After further review … the Hawks are in really big trouble
Sometimes you get caught up in a moment, and sometimes it’s a bad moment. The Hawks were so awful Monday night as to beggar belief, but in the interest of fairness I’ve spent some of the subsequent hours reflecting on what I saw/wrote. (Other hours were invested in sleeping.) And in my reflection, I have asked myself: “Marky boy, do you think you made too much of one game in November?”
My now-considered answer: No.
My rationale: When you fire the head coach and promote his assistant, you’re not committing to a new five-year plan. You’re betting on continuity with a few tweaks. There’s not going to be a long shakedown cruise. The change is either going to take immediately or not at all.
That the Hawks started 6-0 offered some indication that the players had bought into the Larry Drew Method, but those six games have been revealed for what they were: The softest early schedule the NBA could possibly provide. When better opponents began arriving, the Hawks, as we say in horse racing, spit the bit.
The twin pillars, such as they were, of Drew’s curious case to become head coach were that the Hawks needed to share the ball on offense and stop switching on defense. The result of the former has been a bit more balanced scoring, which is good in theory, but against the Celtics on Monday the Hawks’ idea of sharing seemed to be allowing Al Horford to shoot more 18-footers. When you have Joe Johnson, in whom $120 million has just been re-invested, is that really what you want?
As for the defense: The Hawks didn’t just not switch Monday — they didn’t guard at all. They were so disinterested against the team that always before has piqued their interest that Drew wondered afterward what the Hawks were doing on their nights off. (What is this? High school?)
Drew also said he didn’t like where his team is headed. He said this three days before Thanksgiving. And that’s the chilling part. If the Hawks have already stopped caring, what does that say for this franchise? Does Rick Sund start making trades to try to assemble a roster more to Drew’s liking? What evidence is there that Drew would know what to do even then? If the guys he was supposed to know best won’t play for him, who will?
But enough. I’m depressing myself all over again. After further review, Monday’s non-effort wasn’t as bad as I thought. It was worse.
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214 comments Add your comment
Absolutely
November 23rd, 2010
8:55 pm
Woodson was the best coach for this team. and teague is a turnover machine whose basketball IQ is in the negative.
Hawk will never win if
November 23rd, 2010
8:56 pm
AL HORFORD will never be traded…..
Clam Chowdah
November 23rd, 2010
9:02 pm
When will you southern boys realize that in terms of history and present day, you will always play second fiddle to a team with seventeen World Championships? Living here even for a short period of time is long enough realize that you have a franchise with little fan interest and even worse, little interest from ownership to improve. Even during the Wilkins era, you had one guy going one-on-one all the time, and now you have an entire team doing it. Team basketball, finding the open man and avoiding the ‘hero’ mentality will always prevail.
JQP
November 23rd, 2010
9:17 pm
Joe had a great career in Atlanta. That said, we cannot win with Joe as the main man. He lacks the passion and leadership skills necessary to maximize the value of his teammates. New York could still use Joe to make a playoff push, making the playoffs would be meaningful for them but not for us.
We need to trade Joe and his huge contract to NY for whatever we can get, start rebuilding and save some room to maneuver based on what happens with the CBA. If we need to sweeten the deal, send Teague and Jamal if we have to. Teague has been given a fair chance and just is not going to be an elite team point guard. Crawford has been awesome for the Hawks but he will not be here next year.
There is just no way we can get past the second round with this crew. They have been awesome and fun to watch at times but we have to make some change or it will be 45 wins, 42 wins, and then out of the playoffs in the next 3 years.
Whopper Dawg
November 23rd, 2010
9:34 pm
If one couldn’t see this coming, then one is not very astute. This team is not remotely close to challenging for anything, and you have hung your franchise hat on JJ. Think about it.
QB
November 23rd, 2010
9:46 pm
I am a season ticket holder and I say this as nice as I can the Hawks SUCK!I will not be spending $1000 of my hard earned money to come and watch them next year I promise you that and I hope the owners read these blogs.
June
November 23rd, 2010
9:47 pm
OTHER THE LEBRON JAMES AND KOBE THERE IS NO BETTER WING PLAYER THEN JOE JOHNSON…..THE DIFFERENCE IS HE HAS NO EGO….IF HE MADE 20 COMMERCIALS AND ANNOUNCED HIS SIGNING A MEGA CONTRACT AT A BOYS & GIRLS CLUB MORE PEOPLE WOULD KNOW ABOUT HIM…..BE PATIENT THE BAD APPLE IS JOSH SMITH…HE IS A SUPER TALENT BUT LIKE SHAWN KEMP HE’S BI POLAR ….JOE IS STEADY…GET HIM A REAL POINT GUARD AND A REAL BIG MAN WHO CAN AT LEAST SET PICKS AND DEFEND THEY WOULD BE IN THE TOP 5 TEAMS THE NEXT 6 YEARS…..CHAMPIONSHIP ?????? NOT AS LONG AS KOBE HAS GASOL,BYNUM,ODOM AND ARTEST…..
what?
November 23rd, 2010
9:47 pm
ROTFLAMO….Joe Johnson is paid over 12 million a year. What fool would consider that good business?
what?
November 23rd, 2010
9:48 pm
June
November 23rd, 2010
9:47 pm
OTHER THE LEBRON JAMES AND KOBE THERE IS NO BETTER WING PLAYER THEN JOE JOHNSON
omg are you serious?
Over Early
November 23rd, 2010
9:55 pm
more chokes by another team in the city of loserville. Come to Philly to see some real champions. Mike Vick—will take the Eagles to the Super Bowl—mark it down!
buff
November 23rd, 2010
9:57 pm
weren’t you the same guy that was singing the Hawks praises two weeks ago?
Hawk will never win if
November 23rd, 2010
9:59 pm
Trade al for brook lopez right now straight up…. the nets wont go for it even if we throw in teague.
Cosign over early.
QB
November 23rd, 2010
10:00 pm
Atlanta fans are seriously as fair weather as they come everybody jocking the Falcons and trut me a Super Bowl trophy will not be in Atlanta come seasons end. The Hawks just suck I dont care what Miami record is I stay in ATL let their fans blog about their problems. The Hawks overpaid for Joe and now the team is handcuffed for years to come he is not a superstar period.
Hawk will never win if
November 23rd, 2010
10:01 pm
You will never get better as long as Al “no defense” horford is your center.
Hawk will never win if
November 23rd, 2010
10:12 pm
GET HIM A REAL POINT GUARD AND A REAL BIG MAN WHO CAN AT LEAST SET PICKS AND DEFEND THEY WOULD BE IN THE TOP 5 TEAMS THE NEXT 6 YEARS…
cosign
The Boss
November 23rd, 2010
10:14 pm
Over early–
You my not friend will soon find out what MV will do to your franchise. Enjoy the wins now because it will all come tumbling down at some point. Once a loser of a human being, always one. You can bank on that.
p.s if your such a Philly cesspool of a city fan, why are you even on an Atl blog that about BBall, and talking Football? Dumb ass!
Publix
November 23rd, 2010
10:15 pm
WHAT A SHAME!!!!!!
A team that only won half a game last year just beat you and out worked your lazy behind. They only added three mediocre pieces and a coach and just beat a team that won 53 games last year. HOW IS THAT?? It’s not that we don’t have quality, it’s that the players choose to not give it their all.
We needed a coach like Scott Skiles, and a player like Matt Barnes or Udonis Haslem and we’d be ok.
NOW WHAT???
Start trading for equal quality with more ethusiasm.
Down the tubes... again
November 23rd, 2010
10:37 pm
Larry Drew is a joke. The players are very expensive jokes. The whole team is one big joke.
Percentages
November 23rd, 2010
10:41 pm
Every one of the Hawks gives 100%.
14% on Monday, 14% on Tuesday, 14% on Wednesday…
You get the picture.
tyrone
November 23rd, 2010
10:41 pm
It may not be time to panic,but it is time to accept that moves(trades) are necessary. The Hawks need to get bigger, tougher, and much more passionate. Marvin and Teague are what they are UNACHIEVERS! Unfortunately, the only way to rid the team of Marvin is to give up next year’s first round pick. Trade: Portland’s Center Joel Pryzbilla and their 2nd round pick for Marvin and the Hawks’ first pick. Marvin and both 2nd rounds for Prince & Ben Wallace (both 1 year rental), definately the Hawks will be tougher both mentally & physically. Point guards must be team/floor leaders. Trade Jamal/Teague for Farmor & Murphy from the Nets.
A center, point guard, and small forward are manadatory to get past the 2nd round.
Syd
November 23rd, 2010
10:49 pm
6-0, mirage
Awful ownership
Joe Johnson, great agent, overrated and now over paid
Josh Smith, great talent but doesn’t have one ounce of hoops smarts
with the exception Al, not one great player on the roster
welcome back to a medicore decade of pro ball in Atlanta. Arthur buy the Hawks too………..please
Ex Hawk fan
November 23rd, 2010
11:16 pm
I see 2 guys that care about giving an effort & winning, Horford & Jamal Crawford, giving Joe a max contract was a huge mistake, all he wants to do is shoot 3s, Teague is another draft bust, Bibby is done, Josh could care less, & Marvin was the wrong Williams we took in another draft day disaster, we also took Sheldon Williams with the #5 pick, remember him, another bust, we could have taken Deron Williams instead, how much better would that have made us, he would be the best player on the team right now. Joe Johnson is laughing all the way to the bank!!!!!!
not true at all
November 23rd, 2010
11:30 pm
If Al horford cared about winning hed play defense and protect the rim. AL HORFORD SUCKS DEFENSIVELY AND IS AN LIABILITY.
ROAD DOG
November 23rd, 2010
11:35 pm
A center, point guard, and small forward are manadatory to get past the 2nd round.- ROGER THAT
Louie
November 23rd, 2010
11:37 pm
The hawks do need a center and may have to trade Al horford to get one. His just not a defender against true centers. Lopez ate his lunch tonight, again. All the top teams abuse Al in the post. Time for a change. Time for a trade.
heartofdarkness
November 23rd, 2010
11:39 pm
It would benefit NBA fans tremendously if the league were split in two, a premier league and a D league. Players with fully developed games and superstars could play in premier, and the “great athletes” and guys with middle school basketball IQs could work their way up. For many of them, it’s the first time in their life that they have played against bigger, faster opponents or have had to run plays to get their shot. If you watch the look on the faces of the former NBA players who now coach in the NBA while watching some of the recent Hawk’s failure to compete, inability to get the ball to an open man and make the same mental mistakes three or four times in the same game, you know they feel the same way.
Louie
November 23rd, 2010
11:40 pm
The hawks do need a center and may have to trade Al horford to get one. His just not a defender against true centers. Lopez ate his lunch tonight, again. All the top teams abuse Al in the post. Time for a change. Time for a trade.
Ive heard that Lopez would love to come to Atlanta.
Fan of the Game
November 23rd, 2010
11:45 pm
For all you fans that wanted a coaching change last year. You got it. I like Larry Drew, but if it is not broke you don’t have to fix it. I am hoping he can get them to playing harder and smarter.
Mark Bradley's Fan Club
November 24th, 2010
12:00 am
If I were Rick Sund, I’d start putting feelers out about trading Joe Johnson. Yes, his contract is obscene… but some of these teams that missed out on the LeBron/Wade/Bosh/Stoudemire sweepstakes might just play ball. Maybe the Knicks? Bulls? Nets (rich Russian gasolinaire)? It could happen, I tell ya!
The reason I say trade JJ as opposed to the other guys is that it seems the OTHER guys are playing better and working with the system better. JJ has been the missing link. Let’s trade him before he finishes out this season and drives his value down. Right now, Sund can say, oh, his left wrist is hurt or something, that’s the problem. At the end of the season, when his scoring is down, assists are down, steals, etc…. not so much.
What do you think, Marcus Bradlius?
overstreet.
November 24th, 2010
12:03 am
Yes, on the coaches change… stupid move from sund. Time to get the team a real center. One who will defend. One not named H o r f o r d.
gcs
November 24th, 2010
12:13 am
After further review … are you surprised?
.
former hawks fan
November 24th, 2010
12:36 am
The Atlanta Spirit group deserves everything it is getting. Hey spirit group how about putting the hawks on ebay you should get a good price!!!
Kelvin Frazier
November 24th, 2010
12:45 am
It’s starting to get ugly and it’s only November!
richcat
November 24th, 2010
1:05 am
Bipbip I thought Paul Hewitt was coaching the Hawks the way they have been playing. Someone said the Hawks were a JOKE!
The real JOKE is the so called owners ” American Spirits group”…They know about as much Basketball as Liberty does Baseball. Please for the love of Jesus sale the team ASP. Bad team, bad owners and fans should stay home.
Thanks Mark for putting the blame where it belongs.
richcat
November 24th, 2010
1:07 am
Atlanta not American..Wow.
x-fan
November 24th, 2010
1:10 am
fan of the game..no one wanted Drew but Spirit group and it was a cheap way out. Fans need to run Atl spirit out of town on a rail.
trueman
November 24th, 2010
1:21 am
The hawks gave up last year when they a) fired mike woodson b) did nothing to strengthen the the starting center position nor, c) the point guard position.
This free falling that you are witnessing can be attributed to 1 man…SUND
FIRE SUND ASAP!
nahzt
November 24th, 2010
1:27 am
What we’re seeing is a team that is in fact aware of its identity. The players are aware that they are not contenders for anything other than another massacre in the (at best) second round of the playoffs. And its easy to see how the players are infighting based on trying to begrudgingly accept each others misaligned roles. This entire situation can be fairly blamed on ownership/management starting six years ago. However, we can hold our players accountable for their half hearted effort, especially considering how the majority of them are all getting overpaid (exception horford and j smith). Its mighty challenging to be a proud fan of such a mismanaged organization. The only potential trade that I could get excited for would be one bringing Carmelo +1 player to make the money work in exchange for a salary dump(i.e. Jamal, Bibby, Marvin, whoever they want) plus draft picks. Denver would have to be a 500 team and likely out of playoff contention around all star break for them to move him, but hey, I have to fantasize about ways to be a fan at this point.
trueman
November 24th, 2010
1:36 am
FIRE SUND NOW!
4 Jacks
November 24th, 2010
3:50 am
Come on Mark, we all know it is the ownership of these two teams. The ASG is the worst ownership in all professional sports and these guys are all oveblown, pompous, and arrogant blowhards that need to be run out of the league. Not a real big deal to me as I only went to maybe 8 or 9 Hawk games per year and 6 or 7 Thrasher games, but I can tell you this, I will not go back as long as this group owns the teams. I will not be their “chump” any longer while they operate on the cheap. ASG sucks and that is all there is to it.
Not Sund
November 24th, 2010
4:06 am
June, you are on it my man.
Trueman please be patient.
Anyway, June I agree with ya it’s obvious that this team will get better by subtraction. Our most physically talented player will not play the right way, and it drives the other players nuts.
The players turned on Woody when he wouldn’t control the Stat Stuffer.
The players quit in the playoffs because they know they can’t match-up physically with big teams.
Now The players have quit period because those two problems haven’t been fixed.
I like the players from the Grizzlies, we would have to get Gasol in the deal because we have to have a legitimate big body in the middle.
Something has to change on this team and I believe it will.
deja vu
November 24th, 2010
4:45 am
Sell back to Belkin and hire Frank Wren. Like his moves or not, he TAKES ACTION when the ship is burning. The Hawks are toast. No character other than Horford. Joe has regressed with the fat paycheck and iso-Joe is back. Every jacked up rally killing 20 footer from Josh should land his stubborn ass on the bench. I like you LD, but grow some!
Paddy
November 24th, 2010
6:31 am
Mark, this is not a real surprise, now is it? When ownership goes thru the offices counting paper clips, that should have told all of us something! Very poor attendance and players who don’t care. Like drawing to an inside straight.
NCBravesFan
November 24th, 2010
7:08 am
I think a little too much is being made of Woodson vs. LD on the coaching end of things. I would be willing to bet that the same issues would have popped up with Woody at the helm this year as well.
The Hawks got exposed last Spring for what they are, and management did nothing to improve the roster and fix the problems.
The problem isn’t Xs and Os. It’s personnel.
Jo
November 24th, 2010
7:09 am
Hawks needed ONE BIG MAN to be a contender……………and they didn’t get taht right, fired their coach, and the team doesn’t care anymore. last night against the nets was frightning, the Hawks do not look like an 8th seed which is our only hope……obi one.
CTkid
November 24th, 2010
8:56 am
The tam has no one, beside Horford, that can play D – no one. Ray Allen of the Celtics is 35 years old and plays hard on the D side of the ball that sometimes his great jumper suffers. He is 35! and yet this guys on the hawks hardly move their feet. You need to get to get rid of the team and get some players here. I would trade the first team for Boston second team. They play hard!
Basketball-fan
November 24th, 2010
9:05 am
Sorry Players, Sorry Coach, Sorry Owner==Sorry Team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr. Red
November 24th, 2010
10:01 am
When the hawks gave Joe Johnson 120 million to return, that was the end of this team. The hawks are not worth watching on T.V., are not worth paying any money to see in person. When their most expensive player says he doesn’t care about the fans, the people who actually pay his salary, then you know this team isn’t worth a plug nickel!
I hate the hawks!
savannahdawg
November 24th, 2010
11:18 am
This team sucks! Playing like they just don’t care! That’s what you get when you go cheap on a coach! The ownership sucks! Players have no heart!
bbgenie
November 24th, 2010
2:57 pm
Well, Well, well. What’s Wrong Hawks fans? Can’t stand the Heat?? Fire Woody? Huh? Now What? Playing DEFENSE Will get you into the playoffs Right? Protecting the Home Court, will get you “Home Court Advantage” Quitting after the end of the 1st Qt. Will get your Ass kicked in the NBA. Period!! This team goes from being the(Hunter to being Hunted) and they can not handle the pressure!! Hawks have No Heart, No Toughnes, Or No Thugs!!! See folks, Coach Woodson was the Heart and Soul of this group. He was the Only one who Beleived in this bunch. Remember “Play the Right Way”. Shock the World vs. Boston 07. He’s from the Hood! Every Team will Take the Attitude of its Coach!!! Right! Well people Woody was a FIGHTER, He took on the Ref’s, Billy Knight, the Media, the GM R.Sund (who Forced Woodson to PAY for his own Advance Scout in 09, & the Fans). This current Hawks team has NO FIGHT! Coach Drew is a Different Voice but he’s VERY PASSIVE!! We should have kept Flip Murry, he was the only player who was willing to Police the Locker room and get in J.Smooth grill when needed. Where do we go from here????? The Ship Be Sinking!!! Help Mr. Wizard! They need to go see the “Wizard of OZ” and get 12 Hearts and a Boatload of Courage!!