We've heard it from Mike Woodson before---the Hawks are better when they run.
And though we believe the coach believes it when he says that, as he did again with THHB before the Orlando game, we had to challenge Woodson that the Hawks play slower than most teams in the NBA, an accusation supported by the 8th slowest possession pace in the league (93.6 possessions).
Says the coach, "Ideally, we’d like to be able to score before the other team gets set up, especially the stronger defenses like Boston, Orlando, Cleveland, LA. But it isn’t always that way---you gotta be able to execute in the halfcourt sometime."
According to 82games.com, the Hawks take a shot within the first (10) seconds of their possession about (39) percent of the time, tied for 9th in the league, but just one percentage point ahead of six other teams, putting them pretty close to the median.
When pressed further, Woodson clarifies that to get that score before the other team sets up, the Hawks must play......defense.
"I want us to milk possessions and get the best shot possible—but when we win big, it’s when our defenses generate a lot of easier opportunities for us offensively."
"That’s when we’re at our best—when we’re capitalizing defensively on the turnovers and not turning it over ourselves. When we’re making stops, then rebounding the ball, getting deflections and things of that nature, that’s when we’re really at our best. Any team in the league is at their best when they are doing that."
The Hawks were much better at this earlier in the season, when they were ruling the roost in the advanced statistical categories, but recently Atlanta has seen their defensive rebounding (a bugaboo in past seasons) slip again, now down to 9th worst defensive rebounding rate. Should the Hawks continue their slide, it will be hard for them to maintain their high offensive efficiency, and to execute on their coach's idea of their most effective offensive possessions.
Woodson differentiates that the when he says he wants the Hawks to run, he doesn't mean pace for pace's sake, like say the Golden State Warriors, who routinely have a faster pace, but less efficient over 100 possessions.
"There’s nothing sloppy about how we play. If it was, we wouldn’t be where we are today, leading the division. When we are taking care of the basketball—when you don’t turn it over, you get more shots. We don’t get a lot of possessions, but we don’t turn it over, either."
We wonder about Woodson's theory, while it makes sense, does it make as much of an impact as he might think? His team does enjoy a fantastic (11.36) percent turnover rate and a quick tap at the official THHB abacus tells us that, the Hawks net (83) possessions per 100 when removing turned over possessions. How does that match up with, say, the 3rd fastest rate team, the Minnesota Timberwolves? Minnesota drops from (98.9) to (84.61), lending some weight to Woody's "effective possessions".
Regardless of what words he chooses to use about pace, it's not the speed of possession that truly matters, but the manner of care to which it is treated. Woodson's style is still more Larry Brown than Doug Moe and the results are there---the Hawks are still in the top 5 in many of the advanced offensive team statistics .
THHB thanks Coach Mike Woodson and the Atlanta Hawks for their time for this interview. Opinions and theories (as well as challenging our University of Florida math) can be done safely in the Comments Area.
Showing posts with label Mike Woodson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Woodson. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Saturday, March 21, 2009
The Not Quite Ready For Prime Time Players
After the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Utah Jazz, snapping the visitor's long winning streak, Josh Smith told reporters, paraphrasing here, that the Hawks were a team to be reckoned with and that they had announced it to the world.
Not so fast there, young man.
It's no secret the Hawks can win against any team at home. We have constant reminders of (3) home games in particular from last year's playoffs that started that notion, and a season's worth of games this year to reinforce that opinion.
But let it said, and loud enough so Mr. Smith and the rest of the Hawks organization can hear, that you have not established yourselves as a true anything until you can win consistently on the road. Taking it a step further, you can't count yourself as a contender until you can win consistently on the road, no matter who it is.
This season, the Hawks have not played well consistently on the road and they showed Saturday that they weren't ready to tackle an elite team like Cleveland on their home court by getting beat 102-96. The score may seem close, but it only serves as a reminder that this team can be so good if it learned from any lesson it gets served while away from Philips Arena.
Once again the team roamed into enemy waters and immediately laid its egg. The Hawks offense in the first quarter looked as if they were handed a pop quiz on material they never studied. To win on the road, especially against a team like the Cavaliers, you must be poised, patient, and with total commitment.
To these things, the Hawks were Oh for Three.
Petulance and brooding defined the opening effort for the Hawks, and later in the game anger made its play, with Mike Woodson getting tossed and Josh Smith and Mike Bibby venting their frustration towards the officials, spending (4) points for whatever catharsis they received for their words.
The HHB, however, has evaluated the game and has determined that it is Al Horford who should be the most upset.
Horford has demonstrated remarkable aplomb inside offensively. He passes, shoots, drives, finishes, and makes things easier to score for the Hawks by providing a post presence with which to play the offense from the inside to the outside. With the way the team (mis)used Al on the offensive end Saturday afternoon, you have to wonder if Hawks place ANY value in Horford offensively.
Time and time again throughout the game the team played their usual perimeter hand off game, and the Cavs were waiting. We twittered before the game that Joe Johnson would have to get off to a better start to make an upset happen in CLE. Seems like both the Hawks and the Cavs were on the same page there, as Joe tried in vain to inject himself into the offense, often forcing himself into a hoard of swarming Cavs, who had obviously decided to dare the Hawks to do something different.
It took the Hawks over a quarter before they ran their first play into the post to start the offense, and even though going there was successful, they minimized it's use.
To be sure, the high-salaried team of HHB spotters tracked the efforts:
1st Q:
No post plays
2nd Q:
11:00 remaining--Post play, Johnson, scored.
8:22 remaining--Post play, Murray, fouled; post play Murray, second chance basket
6:50 remaining--Post play, Horford, basket and foul
5:06 remaining--Post play, Horford, basket by Bibby (assist Horford)
2:52 remaining--Post play, Horford, Maurice Evans fouled after pass from Horford
2nd Half:
3rd Q:
10:30 remaining--Post play, Horford, Maurice Evans 3 point basket (assist Horford)
9:05 remaining--Post play, Josh Smith, 2nd chance basket (Horford)
6:00 remaining--Post play, Joe Johnson, Smith basket
5:26 remaining--Post play, Smith, layup
3:09 remaining--Post play, Smith, missed layup
Q4:
11:38 remaining--Post play, Smith, fouled
That's a grand total of (11) offensive possessions where the ball went into the post. (10) of those plays ended successfully and the one miss was an errant layup.
If the Hawks are EVER going to be serious about progressing as a team, then it's not just the players who have to shape up, it's the coaching staff as well, because wasting a resource like Al Horford will not get you past even the first round---and banging your offensive heads against the wall by doing the same ineffective thing every time down the floor is only going to dig your team a deep, dark hole--much like the one the Hawks dug themselves in this game.
That Horford, who is their best option in the post, received (4) whole plays tells the HHB that he is not properly valued by the coaching staff in terms of how he can help the Hawks win games.
They seem to be telling him to go be the energy guy---treating him like a second round pick or a limited bench player. It's a waste of his talents and an indictment of Mike Woodson, Larry Drew, and the entire Hawks staff and team that Horford was used so little and took a mere (6) shots.
The Hawks came in with much bravado, well deserved for their performances at home, but they leave Cleveland exposed at every level---and certainly not ready for Prime Time.
Not so fast there, young man.
It's no secret the Hawks can win against any team at home. We have constant reminders of (3) home games in particular from last year's playoffs that started that notion, and a season's worth of games this year to reinforce that opinion.
But let it said, and loud enough so Mr. Smith and the rest of the Hawks organization can hear, that you have not established yourselves as a true anything until you can win consistently on the road. Taking it a step further, you can't count yourself as a contender until you can win consistently on the road, no matter who it is.
This season, the Hawks have not played well consistently on the road and they showed Saturday that they weren't ready to tackle an elite team like Cleveland on their home court by getting beat 102-96. The score may seem close, but it only serves as a reminder that this team can be so good if it learned from any lesson it gets served while away from Philips Arena.
Once again the team roamed into enemy waters and immediately laid its egg. The Hawks offense in the first quarter looked as if they were handed a pop quiz on material they never studied. To win on the road, especially against a team like the Cavaliers, you must be poised, patient, and with total commitment.
To these things, the Hawks were Oh for Three.
Petulance and brooding defined the opening effort for the Hawks, and later in the game anger made its play, with Mike Woodson getting tossed and Josh Smith and Mike Bibby venting their frustration towards the officials, spending (4) points for whatever catharsis they received for their words.
The HHB, however, has evaluated the game and has determined that it is Al Horford who should be the most upset.
Horford has demonstrated remarkable aplomb inside offensively. He passes, shoots, drives, finishes, and makes things easier to score for the Hawks by providing a post presence with which to play the offense from the inside to the outside. With the way the team (mis)used Al on the offensive end Saturday afternoon, you have to wonder if Hawks place ANY value in Horford offensively.
Time and time again throughout the game the team played their usual perimeter hand off game, and the Cavs were waiting. We twittered before the game that Joe Johnson would have to get off to a better start to make an upset happen in CLE. Seems like both the Hawks and the Cavs were on the same page there, as Joe tried in vain to inject himself into the offense, often forcing himself into a hoard of swarming Cavs, who had obviously decided to dare the Hawks to do something different.
It took the Hawks over a quarter before they ran their first play into the post to start the offense, and even though going there was successful, they minimized it's use.
To be sure, the high-salaried team of HHB spotters tracked the efforts:
1st Q:
No post plays
2nd Q:
11:00 remaining--Post play, Johnson, scored.
8:22 remaining--Post play, Murray, fouled; post play Murray, second chance basket
6:50 remaining--Post play, Horford, basket and foul
5:06 remaining--Post play, Horford, basket by Bibby (assist Horford)
2:52 remaining--Post play, Horford, Maurice Evans fouled after pass from Horford
2nd Half:
3rd Q:
10:30 remaining--Post play, Horford, Maurice Evans 3 point basket (assist Horford)
9:05 remaining--Post play, Josh Smith, 2nd chance basket (Horford)
6:00 remaining--Post play, Joe Johnson, Smith basket
5:26 remaining--Post play, Smith, layup
3:09 remaining--Post play, Smith, missed layup
Q4:
11:38 remaining--Post play, Smith, fouled
That's a grand total of (11) offensive possessions where the ball went into the post. (10) of those plays ended successfully and the one miss was an errant layup.
If the Hawks are EVER going to be serious about progressing as a team, then it's not just the players who have to shape up, it's the coaching staff as well, because wasting a resource like Al Horford will not get you past even the first round---and banging your offensive heads against the wall by doing the same ineffective thing every time down the floor is only going to dig your team a deep, dark hole--much like the one the Hawks dug themselves in this game.
That Horford, who is their best option in the post, received (4) whole plays tells the HHB that he is not properly valued by the coaching staff in terms of how he can help the Hawks win games.
They seem to be telling him to go be the energy guy---treating him like a second round pick or a limited bench player. It's a waste of his talents and an indictment of Mike Woodson, Larry Drew, and the entire Hawks staff and team that Horford was used so little and took a mere (6) shots.
The Hawks came in with much bravado, well deserved for their performances at home, but they leave Cleveland exposed at every level---and certainly not ready for Prime Time.
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