Chad Ford Strikes Again...

[emeans]

Good post gsuteke. As much as I hate to admit it....this organization is in a mess.

So far I personally think this was a terrible offseason. While Sheldon was an okay pick based on the circumstances, although he is an average player, we really haven't done anything else. We really needed to shore up our inside presence with a talented big body. All we did was get a backup Center and a rookie PF.

We are getting raped by Indiana in the Al deal. A single draft pick was not what I was looking at for Al.

And lastly this Al deal has taken all the momentum of excitement from the fans. This deal has taken entirely too long to get done. People don't even give a crap about the deal anymore.

[gsuteke]

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The only thing more entertaining than Chad Ford's remarks about a team he clearly HATES, is that so-called fans on this site wholeheartedly agree with him.

You might not like Knight, Woodson, and/or the Atlanta Spirit, but why would anyone want to defend someone who clearly HATES their team?

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we're going to have to wholeheartedly disagree on this one.

I'm not sold that Chad Ford "hates" the Hawks and even if he does how is that relevant to his article? did he lie or skew anything?

I didn't think my comments were written in the context of defending Chad Ford.

do I think the team will win 35+ games this year? yes. will a performance like that prove Chad wrong? you're absolutely right it will.

however with that said I don't feel like I or anyone else here has to take such an extreme approach on the left or right of this Chad Ford discussion.

it is afterall just an opinion, he just happens to have a bigger stage

[TheDude]

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Good post gsuteke. As much as I hate to admit it....this organization is in a mess.

So far I personally think this was a terrible offseason. While Sheldon was an okay pick based on the circumstances, although he is an average player, we really haven't done anything else. We really needed to shore up our inside presence with a talented big body. All we did was get a backup Center and a rookie PF.

We are getting raped by Indiana in the Al deal. A single draft pick was not what I was looking at for Al.

And lastly this Al deal has taken all the momentum of excitement from the fans. This deal has taken entirely too long to get done. People don't even give a crap about the deal anymore.

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our ownership legal battles are a mess but i would hardly call the thing a mess....can we fans PLEASE sit back and look at the young team we have and the condition we are for the future? can we please? we are in GREAT shape!......i still think that whether people admit it or not, they are in a win-now spend money on a big free agent NOW mode...

wait till your young players develop to see what you have and then you can sign big free agents to fill your weaknesses....basic gm 101.

[gsuteke]

one or two moves away from being a finished product that will take minor tweaking every now and then.

i think i've been consistent with that stance.

[DJlaysitup]

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...We are getting raped by Indiana in the Al deal. A single draft pick was not what I was looking at for Al...

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I would say "raped" is being a little harsh...especially since rape is a terrible crime in which the victim has absolutely no say in the matter.

"Consensually s0d0mized" would be more appropriate IMO.

[mrhonline]

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we're going to have to wholeheartedly disagree on this one.

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That's a relief to me.

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did he lie or skew anything?

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He doesn't have to because he writes for ESPN. He can make stuff up and people will still read it.

That's why it's important for true fans to distance themselves from the empty words of big market writers like Ford.

[Final_quest]

2 years ago Indiana wanted to trade Al for a mid first round pick, no takers. Has Al really changed that much in 2 years? Why has Indiana gone from trying to get a first round pick for him to trading a first round pick for him?

[gsuteke]

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we're going to have to wholeheartedly disagree on this one.

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That's a relief to me.

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did he lie or skew anything?

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He doesn't have to because he writes for ESPN. He can make stuff up and people will still read it.

That's why it's important for true fans to distance themselves from the empty words of big market writers like Ford.

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He can make stuff up and people will read it.

OK, now we have seen the conspiracy card played.

once again did he lie or skew anything?

[Sothron]

Chad Ford had a good relationship with Pete Babcock and was often complimentary to the Hawks. Take out Pete and insert a man who could get the Sphinx to start talking out of the need to break the silence and suddenly the Hawks are the team he writes the most negatively against. There are certainly several valid criticisms you can make against BK and the Hawks but Ford's are based entirely on his personal dislike against Knight. When Chad Ford ran sportstalk.com he was complimentary of the Hawks. When he sold out to ESPN and became the "Insider" he still was complimentary of the Hawks. It was only the change of the guard to Knight that brought this on.

[gsuteke]

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Chad Ford had a good relationship with Pete Babcock and was often complimentary to the Hawks. Take out Pete and insert a man who could get the Sphinx to start talking out of the need to break the silence and suddenly the Hawks are the team he writes the most negatively against. There are certainly several valid criticisms you can make against BK and the Hawks but Ford's are based entirely on his personal dislike against Knight. When Chad Ford ran sportstalk.com he was complimentary of the Hawks. When he sold out to ESPN and became the "Insider" he still was complimentary of the Hawks. It was only the change of the guard to Knight that brought this on.

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well perhaps Billy Knight will send him an autographed picture of him and his fro afterwards if indeed the organization steps it up this year and produces.

Ultimately Billy Knight has the power to have the last laugh.

[mrhonline]

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It was only the change of the guard to Knight that brought this on.

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I'd bet my shirt that Ford's change of heart re: the Hawks has more to do with the fact Babcock was very open about with the press, while Knight prefers to piss off the national media.

[emeans]

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our ownership legal battles are a mess but i would hardly call the thing a mess

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Well the ownership is the backbone and the face of an organization. If the ownership is the mess..... mostly likely the organization is mess.

While I am pleased at what we have done so far with Josh, Marvin, JJ and Chillz, etc., this offseason we haven't taken the next step to take this thing to the next level. A backup Center, Sheldon and one pick for Al (not sure what year... 2008??)is not the next level every fan was looking for in this offseason.

I can't honestly say that we have passed anyone in the standings with our moves so far.

[gsuteke]

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our ownership legal battles are a mess but i would hardly call the thing a mess

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Well the ownership is the backbone and the face of an organization. If the ownership is the mess..... mostly likely the organization is mess.

While I am pleased at what we have done so far with Josh, Marvin, JJ and Chillz, etc., this offseason we haven't taken the next step to take this thing to the next level. A backup Center, Sheldon and one pick for Al (not sure what year... 2008??)is not the next level every fan was looking for in this offseason.

I can't honestly say that we have passed anyone in the standings with our moves so far.

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the Hawks are in a unique position. They can and will pass teams in the standings by not making any major moves, i.e. subtractions.

continuity vs. acquisition will become the model in the ATL over the next 3 to 5 years.

[mrhonline]

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I can't honestly say that we have passed anyone in the standings with our moves so far.

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Did anyone expect Dallas to be better last year? Or Phoenix to not miss a beat? Or New Orleans to challenge for the playoffs?

Let's wait and see what happens on the court...

[AHF]

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once again did he lie or skew anything?

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He skewed the fact that JJ was not the cause of the ownership problems. JJ was just he manifestation of the underlying problem. There is no way to argue that otherwise given everything that has been dragged through the press. However, by skewing that so it appears the ownership rift was due to JJ he can then make the inferential leap that the JJ trade was a bad one and BK made the trade so by making a dumb move BK was responsible for throwing the team into turmoil by ripping apart the ownership group.

That is what we can disingenuous spin.

The actual basketball assessments are not a problem for me in this article, even if I don't agree with all of them. What annoys me is when Ford does something like write a column about how noone should be dumb enough to overpay for Dampier and then rip the Hawks for not overpaying for Dampier when he signs with Dallas. That kind of analysis I find internally inconsistent and I have a problem with it whether I agree with the original premise or not.

[Popeye]

Bottom line is that Chard Ford is an idiot who hates the Hawks because of BK and therefore we should not defended him.

He can suck my D**K!!1

and i could careless what he says.

[tmac13]

Come on guys..

I mildly like the moves we have made this summer, but they are hardly earth shattering..We drafted a guy 5th that we may have gotten 8th or 9th..We signed a tiny journeyman point guard and a backup center, and it looks like the best we will get for AL is a pick ..

To the outside observer it probably doesn't paint a great picture..We have won in the teens or 20's for so many years noone respects us...Until the team puts some wins on the board we are going to get critcized and rightfully so.

[Popeye]

Sure he can say something negative, every team has a negative side.

but there is also positives and for every team there was negatives and postives except for lowly Hawks.

He could of say that we are the youngest team in the league, he could of mention that Marvin was mvp of SL, he could of said that Josh was averaging 15 7 and 5 in the 2nd half last year, he could of said that Shelden is far better defensive player than Al.

He could of said that LO and Speedy bring leadership to the youngest team in the league.

and many more, but he didn'y he just said the negative side so F**k him.

let's not waste our time on that loser.

[bird_dirt]

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I mildly like the moves we have made this summer, but they are hardly earth shattering..We drafted a guy 5th that we may have gotten 8th or 9th..We signed a tiny journeyman point guard and a backup center, and it looks like the best we will get for AL is a pick ..

To the outside observer it probably doesn't paint a great picture..We have won in the teens or 20's for so many years noone respects us...Until the team puts some wins on the board we are going to get critcized and rightfully so.

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i agree. and 35 wins isn't going to get us any love from chad ford or anyone else outside of some hawks fans. i don't see atl getting any serious national recognition until we post a winning season, which usually is an almost automatic bid to the postseason in the eastern conference.

[gsuteke]

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Sure he can say something negative, every team has a negative side.

but there is also positives and for every team there was negatives and postives except for lowly Hawks.

He could of say that we are the youngest team in the league, he could of mention that Marvin was mvp of SL, he could of said that Josh was averaging 15 7 and 5 in the 2nd half last year, he could of said that Shelden is far better defensive player than Al.

He could of said that LO and Speedy bring leadership to the youngest team in the league.

and many more, but he didn'y he just said the negative side so F**k him.

let's not waste our time on that loser.

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.... we are the youngest team in the league........

a good analogy is Billy Knight has been bringing a knife to a gunfight. either you can make excuses for why you got shot or you can go back to the store to get some guns.

once again it ain't Chad Ford's fault for reporting what he sees.