Hawks finally playing hardball

[BornandDieHawks]

If you believe the one rumor, "BK nixed the 3 way trade which would have brought Watson and Nene to Atlanta because he did not want Watson", then that tells me BK knows AL is not going to resign here. I know AL says all the right things for the media, but behind close doors I believe he has let it be known he is jumping ship.

If that's the case, I have to give BK credit for holding out for the best trade possibility. In the past two years we have two major trade prospects which we did not get equal value (Walker and Sheed). The Walker deal looked decent on paper until Payton refused to report. We did come away with draft picks but we could have strong armed some teams who wanted these players to put them over the hump like Phoenix did us because they knew we really wanted JJ.

I would like for us resign Al because I can see the team coming together and with money under the salary cap I feel we can finally lure top free agents to Atlanta.

If we do not get into this Artest trade somehow then I think BK will wait until we get closer to the deadline and pressure the teams who feel they are in the race and put the hammer to then and get the most out of the trade.