Today, we’ve got an interview for you with Bret from the awesome Atlanta Hawks blog Peachtree Hoops. Even though our teams only play twice a year, Bret was kind enough to run the answer gaunlet, including a matchup rundown between the Hawks and Blazers, whether Josh Smith is as much a knucklehead as Portland fans were sadly used to a few years ago and if Joe Johnson is still the best player on that team.
(Note: Apologies if the font looks a little off. Blogger apparently woke up on the wrong side of the Internet today)
1. From an outsider’s perspective, what are your thoughts on the Blazers this year?
Bret: I’m quite envious. The Blazers are simultaneously an interesting young team for whom a playoff appearance would be a great accomplishment and an organization that is clearly building for a championship. You guys get to enjoy the development of Oden, Roy, Aldridge, Bayless, Outlaw, Rudy Fernandez and the rest while also safe in the knowledge that the front office and coaching staff are willing to challenge those guys to become championship-quality players and several of those guys could be used to acquire a piece or two from outside the organization that will make a championship a realistic possibility. As a Hawks fan, the idea of experiencing that is almost impossibly idyllic.
On a personal level, I’ve touted several Blazer players (Oden, Roy, Aldridge, Diogu, Bayless) in my draft previews and would, for reasons of self-esteem, like to see them succeed. Also, Kevin Pritchard was the last player I pretended to be while playing basketball in the driveway or at the playground before I became too old to allow myself such a flight of fancy. Watching him run an NBA team makes me feel old but watching him run an NBA team so well makes me quite pleased.
2. How do you see your matchup with them playing out? What part interests you the most?
Bret: The two Hawks/Blazers game last year were two of the better Hawks games of the season. The Blazers were good enough to bring out the best in the Hawks but not so much good that the Hawks couldn’t compete with them in the game. The games this year are unlikely to be as close with the Hawks having lost Childress while the Blazers have gained Oden, Bayless, and Fernandez.
Though they were competitive last season these teams are, in the short term at least, heading in opposite directions. To some extent you could see that in how the Hawks lost those two close games with Brandon Roy demonstrating himself to be both younger (Though that’s just a matter of nature and I guess he shouldn’t get too much credit for it.) and better than Joe Johnson in the fourth quarter and Travis Outlaw giving an extended example of Josh Smith’s limitations as an on-the-ball defender in overtime of the game in Atlanta on MLK Day. To recap: that’s the Hawks two best players coming up short against 1) a guy Billy Knight passed up in order to draft Shelden Williams and 2) Portland’s sixth man. These aren’t comparable franchises in any way which is flattering to the Hawks.
Looking forward to the matchup this season, as the teams won’t play until February 20th, the most interesting part of the matchup for me is whether Mike Woodson will still be coaching the Hawks in that game, and, if not, how much the Hawks have closed the gap in coaching ability between Woodson and Nate McMillan.
3. If you could grade the Hawks’ off-season, what would you give it?
Bret: F. The Hawks’ third or fourth best player (depending on how much Horford improves on his fine rookie season) was a restricted free agent and they lost him for nothing in return. That’s simply unacceptable. Unfathomable also is how anyone could watch the team play last season and think that Mike Woodson deserved another chance to coach this team. The Hawks had obvious limitations in terms of depth last year but, in a seriously weakened Eastern Conference, I think they were a 40- to 42-win team. I believe Woodson’s lack of competence in terms of scheme, substitution patterns, and communication cost the team a handful of wins.
Furthermore, they had no draft picks due to the Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby trades and it was the outstanding contracts to Johnson ($30.2M over the next two years) and Bibby ($15.2M this year) that influenced the organization’s decision to take a hard line in negotiations with both Childress and Josh Smith. To me, that seems a lot of flexibility to give up in order to build a team around the fourth-best player on a legitimately good team and an aging, average-at-best point guard. But I’ve also never been involved in a major lawsuit that’s lasted more than three years and crippled a professional sports franchise so my business acumen may be limited.
4. What excites you most about the Hawks in this upcoming season?
Bret: The possibility that Josh Smith and Al Horford become as important to the offense this season as Joe Johnson has been the last three seasons excites me.
Though I’m realistic about the likelihood of it happening, I’m hopeful Marvin Williams fulfills his promise. In Childress’s absence, Williams must become a good player if the Hawks are going to match even last year’s win total. As disappointing as Williams has been, it’s not for a lack of effort and I don’t think anyone wants him to fail. That simply looks the most likely outcome at this point in time.
5. Realistically, where would you put the Hawks ceiling, high and low?
Bret: The best-case scenario would making the playoffs again. I think winning a playoff series is extraordinarily unlikely but I think it’s within the really of the possibility that the team could make the playoffs again. The seventh- through twelfth-best teams in the East figure to finish within about six games of each other. Considering the timing of injuries will play a major factor in which teams decide to trade away assets and tank the season, the Hawks could limp along somewhere near .500 and back into another playoff spot.
The worst-case scenario would be failing to make the playoffs and also failing to make an effort
to re-build this team around Smith and Horford while also replacing Mike Woodson with a competent head coach.
6. Looking at the team from all angles, what is the one thing that worries you about the Hawks?
Bret: An injury to any of Johnson, Smith, or Horford would make it very difficult for the Hawks to compete on a nightly basis and I say that as one who is skeptical of the team’s ability to compete on a nightly basis with all of those guys healthy. There’s no depth here.
7. If you were able to be GM and could only make one move, what would it be?
Bret: I would fire Mike Woodson and hire (listing only available candidates) one of Avery Johnson, Dwane Casey, or Tyrone Corbin should one of those three be willing to take the job. If not, I’m confident I could continue down my list of candidates and find someone willing to take the job who would be an improvement over Mike Woodson.
8. What is the key to the Hawks success this year?
Bret: Recognizing that Joe Johnson is not the best player on the team any more and instilling a sense of responsibility for the team’s success in their best player, Josh Smith. Consistently putting Smith in situations where he can succeed on the court would make use of a significantly underutilized resource.
9. Any sleepers we should look out for?
Bret: I think Acie Law IV could become a good offensive player if he got to run the pick-and-roll consistently. That may be a minority opinion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Randolph Morris demonstrated some competency but there’s really very little NBA-caliber talent on the back half of the Hawks’ roster. So I spend far too much time wondering whether the Hawks fail to pursue players like Hassan Adams or Nick Fazekas or players with any sort of options choose not to play for the Hawks. Josh Childress’s decision has tipped the balance toward the latter.
10. How do you feel about Mike Woodson as head coach?
Bret: He’s dreadful. He’s Mike Brown without the communication skills (and, to be fair, without LeBron James). I won’t go on at length here, but should anyone be interested in the full flower of my criticism, they can read my recent post entitled The Case Against Mike Woodson.
Do you buy into the Hawks having one of the top starting five’s in the Eastern Conference?
Bret: No. Smith, Johnson, and Horford are a very good first three but one would have to be optimistic to expect Bibby and Marvin Williams to both be even average players this season. The quality of the the Hawks three best players and the total lack of depth beyond the first two to three reserves makes the starting five appear somewhat better than it actually is.
What are your thoughts on Josh Smith? As Blazer fans we’ve had our fair share of talented knuckleheads…
Bret: In almost every interview (and especially in his post-game comments) Josh Smith comes off very well. I don’t doubt he’s still somewhat immature and could be difficult to deal with on a daily basis but as he’s typically rebelling against poor if not outright counterproductive coaching, I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope he could flourish under better leadership. I’d be more confident of my optimism were he to stop shooting jump shots and cut out the in-play pouting but he’s still 22.
With all the hype surrounding this Blazer team, do you consider them “better” than the Hawks right now?
Bret: That’s not hype. That’s the reality of the situation.