Biggest Flops in Hawks History..

[Diesel]

This is just some of what I feel were the biggest flops (Disappointments) in Basketball history (with emphasis on the Hawks)...

First the Hawks:

1. Danny Manning for Dominique. What would any Hawks Sob story be without this.

2. Roy Marble. I think he was out of Iowa. The next Jordan. Babcock proclaimed he would be the maine...

3. Travis Mays. We got this guy in trade of Spud Webb from Sacto. I was so mad. I don't think this guy ever played for us did he?

4. SAR/Theo/JT/Big Dog (The Big 4). There has never been such a bigger collection of disappointment in Hawks History. A history lesson that what Looks good on Paper isn't always good.

5. Rumeal Robinson. I know that many people believed that Rumeal was a very bad PG. But the truth is that he wasn't that bad. He just didn't live up to his UM expectations.

6. The day I found out John Drew was a Junkie. I went to a Hawks game. Got a chance to go back to meet the players aft er the game. There was tree, Fast Eddie, for some reason, I don't remember seeing Dan Roundfield... But in the hallway, I saw John Drew talking to Micheal Ray Richardson. These were the Knicks.. We were supposed to hate Knicks. But John Drew was talking to him... About 20 minutes later, Drew was laid out in the middle of the floor. I think it was Fast Eddie who nonchaunlauntly said.. Don't touch him, he'll be Ok. I didn't get it then.. But afterwards, I got it.

7. Smitty traded. I hated this trade. This is what made Babcock an enemy of the Hawks to me. Then to see Smitty lead the Blazers to the WCF and lose because of Rasheed and Stern's control over the refs...

8. Deke traded. I hated this trade Too. I thought Deke still had a few years on the tank. Then to see Deke lead the 76ers to the finals with Theo on the bench with a hangnail in Atlanta...

9. Dominique, Moses, and Reggie Theus! Can you say DARN!

10. Kenny the Snake Norman. This was our compensation for the leaving of Danny Manning. Ken Norman and Blair Rassmussen. I really don't know what's worst this or the Big 4.

[frosgrim]

How can you leave out Konkack? For the cap space he took he did next to nothing.

How about the JT, Glover, and who else draft, 4 picks and only two are still in the league, and none on the Hawks. UGH.

[Lascar78]

Quote:

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How can you leave out Konkack? For the cap space he took he did next to nothing.

How about the JT, Glover, and who else draft, 4 picks and only two are still in the league, and none on the Hawks. UGH.

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yeah those are 2 of the ones that immediately jumped to my mind, along with the playoff guarantee. How embarassing

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I got 2 that should be considered to be in that top 10.

Rodney Monroe:

For those of you who don't remember Rodney, he was part of the great "Fire and Ice" backcourt at N.C. State during the late 80's - early 90's. Rodney was the 2-guard while Chris Corchiani(sp) was the point guard. They are arguably the best college backcourt of the past 20 years.

Rodney averaged 27 points and shot 44% from the field and from 3-point range his senior year at NC State.

Q: How does a guy like that not only get passed over by every team in the 1st round, but ends up being a one-year wonder in the pros?

A: Because he couldn't get his shot off against NBA defenders, and he couldn't create his own shot or play a lick of defense.

Doug Edwards:

The 1992 - 93 Florida St. basketball team had 4 legitimate pro prospects on the squad.

- 2-guard Sam Cassell

- point guard Charlie Ward

- dynamic swing man Bobby Sura ( a freshman at the time )

- and power forward Doug Edwards ( the All-American candidate on the squad )

Doug was a very good college player, averaging 18 points and 9 rebounds, while shooting 52% FG. We take him with the 15th pick overall, while his teammates Cassell go 24th and Ward goes undrafted ( because he was also a great QB at FSU.

So how does Doug flop in the ATL?

He flops because while he was a PF, he was a 6-7 PF. And because he didn't have the strength or desire to battle with bigger PF's, his career never got off the ground.

Doug would end up scoring a grand total of 110 points in 2 seasons as a Hawk.

[dalamchops]

Monroe was a 2nd round pick, u can't really beat that bad of a bust.

[Peoriabird]

Cal Bowdler & Priest Lauderdale

[Gangstur]

I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Doug Edwards. Anyone remember the haymaker he landed on some dude's face during the fight between the Hawks and Heat in the 1994 playoffs? It was awesome, and a worthwhile draft pick just for that.

Besides that, how about giving Pau Gasol up for Shareef?

I think after a point, Babcock realized he didn't know what to do with a draft, so he just started trading away the Hawks picks. How did that dude keep his job so long??

[BillShanks]

Although isn't it unfortunate when a topic like this is actually a good conversation?

I like the ones listed, and may I add Donnie Boyce. I really thought after his leg healed he would become a great player for us, but he didn't.

Can we add Bob Weiss to this list as well?

[capstone21]

Big Balla himself Ed Gray.

As far as Rumeal Robinson, I thought he played well for us. I never thought of him as a big dissappointment. Besides he got us Mookie Blaylok in trade.

[TheRedStripes]

Demarr Johnson, I know he had a car wreck and almost died, and i know it sounds bad to say he was a flop because of that, but he was, and i thought he was even before the accident, he was what like the 6th or 7th pick and he didn't provide much of anything other than a 3 pointer every once in a while and some decent defense...he just wasn't agressive enough, he actually reminded me of the way i thought of Diaw in a way because, he just didn't seem to have the right attitude to be a great player, also i have to admit i was actually praying the Hawk would take him because when i saw him play for cincinnati, and i saw him light some team up for 20 points in the first half, i thought he was going to be awesome, 6-9 with point guard skills and a 3 point shot? how can you go wrong?

[Diesel]

The Koncak contract changed all of basketballl and free agency. That was what I would call epic proportions. There's a whole nother thesis that can be written on that.

JT, Glover, Cal, and Jumaine (traded to Philly for the sweat of Ai's Socks).. yeah that was a day of infamy too.

[Diesel]

Monroe had the same problem that Reggie Miller had. He needed a screen. I remembet him and "doughboy" Doug. I had some friends we would refer to Edwards as Doughboy because at FSU he played with Cassell, Sura, Ward, and a guy named Dumbar (I think) the problem was Doug was never in shape.

Another flop at the time... was Sharone Wright. Wright was from GA. He flopped but like Bobby Hurley, he never got the chance to make it up because he was in an unfortunate car accident.

[Diesel]

I would do it again.

Let's not confuse the variables of the trade. It was Reef/Vancouvers first for Wright/Knight/and our first.

Babcock said that he was going to pick Battier (not Pau)... We were all infatuated with Battier. He came here and had a super workout.

Anyway.

We were able to get a fringe All star capable of carrying the team for an exchange of picks and Knight and Wright...

I would do that trade all over again.. then I would trade JT for what I could get and pick up either Tony Parker or Jamal Tinsley.

Reef wasn't really the problem here. The problem was that we never built a team to compliment Reef. The best combo we had when we had Reef was:

JT, Email, Toni, Reef, Nazr..

Forgive me, I can't remember Email's name I think it was E. Robinson.

Anyway... It would have been better to have a pure PG.. Like Andre Miller. and a real SG here at the time. WIth the VALUE of players at that time, i think:

Miller, Persons, Toni, Reef, and Nazr was doable. That team would have been awesome.

but we traded Toni for big dog and morgaged our future in the process... Along with our present.

[Diesel]

The motivation for this topic was me sitting here thinking about Rony Sikeli. I know I spelled his last name wrong. He could have been a great C in this league... But he flopped. Just didn't care. Then I said, what about Rumeal?

However, Bob WEISS did suck.

How can you suck so badly, when you have Dominique and Plastic Man?

I liked Boyce a lot too. I wanted him to bust out... but we got him in the second round right.

I don't think Babcock ever got 1 good late 1st or 2nd round pick. I remember he would take jokers with a name but who were terribly ineffective pros.. It like he never scouted them and didn't know how big they were or how they shot.

Case in point: Conzo Martin. At purdue, this joker lived off of Big Dog. But on paper, he looked good. We got him in the same draft we picked up Boyce (I believe).. What a waste.

[macdaddy]

Ed Gray has to be on the list. I don't remember his draft position but for the 1st round I'm not sure he finished 2 years in the league.

[BillShanks]

Quote:

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Reef wasn't really the problem here.

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I disagree with that. He was a complete waste of space. Reef was not a player to build your team around. Just ask Jerry West, who probably would have come here as GM, but hated Reef so much and knew he was not a max player.

[AHF]

The Babcock era is a legendary era for the NBA as a whole. The most consecutive busts of any team in history. Here are the first rounders. Lottery picks get an *. Picks traded on draft day get an + (meaning they were probably drafted by another team).

2002 Dan Dickau (via trade)

2001 Traded our picks and not coincidently had out best draft in forever drafting:

Pau Gasol*+

Jamaal Tinsley+

for teams who could actually draft.

2000

Demarr Johnson*

1999

Jason Terry*

Cal Bowdler

Dion Glover

Jumaine Jones+

1998

Roshown McLeod

1997

Ed Gray

1996

Priest Lauderdale

1995

Alan Henderson

1993

Doug Edwards

1992

Adam Keefe*

1991

Stacey Augmon*

Anthony Avent

1990

Rumeal Robinson*

1989

Roy Marble

1987

Dallas Comegys

1986

Billy Thompson+

1985

Jon Koncak*

During that run of time, I highlighted the picks that didn't end up being mistakes for the Hawks. Most of them were total disasters.

[Wretch]

I don't remember getting a 1st rounder from Vancouver out of that... I know with thier own first that year, they took Battier - who I wanted no part of.

At the time, I was fine with the trade. I'm not sure what the deal with Curry was, but I didn't like him. I saw an interview on him and he was slouching in a chair. I remember thinking that he looked kinda small for people to be comparing him to Shaq...and unenthusiastic.

Anywho...I didn't really want anyone out of the draft class except Kwame and Chandler; and the only thing I didn't like about Reef was his heart. To me, he was just not vocal enough and not intense enough on the court.

I'll always remember that statement he made about not being the leader of the team and not shouldering any responsibility for the losing - yet he was co-captain.

EMail...? Emmanuel...something. Damn, any day of the week you could bring this up and I'd give you his name.

[Nicholasp27]

emmanuel davis

[Diesel]

Well Jerry West hasn't proved his team building skills lately. I mean, he paid for Brian Cardinal... And he drafted Bell, Jones, and Burke.

However, Reef was a steady complimentary Forward that you could get 20/10 from. I would have built a team around him... with him being a goto guy.

I like the thought of:

Deke/Reef/Posey/Smitty/AMiller.

That's what we could have had if all the right things would have gone our way and we had the right GM.