curtmcgirt

That's exactly what I heard from people at the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. No one was going to do any business with them, especially paying them rent and the vig they wanted for the pleasure of using the arena.

No Colangelo either. Damn near killed the Toronto market and would meddle with Bud.

The NBA has no interest in leaving this market. Too many involved parties live and work here. We're a top 10 media market and as the Braves, Falcons and UGA show, when we get it right, we're a goldmine.

One of the perks of my job is that I have access to a lot of places and people don't know I'm there, or rather don't pay attention to me. I on three occasions heard the NBA (possibly Silver at the time, it wasn't Stern's voice) and NHL yelling at ASG over a conference call. They've never liked them and regret signing off on the sales. Once ASG is gone I think you see renewed interest by the NHL. I think the first southern team that really runs into trouble could head here. As for the Hawks, it's obvious that they won't leave, but I hope we get owners who realize how big a deal Ferry, Koonin, and Bud are right now and leave everything be. And don't get swayed to just change things for the sake of change.

Who did you hear wanted to keep the Thrashers? Everything I was hearing around that time was that, yes people wanted them to stay, but no one was willing to work with ASG as the owners of Phillips. .

I'm not willing to get that upset at Bill reporting something we knew was going to happen anyway.

I think its become more and more apparent that John Jenkins is nowhere near the future plans for the Hawks. Talent wise he seems to duplicate Kyle's offensive capabilities and should be able to replicate his defensive abilities. Instead he's getting frequent flyer miles. Meanwhile we've seen Schoeder turn it around in year two. Mike Scott as a part of the rotation. Moose at the end of the rotation, but there nonetheless. And Payne seems to more publicly understand why he isn't in the rotation. Do you think its: Talent Mental ability (not picking up schemes) Maturity (not playing his role, or wanting to) Physical (still injured)

The last time the Hawks were in first place was the 93-94 season. 21 years ago. Unique wore number 21. Is the curse officially over? I'm just tripping y'all. I got a cold and this mucinex got me all crazy.

Sweet Christmas!

I think the crowds showing up could lead to us getting more televized games. A full Phillips sounds different than what we're used to. That crowd at the Clippers game had a sound we'd only heard during the playoffs.

I'll admit that I thought our contracts were structured for a trade to happen. Everything is at reasonable terms and costs, and can be mixed and matched to make a move. But I NEVER thought this team would be this good. I thought they would be good, but not THIS good. I don't want to change a thing about this team at all. Unless something unfortunate happens. The chemistry is perfect right now.

I was going to post about this because it reminds me of soccer supporters groups (which I'm in the midst of starting). In soccer leagues you have to have a large group and they give you discounted season tickets in a strategic section. Usually behind the goals. And they put together travel packages to games as well.

That HAS to be it. Levenson can trigger 60% of the team to be sold most likely from covering cash calls. I'm thinking that its Gearon's share that he covered as the new investors came later.

Gearon HAS to be the hold up on this. The chemistry and production we're getting rated against the talent we have is ridiculous. Even more so considering the 2 year time frame he's done it in.

I can't remember which coach said it, but there was a line to the effect of "you can't have two knuckleheads on a team. One is fine, your team can control that. But with two, you give them someone to be knuckleheads with." Say hello to Lance and PJ.

What made me notice/think that it's changed is that you used to be able to see the tunnel that lead to the VIP bar area. Now you see ushers and regular people.

Has anyone besides me noticed that they've seemingly moved the cameras to the suite side of the arena where corporate ticket holders may not show up? Seems like the arena is more full due to it facing the "paying customer" area.

All the Nique haters need to listen to these other broadcasts. I miss Nique mangling English

I was watching the Heat feed and their commentary was pretty Hawks focused. They love the system, Dennis, Scott, Mack and Korver. They were positive about Bosh, Chalmers and Williams only for the Heat.

The Omni Hotel is a part of the CNN Phillips Complex. The Hilton Garden Inn, Embassy Suites and Glenn Hotel are all walking distance. There's also the Residence Inn just off Peachtree and it has a Cafe Intermezzo in it. Probably better to take your wife there than the Cheesecake Factory. You can Uber or Taxi over to the game. It's not a bad walk from there either and you'll walk by the Ferris Wheel.

I've heard it takes two years to do a complete rebranding. Mostly because the league wants to get rid of all the merchandise.

Koonin may be the best acquisition since Horford.

I agree with your statement, and now for the contradictory part. I think people just don't like Melo because me makes "bad" career decisions. Leaving Denver for NY, then not going to Chicago are thing the writers are going to make him pay for until he wins big. And as far as stats go, more isn't always better. I think analytics have come lightyears in terms of monitoring the flow of the game. I think Melo gets amazing stats outside of the needs of the system.

I love analytics. I got promoted two years ago and I manage 17 guys. But due to the nature of our business 34 people report to me. For YEARS we'd been basing everything on how people "felt" about things. "This guy does a great job." "I really like how that guy works." We have two employees, who are the same age, and people had completely opposing views on them. Everyone loved one and hated the other. That feeling crept into management. So I decided to look into it. They are both personable so its not a "likeability" issue. But the one everyone hated did a better job when you looked at the actual numbers. His production was 40-50% higher than the other guy. Then I looked into other workers. A lot of the people we "thought" did a good job didn't. They were atrocious. I think our eyes see what they want to see sometimes. And we let others opinions become part of our own and shape reality around that. Analytics are great for clearing away personal biases and seeing what actually exists.