What would happen here at HS if...

[Diesel]

Belkin took over and got a good SNT for Al.

Would Belk win over any fans here?

[Eddielives]

Unlike some, maybe even most, I would be willing to give Belkin a fair chance to win me over and prove the consensus wrong. If he shows he is not going to run this franchise on the cheap, with little concern for winning and more for profit-making, then I will be happy. If he clearly states why he has caused this mess to go as far as he has with clarity that makes sense on some level, then I'll be willing to give him a chance. Basically though, he has a mountainous task ahead of him to clean up his image with fans. It would take more than a good S&T with Al to win me over. But if he's up to the task, I'm willing to give him my ear.

[Lascar78]

I would still despise him as a person but recognize that he made a good move. The two are not exclusive. I don't want to take on big contracts because I want flexibility. Belkin doesn't want to take on contracts because he's cheap. I wouldn't be surprise if he got a good SNT actually. He just wouldn't do anything good with it down the line

[Diesel]

I think that if Belkin took Charge, he would bring in Allen Iverson.

I'm sure he would fire BK.

And as time goes by, he would campaign to make it look like BK was a bad GM.

I also think that as far as fan likability goes, he's smart enough to know that if you give this city some form of Superstar, that they will respond with love.

So I can imagine that he would make Bird/Nique a part owner.

Would that make me like him.

No.

But I think that he would do the tap dancing neccessary to sell luxury boxes.

[KB21]

That sounds like something ML Carr would do as the GM.....completely wreck the salary cap and the future of this team by adding Allen Iverson simply to win over a few idiot fans.

[Diesel]

Yeah, But it would work.

I have found in doing my research that there is more money to be made in Luxury Box sales and TV contracts than there are in empty promises and games on Channel 69.

[sturt]

One rightfully should have a problem with professional sports ownership who have an earned reputation for running their team on the cheap... two in particular that stand out to me are Bill Bidwell (AZ Cardinals) and Mike Brown (Bengals).

And yet, a blind pig finds an acorn every now and then, as Brown did with Marvin Lewis for his coach. To get to their recent success, however, that move had to be coupled with Brown compromising his ego enough to let Lewis take a greater share of talent evaluation... no small thing when you are the son of an NFL great (ie, Paul Brown) who thinks, by nature of DNA, he commands similar aptitude.

Still, here is where the Bengals will continue to struggle, Carson Palmer's knee injury notwithstanding... Mikey Brown simply refuses to venture into the FA market productively and to any real consequence. Sure, they pick up this spare part or that on occasion, but over the 10 years or so since his father passed and Mikey took the reins, the franchise has remained statistically one of the two or three NFL franchises least involved in FA... it's no wonder that last season was their first playoff season in over 10 years.

(An additional important point to be made there -- Brown essentially was facing Bengal-land-wide rebellion last coaching change, when a succession of moves placing "his people" in the coaches seat had long proven inept and destined for failure. Brown was getting a lot of pressure to sell the team, and for that reason, he was compelled to finally go outside of his own circle to make a hire... Lewis is that outsider.)

So, given that backdrop, and given what's been reported about Belkin, he'll get a very short honeymoon period to win me over that what's been reported was character assasination and that he's actually nothing like that. That honeymoon gets overwhelmingly shorter if he proceeds to bring in people with such undistinguished player personnel histories as M.L. Carr... which would say to me that we have Mike Brown's clone at the controls... very, very troubling.

That's my take.

[KB21]

Exactly.

I see Steve Belkin as the type that thinks he can build a team just because he has been a Boston Celtics fan for life.

[Watchman]

Quote:

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So I can imagine that he would make Bird/Nique a part owner.

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Since Nique aligned himself with Gearon (which he should have), I am concerned that Belkin may give Nique the boot.

[Spiral]

I agree that he would probrobably go after AI, but at what cost? You'd definitely have to think JJ will be gone. Then who? Probably Chillz, Smoove and Marvin. I wouldn't give all that up for AI.

[Diesel]

You have to look at the particulars...

I think if you think about the ways money are made in the NBA.

1. Television contracts.

2. Luxury Boxes.

3. Marketing.

4. CBA (BBI)...

Now to say that Belkin would run the team on the cheap is one way to do it... and take advantage of the CBA and the amount of money that the league will just hand over because you own the team.

The other way is to improve the marketing and to get television contracts. I think if he got AI, he would be in a better position to get better local tv contracts, however, that wouldn't take effect until next year (I think) still, he could sell more luxury boxes. The Phil has 96 luxury boxes... and they go for a lot.

There's a lot of money to be made with those boxes. If he were smart, he work to try to improve a set of the luxury boxes to get more money for them... but first, he must improve the team.

[TheDude]

as soon as Belkin did his first cheapskate move, he would receive a box of turds on his doorstep.