In his own words: Mike Woodson

	Mike Woodson guided the Hawks to an 8-7 record in January, the team's first winning month since April 2004. AP

The Hawks (18-29) have gone 5-3 in the last fortnight, which in the recent history of Atlanta will go down as a hot streak. But don't blame the Hawks' problems on coach Mike Woodson (57-154, .270), a Larry Brown protégé who took on the impossible assignment of raising the NBA's youngest roster over the last three years. Here he basically warns other teams against the pipe dream of rebuilding with youth.

• On the absence of veterans to help develop his younger players:

"That's how I learned as a player when I came out of college and into the league. That's the best method of learning. Unfortunately for us, we don't have that method. These young guys have got to learn on the fly. They've got to learn while playing, and that can be very humbling. As a coach I've got to keep them up. Being so young, you've got to try to instill confidence and keep them playing at a high level because that's what it's all about.

"I truly felt if we could have stayed healthy, we could have been very, very competitive. And just being competitive puts you in a different light where you can win games.''

• On whether the ongoing legal battle between Steve Belkin and his fellow Hawks owners prevents the team from spending its $8 million in cap space:

"I don't think that affects us. Our hands are not tied from spending the money. It's a matter of making the right move to spend the money. I just wish we were at a point that we had a nice sense of what our young guys can really do and how the team as a unit is performing.''

• On the desired ratio of one veteran player per young player on the roster:

"It would make life easier if it were that situation. But as I took this job, I knew it was a challenge. I've never been afraid of taking on challenges. If I didn't do it, someone else was going to take the challenge, and I'm a very competitive guy. You just feel like as a coach you can take 12 guys and go win a basketball game. But sometimes that's just not being realistic.

"I've got to continue to push guys, I've got to continue to make sure that these young guys learn how to play at a high level every night. That's where they falter, because they don't know what it means to play every second of every minute at a high level.''

• On pushing young players without losing them:

"That's what I'm in it for: I'm for young guys developing as players and not cheating the basketball game. If I let them cheat the game, then I feel like I'm not doing my job. But I haven't lost them; they have competed for the most part. I just wish I could get them to the next step. It's not about being close; it's climbing that hill and staying there.''

• On the impossibility of winning with a roster overloaded with youth:

"It's not going to ever happen. The middle-class to elite teams, they're just too good for you to really be at the level where they are, being so young. I don't use that as an excuse. That's just a reality. It's so unfair. And there is a process, there is a waiting process. It might take this team another year or two before you actually peak and get where you need to be. Because those guys now will have had four years in the league, and they should be starting to take the next step to where you're talking about really making the playoffs.''

• On 21-year-old Josh Smith, the 6-9 forward who in his third year is averaging an impressive 14 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.6 blocks and 1.6 steals:

"When you get them from high school like Josh Smith -- who I think has made major, major strides -- he had no clue. He didn't know how to play hard. He thought in his mind he was playing hard. Hey, that's great, but at this level you've got to play much, much harder. He couldn't dribble the ball, he couldn't shoot it, he couldn't pass it. I mean all the little fundamental things that you learn at a very early age, you had to teach him.''