An open statement to Hawks management

[gsuteke]

assuming we trade Al to Indy:

I've tried to be the good fan blindly placing my faith in the hands of the incompetent. my goodness have you ever let me down!

Billy has blown lotto picks year after year. When finally given an opportunity to add some pieces to go along with those picks the stupid owners tie Billy's hands because they screwed up the language in their buyout with Belkin. that by the way was another screw up, Lord Belkin is making you look like school boys.

The best move ever made by the Hawks outside of trading for Dominique Wilkins was a huge cluster Fu(k. everyone knows that as the Joe Johnson trade.

somebody please come on here and give me some lame argument as to why the Hawks made the right move with Harrington because they quote "preserved salary cap space" to resign the above mentioned rendundant parts. PLEASE! Billy's not here and I need someone to flame.

[Seano]

I don't blame Billy Knight for this. He's not the one holding the purse strings. This is clearly the work of the Atlanta Spirit, who have apparently chosen to take the tight-fisted approach. Why they are doing this, I don't know. But with legal fees running into the millions of dollars, it leads one to wonder whether that doesn't play a role in all of this.

[pimp]

I Can't really blame A.S for not wanting to spend alot of money this year.After all the did loose 20 million dollars last year.They are going have a hard time making a profit with attendence the way it is.And it was the worst i ever seen last year.Plus they have to put up 11 million in the court case VS Belkin.But , they have to understand that the fans will not come, until they start winning...and not getting players back for Harrington, makes it more likey that will be giving a lotto pick to the Suns.So we wont even have the draft to look foward.

Hell.. i dont know maybe we should form some kind of rally and march in to the Phil, and let management know how we feel.

[Plainview1981]

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I Can't really blame A.S for not wanting to spend alot of money this year.After all the did loose 20 million dollars last year.They are going have a hard time making a profit with attendence the way it is.And it was the worst i ever seen last year.Plus they have to put up 11 million in the court case VS Belkin.But , they have to understand that the fans will not come, until they start winning...and not getting players back for Harrington, makes it more likey that will be giving a lotto pick to the Suns.So we wont even have the draft to look foward.

Hell.. i dont know maybe we should form some kind of rally and march in to the Phil, and let management know how we feel.

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Don't blame them??? They bought the teams. If they didn't want to pay the price they shouldn't have looked into buying the teams. It's as simple as that.

[Vol4ever]

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I Can't really blame A.S for not wanting to spend alot of money this year.After all the did loose 20 million dollars last year.They are going have a hard time making a profit with attendence the way it is.And it was the worst i ever seen last year.Plus they have to put up 11 million in the court case VS Belkin.But , they have to understand that the fans will not come, until they start winning...and not getting players back for Harrington, makes it more likey that will be giving a lotto pick to the Suns.So we wont even have the draft to look foward.

Hell.. i dont know maybe we should form some kind of rally and march in to the Phil, and let management know how we feel.

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Don't blame them??? They bought the teams. If they didn't want to pay the price they shouldn't have looked into buying the teams. It's as simple as that.

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I agree 110%

[BornandDieHawks]

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I Can't really blame A.S for not wanting to spend alot of money this year.After all the did loose 20 million dollars last year.They are going have a hard time making a profit with attendence the way it is.And it was the worst i ever seen last year.Plus they have to put up 11 million in the court case VS Belkin.But , they have to understand that the fans will not come, until they start winning...and not getting players back for Harrington, makes it more likey that will be giving a lotto pick to the Suns.So we wont even have the draft to look foward.

Hell.. i dont know maybe we should form some kind of rally and march in to the Phil, and let management know how we feel.

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Don't blame them??? They bought the teams. If they didn't want to pay the price they shouldn't have looked into buying the teams. It's as simple as that.

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I agree 110%

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The AS knew they were coming into a situation where the organization were losing and the fan base were poor. They had to know they were going to lose money initially. How do they remedy that is to invest in their product and put a winning team on the floor. I am not suggesting they spend the CAP and kill our the team for years to come. We are well below our CAP and we could have blostered our team with some expiring contracts and put a team out there this year with more depth. I know the owners are fighting it out in court and they may need some capital, but I bet their other businesses are not suffering because they are strapped for cash. The courts gave them the opportunity to spend to the CAP. I know some will say why kill our CAP now because something maybe out there at the deadline, but the only problem with that is we are losing our most valuable trade asset for peanuts.

[Sothron]

The Spirit have every intention on spending money. Look at the Thrashers: they are at the NHL salary cap. The AS was going to spend money on the Hawks until Belkin reared his ugly head and came back. As much as I hate it as a fan I totally understand the business decision to NOT sink even more money into the Hawks with a chance that Belkin can steal it away from them.

Belkin does not have enough capital to own any sports team in his own right. He does not have enough capital to invest in player salary and stadium upkeep on his own. As much as we hate the cheap ass way of the Hawks now with Belkin it would be an unchanging litany of cheapness. The Spirit had given Knight the OK to spend up to the salary cap for the Hawks before this happened. They just are protecting their financial fortunes from the snake Belkin.

[Dejay]

Correct me if I'm wrong but they had full disclosure of the books LONG before cutting a check to AOL-Time Warner. They knew EXACTLY what they were getting into, especially in terms of attendance and revenue (or lack thereof) and should've been smart enough to hire someone to find the loopholes within the fine print of the buyout clause. That's like buying a house without an inspection while not having the $$$ to maintain it and then wondering why everyone else in the neighborhood is waiting on baited breath for you to sell to an owner who will have the wherewithal to take better care of the property.

That's where we are right now with this franchise; hoping for someone new to come along, buy the underdeveloped property and mold it into something the neighborhood can be proud of, without uprooting it like a mobile home and just leaving. Just like Cuban did with the Mavericks, the Maloofs did with the Kings, hell, like Blank is doing with the Falcons. All three are examples of once dead in the water franchises who are now (or were to some extent) on the cusp of being special.

[Yeti]

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I don't blame Billy Knight for this. He's not the one holding the purse strings. This is clearly the work of the Atlanta Spirit, who have apparently chosen to take the tight-fisted approach. Why they are doing this, I don't know. But with legal fees running into the millions of dollars, it leads one to wonder whether that doesn't play a role in all of this.

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I DO blame Billy. Running this team is his job. And he can either put up with the situation or do something about it. If he is content to put out a crappy product then it IS his fault if he accepts it. IF it is all the owners fault (and I don't believe it), then BK had better kick their asses because it is his reputation that is at stake and he'll never get a job elsewhere. But based on the amount he gave for Johnson last year, the drafting of SW at #5, his inability to get Anderson to come over, and now the Al trade - I see nothing to be impressed with. He doesn't seem capable of working out a decent trade with anyone. And playing the "silent Bob" role when your team is falling apart doesn't help. He ought to be on the radio at least every week.

And the owners? Fighting among themselves and can't even meet the deadline for buying out Belkin. They will continue to lose money until they put out a quality product. But they won't invest in it. And they continue to put up with BK.

The PR office for the team must be the worst in the country. There is no hype from the office to give people hope. We have to rely on out-of-town newspapers, ESPN, and rumors to maintain ANY interest in the team. I'm beginning to be embarrassed supporting this team.

GSUTEKE you are right on. "We are all Bozo's on this bus."

[Final_quest]

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I Can't really blame A.S for not wanting to spend alot of money this year.After all the did loose 20 million dollars last year.They are going have a hard time making a profit with attendence the way it is.And it was the worst i ever seen last year.

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Maybe on the books they lost $20 million dollars. Owners try to make their losses look as big as possible because of the tax benefits.

Think of it this way. They bought a house worth $300,000 for $200,000. Now they had to spend $20,000 to fix it up while the house probably went up in value to $325,000.

They still made a good investment. Like I said, I can only imagine how much money they are actually losing. What you show your losses to be on paper is not the whole story.

[BornandDieHawks]

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The Spirit have every intention on spending money. Look at the Thrashers: they are at the NHL salary cap. The AS was going to spend money on the Hawks until Belkin reared his ugly head and came back. As much as I hate it as a fan I totally understand the business decision to NOT sink even more money into the Hawks with a chance that Belkin can steal it away from them.

Belkin does not have enough capital to own any sports team in his own right. He does not have enough capital to invest in player salary and stadium upkeep on his own. As much as we hate the cheap ass way of the Hawks now with Belkin it would be an unchanging litany of cheapness. The Spirit had given Knight the OK to spend up to the salary cap for the Hawks before this happened. They just are protecting their financial fortunes from the snake Belkin.

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It's easy to point the finger at Belkin because we all hate him...right? I don't buy the protecting the franchise argument. What if this court battle last through next off season, do the team continue to protect and not spend any money? Or do we not sign one of our own because Belkin might gain control? If this is the reason for not spending any money then they must feel they have a weak case and Belkin will get the team.

[Lascar78]

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Don't blame them??? They bought the teams. If they didn't want to pay the price they shouldn't have looked into buying the teams. It's as simple as that.

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They agreed to buy the teams, meaning that they agreed to spend cash on the team and eventually sell the team for a profit. They didn't agree to spend millions and millions and be forced to sell at a loss a year later. I can see how they would be hesitant. They didn't get into this knowing that satan could possibly force them to sell at cost.

They've still signed Speedy, they've still signed Wright. They spent 70 mil on JJ last year. They're no cheap. I don't blame them for not wanting to take back bad contracts for Al. It's been BK's M.O. since day 1. He has yet to take a single bad contract. We have one more shot at free agency last year and BK doesn't want to screw it up.

[Final_quest]

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I DO blame Billy. Running this team is his job. And he can either put up with the situation or do something about it. If he is content to put out a crappy product then it IS his fault if he accepts it. IF it is all the owners fault (and I don't believe it), then BK had better kick their asses because it is his reputation that is at stake and he'll never get a job elsewhere.

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Here's the deal with BK. Even with the ownership a mess, this is his last chance to make good as a GM. If he resigned due to the situation, who is gonna hire him to run their franchise? No one.

He is a captain that will go down with the ship. There is no where else he can captain. You can blame him for draft picks, JJ trade, Speedy, and Zaza, but this situation was out of his hands.

[Lascar78]

Yes I'm sure these successful multi-millionaires are dying to take advice from a random guy online calling them stupid owners. Great thread.

[Sothron]

They think they will win the court battle but they also believe the total amount of time spent on appeals and cases will last 2-3 years. Whether or not they keep the purse strings cinched up for at least another two seasons AFTER this one is a decision totally up to them and I guarantee they will not make it public if they decide to only stay to the league minimum.

[Final_quest]

Is there any way the legal battle ends quickly?

[Sothron]

Only if one side drops the legal battle and that is not going to happen. Belkin thinks he can finally own a NBA team on the cheap and the Spirit are fighting to keep their assets. I believe Stern and the NBA will have to come in at some point but that could be a year or more from now.

[gsuteke]

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Yes I'm sure these successful multi-millionaires are dying to take advice from a random guy online calling them stupid owners. Great thread.

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Lord Belkin has shown them to be stupid time and time again. on top of that if they are looking at an internet message board for advice then you just proved my point.

It is a great thread Lascar. You cannot put a positive spin on this Al Harrington trade!

In exchange for the #2 FA available this summer the Hawks got a future first round pick and a mulligan on a BK mistake. the positives in no way outweigh the negatives in this situation.

1. We send Al to a hamstrung rival to plug the hole in their sinking boat.

2. In return we get a pick that will not help us win basketball games for the next 2 to 3 years.

3. We get no players in return (notice I said "players" not one guy with a big contract) to help the Hawks get over that hump and into the playoffs.

4. We receive no leverage in the form of an expiring player that we can use in a S&T nexxt offseason.

5. The biggest insult to us fans is the Edwards throwin to this deal. It screams let's get out of this thing as cheaply as possible!

Lascar you may not like the messenger but in this case the message itself is crystal clear. The Hawks really dropped the ball on this Harrington trade. Not only are they continuing to erode the fan base with moves like these they are also giving the Chad Ford's of the world more ammunition to mock them, and rightfully so. Whatever negativity is heaped their way as a result of this trade is justly deserved!

[tmac13]

The Spirit need to quit the damn lying..Don't get on the radio and say we will spend up to the salary cap then refuse to better the team..Signing a backup point guard and a washed up center is not exactly the recipe for immediate improvement..

Why not just be honest..We are going to operate on a shoestring budget until the Belkin situation is resolved..

[Sothron]

That would really help season ticket sales:

"Hey fans. Our legal team was a bunch of morons who left a loophole for Belkin to steal the team away from us. Out of the ongoing legal battle that may see us lose everything we are forced to keep expenses down and can not spend real money on the Hawks.

Keep coming out and let's RISE UP together!"