Dejay

This team is STILL recovering from the aftermath of this trade. As I've stated on many an occasion, it would've been different if the Hawks were a .500 team and they traded Nique to a contender to be the final piece, ala Ray Bouque-style when the Bruins sent him to Colorado to get a championship ring that he rightfully deserved. That would have been the RIGHT way to send Nique off; one last shot to get a ring that he deserved while the Hawks acquire a piece or two to rebuild with. Instead, they sent him to NBA Siberia for a guy that didn't want to be here in the first place. Let me be clear; THERE WAS NOTHING REMOTELY POSITIVE TO COME OUT OF THIS TRADE FOR THE HAWKS. The lesson for today is that you do not, do not, do not, trade the face of your franchise in the midst of a 50+ win campaign.

Yep, that's like saying drafting Adam Keefe instead of Sprewell, Horry, Hubert Davis, and Anthony Peeler would have been a great pick if Keefe had a vertical leap beyond 0.000003 inches. Or saying Dion Glover would have been a great draft pick if he could shoot beyond 8 feet. And speaking of great pickups by Babs, how about Todd Mundt? Willie Burton? Henry James? Ennis Whatley? Jim Les? Fat John Bagley? While Babs were bringing in these scrubs, the Pacers, Bulls, and countless other teams in the East passed them by. And as for the 'Nique trade, please don't get me started on that. Nique for Manning destroyed much of the diehard fanbase who stuck with the team when Kasten gave up after the 1988-89 season playoff loss to Milwaukee. That season was supposed to be the payoff for both Nique and Hawk fans everywhere and Babcock ruined it. Sure, it would've been nice to get a shooter but screw that, let's trade our franchise player for a guy who said that they weren't on his list to sign with from DAY ONE, in the midst of a potential championship year no less. Sure, the attendance picked up a little during the mid-90's but it never regained the fervor that it had in the 80's during 'Nique heyday. Only Babs would make a move as asinine as that.

'His shortcomings were talent evaluation, draft selection and young player development.' Isn't this part of the criteria for being a GOOD GM in the first place?????

I agree with you, if we get the 1st pick, it would be a dis-service to not entertain the offer of trading down. Being a lifelong Hawks fan, I can't help seeing Bogut without thoughts of Adam Keefe and Jon Koncak immediately filling my head. Both of them were great college players and were forces in their respective conferences (just like Bogut) and we all knew what happenned once they donned a Hawks jersey, don't we? You think Golden State would love to take back the high picks they spent on stiffs like Adonal Foyle and Todd Fuller? I know a lot of folks on this board like Bogut and, while I didn't exactly have Utah season tickets, I did see enough to say that he would be a solid NBA player. And that's my point. You cannot come away with the #1 pick of the draft with just SOLID; you have to get more than that. I know, 'there are no Labrons, Shaqs, or Magics in this draft. That's EXACTLY why you trade down in the first place if you can't get what you want and, in the Hawks case, so desperately need; a franchise player. If you think that Bogut will be that dominant guy to lead the turnaround for this franchise, you draft him. However, if there are any, and I mean ANY doubts, YOU HAVE TO TRADE DOWN. This is the biggest draft decision this team has ever faced, which will adversely affect them for the next decade if they 'eff it up; Trading the pick for 3/13 would be a good trade-down, IMHO.

They shouldn't be raising prices anywhere in the building when you consider their record. Didn't they learn ANYTHING from the Falcons when the Don (Arthur Blank) bought the team? He did everything (from lowering ticket prices to improving the parking situation, etc.,) to get folks motivated to buy into Falcon football. Sure Michael Vick was already here but there was no guarantee then (and even now) that he was going to be all that we hoped he would be. Blank catered to the fans, even to the point of losing $$$, but take a look now; a winning product, a soon to be renovated Dome (i.e. more $$$), and a season-ticket waiting list a mile long despite the price increases. The Hawks should be trying to draw more people TO the building not AWAY from it, regardless of where people want to sit.

That's the only word I can think of. If this team had won, let's say, TWENTY MORE GAMES, then maybe you could justify it. At least you could say that the team is on the rise with more to come. But to raise ticket prices for a potential 70-loss team in a jaded (not to mention transient) fanbase like Atlanta is asinine. I read in the AJC that Atlanta Spirit's Bernie Mullin justify the raise by stating that they needed to get to the league average in ticket prices (huh?) and that they were selling 'entertainment', not basketball. Is he INSANE?!! He must understand that this isn't Washington, New York, or Philly where folks continue to pay big $$$ to see games every year even if their team stinks; in Atlanta, we have 11 1/2 months of GOOD weather so folks actually find other things to do rather than pluck down tons of $$$ on a sorry product. He also must understand that this isn't Sacramento, Portland, or San Antonio where pro basketball is the only game in town. Last I checked there are two major college football teams within a stone's throw away (UGA and Tech), another half dozen within a 2-3 hour drive from here (Tennessee, 'Bama, Auburn, Clemson, etc.), the Braves, and Michael Vick doing the impossible down the street. I guess he doesn't.

Trading down from the #1 spot? I've been rolling that idea in my head too and I'm with you. Sure you don't get the top pick only to trade down from it but if you have an opportunity to get some additional picks and a player or two who can help you out immediately (i.e., a guy who otherwise wouldn't be here), why not at least explore your options? Of course, the starting price for teams willing to make this move with the Hawks will have to be high (their lotto pick, a future lotto pick, and a player that knows what a 16/7 career average looks like for starters). Think about it, folks. Why wait 2-3 years on Bogut to be the next Dirk Nowitski (or worse, the next Jim McIlvaine) when you could get immediate value from the pick right away by getting a good player in return, a future pick, and STILL have a lottery pick to play with THIS YEAR? Although Billy Knight did a good job with the draft last year, this team hasn't drafted an All-Star in 21 SEASONS, so I'm STILL not sold on this franchise finally being able to make a historic pick like the top one overall without it folding like a cheap card table. If Bogut proves to be everything that the 'experts' say he is during the workouts, I say draft him. Otherwise, you have to trade down....

I remember reading a column from this same guy stating that the Super Bowl had the two most deserving cities in it. Huh? What makes a city 'deserve' to have a winner? What makes a fan 'hardcore' in the first place? I hear that term so many times it drives me up the wall. Do you get your 'hardcore' pass for attending so many games after your team gets eliminated from playoff contention? I just don't see the logic in that. So to all of the 'hardcore' fans out there, forgive me (and the rest of Atlanta) for having higher expectations and actually demanding to see a better product before taking out my wallet. Forgive me for having the (gasp) common sense to find something else to spend my $$$ on in this town other than to watch a team get beat (again). I don't want my teams to be 'competitive'; I expect DOMINANCE. Yankee fans, Duke basketball fans, USC football fans expect it from their teams; why can't we have a title run here (and believe me, NL East division titles certainly DO NOT COUNT)? I'm tired of hearing about the 'process'; we've all been there and done that. After spending the last 37 years in this town and getting not just one but TWO arenas built for their cause (the Omni and Philips), it's high time to cash in on the investment. It's time to cash in for waiting on Stacey Augmon to develop a jump shot, for watching Jim Les and Ennis Whatley get the ball taken away from them like children, for waiting on Adam Keefe to get a shot off without getting it blocked, for watching David Thompson and Marvin Webster leave us high and dry for the ABA, for Danny Manning, for Deke wagging his finger to the crowd under the basket while Scottie Pippen take the loose ball and dunks in a playoff game, for J.R. Rider, for Jon Koncak and Blair Rasmussen locking up the cap situation for years, for Pete Babcock's incompetence, for Stan Kasten's negligence, and most importantly, for all of the wisecracks from ESPN and TNT constantly calling us the worst sports town in America and doing their best to get the team moved. Sorry for the rant but I had to get this off my chest before my boss comes back in the office. GAME, SET, MATCH.

Have you seen the prices for a Hawks game? I know it's amoungst the lowest in the league but c'mon, $35 upper-deck tickets (the good ones, not the ones wayyy up top)? I live in Atlanta and I can't justify spending that kind of $$$ on a 10-47 ballclub. I see absolutely NOTHING wrong with folks wanting to stay away, regardless of the promising young players; long-time residents here have heard the 'rebuilding' story before with not only the Hawks but the Falcons and Braves as well. I know this rebuilding process maybe different than those of the Babs and Kasten regime but many others are waiting on proof, i.e., WINS THAT MATTER. What's wrong with putting a premium on your entertainment dollar? What's wrong with wanting more for your investment and believe me, I've been waiting on a return on my investment when it comes to this team for over twenty years and running. I'm waiting on my 'payoff' and many others are too. Call it fairweather, call it spoiled; I call it common sense.

The reason is simple; THEY DON'T WIN. Remember back when the Bulls unloaded everyone, while telling their fans that they were going to make a run at Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, and Kevin Garnett? Jerry Krause had convinced himself that with all of their cap room, Garnett and possibly Duncan were on the way. The end result? All three chose to either stay with their team or go elsewhere and they ended up with Eddie Robinson instead. How often do star players on contending teams leave via free agency to be part of a team that is in obvious rebuilding mode? Hardly ever. It's difficult to convince an established player, let alone a star, to be a part of the rebuilding process when the original team can quickly re-up with him, make a sign and trade (obviously, you'll need REAL players to be a part of this process and rarely have the Hawks had enough on their roster to be a factor), or a contending team (i.e., Pistons, Pacers, Heat, etc.) can wield the mid-level exception at them, with the added bonus of being a part of a title run. The team has to be past square one in the rebuilding process before players come running down here.

can get you an entree at Applebee's!! The man wasn't garbage of the Alan Henderson mold (how ironic), but trash is trash no matter how one spins it. Just how do you separate garbage from the really stinking out loud garbage anyway? I guess you throw the stinking garbage out first (unless Pete Babcock runs your team; in that case, he gets a multi-million dollar extension).

I guess Clyde Drexler wasn't on the roster during Houston's second championship run, huh? I give him all the credit for winning the first one, though.

If he wasn't that bad, how come he didn't blossom with another team? Dan Dickau didn't let that stop him; what was Rumeal's problem? I don't recall Bob Weiss's name being among the HOF candidates mentioned. Chuck Daly, the Nets' coach during much of that time, stated on more than one occasion that if he had another guard on the roster, Rumeal would've still been in Atlanta. That came from a HOF and Dream Team head coach, not me. When Morlon Wiley is threatening to take your job away, that should tell you all you need to know when it comes to Rumeal's worth on an NBA court. All he did in my eyes was hit two free throws in a national title while riding shotgun to Glen Rice, Sean Higgins, Terry Mills, and another future NBA player that I cannot name right now.

If you listen to the 'experts', they will say that he didn't win a ring and didn't make his teammates better; all he could do was score, dunk, and not much else. They would say that he lacked the 'intangibles' to be a winner and should not have been on the list, let alone the Hall. I and just about everyone else here say BS to that. Unlike Bird, Magic, Jordan, Olajuwon, and Isiah, Dominique never had the luxury of having a Hall of Fame candidate to ride shotgun alongside him (and nope, a washed up Moses Malone doesn't count). Yet, unlike many of today's NBA players, he never publicly whined about wanting to be traded when Kasten and later, Babs would bring in the Adam Keefes and Ennis Whatleys of the world and still got the team within a game or two of playing for a conference title. He didn't get much help from his teammates, who often played hot potato with the ball only to give it to him with five ticks on the shotclock and three guys defending him. He received NOOOOOO help from Kasten and Co., who would make horrid draft picks annually, constantly cry about the salary cap during the offseason, and stand pat during the trade deadline while the Celtics, Bulls, Knicks, Pistons, and many others made moves and passed them by, only to make deals that were often two years too late. As much as he had to carry the franchise on his back, Nique should've called DFACS and sued the team for non-support (as a season ticket holder during much of his run, I believe he would've had a strong case). The fact that he had little help on and off the court and still managed to average over 24 a game, while shooting a decent percentage with everyone in the arena knowing who was going to get the ball on EVERY POSSESSION, makes him a first-ballot HOF in my book. GAME, SET, MATCH.

Besides that and the Mookie Blaylock trade that rid us of the great Rumeal Robinson (note extreme sarcasm), what did he do right? It would've been different if the Hawks were a .500 team and they sent 'Nique to a contender that needed that final piece, ala Ray Bouque when the Bruins sent him to Colorado a few years ago to win a ring that he rightfully deserved. By doing that, he would've had one last shot to win a championship while our team received a player and/or a pick to help us rebuild. That would've been the right way to send Nique off, short of him winning a ring here of course. After all he did for this team, for Babs to send him to the armpit of basketball, for a guy that publicly stated that he didn't want to sign long-term here is one of the asinine moves in pro sports, PERIOD. Babs' incompetence, along with Kasten's negligence, single-handedly detonated this franchise to where it is today; about 2 additional years from playoff contention. Just how in the blue hell do you go 20 years between drafting All-Stars anyway?! How do you go 20 years and draft one guy (Jason Terry) that currently has a career scoring average in DOUBLE FIGURES?! The fact that Kasten basically got a chance to 'resign' and run off into the sunset without giving us the satisfaction of getting the ax Vince McMahon/Donald Trump style by the new owners just makes me sick to my stomach. Please, please, don't get me started on this again.

He was another reason why Mookie led the league in minutes played. You know the backup point guard isn't working out when power forwards are able to take the ball away at midcourt. I'll never forget during a Hawks pregame show on TV, Mike Glenn was talking to Ennis about his 'improved' jump shot with Ennis trying a couple of shots; both CLANGING OFF THE RIM!!! I nearly collapsed a lung from laughing. But anyway, I have a scrub for you guys; remember Jim Les?

Should have put Babs, Kasten, and the AOL logo under the banner come to think of it....

I've read that they are going after Shaq, Tim Duncan, use the MCE to trade for Kevin Garnett, and the veteran's minimum to entice the Falcons to trade Michael Vick. I know I saw that reported somewhere....

Yesterday. That's how quick I'd sign off on this trade. Is Brand as athletic as Kmart? No, but Kmart isn't nearly as productive as Brand is, either. I could be wrong but looking at Brand's career stats, we're not talking about another Shareef Abdur-Raheem moment here, where he puts up 20/10 and little else. I'll put it this way; what would Brand's numbers be if he was riding shotgun next to Jason Kidd and what would Kmart's numbers be if he was playing for the Clips? 'Nuff said.

I wouldn't go that far. I know he was putting up decent numbers (about 14/6 while Laettner was out) and won the MIP award but I was one of a small minority in the city to cry out AGAINST re-signing him because he did all of that in a CONTRACT YEAR ala Jeff Blauser with the Braves. Up until that time, he did next to NOTHING to even earn the rookie deal he did get. Looking back, the team's weakness was not at the 4; it was the 3 where Ty Corbin, Ken Norman, Willie Burton and host of other scrubs all gave it a run at the position. We could have solved it had they taken the pick they used on Henderson and used it on a small forward from Wisconsin who was later picked up by Phoenix with the 20th pick. His name; MICHAEL FINLEY. As far as the 3rd worst deal in franchise history (after Koncak and Henderson), it isn't even close. Anyone remember Blair Rasmussen? After the Koncak deal threw salaries off the scale, Denver re-signed Blair Rasmussen to a 7 year/$17 million deal. Now don't get me wrong; Rasmussen put up wayyyy better numbers than Koncak would in his best wet dream but he wasn't worth more than Kiki, Alex English, and Fat Lever. The fans there threw a fit and would have run the GM out of town if he didn't pack up and sign with another team. The GM's name? PETE BABCOCK. The first thing Babs does once he gets here? Trade Kenny Smith away to Houston for Tim McCormick (whose knees were as brittle as egg shells) and bring in his overpaid boy from Denver. Safe to say, no one should be surprised that Rasmussen would play about 1.5 seasons here before back injuries ended his career. That, along with Koncak's deal put the Hawks in salary cap he!! for years. Thanks to that deal, the Hawks had no choice but to watch other teams pass them by in the Eastern Conference. Sounds familiar, doesn't it???? Game, set, match.

All I'm saying is that for all the flak we get down here, we never, EVER hear a negative statement about another town. And for all of the folks who love to pile on about the 'fairweather fans' here, give me one city, just ONE city, that has two or more pro sports teams that didn't have its share of non-support when things went south and piling on the bandwagon when things were great again. I said cities with TWO OR MORE TEAMS so the San Antonios, Sacramentos, Portlands, and Green Bays don't count. It's real easy to come out when the Blazers are the only game in town but what if they had an NFL, NHL, and major league baseball team to contend with year-round? Give it a shot. St. Louis? Nope; check out the no-shows in the that place BEFORE Marshall Faulk came to town. Besides, didn't they lose an NFL team already? Denver? Nope (see Nuggets before Carmelo Anthony came to town). Chicago? Nope. Boston? [censored] no (remember the Patriots when [censored] McPherson ran the show?). Philly? Nope (see Sixers after they traded Barkley before AI arrived). Again, where is that perfect sports town????

I guess with the Super Bowl being two weeks away, the national press don't have anything else to write about so they have no choice but to trot out their 'Atlanta sucks as a sports town' columns once again. My $64,000 question of the week is simple; what did our town do to them to bring such an ire? When they aren't complaning about the city being too cold when the Super Bowl was here in 2000, it is about how we don't sell out for Braves playoff games and how they should move the Hawks to a city that cares. What gives??? I think this goes back to when Atlanta won the Olympic Games in 1996. Remember, the Olympics were once regarded as a money pit for years (see Montreal) until L.A. hosted it in 1984. It reminded me of the type of girl in high school that other guys wouldn't mess with because she wasn't that hot but you hung with her anyway when no one else would, married her, and she blossomed into a beauty queen. Now the other guys desire to have her and resent you for it by stating every flaw you've had since age 3 and piling on whenever possible. Common sense says for them to 'let it go' but they just can't do it. Same case here. Up until the Olympics, I've never heard such constant resentment from the national media before; we were just another 'hick' town with a few tall buildings, a place called Buckhead, and bad sports teams to boot. But now, everyone, from Rich Eisen to Jack McCallum to Michael Wilbon to Stuart Scott to Charles Barkley to Linda Kohn to Steven A. Smith to Mitch Albom wants to get in line to rail on this city and it makes me sick to my stomach. I'd love for one of them, FOR ONCE, to do their due diligence (i.e. homework) and do a story on WHY we don't go to the games instead of just pointing out that we don't every night on ESPN and TNT. Didn't the Lakers have attendance problems after 'Showtime' ended (pre-Shaq)? Where were the columns about them? What about the no-shows in Giants Stadium when the Jets went 1-15? How easy is it to get a ticket to Cominsky Park these days? What about the Tigers in Detroit? They have a new park and they can't draw either. We never get columns blasting those cities for its non-support, don't we? Instead, we get to hear them rationalize it with 'well, the owners of those franchises don't care so the fans are right by not showing up' or 'well, the GM was so bad that the fans stayed away'. But here? Well, Atlanta just stinks as a sports town and the team should move. HUH? It's real easy to get on your soapbox and cry about the 'horrible' fans in Atlanta when you have a six-figure income, free press passes with a free buffet on press row, while driving to the game in a $50K car and living in a $300K home with a nanny to babysit your kids. I wonder if ANY of them would actually take $$$ out of their pockets to pay for this product on $27K with a mortgage, car note, student loans, past due credit card bills, a spouse and three kids at home. I seriously doubt it. Again, what is wrong with having a higher expectation for your entertainment $$$??????

That's giving Hawks management an easy out and frankly, they don't deserve one. I don't recall my parents ever excusing me for missing curfew because Johnny around the block missed curfew also. As I've stated before, I could care less who the Bucks traded for last year. I really could give a fat baby's ass who the Nuggets picked up in 1996 or who the Cavaliers got in 1995. Last I checked, the HAWKS are the only NBA team that reside in this town and they are solely accountable for the mess they're currently in. I never look around after another Hawk loss and say, 'oh well, half of the teams that played tonight lost.' All I care about is that the HAWKS lost and to me, that's all that counts. Forgive me for being selfish but that's the way I've always seen it. This team is the only NBA team I've ever known and I prefer to keep it that way. I never wax poetic about bad trades and bad draft picks that other teams have made; I focus on the ones the HAWKS have made and what they could do to make things right. GAME, SET, MATCH.

As Vince McMahon once said, in order to make money, you have to be willing to spend it. The new owners have to do the same kind of thing that Arthur Blank did for the Falcons; lower ticket prices, get involved in the community (and not look down at the general public as raw sewage from the ivory towers like the AOL guys did), and give 'Nique a position of importance that doesn't involve him cutting ribbons at a new Home Depot and virtually being another Harry the Hawk in an Armani suit. They have to basically reintroduce this franchise to the city since the previous regime did such a good job promoting everyone else EXCEPT their team. I say cut everything and promote everything; ticket prices, season tickets, concessions (enough with the $5.50 nachos already), everything across the board. If they have to give away (not just sell but GIVE AWAY) more blocks of seats to church groups, youth leagues, state employees, etc., to get 14-16,000 in the house instead of 7-9,000, so be it. More important than that, they have to show the paying public that they have a sense of urgency to get this team back into the sporting conscienceness of the city and not just be satisfied with 45-50 win seasons and first-round knockouts in the playoffs (provided that they return to being a playoff team in the first place). They have to return to the business of WINNING basketball games, not just participating in them. That, more than anything else, is what will ultimately keep fannies in the seats. Anything else is just a short-term gimmick.

I posted something to this effect earlier when McDavid and Co. was in the initial stages of buying the team, so I'm gladly someone else picked up on it also. The state of the scouting department has to be addressed immediately after league approval. There's a reason why Jason Terry is the only Hawks' draft pick since the advent of the lottery in 1985 to have a double-digit scoring average for his career. Couple that along with management's notorious track record of not being able to attract/retain free agents that other teams actually want (and no, Ennis Whatley, Matt Bullard, and Snoop Graham doesn't count) have forced them to rely totally on good trades to field a decent team with no depth because their draftees just weren't any good. As we all know, all it took was one really bad trade (Smith/Gray for Rider/Jackson) to throw this franchise into a complete tailspin, which probably would've been avoided had the scouting department pinpointed some guys that could actually play instead of continually bringing in the Adam Keefes and Ed Grays of the world. It has to be priority one.