Atlanta Hawks: Former coach Bob Weiss returns as adviser
Hawks GM Danny Ferry’s efforts to move the franchise’s player development program forward will include a reach back to the team’s past.
Former Hawks coach Bob Weiss is set to join Larry Drew’s staff as a coach and consultant. Weiss will be heavily involved in developing players and will sit behind the bench during games.
Drew said he had considered hiring an assistant with previous head coaching experience when he got the Hawks job in the summer of 2010.
“Somebody who could really watch and look at the big picture of the team, be that birdie on my shoulder as far as suggestions and ideals and what he sees,” Drew said. “I started interviewing and compiling a list of guys. I met with Bob for a second interview and I thought he was the perfect guy from a consultant standpoint.
“He will be sitting behind the bench, looking at things and giving me ideas and giving me opinions about different things with the team as a whole. I’ve always admired him from afar–didn’t know him personally–but watched from afar, even he when played. He has a wealth of knowledge.”
Weiss coached the Hawks from 1990-91 to ‘92-93 and also was head coach for the Spurs, Clippers and Sonics. He most recently was a head coach in the Chinese Basketball Association.
Weiss’ hiring is one of a few Hawks staff moves announced today.
Kenny Atkinson has officially been hired as an assistant coach. He’s a former Knicks assistant who earned notice when Jeremy Lin credited him with helping his development.
“Kenny came highly recommended as a guy who not only had experience as an assistant but also phenomenal player development guy,” Drew said. “I did a lot of research on him talked to a lot of people. I interviewed him a couple times and thought he was a great candidate to be that third assistant coach and a player development guy.”
Assistant coaches Kenny Gattison and Tyrone Hill will not return.
“I thought Kenny Gattison and Tyrone Hill did a really good job but, like with anything else, you are always looking to enhance what you have and try to make a situation you feel can help the ball club,” Drew said. “I felt it was time for a change.”
The Hawks hired Jeff Watkinson as the strength and conditioning coach. Watkinson worked at Indiana University before leaving in 2010 to take a job as Eric Gordon’s “personal development basketball coach.” Watkinson replaces Chattin Hill, who was with the Hawks for seven seasons.
Former Hawks GM Rick Sund, who has remained on staff during Ferry’s transition, will take on a new role as a senior adviser to the basketball operations. Sund’s duties will include scouting and he will split time between Atlanta and his permanent home in the Seattle area.
“Rick has been helpful during the changes and I think it’s a good situation to still have him available as a sounding board,” Ferry said.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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516 comments Add your comment
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
September 2nd, 2012
2:40 am
FIRE LD
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
September 2nd, 2012
2:53 am
IF BIG IVAN AIN’T ON THE HAWKS ROSTER THIS YEAR I’M RETIRING AS A HAWKS FAN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrjjjT5p27o
Just Joe
September 2nd, 2012
7:40 am
Going back and looking at the 2010/11 season, only one 5-man unit including Josh, Al, and ZaZa was among our top-20 most effective. Those 3 plus Joe and Jamal was our 19th best lineup in terms of efficiency. Why would it work now if we substitute Teague and Harris for Joe and Jamal?
Slimjr
September 2nd, 2012
8:15 am
World Wide Clyde,this is what they [The Professional Sports Franchises] do in Atlanta..
155 combined seasons and just one lone Championship..
Thank you David Justice for being one the the best Clutch power hitters ever for the Braves..
BTW, the Fal-cons are 3-9 the [past three preseasons]. 4-10 against the winners the [past two seasons]! Hmmm. See a pattern? Hmmmm
They are pretenders for real…
If they lose another playoff game,[which is a good bet] Ryan and Coach Smith have got to go..No more excuses.
Hawks are going to be tested for sure in the 1st two weeks with 5 road games in the 1st 8 games..
5-3 would be awesome..
Slimjr
September 2nd, 2012
8:29 am
O’Brien, when your starting Center is avg less than 3 fouls per game in the regular season that can be interpreted as not doing a good job of defending the paint? Especially when teams are attacking the interior of the “D”.
BTW, w/o All NBA, the Hawks were ranked 6th in overall defense..
Slimjr
September 2nd, 2012
8:40 am
This guy struggles against people like Noah, Bass,D12, Gotat, D12, Herbert, Bynum, KG, Boozer, Gasol …
Yea Larry needs to continue to protect him as [Just Joe] alluded to a couple of days ago O’Brien.
Ken Strickland
September 2nd, 2012
9:04 am
SLIMJR-They were also without Bibby and Jamal, 2 one dimensional guards who were responsible for us having one of the NBAs most pourous perimeter DEFs. It’s just like Denver, who managed to improve defensively after getting rid of starting OC MCamby, who was voted the NBA DPOY after leading the NBA in rebounding and blocked shots.
They managed to improve defensively without Camby’s DEF presence because they plugged that big black hole in their perimeter DEF by replacing high scoring NO DEF AIverson with CBillups. We did the same thing by replacing Bibby and Jamal with Teague and Hinrich. You’d be surprised how easy it is to come up with these facts if you’d just do a little research and try to raise your basketball IQ.
BUDDY GRIZZARD-NOW THAT’S HOW TO CARVE A TURKEY! Usually, when you carve that turkey with facts, and hit the bone, he responds by attacking under different names. He usually posts stupid BS under the name of the person producing the facts. What’s really odd, and truely sick, is what he always says when he attacks while using the person’s name.
He almost always uses some vile sexual reference, like the last BUDDY GRIZZARD post above, or he call’s them gay. To him, that’s the worst possible insult, which means he’s likely had more than a few of the experiences he so often references, and is himself a closet gay that’s deep in denial. Self hatred combined with extreme self denial must be a bitch to deal with, so he lashes out.
Ken Strickland
September 2nd, 2012
9:21 am
I am soooo glad HORFORD HATERS are so obsessed with the idea of us needing to get rid of him. They deserve their unhappiness, dissatisfaction and/or misery. He’s definitely here to stay, which means their misery and unhappines will continue.
If by some miracle we end up signing DHoward or ABynum, I’m sure both players know which player, between Horford and Josh, would take the most pressure off of them. Teams definitely wouldn’t drop Horford’s defender off on Howard, because of his deadly efficient and accurate midrange jumper. But with Josh, they’d gladly drop a defender back and beg him to shoot until the air is out of the ball. DEFs have routinely done this since he 1st entered the league.
Sautee
September 2nd, 2012
10:44 am
T-s,
Perhaps willfully, you missed the point of my “ratio” post. You had tried to demean the A/TO stat because, as you said, Josh and D12 handled the ball more than Horford. Here’s your quote:
“Then you tried to act as if Marvin Horford handles the ball as much as Josh or D12 and he doesnt. D12 is tripled constantly, Josh is doubled and is the point forward on this team.” -T-s
To which I showed you that for that particular stat, volume did not matter. To which you said this:
“Ratio’s like A/TO are impacted by the number of controlled touches not by time. If I handle the ball a hundred times as opposed to 3 or 4 times that then has a significant Impact.” – T-s
Yeah, and that TOTALLY explains how CP3 had the second best A/TO ratio in the league. We ALL know that he gets very few touches, right?
Sorry, T-s, but you got this one wrong. A ratio is just a ratio. Quantity doesn’t change the ratio.
Sautee
September 2nd, 2012
10:54 am
“O’Brien, when your starting Center is avg less than 3 fouls per game in the regular season that can be interpreted as not doing a good job of defending the paint?” – slimjr
Bill Russell: career fouls: 2.7 / gm.
Hakeem Olajuwon: career fouls: 2.6 / gm.
Dikembe Mutombo: career fouls: 2.8 / gm.
Tim Duncan: career fouls: 2.5 / gm.
Do you get my point, or shall I list some more?
Slimjr
September 2nd, 2012
12:15 pm
And? ^^^^^^
Those four listed above were far better help defenders than AL..In fact the it’s no contest….
You know what you can do with those nimbers? Yes….
Slimjr
September 2nd, 2012
12:17 pm
Yes Larry keep protecting…Greyhound leaves on the hour…
Slimjr
September 2nd, 2012
12:21 pm
SLIMJR-They were also without Bibby and Jamal, 2 one dimensional guards who were responsible for us having one of the NBAs most pourous perimeter DEFs -Ken-
Agree, Bibby was absolutely atrocious on the perimeter. Glad to see him long gone..
Slimjr
September 2nd, 2012
12:58 pm
“It’s just like Denver, who managed to improve defensively after getting rid of starting OC MCamby, who was voted the NBA DPOY after leading the NBA in rebounding and blocked shots.
They managed to improve defensively without Camby’s DEF presence because they plugged that big black hole in their perimeter DEF by replacing high scoring NO DEF AIverson with CBillups”
Yes agree the Hawks did improve their perimeter defense with the addition of the Hinrich and starting Teague at the point.That does not take rocket science to figure out. In fact your point about what happened with Denver is solidified even further by me pointing out that the Hawks over-all defense improved to 6th best in the league without All NBA last season for two reasons..
Improved perimeter defense..
Improved [more physical play in the paint] with Zaza [foul prone] because of his physicality and Ivan for President!
Hmmmmm.
Thank you ..Your welcome..
Sautee
September 2nd, 2012
1:49 pm
slimjr,
So, obviously, you either didn’t GET my point, or you wanted to ignore it. You said:
“O’Brien, when your starting Center is avg less than 3 fouls per game in the regular season that can be interpreted as not doing a good job of defending the paint?” – slimjr
So tell me slim, does that not seem to indicate that you believe a starting center SHOULD have more fouls if they are doing a good job defending the paint?
Tell me just how I took that wrongly.
Also the fact that those rim defenders I listed are better help defenders than Horford is a moot point to this discussion. What was being discussed was whether or not rim defenders would have fewer or more than 3 fouls per game.
Ken Strickland
September 2nd, 2012
4:17 pm
If Ferry doesn’t do a trade and we have to go with what we now have, I think a starting lineup of Josh, Zaza, Horford, Harris and Teague, would be solid. A bench of Ivan, LWilliams, Korver, Morrow, Jenkins, Petro and JWilliams, or Benson, would be solid as well.
This would be a better team that last yrs. We wouldn’t have a bench full of injury prone, or over the hill players that are unable to play more than token mins, like Stackhouse, TMac, Dampier, and Collins. LWilliams, Korver and Morrow will most likely be far more productive than Pargo, Green, VRad, Stackhouse, and TMac combined. Petro should be more productive than Dampier and Collins.