"I've never complained since I've been here," Woodson said, trying to clear the air after his comments in an interview with Yahoo Sports last weekend created a stir. "I've never asked for an extension. Never. The question was asked of me, 'why have you not been extended?' And I wasn't going to sugarcoat that for anyone."

Woodson has one year left on his deal, as does the rest of his coaching staff. A 47-win season and an appearance in the Eastern Conference semifinals would appear to be sufficient for at least a conversation about an extension.

That hasn't happened, and Woodson said he's fine with that.

"What's going on right now is about those guys in that locker room," Woodson said. "It's not about me and my staff. When we came in, I told ownership if we couldn't get this team into the playoffs in four years that they would be justified in firing me, but we've done everything we said we would.

"So I'm not complaining about my contract. I've always done my job. That's all we've ever done. And I've always thanked ownership for letting me and my staff do the job they hired us to do."

Bigger than Basketball

As happy as Jason Collins was to sign his contract with the Hawks last week, he had bigger concerns back home in Los Angeles.

The Station fire currently raging throughout Los Angeles is the largest in county history at more than 150,000 acres. Collins was born and raised in the shadow of the fire and still calls Southern California home in the offseason.

"I can definitely smell the smoke," Collins said. "I'm about a 15- to 20-minute drive from where the fires are, but my parents' house is closer to where the Station fire is. Where I live you can see the huge cloud of smoke. It looks like a volcano with all the smoke rising into the air.

"But the last couple of days the humidity has picked up, and that's helped the firefighters out a little bit. The good thing is everybody knows that the firefighters in Los Angeles and all the guys from all over the country that assist them are some of the best in the business. And they have to be with what they are facing."

Happy house hunting

Collins chuckled at the thought of having to go house hunting again. After playing his first six-and-a-half years in New Jersey, he has played with three different teams (Memphis, Minnesota and now the Hawks ) since then.

"It's definitely different," Collins said. "I was fortunate to play six-and-a-half years for one team, but as it is, this is a profession where you go from city to city, job to job and team to team. It's your job to be a professional and help your team win on and off the court, wherever you are."