<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">AUBURN HILLS - Larry Brown had one question for his prot?g?, Hawks Coach Mike Woodson, before the game Wednesday. "Do you still love it?" Brown asked him. It was a fair question. Woodson, a rookie head coach, is a long way from the championship run he experienced as an assistant coach with the Pistons last season. His young and rebuilding Hawks came into The Palace with the second-worst record in the NBA (9-35). They have won four games in 2005. So, when Brown asked if he still loved it, Woodson could have gone in a lot of different directions. Instead, he answered without hesitation: "Absolutely." "This has been everything I expected and then some," Woodson said. "But it's not something that's been so overwhelming that I can't handle it. It's just everything is so new. The ownership is new, there are nine new faces (on the roster), and the whole coaching staff is new. It's been a growing process for all of us." A 99-84 loss to the Pistons notwithstanding, Woodson has been encouraged by the steady growth of rookies Josh Childress, Josh Smith and Royal Ivey, as well as second-year guard Boris Diaw. He also has been encouraged by the steady play of more seasoned pros Antoine Walker, Al Harrington, Tony Delk and Predrag Drobnjak. "You have to take the positives out of the losing sometimes," he said. "The young guys are starting to improve. The last couple of months have been more fun. We've been playing better, we've been competitive and we've been ahead in a lot of games. We just haven't been able to hold on." Woodson has two other sustaining elements: the security of a long-term contract and the unwavering support of team president Billy Knight. </div> Source
