FanHouse MikeWoodson

MIAMI -- It's not like only one team has shown up for this playoff series, which is what happened with the Cavs and the Detroit Deadbeats. It's just that these two don't show up at the same time.

Not to rain on anyone's playoff parade, but it's hard to imagine a Game 7 with any less suspense than what we'll see Sunday when the Heat play the Hawks in Atlanta. Hopefully, there will be golf to watch.

Can't predict the winner, but it won't take long to find out who it will be. These two take turns quitting early. It has become the anti-Celtics-Bulls series.

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MIAMI -- Center Jermaine O'Neal was replaced in the starting lineup for Miami Friday night because of concussion-like symptoms stemming from a hit Wednesday night from Atlanta's Zaza Pachulia.

Although O'Neal was on the 12-man active list, the Heat listed Joel Anthony as their starting center, hurting their chance to fight off elimination in this best-of-seven series.

While O'Neal was a surprise scratch, Hawks forward Marvin Williams must have had a good healthy lunch because his sprained right wrist suddenly healed enough so he could play.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* "Dude will do ANYTHING to win, up to and including going Tony Jaa on Mo Williams. Maybe my new favorite photo." -- this is the city line.

* Andrea Butler, wife of Caron: "I cried tonight," his wife, Andrea Butler, told me. "It was like we were in the Finals. I don't know what happened, I got a little emotional. The whole fourth quarter was so good, I just got really emotional. I was just happy to see the crowd get back into it." -- D.C. Sports Bog.

NBA FanHouse walks through the Valley of the Most Likely; we shall fear no topic.

On Christmas Eve, Scott Skiles received the dreaded pink slip from the Bulls. Heartless? Perhaps. Unexpected? No fricking way. The NBA is a business, son, and business has to get handled ... even on a quasi-holiday. So who should fear the phone during Hanukkah, the 12 days of Christmas and New Year's Eve this year? We offer three candidates.

Earlier this week we heard news out of Atlanta that Josh Smith was throwing things around after being called out by Mike Woodson in practice. Is Woodson already losing his best player before the season starts? Hardly. Smith told reporters the next day that his reaction was orchestrated to get a rise out of everyone.

Practical joke or not, it seems he took the message to heart: he scored the first bucket last night on an alley-oop just seconds after the Hawks won the tip, and he immediately came through on the other end with a block. After the game, I spoke to him about the heightened expectations that come with signing a big contract.

Matt Watson: In the first 30 seconds you came through with an alley-oop and a block. Were you trying to come out and make a statement, or did it just work out that way?

Josh Smith: The lob worked out that way, but I definitely wanted to bring more energy. I know when I create energy from the beginning of the game that it carries on to my teammates. You know, we sat down and had a talk about what [coach Woodson] wanted me to do and I let him know that I was frustrated, because I felt like I was letting my teammates down. I understand that its preseason, but it definitely carries over to the regular season. And I wanted to come out here with great intensity -- you [saw] in the first couple of quarters that it carried on that everybody was active on the defensive end. We looked more active than we did throughout the whole preseason in this one game.

When Atlanta matched Josh Smith's offer sheet from Memphis, one of the first narratives the Hawks (and Smith) pushed was that Mike Woodson and the electric young star were fine with each other. They had fought a few times during Woody's tenure, but supposedly everything had been worked out and the fam was at peace.

We're, um, three weeks into the 2008-09 preseason. A game that counts hasn't been played yet. And Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says we have our first tiff between the two, right on schedule.

Woodson called his team together in a practice-ending huddle and began his speech by telling the players they needed to take their game to another level with the regular season approaching. He mentioned Smith by name, which prompted the fifth-year forward to react by saying he was willing to "take all the blame."

After a brief exchange, the huddle broke and Smith headed for the locker room steaming at being called out and shattered his mouthpiece case against a wall. Woodson, smiling the entire time, warned his assistants and other players that Smith would be fine and that they shouldn't worry.

Many of the "assistants and other players" have been around Smith and Woodson for years. If they think Smith might be royally angered after the vignette, they would probably have reason ... like, you know, players don't like to be called out. The coach needs to have control of the team, and I admire Woodson's courage if in fact Smith was a source of the lax behavior on the practice floor.

But Woody's needs to realize he is on the hot seat, not Smith. Josh is the star, the guy the owners paid handsomely. Woodson is the dude on a short leash. Any number of NBA coaches get away with screaming at players and ruffling feathers. But if you pull something to the point where longtime parties to situation fear resentment from the player in question ... you're playing with fire, mate.

There's a reason that preseason games are played in every major professional sport. Players need the time to work themselves back into game shape after a few months off, and usually need to learn how to play with new players or in a new system. The players aren't the only ones that benefit though. Referees use these games to shake out the cobwebs too, and there were a couple examples of this in last night's preseason opener between the Hawks and the Suns.

Late in the first quarter, the Hawks' Solomon Jones came barreling into the Suns' Louis Amundson (I know. It's pre-season people, work with me here.). It was your typical block/charge situation; it could have gone either way. The initial call was an offensive foul on Jones, but then the lead official called one of those NFL-style conferences, and they all discussed the play for a good minute and a half -- an eternity for the fans in the arena.

Apparently no consensus could be reached, so the official came to the scorer's table and announced the following: "We have a difference of opinion, we're going to jump it up. Personal fouls for both 44 blue and 17 white, no team fouls." I thought this was a pretty odd decision, and one that you would almost never see in a game that counted.

There was one other quirky play of note in the second half, and on this one, I think the officials got it right.

Thanks to the good folks in the Phoenix Suns' communications department, I was courtside for the team's pre-season opener against the Hawks. Being the first game of the pre-season, it was mostly just local media in attendance, who apparently had no interest in Hawks' coach Mike Woodson's post-game remarks. When he came out of the locker room, it was just me, esteemed writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sekou Smith, and a media rep for the Suns that were waiting for him. Needless to say, it was the perfect opportunity to ask the coach a few questions about the game (and frankly, it would have been weird if I didn't.) Here are coach Woodson's (very brief) post-game comments:

Brett Edwards: You left Marvin [Williams] out there longer than usual, were you just trying to get him more work?

Mike Woodson: I was trying to get him more work, and I knew I wasn't going to play Joe [Johnson] and [Mike] Bibby many minutes, so, you gotta have one of those guys on the floor, Marvin, or Josh Smith to go along with the new guys. But Mo [Maurice Evans], Mo would have taken up seven or eight minute that Marvin got coming down the stretch probably, if he hadn't gotten hurt.

BE: What happened to Mo?

MW: He got an elbow (points to above his eye), he needed to get some stitches.

BE: The first half it seemed like you guys took a lot of outside shots, which maybe lead to the low field goal percentage?

MW: Which I don't like.

BE: Yeah, did you talk to them about that at halftime?

With the Clippers' acquisition of Marcus Camby, and the Sixers' signing of Elton Brand, the market has dried up very quickly for the services of Josh Smith. There aren't really any teams left that can pay Smith what he wants (except for Memphis, who doesn't seem interested in competing anymore), and with the Hawks being able to match any offer, it appears likely that Smith will return to the team next season. But for how long?

SI's Chris Mannix reports that the relationship between Smith and Hawks' coach Mike Woodson is in bad shape, meaning that Smith may be hesitant to sign a long term deal with Atlanta.

... league sources said Smith would not be interested in returning to the Hawks if the team retained coach Mike Woodson, who recently signed a two-year extension. The two have butted heads frequently in Smith's four seasons, and sources said the relationship is beyond repair. With a dearth of offers, Smith may change his tune, but having a volatile relationship on such a young team may not be in the Hawks' best interests.

A more appealing, but less plausible scenario could be for Smith to sign the one-year qualifying offer with Atlanta and try his luck in free agency next season.

Since there aren't any teams that can afford to sign Smith to an offer sheet and force the Hawks to match, the proverbial ball is in Josh's court. Does he go for the money and long term deal, and try to force his coach out Magic Johnson-style? Or does he sign the qualifying offer, play with a chip on his shoulder next season, and go into the unrestricted free agent market in 2009? The latter option seems like the better one to me, but players tend to want to lock up the guaranteed dollars as soon as humanly possible.

Was new Hawks boss Rick Sund impressed with Mike Woodson? If you look only at the fact Sund offered a two-year extension (which Woodson has said he'll accept), then sure. He likes him.

But Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Mark Bradley sees the offering instead as a move of caution -- not endorsement -- from Sund.

Offering an incumbent two more contractual years isn't so much an endorsement as a deferral. (Three years would have been a validation; one year would have been tantamount to repudiation.) The length of the extension suggests Rick Sund isn't sold on Woodson but isn't entrenched enough to defy the owners who rebuffed his predecessor's attempts to depose this coach.

What Bradley writes makes sense, but it's not realistic in today's NBA. Coaches have never had a shorter leash. Byron Scott -- Coach of the Year, took the defending champs to seven games, lottery-to-#2 seed in one year -- got a two-year extension this summer. Avery Johnson and Flip Saunders both got fired despite having recent 60-win seasons. No one is safe.

So to expect Sund to offer up three years or more guaranteed in this climate for a guy who led his talented squad to all of 37 wins? That's madness. Two years is about the strongest endorsement a coach not named Popovich, Sloan or Jackson is bound to get these days.

Previously on FanHouse:
Could Detroit Poach ... ATL's Mike Woodson?
Billy Knight Tried to Fire Mike Woodson Three Times Recently