Seano

He definitely brings some attitude. Perk is an interesting thought anyway, as he may be an amnesty candidate.

Yeah, the Celts were my first thought too, as there is hardly a team I despise more (an essential component for a rivalry), but those were the Celts of Pierce and Garnett, and those Celts are no more. And in lieu of them, we've got several potential rivals, but in my opinion, no real natural ones, and that's why I love that McCartney approach, as CU, being so impossibly shitty for so long, didn't have any natural rivals either, so McCartney might have started much lower the pecking post the old Big 8, and maybe declared Iowa State or K-State or Oklahoma State or Kansas his rival, but he eschewed that shit straight from the start by drawing a giant red circle right around the Nebraska date, and how everyone (including yours truly) thought him insane for doing so, not even attempting to ladder-up, but taking on the 900 lb gorilla right away, making that his absolute emphasis, the team which had bedeviled the University of Colorado for literally decades before, and how the games got suddenly closer and closer until we finally beat them in Boulder (and skies collapsed), and then the next year we beat them in Lincoln (and world's collided), and it became a national showcase, CU vs. NU, every year, the Friday after Thanksgiving. And it was as we began to become competitive and then beat them, the scales fell from the eyes with such enormous realization, that holy f***, we took on the beast, we have slain him, and all things are possible from this point, and so they were. And I fully understand that comparing football to basketball is akin to comparing an apple to an orange, but the underlying point beyond the games, that being that absolutely freaking anything is possible within this lifetime, that is what's relevant, and that is what stands. And so hell yes, aim at the Heat.

Nah. I don't really see the Bucks as our rivals, do you? Yeah, they have our former head coach, the man most Hawks fans would have run out of town on a rail if not tarred and feathered beforehand (a slight exaggeration, but...). And Teague? Well hey, that's just business, and it happens all the time, and these are not the things a rivalry makes. And honestly, the Bucks are such a non-entity on the NBA I'd almost feel embarrassed as to call them our 'rival'. I think an essential component of a rivalry is you have to absolutely hate as well as respect your rival, even if (at the moment they might be far, far better than you). I lived in Boulder, Colorado back during the resurgence of CU football under Coach Bill McCartney, when after literally decades of being doormats, they arose from the dead, and how McCartney, every year, would circle the Nebraska game in red on the calendar, and would drive, drive, drive his players towards that, and how after 30+ years in which the Nebraska margin of victory was approximately 58-10, suddenly it wasn't, and the games got much closer, and Colorado began winning, and eventually dominating NU, and all this culminating in CU sharing the split National Championship with Georgia Tech in 1991. Long story short, shoot for the top. You want to generate a rival, aim for the Heat.

I don't really mind that so much, because if there is any axiom on this earth which holds a grain of truth, that would be that some view the world as being a half empty cup, while others will always see it half-full, and that is just a fundamental aspect of human nature, such differing perceptions of the world, and whether willful or not. That's just who we are. And and as you noted, Sothron and whomever else has every right to their opinion, and who knows, they might even be right, and we might be headed down to Hell in a hand-basket all over again. However, I can't help but think, hope and envision a half-full cup, and to me personally, it would just be an absolutely epic drag to be so fatalistic as to have virtually given up before it's even started. But it's such difference of mindset, viewpoint, and opinion which makes a message-board. I mean that's what makes it vibrant and real, are those differences, and the stimulation of thought they bring about along with the discussions they raise, as opposed to some stagnant fricken backwater in which everyone agrees with everyone else. It is valuable to have such fundamental disagreement of view, not only to help crystallize your own, but much more importantly so that you might try and see the other side, as they are equally fans too. And one thing I will say for Sothron, and Hotlanta, and others of their divergent mindset, is they are absolutely Hawks fans, and all negativity and frustration aside (and honestly, who isn't f***ing frustrated here? I've been starving as a Hawks fan for 40+ years), they never take that out on their fellow fans,but rather just the team, the ownership, the direction, or whatever.

Well done. Excellent post.

And for whatever it's worth, I would never call anyone an 'idiot', least of all a brother, as that is just pathetic, but then again that's entirely reflective upon the issuer such insult itself, and indicative their sour, bullshit, and poisonous mindset. And the fact they've not got the balls to stand behind their own poison words, well, again, I can 'joke' too, but at least I've the sack to stand behind whatever words I might say, and not couch it in terms of 'joke' afterwards. And again I apologize to AHF as well the rest this board, however I do believe one should take and bear the responsibility their words, and live by them, as what else is there in lack of accountability, but yellow-bellied gutlessness?

That's fine, and my apologies to the rest of the board. I simply choke and chafe against such unwarranted arrogance. I cannot freaking stand it, but I've said my piece, and now I'm done.

I'm sure you don't like being confronted with your own contemptuous words, but I've neither need nor apology from the likes of you, so maybe in lieu of that, you might offer your apologies to the rest of this board, or not. Turd is as turd does.

Humor? Precisely what's so funny about being an arrogant asshole? I'd have far more respect for you if you'd just simply be such, as opposed to being a gutless turd cannot stand behind his own assholish statements right on this board, but how you try to hide them now in the guise of 'humor', and sorry, it just doesn't wash.

Well then there ya have it, such wisdom come from the man surely wise enough to be an NBA GM, and the one dripping with such acidic contemptuousness as to declare half the Hawks fans posting here as being 'idiots', quoted, and never forgotten, so in light of that, perhaps you're simply far too elevated as to participate amongst the likes of us?

And more on the Joe thing, I remember thinking at that time "Whaaaaat?" Are you freaking serious, and why in the name of God with all the options this man had, including simply staying with a team had every possibility of reaching the NBA Finals, with the money being the same all over the place, why and how on earth would he choose to come to a team fresh off a 13 season? It was like hitting the lottery, as in someone FINALLY wanting to be here, and not just to draw a check, but to finally have a team where he could be the leader, stamp it, and make it his own, and that took just massive balls on his own part, and I remember sweating through that whole ASG/Belkin mess as it drew out for weeks and weeks and with Joe just hanging on the line and twisting in the wind, and how I was sure he'd eventually say "You know what? F*ck this clown-ass outfit, I'm done", but how he never did, and how I thanked God the day that shit finally ended and he became a Hawk, and the history after that speaks for itself. He turned us from an absolute embarrassment into an outfit being capable and relevant again, and if there lies singular Hawks fan lived through that time who cannot acknowledge that fact, well then, I'm sorry you do not see.

Ditto. I cannot help but feel gratitude to Joe, for wanting (or more accurately, insisting) to come to this team which had just finished 13-69, and for all the opportunities he had, including staying with Phoenix, which at that time was a team literally knocking on Finals door, and for him choosing to come to such dreg outfit as those Atlanta Hawks, I hailed him as a savior, and his arrival here coincided with our resurgence, as we went from a 13 win team, to 26 the very next year, to 30 the year after, and then to 37, 47, and 53 wins. And our failure to break through was certainly not the fault of Joe, but the rather the disastrous results of the BK regime surrounding him. So hell yeah, I'm grateful, as he absolutely did elevate us from the one of the lowest of the low to a team might actually (in a far off, distant way) be considered a 'contender'.

Well, the concept of 'boring' of course is an entirely subjective thing, as shown by the fact that while you might find the Miami Heat to be boring to watch, I sure as heck don't. I mean I love to watch a team with two surefire first-ballot Hall of Famers in their prime (along with a highly, highly capable third sidekick), all this made even more spicy and interesting by the fact that they're in our division, and so on top of everything else, I've just got endless reasons to root against them, and those factors for me = a most compelling watch. And there are those who think the Spurs are boring, while I see a team so fundamentally solid and sound and so completely committed to being so on both ends of the the court, well, I just see in that a style of play that is an absolute joy to watch, and who can argue with the winning, as style aside, can winning ever truly get boring? Anyhow, back to the topic of the thread, I am optimistic about the Hawks, as I always am going into every season. Hell, if I didn't feel optimism and a sense of hope each and every year, then I'd go follow professional lawn-darts or tiddlywinks or whatever the case might be. If I ever gave in to a sense of hopelessness and despair regarding this team or any other, well than I simply wouldn't bother anymore, as life is far too short. There is always hope. Until you are dead and fricken buried in the ground, hope lives.

Man, I really wish people wouldn't do things like this.

Great news. Now I'm hoping we'll see him in the Summer League and then Atlanta this season. No time like the present to start getting acclimated to the Association.