from AJC- "Enough already: Kruger has to go"

[cyman3]

man, more writer's are reading hawksquawk posts?

"PRO BASKETBALL: Enough already: Kruger has to go

Terence Moore - Staff

Saturday, December 21, 2002

There isn't a question that Lon Kruger is a splendid basketball coach.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, we're talking about colleges, not the pros.

It is time for Hawks officials to cut their considerable losses. Those losses include that silly money-back guarantee. In other words, they are destined to pay nearly $500,000 to those suckered into believing that this terribly flawed team would make the playoffs.

Not only that, with Hawks home games featuring the same attendance and enthusiasm as a pickup game at your local YMCA, the financial books for the Hawks' struggling bosses at AOL Time Warner are about to get redder.

It is time for Hawks officials to end an experiment in its third season that everybody who knows a pick from a roll knew would fail.

College coaches rarely prosper in this league, and that's being kind. Even so, Hawks officials showed again that they haven't a clue by replacing the NBA's all-time winningest coach with somebody who is closer to the pace of the NBA's all-time losingest coach.

To worsen matters, the Hawks botched their chance to join the league's cutting edge. All they needed was to hire a 40-something, former great player. Byron Scott, Isiah Thomas and Nate McMillan were available back then.

While they are soaring as coaches with other teams, Kruger is imploding.

It is time for Kruger to go, along with his mellow ways among players and overmatched strategies on the court. Mostly, it is time for Hawks officials to spend the short run hiring an energy guy with an accomplished knowledge of X's and O's at the pro level.

Jeff Van Gundy is available. After a nice stretch with the New York Knicks, he has made the transition from former coach to television land. So has Mike Fratello, my choice to replace Kruger sooner than later.

You remember Fratello, the Hawks' little general during their glory days of the latter 1980s. Four of his seven Hawks teams won 50 or more games. Dominique Wilkins, the Hawks' legend and special coaching assistant, often calls Fratello "the best coach I ever played for."

Fratello also is available. I know this, because he told me so with a wink and a nod earlier this year at a restaurant in Atlantic City. He was in town for an Evander Holyfield fight, and I'll get this out of the way: Fratello is too classy to campaign for another coach's job. It's just that I asked him if he'd consider coaching the Hawks again someday, and his face glowed. He praised everybody in the front office, then he talked of the "considerable" talent on the team, then he proclaimed his love for Atlanta, and then he said, "Sure."

Get him. And, yes, I know that Fratello is the NBA's Billy Martin, the late baseball manager famous for using his fire to turn players into a wonderful inferno. The other thing about Martin was that he always had his players wishing to scorch him after a while.

That's why Fratello was fired after the 1989-1990 season despite sitting four victories shy of becoming the franchise's winningest coach.

In case you've forgotten, the Braves once fired Bobby Cox. Since they brought him back as manager, they've reached the postseason a record 11 consecutive times.

Anyway, with the Hawks in an ugly freefall that only will worsen, here are two of the many reasons Kruger deserves a firm and final handshake on the way out of Philips Arena.

Near the end of regulation play at Boston this season, the Hawks had time for a half-court play to win the game. They have two of the NBA's most gifted scorers in Glenn Robinson and Shareef Abdur-Rahim and a reliable threat in Jason Terry.

Kruger worked a play for Ira Newble, a light-shooting defensive specialist. He missed. The Hawks lost in double overtime.

Then there was the Washington Wizards game this week, when the Hawks ran the wrong play after a timeout. According to Hawks veteran guard Emanual Davis, "We didn't know what to do."

Enough said."

[DJ_Money]

...and I agree 100%.

With a local writer finally coming out and saying what we have been saying for a while, Babcock has to take notice. He can't ignore it anymore. The day is near, Babcock will have to make a decision on Kruger. If we don't make it through this next stretch of games, Lon won't make it through the New Year.

[Diesel]

Even though Moore is famous for being a pessimist.. He's right. Lon gotta go. I would like to see either Ainge or Fratello replace him.

[Jamil]

I wouldn't mind Fratello, but I think it would be unlikely...

One of Babcock's first decisions as GM of the Hawks was to replace Fratello with Bob Weiss.

I think a coaching change might be in order. Babcock, however, should not be entrusted with the task. Fire Babcock and let the new GM put his own coach in place. Otherwise the woes will continue.