
“What’s going on? I know alot of you have been checking out the pre-season games getting a little nervous but trust me its no need to worry. We will be fine. For the most part we haven’t had the whole team play together yet and the times that we did the rotation is not what it would be in the regular season so don’t read alot into it. It seems that everybody had these little nagging injuries thats getting worked out. This Thursday we will be playing on TNT against another division opponent, the Miami Heat. I know everybody is waiting to see what they look like up close. Also, if anybody is free today we have an open practice at 6pm at Milton High School. I’m about to get into the gym early and work with my trainer. I’ll talk to you’ll later…….SMOOVE “
Dejay
October 19th, 2010
10:32 pm
As I stated before, if folks thought that Woodson was the singular problem with this team, they’re going to be in for a rude awakening. Not that I don’t have faith in Drew but the problem within this organization runs wayyyyyyyyyyy deeper than that…
“The thing about the NBA that I don’t like is its too hard to rebuild. It seems like there are only 3 or 4 legit teams to win the whole thing every year. It’s not like that in football, baseball, or even hockey. The Hawks were terrible for a decade and now it looks like they have maxed out as far as how far they can go in the playoffs to the second round. It just sucks. If you don’t get a Kobe Bryant in the draft forget about actually competing for a NBA title.”
That quote pretty much tells the story, folks. In order to win big in this league, you have to have a superstar player, a competent front office who can surround said superstar with talent, and ownership willing to spend $$$ to acquire/keep that talent and add to the mix when necessary. The Hawks fit neither requiem, which explains the empties in the stands unless a premier player or team is in town or there’s a helluva giveaway taking place that evening. Folks in this town are many things but lemmings they are not.
Even when they had the chance to draft players who could’ve made all the difference in the world, incompetence in the front office cost them dearly (see Paul, Christopher). If guys like Roy, Paul, Deng, et al had been here instead of waiting on Speedy Claxton to one day show up to courtside in something other than an Armani suit, would we even be having this conversation right now?
This franchise is on a downward slope and I really don’t see much in the way to stop it. You have a GM who is trying to drive a car with both hands tied behind his back by an ownership group who spends less $$$ than Charles Barkley does after a weekend bender at Harrah’s.
45-37, 6th seed in the East. God help them if they draw Orlando in the first round.
Hope I’m wrong…
Grandad
October 19th, 2010
10:49 pm
Sautee
“I’m sorry” and I haven’t ever pissed you off,
that I know of,
yet,
and after seeing your inner Dawg,
I hope I don’t ever piss you off.
Your like a dadgum pit-bull,
latch on and you ain’t gonna let go.
So,
like I said,
I’m gonna go ahead and tell you I’m sorry,
just in case.
Peace, brother.
Section 303
October 19th, 2010
10:52 pm
Guys, off topic here, but have any of you watched the ESPN 30-for-30 called Once Brothers? It’s about Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovich, and how their friendship was lost in the Serbia/Croatia war. It was outstanding. Might be the best 30-for-30 yet. Finally got around to watching it tonight, via DVR.
Good hoops memories in there, too. Good footage of when the two played in the league. Including a game I remember watching when I was in high school when the Boston Celtics played against the Yugoslavia National Team and barely one. Yugo team had Vlade, Drazen, Dino Radja, Tony Kukoc…great team.
Melvin
October 19th, 2010
10:53 pm
Joe’s place Joe speaking,
I think Josh committed to play at Indiana out of HS.