Another home blowout tells us the Hawks have quit on Drew
Kirk Hinrich arrives and the Hawks start stinking it up at home. Cause and effect? (AJC photo by Hyosub Shin)
This is why you don’t promote the nice-guy assistant. Because the players who’ve known him only as the nice-guy assistant will quit on him. And if you think the Hawks are still playing hard for Larry Drew, how are we to explain the misdoings of the past three weeks?
The Hawks have lost six home games in 18 days. (By way of comparison, they lost seven home games all last season.) Only one of these six losses has been by fewer than 13 points. Average margin of the six losses — 17.2 points.
On Friday they trailed Miami by 29 points after three quarters. On Saturday Al Horford convened a players-only meeting, which apparently enabled the Hawks to subdue the awful Detroit Pistons by eight points the next day. But the shelf life on players-only meetings, at least for these Hawks, is only 48 hours. On Tuesday they trailed Chicago by 29 points after two quarters. (They would trail by 47 before it ended.)
Even if we stipulate that all six home losses have come against good opposition, that excuses nothing. The Hawks are, or at least were, supposed to be pretty good themselves. They won 53 games last season, and they’ve won 40 this time. But they’re not nearly the team they were a year ago, and the reason is clear:
The Hawks might not have loved Mike Woodson, but they played hard for him most nights. When they stopped playing hard against Orlando in Round 2 of the 2010 playoffs, it was time for Woodson to go. But it took the Hawks six seasons to tune out their previous coach; they stopped listening to his successor after 60-some games.
They’ve won 40 games because they still have talent; they’ve lost 15 home games because they don’t care enough to apply that talent when application requires effort. Stop shooting their beloved jump shots? Start guarding somebody? Why bother?
Say it again: Fifteen home losses for a team that boasts two All-Stars, a third player of All-Star caliber and the league’s reigning sixth man of the year. Fifteen home losses, nine of them by double figures. The NBA’s worst team shouldn’t be getting hammered like this at home on such a regular basis, let alone one that has been to the playoffs three years running and will get there again this spring. (The irony of Tuesday’s loss was that the Hawks could have clinched a postseason berth; instead they looked like a team in the running to be first in line for the draft lottery.)
Apart from the subtraction of Mike Bibby and the addition of Kirk Hinrich — that trade hasn’t exactly had a catalytic effect, has it?– these Hawks are essentially the same as they’ve been. What’s different is the coach. Like him or not, Mike Woodson was difficult to overlook. His former team has found Woody’s nice-guy assistant all too easy to ignore.
By Mark Bradley
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347 comments Add your comment
allan in texas
March 23rd, 2011
9:11 am
They wonder why people don’t come out to support the teams in Atlanta. People work to hard for their money everyday to spend it on crap!
tremaine cooper
March 23rd, 2011
9:12 am
Lee
March 23rd, 2011
9:05 am
The Hawks proved they don’t care about winning when they drafted Marvin Williams. They could have taken Deron or CP3 (when everyone knew they needed a PG) and drafted a guy who didn’t even start for his college team instead.
As a fan, why should I care about this team when the front office obviously doesn’t?
Even though we need a point guard, Marvin didn’t miss a jumpshot when they had him in for workouts. That was a there reason behind drafting him.
Kelvin
March 23rd, 2011
9:13 am
I have been telling you guys that the Hawks are going to be a first round exit. Now I see others are starting to realize what I have been saying for months. This team is the result of bad draft choices. In the NBA you can easily get stuck in mediocrity where you are not good enough to advance in the playoffs, but not bad enough to draft anyone that could help you. That’s what the Hawks are right now. This team has been together too long and it’s time to make wholesale changes. But for me, I have already tuned them out because I have seen this movie and I know what the ending is going to be. Another embarrassing playoff exit, only this year it will be a first round exit.
O'Brien
March 23rd, 2011
9:17 am
Mark,
If the Hawks lose in the first round of the playoffs, do you think LD should be fired?
Mark Bradley
March 23rd, 2011
9:19 am
If the Hawks lose in Round 1, O’Brien, what would be the justification for keeping this coach?
tremaine cooper
March 23rd, 2011
9:20 am
Well the “FIRE LARRY DREW” facebook page is up to 11 people. Let’s see if we can get it up to 100 before tonights tip-off with the sixers.
schmeckdawg
March 23rd, 2011
9:24 am
After reading what most all of you are saying about Drew, I can now understand a little bit better how his punk son could just up and quit on North Carolina 3/4 through the year!
Larry Luv
March 23rd, 2011
9:29 am
I didnt want to be one of the people yelling fire the coach. But here is my problem with him, He has said plenty of times that the hawks problem on offense is that they get stuck or sucked into shooting jumpshots. Yet this game and the last game Josh opens up with 4 or 5 jumpshots that he misses but DREW NEVER PULLS HIM OUT OF THE GAME but he pulls zaza after taking one bad jumpshot? Josh doesnt even block shots anymore. dont get mad at JJ for his iso moves because if somebody anybody would cut or move when he has the ball he would give it to them another mark against the coach, i used to say trade Marvin but hell u can atleast see that he is trying to do what the coach told him, take it to the basket. JOSH can hear the crowd SCREAMING NO dont shoot it but he does it anyway. and where has Jamal’s game gone?, we all know that only one team will win the championship but the fun is having that hope that this year is our year. BUt there is no such feeling with these HAwks and thats why the fans dont support. BTW all u people yelling bring on the braves we dont support them either hardly ever sold out (even in the playoffs) this town sucks as far as fans go.
sav'h dawg
March 23rd, 2011
9:29 am
Biggest problem was giving all that money to Johnson. Draft the kid from BYU and see if that doesn’t atleast energize your fan base. My guess is that it will bring in a different breed of fans.
DDog10
March 23rd, 2011
9:31 am
Pathetic. How can management expect fans to show up and pay money to see this bunch of losers. They have no pride. An embarrassment. The coach may stink but the players have not pride. The only good news is baseball starts next week.
kb
March 23rd, 2011
9:35 am
People are seeing the Hawks as the truly are. The mgt team is terrible. There is no way in hades I would have given J. Johnson that type of money when we could have gotten J. Salmons of the Bucks. J. Johnson is no leader.
If I am part of the mgt team for the Hawks, this is what I would do:
1) Trade M. Williams. He is too soft and a true disappointment. He is living breathing example of what is wrong with this team. He has not worked on his game and he was taken waaaaaay too early in the draft. He has not shown growth as a player. By now he should be leading the team. Everyday he knows that he being judged by the players that were picked before him and after him in the draft that he was in. The pressure is probably killing him and stunting his growth. I say cut him loose and call it a day.
2) Build my team through A. Horford and find you a rebounding center (a.k.a Jeff Foster, Joel Pzysbilla, Marcus Camby, and the like.) Horford has the temperment and the tools to be a superstar. Horford was the one that led Florida to those back to back championships in college. He would settle the team down and he would demand the rest of the players to get their game in line.
3) Put J. Smith at the three. Have some older superstar player like D. Wilkens that Josh would respect (like J. Worthy, L. Bird, B. McAdoo) to help teach him to become a great three. Josh is out of place at the four sport.
4) Start K. Hinrich at the beginning of the game at the point and let J. Crawford at the end of the game.
5) Go get a vetern coach like P. Silas to help L. Drew coach the team. Drew is not the problem with this team. He does need a coach who has won in the league before as a head coach, but doesn’t want to do the job now. Drew can gain knowledge on how to handle certain situations better. Remember, he is new on the job. I wouldn’t say he is soft. I would say he doesn’t have an older coach on his team that can motivate the players to play as the professionals night in, night out each and every day. Young coach can try to relate to the team to set what makes them tick. Older coach get the players to act like the professionals they are supposed to be. Older coaches get rid of wimps and immature children posing as professional ball players.
You know what is so sad it that Bulls a couple of years ago were waay worse than the Hawks, and they have suppassed the Hawks in a nick of time…..
Max JJ
March 23rd, 2011
9:36 am
Get JJ a bigger max contract soon! JJ be the answer to the hawks—they need JJ’s leadership. $24 million per season? That’s an insult—bump that up to $30 mil plus benefits—or JJ be walking. JJ demand respect!
Mark Bradley
March 23rd, 2011
9:37 am
I need to be clear about something: I don’t blame Larry Drew for taking the job; I blame the people who gave him the job.
L.A. Mont
March 23rd, 2011
9:37 am
Agree with most comments that Drew has to go and this team has to be broken up which is sad. Too much talent going to waste. What’s scary is that despite its disfunctionality this team has still won 40 games. Tells you how watered down the league is.
Hawks Blow
March 23rd, 2011
9:37 am
Josh Smith is pitiful! The only reason he was ever considered good was because he was athletic and could jump out of the gym. Aside from that he’s probably the least coachable player on the team. How we keeps shooting jump shots and refuses to stop is a testament to just how dumb of a person/player he is.
Marvin is completely worthless. We should have traded away that dead weight years ago…
We give up Jordan Crawford and he’s playing well in Washington.
Joe is good when he decides to actually play. We NEVER should have given a player like that huge money. He has no incentive. Lazy, lazy, lazy player
Rick Sund….terrible GM. Cheap to hire, just like Larry Drew. That’s why these two losers are running the team. Because the owners are the worst in the NBA. They are selling the Thrashers, I only hope they sell the Hawks too.
We could have built and build off the Celtics game 7 series a few years ago…back when this team was up and coming. But instead the owners couldn’t get their act together, so now we are left w a half-assed team that barely plays.
They are no long up-and-coming. They are boring and embarrassing.
SELL THE TEAM, GET A NEW COACH, GET A REAL GM NOT SOME HALF-WHIT, KEEP HORFORD AND GET THE REST OF THESE LOSERS OUT OF HERRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE THIS TEAM.
GO BRAVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ed
March 23rd, 2011
9:38 am
If they quit on the coach, at season’s end bust up the team get rid of them… Where are the falcon players who quit on the new coach after Jim mora was fired, not many are still around are they…. and as a team the falcons are better.
The Real JC
March 23rd, 2011
9:39 am
Want to hear something really funny? The Hawks have the seventh highest payroll in the league. This year, Joe gets $16, Josh gets $11.6, Jamal gets $10.8, Hinrich gets $9, Marvin gets $6.7 and Al only gets $5.4
By comparison, the Bulls have the sixth lowest in the league. Boozer is at $14, Deng’s at $11.3, Rose is at $5.5 and Noah is at $3.1. Even the NEW YORK KNICKS have a lower payroll than us, with Melo at $17, Stoudemire at $16.4 and Chauncey at $13.1
It’s not that the Hawks are cheap (which they are), it’s the lack of roster tinkering. We’re so afraid to lose this once-promising nucleus that we’ve overpaid each one to stay and are now dealing with the consequences.
VolGuy
March 23rd, 2011
9:42 am
Between the Hawks and the Thrashers, it is a miracle that the inside of Phillips Arena doesn’t smell so bad that the entire building needs to be torn down.
Tell It Like It Is
March 23rd, 2011
9:44 am
Where is the pride in these guys? No Professional team should lose by 30 on their own floor. I watched a little of the game and was amazed at the lack of effort. They seemed not to care. There is something awfully wrong with this team and it is not coaching. Maybe they need more guys who do not live on talent alone but on effort. They will not win any more games but they will bring in more fans and they will not get beat by 30 points.
PMC
March 23rd, 2011
9:44 am
Not really, they just don’t care. They figure they are in the playoffs and they won’t finish ahead of Orlando so they aren’t trying hard at all.
How many guys on the team would you consider “hard working”
Joe Johnson couldn’t lead butter to toast.
Marvin Williams is a never was. The guy was a backup in his only year in college and we drafted him at 2.
Josh Smith has loads of talent, but has never been consistent.
Crawford wants to get paid, and he’s not happy.
These guys have checked out, becuase they can.
What did we expect? We’ve been saying all year this is the Hawks team we have.
Why be upset with them. We know they can’t win anything…. so do they.
So…they’re mailing in the season becuase they have no pride.
DrG
March 23rd, 2011
9:45 am
Joe Johnson makes $190,000.00 PER GAME!!!!! If you cant play hard and earn your money for that alone you dont deserve to be in this league!!!! He and Josh Smith pout and cry and whine more than any two players I have ever seen! It is infuriating! These sorry a$$ cry babies make more than most people do in a year in one game and can’t even show up and deliever a decent effort?! At this point I don’t care about Joe’s huge contract. CUT HIM!!! He is more a detriment to the team than he is good. Josh Smith as well. If you dont want to show up and play then be gone!!!!
atlpaddy
March 23rd, 2011
9:46 am
Isaiah Rider, a city turns its lonely eyes to you.
That Guy
March 23rd, 2011
9:47 am
How could this team take him seriously when he called Roy Williams to tell Roy that his son quit? He doesn’t even hold his own son accountable, how could he possibly hold those players accountable? How could they respect him after that?
PMC
March 23rd, 2011
9:47 am
The Hawks will go out this week, play some bad team and beat them soundly and it will be further proof, that they just don’t give a crap. They are just playing out the string waiting on the off season.
The Real JC
March 23rd, 2011
9:51 am
I hear Paul Hewitt’s looking for head coaching jobs. Heck, so is Tony Ingle! He’d give great postgame interviews!
Blue
March 23rd, 2011
9:53 am
The AP is reporting that this off season, the ASG will …
1. Resign Larry Drew to a 5 year extension.
2. Resign Kirk Hinrich to a 6 year extension.
3. Trade Al Horford and the 2012 first and second round pick for Ronny Turiaf.
4. Re-up Rick Sund for an additional 5 years.
5. Move Josh Smith to center.
6. And raise ticket prices.
DrG
March 23rd, 2011
9:54 am
Josh should be on the bench EVERY SINGLE TIME he takes a shot outside 15 feet unless the shot clock is about to expire….at which point the ball shouldnt be in his hands anyway. He camps out around the three point line all night…instead making cuts and looking for the ball that way….and God forbid he be under the basket to fight for an offensive rebound. This kid is pathetic. He can jump and he can dunk the ball. He cant handle the rock at all and he is a turnover waiting to happen! Take away the dunks and he probably shoots 10% from the field. He is a loser and this team will never win with him. He only understands the me concept of the game…not the team concept. That’s where college comes in…and from listening to the interviews with this kid he probably couldn’t spell his name on a college application.
jake
March 23rd, 2011
9:57 am
They Stink, but I gotta throw a bone to Jsmoove, yea he takes some bad shots, but his shooting is much improved, and who else is gonna step up. How many times did we see someone get beat off the dribble, and no one rotate to challenge the lay-up. When he does drive, Joe shoots the same floater, disappears for games at a time, Marvin is a headcase because Jamal took his minutes after his best season, Jamal is a headcase because he doesn’t have a contract, Al is solid but undersized, the team is constructed to fail. We cannot and will not win with Al playing the 5….he is 4, in the most classic sense.
Happy St. Pat's!
March 23rd, 2011
9:57 am
Honestly, how do you justify *retaining* Coach Drew? That’s the question. It is not a question of releasing him or not. Who in the world buys season tickets if you keep him?
Larry Luv
March 23rd, 2011
9:58 am
@ DrG Josh Does Put and cry alot way to much actually. BUT NOT JOE thats the problem Joe doesnt show any emotion good or bad, if he would get mad or fired up this would be a different team. people screaming cut him or trade him its not that easy people. what needs to happen is that these players need to start calling each other out forget these behind closed doors meeting. Horford needs to say JOSH need s to stop shooting jumpshots and Joe needs to show some life out ther. Thats what the lakers do Phil will call out a player to the media in a heartbeat. and usually that player responds on the court
Nick
March 23rd, 2011
9:58 am
Yall are all just bandwagoners…. when the Hawks get better in the years to come yall all will be saying go Hawks and crap like that. That’s why Atlanta fans have been voted to the worst
jeffrey d
March 23rd, 2011
9:58 am
The Hawks are grown men who are paid (well) to perform a job. They know what needs to be done to win. How much of this can you scapegoat on the coach?
5150 UOAD
March 23rd, 2011
10:00 am
I know the Hawks are our cities Pro Basketball team but i just don’t care anything about the NBA. I was a fan as a kid, but somewhere in the 90’s I just totally lost interest. I still love the ACC brand of Basketball and even more so now that Hewitt is gone. I guess The NBA game just isn’t exciting to me. Maybe if the Hawks could be good for a few years I would enjoy it again.
schmeckdawg
March 23rd, 2011
10:00 am
I say gooooooooooooo Hawks…and take the Thrashers with you!!!!!!
JustaBBfan
March 23rd, 2011
10:01 am
Its always hard for home boy to return as boss. (Thats one reason GT should not hire X-players as coach)
Put the blame where it belongs THE OWNERS! Please sell the Hawks so fans can have hope. To many Chiefs and Sorry a@@ results..
Can they (Spirits) even go to toilet right?
Congrad to GT ladies making 2nd round before tough lose.
Congrad to UGA ladies for making 2nd round still playing. Win it all ladies.
Congrad to UGA Ladies going to 2nd round.
Bill Gullion
March 23rd, 2011
10:02 am
After building up a talented squad of young players, management chose a rookie coach. A veteran mentor was badly needed!
freeeman
March 23rd, 2011
10:05 am
As much as I dislike the direction of the Hawks
At least we are not the Nets, Clippers, and Knicks
Bama Mike
March 23rd, 2011
10:05 am
As soon as Rick Sund was hired and you got to take a look at his track record it should be no surprise that this day would come.
dave
March 23rd, 2011
10:06 am
I miss Woody. I miss 53 wins. no doubt last years team has been ruined. is there any doubt where this ends? next year 28 wins, 15 the next. welcome back to the basement, hawks fans. see you in 10 years when the Hawks make another surge, only to fall as quickly as they rise.
Jason
March 23rd, 2011
10:08 am
Mark,
Why the *U*K did we get rid of Mike Bibby again? This hawks team comes out and plays their hearts out one night and then the following 3 or 4 games they look like the 15 win team we had before.. I’m sick of this shit.. The owners need to get off their pocketbooks and fork over some cash for a good viable center and get us a TRUE point guard!! None of this Kirk Heinrich crap.. I’m tired of this team..and I’m not watching them again until they can string together 5 wins in a row..which I know they are capable.. !! This is ridiculous!!
DrG
March 23rd, 2011
10:09 am
@ Larry….agreed. I guess i should have put Joe in a different category other than a whiner….that belongs to Josh alone. Joe is apethetic in every sense of the word. He shows no fire…walks around with his head down…he is being paid to be a team leader and he drags them down night after night. For $200K a night i would run a nightly marathon while being beaten with sticks along the route if you asked me too!!! He just isnt a winner. Hes proven it in the play-offs time and again.
phil
March 23rd, 2011
10:10 am
The master of the obvious, MB, strikes again, only he apparently just now realized that the Squawks have quit playing hard….earth to mark…this happened months ago.
and in another earth to mark, talent is useless if it won’t try….dump JJ and Smith along with Drew and what’s left will start playing….it may lose a lot too but at least it won’t be because it cries to its mommy every nite out….
DawginLex
March 23rd, 2011
10:11 am
Honestly who cares?
I don’t.
I gave up on this bunch before the season started.
It also says a lot that UNC’s fortunes took a major upswing when Drew’s kid departed Chapel Hill and the freshman took over at PG.
This hire was another huge mistake in a series of idiotic blunders made by the Hawks going all the way back to when the Pistons basically ridiculed the Hawks by tricking them into signing Koncak to a pay raise over a false “threat” that he was going to switch teams and play for Detroit.
Pathetic.
Paul in RDU
March 23rd, 2011
10:11 am
I have to agree with Mark that the problem here is with the people who appointed Drew. This is not an uncommon problem in business when someone is promoted “from the ranks” at a company. Suddenly people who were peers/buddies are now manager and subordinate and it can cause problems. Drew may not have been a player but as assistant coach for Woodson he would have been the good cop to Woodson’s bad cop.
The Real JC
March 23rd, 2011
10:11 am
@Nick – bandwagon fans don’t complain on comment boards about why the team is bad and what needs to change to fix it. They ignore the Hawks until they start winning, then jump on the message boards to say how much they love them.
Trust me, guys like Najeh, tremaine, sav’h dawg and allan in texas are anything but bandwagon fans. Tortured souls, maybe. Machostic, probably. But bandwagon, no sir.
carlton
March 23rd, 2011
10:11 am
Najeh @ 11:50 last night. You nailed it, but we might sub Carlos Boozer for the Derrick Rose, and think how much better. But Tom T. might have been the best hire of all.
schmeckdawg
March 23rd, 2011
10:13 am
Where’s the time machine? I want the team with Dominique, Roundfield, Tree Rollins, and Doc Rivers back! And while I am on the subject, can we also have the Atlanta Flames back. Never won a championship, but, they were in the playoffs almost every year! Ahhhhh, the good old days!
joey
March 23rd, 2011
10:13 am
jake,
Jsmoove, yea he takes some bad shots, but his shooting is much improved.
you are 100%right the hawks problem is not him its joe , he is sopposed to be our superstar, and joe when he does want to play he is a top 10 player but he very rarley shows any killer instinct thats his problem hes to passive. he needs to take more shots and get othera involved, and yes horford is awesome but hes playing out of position, and the hawks take way to many jumpshots their is never anyone under the basket to rebound
TNScott
March 23rd, 2011
10:13 am
Mark, When you have a team that is owned by what could be best described as a “Banana Republic” if not for the fact it would be an insult to Banana Republics, you will get management decisions that defy logic such as the Drew hiring. You get bone-headed lottery picks based on buzzwords or catch phrases like “higher ceiling” or “unlimited potential” instead of going with the proven better player in a position of need(Marvin Williams Sheldon Willians over Chris Paul, Brandon Roy, Deron Williams). All the Hawks learned from selecting Sheldon Williams was they would have been better off drafting his wife(Candace Parker) as she was the more NBA ready draft pick. Their problems are top-down not bottom-up. Until we fix ownership we won’t be a viable championship team. Of course, I’m merely restating the obvious.
John
March 23rd, 2011
10:13 am
I actually think Joe should pout and whine more. It would show a little emotion from a guy who never has fouls called for hiim.