Wednesday, December 16, 2009

No Contract Talks Between Woodson, Hawks Until End of Season

It's a weird situation not made less weird by rare off-day reporting about the lack of anything to report. The relevant quotes...

Mike Woodson:
"Am I happy about it? No. But it is what it is. But I'm not going to sit here and complain about it by any means. I have this year on my contract and then I'm a free agent. They have not approached me, so obviously we're going to play it out.

I've still got a job to do. That's the approach I'm taking."
Rick Sund:
"It's been a good situation for Woody as ownership and the organization stood by him and supported him in the rebuilding years. When I suggested a new contract for Woody, the owners embraced the recommendation and I told Woody's camp that after two years, we'll evaluate it at that time and it seems to be working well."
They're both right. Woodson can't be happy not to have been offered an extension after the last season-and-a-quarter but being offered or not being offered an extension is beyond his control. Sund accurately points out that it's extraordinary, even in retrospect, that Woodson got a second contract to coach this team.

Josh Smith:
"Any time a coach can be successful every season and improve his winning percentage, I think that he deserves a shot."
Joe Johnson:
"He's all in all a great coach as far as getting the game plan ready and preparing us day in, day out, for battle."
Marvin Williams:
"I think everybody understands the situation, even Joe's situation. I think everybody knows what's on the line. Guys on the team are kind of playing for those two guys right now."

2 comments:

CoCo said...

I'd love to see a copy of this alleged game plan from the past 4 seasons because I was never convinced they had one, but whatevs. I'm glad Sund and the gang aren't caught up in the nostalgia of this fast start. They've made every notable free agent on this team play for their contract (except Joe)so this is the route they're going to take and that's cool. Get the team to the ECF then you can not complain about it as you've not done everytime someone asks.

And it puzzles me that the team feels like they have to play for Joe. I've never heard such nonsense. You have to play harder so Joe can get more than $15 million per season. Are you kidding me?? I might be compelled to write about that comment and I haven't written anything in weeks.

Jason Mann said...

If motivation for Joe and Woodson is what it takes for the Hawks to win 74% of their games, then I'm extremely fine with it.