Hawks should look at Larry Drew for coaching job
Larry Drew, an assistant under Mike Woodson, has the advantage of already knowing the Hawks problems.
I’ve made it a practice to never prejudge a coach. Too many “obscure” hires have gone on to be great successes. Too many “name” hires have gone on to fall on their face.
Some people thought the Falcons were visionaries for hiring Bobby Petrino and Georgia was desperate for hiring Mark Fox. Oops.
So it follows that it would be silly to prejudge the Hawks’ next coach. However — you knew this was coming, didn’t you? — it occurred to me that given the likely parameters of general manager Rick Sund’s coaching search, a top candidate might be right under their noses: Hawks assistant coach Larry Drew.
Follow me through some of these names:
♦ Avery Johnson: How do you knock this guy? He had a .735 winning percentage at Dallas. He reached the
Loading ...NBA finals in his second season, losing to Miami with Dwyane Wade, a rejuvenated Shaquille O’Neal and a pretty fare postseason coach in Pat Riley. The fact he played point guard can only help the development of Jeff Teague. For all the criticism of quick playoff exits the last two years, have you seen what Rick Carlisle has done with that Mavericks since Johnson was fired? Nothing. All that said, do I think Johnson is headed to Atlanta? No. If the Hawks can close a deal with him, it’s because the Atlanta Spirit is willing to pay more for a coach than we believe, or Johnson is willing to accept less than we think.
♦ Tyrone Corbin: The former Hawk is an assistant coach for Utah’s Jerry Sloan, one of the great and under-appreciated coaches in NBA history. That’s good enough for me. Corbin is thought of highly
Loading ...enough that he’s considered Sloan’s heir apparent. He also has been mentioned for openings in Chicago and New Orleans. Pretty strong comments from Jazz guard Wesley Matthews in the Salt LakeTribune: “He’ll be a great head coach some day.” Why? “His passion for the game, and he’s tough. But he understands everything, too. And he’s going to make you better. That’s what you want from your coach.”
♦ Dwane Casey: Some perceive him as the leading candidate. Not really sure why. Hiring a coach who went 53-69 in a season and a half and was fired by the Timberwolves probably wouldn’t stir the masses. Maybe he’s a good young coach. Maybe he got a raw deal in Minnesota. I’m just saying there’s really not much to go on. But Sund knows Casey from their Seattle days so that counts for something.
♦ Larry Drew: He is a bright guy, well-liked and respected by the players. Is he a risk? Absolutely. Most assistant coaches are a risk because they’ve never been a head coach before. But here’s the advantage Drew has over other “risk” picks: He has been here. He knows the locker room. He knows the idiosyncrasies of Josh Smith, Joe Johnson (if he’s back), Mike Bibby and others. He knows the potential of Teague. Sund says he wants a new voice. The fact Drew has been Mike Woodson’s assistant doesn’t mean he’s the same voice as Woodson. Familiarity could work in his favor, not against him. He knows why defensive effort was inconsistent and the offense often fizzled in the fourth quarter.
The feeling out process for an assistant coach from the outside could be long. Only a proven outsider like Avery probably could command immediate respect in the locker room. Otherwise, there will be a feeling out process. That won’t exist with Drew. He’s worth a look. A long look.
♦
Earlier posts
Is it ‘hot seat’ time already for Mark Richt at Georgia?
Georgia Tech, ACC content to watch expansion for now
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117 comments Add your comment
shawn
May 19th, 2010
6:51 pm
Jeff,
Are you kidding me? Larry who? Please no recycling.. go get a bright coach with some creativity and please no more of woodson ashes.
Bishop
May 19th, 2010
10:52 pm
I think Jeff is on to something. If anyone has studied Woody’s sideline they would know that Drew brings a fresh perspective that Woody benefited from (when he would listen) and that the players respond to. I think Drew would be a great hire! Go Hawks!
True
May 20th, 2010
12:30 am
Shultz sure seems like you been talking to Drew. You are to high on him, you sounds like a commercial rying to sell a product
MsDee
May 20th, 2010
1:09 am
Most people dont realize that Larry Drew may not be a bad idea to replace Woodson..
First of all, Larry saw enough bad in Woody to not make the same mistakes. You CAN learn from a fool. Not say-ing Wood-son is a fool and all but I’m just sayin………
I believe Larry stopped putting his 2 cents in because he knew Woodson would ignore sound advice.
Not sure if you guys noticed it but b4 Billy Knight tried to fired Woodson, it seemed like Larry Drew was being more like an assistant coach, you know like pulling your head coach back from getting technicals, or being just as involved in conversations with your head coach during time-outs, or like showing just as much passion as if your were the head coach. Seem like when Woodson didnt get fired and Larry couldnt leave from his contract, he stopped being THAT assistant coach that I just spoke of. I hear people saying ‘why hire someone who the players obvious didnt listen to either’..well maybe b/c Woodson wouldnt allow him to coach the players. Woodson is stubborn like that so Larry stopped giving Woodson anymore sound advise since he knew he wasnt going to listen anyway. I believe Larry just sat back and allowed Woodson to dig himself into a bigger hole just so he would look bad enough to get fired or in this case, get no extention. I truely believe that was what Larry was doing and the team eventually stop playing for him.
So I say all that to say, Larry should get the same attention these other “assistant coaches” are getting. Now if you can land a big time head coach like Avery, then sure, hire him..but if you are going to just hire another assistant, that coach should be Larry!!
Fredi Gonzalez should top Braves' list to replace Cox | braves.baseball-news-update.com
May 20th, 2010
10:27 am
[...] Hawks should look at Larry Drew for coaching job [...]
Bishop
May 20th, 2010
12:14 pm
Amen MsDee! Amen!
Feudfinder
May 20th, 2010
12:46 pm
I like people like MsDee, Bishop, and all the good-thinking people who refuse to let emotion or hatred get in the way of their thinking. Larry Drew doesn’t necessarily have to be the next coach, but he should be looked at. That is a fair game.
cdog
May 20th, 2010
1:08 pm
the hawks need to stop playing ames and go ahead and give the job t avery johnson, point blank
Ken Strickland
May 20th, 2010
1:11 pm
Before anyone dismisses LDrew as a viable option just because he was a Woodson assistant, consider this. I don’t think he’s anything like Woodson, nor did he accept his style or appoach to coaching or dealing with players. Very often assistants like LDrew are the ones who manage to hold things together and smoove over issues often created by HC’s that utilize Woodson’s style and approach.
How many of you remember when LDrew and one or 2 other assistants, wanted to interview for job openings and Woodson wouldn’t grant teams permission to interview them? For all we know, LDrew, or one of our other assistant coaches, had the answer or solution to our problems, but it was up to Woodson whether to accept their input.
Keep in mind, any voice they hear from this point on will be different, even from one of Woodson’s assistant coaches, because they definitely heard only one voice or opinion during Woodson’s tenure with the Hawks, and that was his. I know from experience why players sometimes tune their HC out.
When I was in high school, I had a HC that didn’t know much about basketball, and he had one assistant, who always talk privately with us and kept us focused. We really like him and enjoyed talking with him, but we assumed he didn’t know anymore about basketball than our HC, since he went along with whatever he said or did.
Well, our HC retired and intergration took place. The city closed our high school and combined it with the White high school. Well, that assistant coach ended up successfully suing the school system to become the head basketball coach, since he had seniority over every other candidate. He’s now retired, but that same assistant coach, that we assumed didn’t know anymore about coaching basketball than our former high school head coach, managed to take his teams to 10 city championships and state appearances, as well as a state title.
MsDee
May 21st, 2010
2:01 am
Thx Bishop, Feudfinder, and Ken Strickland for realizing too that Larry should be at least considered as well..It must feel like a slap-in-the-face to Larry to see all these other assistants getting all this recognition and he isn’t..wow!!
Scott
May 21st, 2010
9:45 am
I just hope that Rick Sund isn’t just looking at his “friends” that he has worked with before to hire as our next coach.
The Hawks are very close to getting over the hump, the next coach could possibly get us there, PLEASE take your time and choose the best and most experienced coach available.
PS: LET’S SIGN CHRIS BOSH !!!
j
May 21st, 2010
3:32 pm
I hear the hawks are having a second interview with Avery Johnson today at an undisclosed location. thats interesting news, no?
blonju
May 21st, 2010
8:56 pm
woody sucked, but we might as well have kept him with this list of characters……… geeeeeeeeeeeeez….. avery johson is fools’ gold to anyone who knows basketball – he will lose the teams’ respect by january for being overdemanding and inflexible with this still “YOUNG” players…. mayyyyyybe ty corbin because he’s been under jerry sloan for serveral seasons…. might as well hire mike fratello or doug collins *oh wait, philly just did that*…. i’d take a senile hubie brown over all these fools…. candidates we should be looking at: tom thibodeau, jeff van gundy, mark jackson, or how bout the original john thompson? greg anthony? perhaps even vinny del negro is better suited to withstand an 82 game season and maintain a team’s respect (he was fired by a punk ass GM, aka john paxson, who thought he was the coach for minute – i wouldn’t be suprised to see pax hire himself as coach and by worse than vinny)
getting creative with inexperienced coaches is one thing, but dwayne casey, larry drew?????? that is not creative…
AVERY SUXXXXXXX – there’s a reason dallas lost in the first round after having the best record in the league that year… same reason as woody/hawks or mike brown/cavs this year… these guys are not COACHES!!! they are pawns in ownership schemes.. gimme a guy like DOC RIVERS or NATE MCMILLAN or JERRY SLOAN… some one who can coach, manage people, and maintain a respect for the game and his team while garnering (and not losing) that same respect from his players.
Ken Strickland
May 22nd, 2010
11:37 am
SCOTT-excellent point, because it certainly appears to be leaning that way to some extent. Have you noticed that there hasn’t been a single response uttered by a single Hawks player, or a single question posed to a single Hawks player concerning Mike Woodson’s dismissal. It appears that the players weren’t the only ones that decided they’d had enough of MWoodson and decided to tune him out. We can add ownership and GM RSund to that mix.
It’s revealing how the ASG turned on former GM BKnight and let him go after he so dramatically stood by them in their legal fight with SBelkin. Now they’ve taken the same approach with MWoodson, after once staunchly standing by him in his dispute with former GM BKnight. It’s like the old saying, WHAT COMES AROUND GOES AROUND.
Hawks wouldn't speak to Avery Johnson if it wasn't serious | Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2010
12:24 pm
[...] 5. Repeating what I wrote a week ago: Don’t discount Hawks assistant coach Larry Drew. Hawks players have high admiration for him and don’t at all consider him a Mike Woodson clone. [...]
Larry Drew may not excite you but he could just work out | Jeff Schultz
June 11th, 2010
7:51 pm
[...] weeks ago, I wrote a blog suggesting Drew was a legitimate candidate for the position. I mentioned how he was highly regarded and respected by players, and that includes the toughest [...]
Hawks Decide on Larry Drew | Soaring Down South | An Atlanta Hawks blog
June 11th, 2010
11:39 pm
[...] Shultz at the AJC blogged about this on May 19th. http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2010/05/19/hawks-should-look-at-larry-drew-for-coaching-job/. Jeff made some very good points. The general consensus on Larry Drew is that he is a very [...]