SI Article: Howtofix the Hawks.

[DrReality]

How to help the Hawks

My five-step process to pull Atlanta out of the gutter

Posted: Friday August 25, 2006 3:21PM; Updated: Friday August 25, 2006 3:21PM

The first thing the Hawks did to their two draft picks is put them in those ugly mustard-colored uniforms. That's unfortunate.

Terrance Vaccaro/NBAE via Getty Images

Feuding owners. Questionable draft choices. One-sided trades. Isaiah Rider.

Hawks fans have seen it all from their team in recent years. Latest move: On Tuesday, Atlanta traded its second-leading scorer, Al Harrington, to the Pacers for a couple of used basketballs and a jug of Gatorade. (OK, so maybe they actually got a future first-round pick, but you get the drift).

Three years ago, the Hawks send forward Rasheed Wallace to Detroit at midseason in exchange for "cap space." The Pistons went on to win the NBA title. The Hawks couldn't find any big-name free agent to take their money.

And let's not even go into last year's Boris Diaw fiasco.

So how can the Hawks turn it around? How can they change their image as the new version of the old Clippers? How can they get the hoops blood flowing again in the ATL?

Here's my five-step process:

1. Get the ownership situation settled

Call Judge Judy. Have a free-throw contest. Heck, get the parties together for an old-style Southern duel, with firearms at 10 paces. Whatever it takes, the Hawks need to get their unsettled ownership situation straightened out.

The team's current bloc of owners, Atlanta Spirit LLC, is trying to hold onto control of the team after a judge ruled it had to sell to former partner Steve Belkin. The Spirit group, which remains in power pending an appeal that could carry well into next season, insists it is not holding back on player spending.

But many around the league believe the protracted nature of the Harrington trade, and GM Billy Knight's refusal to take on long contracts, was at least due in part to the unsettled situation in the front office.

As long as the Hawks have the Belkin mess hanging over their heads, they won't be able to thrive. Maybe NBA commissioner David Stern can get the parties together again and broker some kind of agreement.

2. Add a star

Young teams do not win in the NBA. As promising as Josh Smith and Marvin Williams might be, each remain more of an athlete and less of a basketball player. Even the emerging Joe Johnson, currently helping Team USA at the World Championships, is unproven as a team leader.

If the Hawks are going to take the next step, they must spend some of that cap money they keep hoarding on a superstar to lead them and guide them.

Johnson ($70 million over five years) and Speedy Claxton ($25 million over four) are a decent start. But Atlanta eventually will need a stud, preferably a big-time big man, sort of like what the Bulls did with Ben Wallace this summer.

Allen Iverson, who was rumored to be headed to the Hawks in an offseason trade, might not be a perfect fit in terms of style of play. But Atlanta needs someone like an Iverson to serve as a go-to guy for all the young kids and show them how to win. Which brings us to the next one ...

3. Sell the ATL

Yes, the Hawks have tried in the past to land marquee stars, only to be snubbed. But Atlanta is a popular city with NBA players, and there is no reason players won't go there if the money is right.

The Hawks need to use Atlanta as a favorable asset in the recruiting game, the way the laid-back but first-class Suns organization sells Phoenix and its climate to prospective free agents, while keeping in mind that money talks. Sometimes you might have to overpay a little (as with Johnson).

Meanwhile, the Hawks organization needs to reach out to hoops fans in the area to improve the atmosphere at Philips Arena. One local Atlanta sports talk radio host claims his city consistently draws some of the highest TV ratings for pro basketball in the country. He says those fans just don't go to games.

I have no idea if that is true or not, but there is no doubt a big city such as Atlanta would embrace the NBA if the team was good.

4. Stick with Woodson

While Hawks coach Mike Woodson endured his share of growing pains during his first two years, he did preside over a 13-win improvement. He deserves a chance to continue for a couple of seasons, at least so he can implement his vision of the Hawks as an athletic defensive-minded team in the mold of the Pistons, whom he once coached as an assistant under Larry Brown.

One of the worst ways to turn around a franchise is to change coaches willy-nilly. The Hawks already have gone through three coaches since their last playoff appearance in '99 (Lenny Wilkens, Lon Kruger, Terry Stotts). The best thing they could do now for the development of youngsters Smith and the Williams boys is to turn them over to Woodson and give him a fair chance to do his job.

5. Lose those unis

OK, so this one is more a matter of personal taste. But is there any uniform uglier than those mustard yellow numbers the Hawks were sporting at times last season? Yikes.

Hold a bonfire on Opening Night, and toss those babies right into the pile. If nothing else, it would be a symbolic gesture for a team that could use a fresh start

[frosgrim]

The guy doesn't even know the ratings??? Come on your a sports reporter and you can't even look up the ratings? Give me a break.

Of course the ownership needs to be fixed, duh!

Overall nothing new, nothing even remotely insightful, and plenty just plain dumb. Half the posters here could have written a better article.

[DrReality]

I couldn't agree more. But he does have a point about the uniforms.

[frosgrim]

Yeah, the McDonald's unis have got to go.

Bring back the PacMans!

[Wretch]

Points 1 and 2 are valid, but nothing we don't already know. Actually, point 2 is something that I have been screaming about since the rebuilding began EONS ago. It doesn't matter how much filler we add to this team. We won't be serious until we have that serious player that we can go to...and another that can pick up his slack.

Which really goes hand in hand with point 3. Good teams (players) really sell themselves. People around the entire state love basketball. The problem is, they're in love with teams that have marketed their stars over the years. OH they used to come out in DROVES to watch Spree and Ewing...and it makes me sick to hear them talk...

"Oh, yeah man...Minnesota...that's my team..."

"Man, Sac gonna take it all this year..."

"The Lakers, dog. They gonna do it again..."

"Dallas, I want them to win so baaaad. Who you like man? What? The HAWKS? Boy, is ya crazy?"

/sigh.

What's so funny is I hear MORE people talking about the MOther(@*&^@'n KNICKS! As F#(*&'n SORRY as the Knicks are, and have been, there are more people here who follow them and waiting for them to do something than there are people who can name 3 Hawks players. Simply because at one time the Knicks had the star power. So DUUUUH SI, we need stars in Atl.

Point 4 is also bullsh!t. One common trend in all these losing years has been these wet-behind-the-ears coaches we've brought in. No, I don't think Woody is horrible. No, I don't think a big named coach is going to magically turn us around. However, with an established coach we would not have to suffer the growing pains of someone who is as green as the players they are putting on the court.

Point 5 actually does the opposite of it's intent. It is exactly what we DON'T need. WE DO NOT NEED EVERY MOTHERF@#$*&^'N SPORTS WRITER TAKING SHOTS AT US AND CONTRIBUTING JUST AS MUCH NEGATIVITY AS LOSING HAS IN MAKING US THE LAUGHINGSTOCK OF THE NBA. Point 5 should read, "Convince the sports media to shut the f#ck up about the Hawks already. Take your shots, but do so with an informed opinion."

To be honest, there is one fix above all this crap that Marty Burns (someone whose opinion I usually respect) has missed. It is time for a Hawks BLOCKBUSTER TRADE. There is no sense in having all this redundant talent. Childress, Smoove, Marvin, Shelden - to hell with drafting lottery players as backups. F@$#('n TRADE SOMEONE ALREADY. I'm sure we can come up with A THOUSAND different scenarios that would net us a promsing young talent that does not play SF.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

LOL @ us doing a blockbuster trade. Who do people want on this team besides Joe Johnson?

If we couldn't even get a decent player for Al, what do you think people are going to give us for guys like Josh Childress or Josh Smith?

Be patient Hawks fans. Let this season play out before suggesting that this organization do anything rash like trading a Childress, Smoove, or M. Williams for some overrated "star" player.

LOL @ blockbuster trade. You can't do blockbuster trades if you don't have blockbuster players. And you don't trade people, just for the sake of trading them.

I'll say it again . . . Most Hawks fans have NO CONFIDENCE WHATSOEVER that these kids can turn this around in a year or two. And that's a shame.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1) I agree. This ownership mess is crazy and needs to be resolved.

2) The only way we can add a star, is if we deplete the talent on this team. This league has proven that if you don't have adequate talent around a star player, YOU WILL NOT WIN!! ( see Kobe ( last year ), Iverson, Paul Pierce, T-Mac, Garnett ( last year ), The Hawks aren't in ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM ready to deal 2 - 3 good players, just to bring in one great player. How many mediocre Hawk teams was Nique the leader of? It wasn't his fault that some of those teams from 89 - 93 couldn't win over 43 games.

3) This stupid sports writer doesn't think that most NBA players DON'T know anything about the ATL? Shoot, half of the league is in and out of that city during the offseason. But it's hard to sell a city when the team you're going to loses more than it wins, and has an in-crowd fan base that acts like they're at a church service at times.

4) Stick with Woodson? LOL . . we should only stick with him if we're close to a .500 team. If this team starts out 3 - 8, 4 - 11, he should be fired immeadiately and a vet coach should step right in to take his place. Call Hubie Brown and see if he wants to coach again.

5) LOL @ lose the unis. Whenever a "credible" writer has to come up with something like this, he loses ALL credibility.

[Lascar78]

Yeah I think Chill has to go soon unfortunately. It's not a do or die thing, but it seems obvious that he'll be the odd man out, and I would be looking for deals. Nothing urgent, but I'd look. As for the "big" pieces, we'll have to wait and see how they develop IMO.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Why deal a guy that could be a key bench player? You can't deal Childress, just for the sake of dealing him. If he improves to the point where he's a hot commodity, then maybe he can be dealt for a GOOD PLAYER at a need position.

If not, the Hawks are better off keeping Chill and scouring the FA market to fill other needs.

[exodus]

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If he improves to the point where he's a hot commodity,

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He just did improve greatly, shooting 55% for the season thanks to an amazing improvement in his outside shot. Most likely his trade value will never be higher than it is right now.

Last year the Hawks frequently played with a big backcourt of JJ and Chill. Now that Speedy is here I don't see that happening as much.

[Guest Walter]

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If he improves to the point where he's a hot commodity,

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He just did improve greatly, shooting 55% for the season thanks to an amazing improvement in his outside shot. Most likely his trade value will never be higher than it is right now.

Last year the Hawks frequently played with a big backcourt of JJ and Chill. Now that Speedy is here I don't see that happening as much.

---

...that we didn't package JC with Al. I won't understand why we didn't. It just seemed the obvious move. Combine two talented players at different positions, one with upside and the other providing the salary structure through which we can get in return a star player or project center.

Sometimes it's the moves or even attempted moves you don't make that are the worst.

W

[KB21]

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1) I agree. This ownership mess is crazy and needs to be resolved.

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The only way this ownership mess will be resolved is for Steve Belkin to bow out. Unfortunately, he isn't going to do that. I cringe at the idea of Jan Volk and M.L. Carr running the basketball operations in Atlanta if Steve Belkin takes over.

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2) The only way we can add a star, is if we deplete the talent on this team. This league has proven that if you don't have adequate talent around a star player,

YOU WILL NOT WIN!!

( see Kobe ( last year ), Iverson, Paul Pierce, T-Mac, Garnett ( last year ), The Hawks aren't in ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM ready to deal 2 - 3 good players, just to bring in one great player. How many mediocre Hawk teams was Nique the leader of? It wasn't his fault that some of those teams from 89 - 93 couldn't win over 43 games.

---

Teams draft their star players. Allen Iverson? He was drafted by Philly. Kevin Garnett? Drafted by Minnesota. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade? Drafted by Cleveland and Miami respectively. Very rarely will you see a star player traded or signed as a free agent in the NBA, especially with the Larry Bird contract rules. This is why Atlanta drafted Marvin Williams. They had the opportunity to get the one player in that draft that had superstar potential, and they took him.

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3) This stupid sports writer doesn't think that most NBA players DON'T know anything about the ATL? Shoot, half of the league is in and out of that city during the offseason. But it's hard to sell a city when the team you're going to loses more than it wins, and has an in-crowd fan base that acts like they're at a church service at times.

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Sports writers are stupid in general. Very few of them are actually good writers. Most of them show their bias everytime they write something. Sekou Smith is one of the exceptions.

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4) Stick with Woodson? LOL . . we should only stick with him if we're close to a .500 team. If this team starts out 3 - 8, 4 - 11, he should be fired immeadiately and a vet coach should step right in to take his place. Call Hubie Brown and see if he wants to coach again.

---

I'm not for firing Mike. The only way I would do it is if it becomes obvious that he has lost his team. I also wouldn't get a coach just because he is a veteran coach. Veteran coaches have a tendency to look for a quick fix, and I don't think looking for the quick fix is ever the right answer for anything. Anytime you make a move like this, it needs to be well thought out. If the Hawks come to the decision at mid-season that they need to go in another direction, then I want the decision makers to have a plan already mapped out on what they are going to do to replace him long term. If it happened, I'd be awfully tempted to offer the moon to Mike Krzyzewski just to see if his methods will work out in the NBA.

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5) LOL @ lose the unis. Whenever a "credible" writer has to come up with something like this, he loses ALL credibility.

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This only validates my opinion that the writer of this SI article is a moron.

[Wretch]

Let me respond, without being as crude and childish as yourself.

First let me say that I have watched this team and this league for quite some time. Over 20 years. Don't presume to talk to me as if I were some adolescent knucklehead looking to deal for Dwayne Wade or Lebron.

FYI, Blockbuster does not = superstar for superstar. So, you should really step outside of that little box for a second. I am talking about a major trade. Like Phoenix and Dallas did years ago Kidd for Nash, neither of which were the stars then that they are today. It was still a major trade. We need a lateral move like like that to move some of this redundant talent.

Why?

Quite simply, you do not go into the NBA draft lottery with the expectation of drafting a role player. That is foolish. Not to mention expensive and/or risky. In time these players will want to either start and see what they can do and/or will want more money. Better to deal that talent while it has value, years left on the contract, and bird rights than to wait and be forced into a lopsided S&T or simply lose them for nothing.

If we continue to the end of their rookie contracts to flirt with this Smoove/Marvin/Shelden "who will be the main 3/4 combo", I can guarantee you that one of them will walk or force us into a S&T.

Confidence has nothing to do with anything that I have said thusfar. You make a completely irrelevant point. Perhaps if you were talking to one of the famous forum trolls who thinks that every player on this team is a scrub, you'd have a point. As it stands, you contradict yourself more than anything.

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LOL @ us doing a blockbuster trade. Who do people want on this team besides Joe Johnson?"

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Insinuating that our players do not have value? There is nothing that they can do to raise their value over the course of the season? That would go hand in hand with having confidence in our players no? Sounds like YOU place little value in Smoove, Chill, Marvin Williams, and Shelden. And yet you say:

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Most Hawks fans have NO CONFIDENCE WHATSOEVER that these kids can turn this around in a year or two. And that's a shame.

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You seem to be doing a lot of LOL'ing at yourself. I have all the faith in the world in these kids, which is why I would like for them to be able to go out there an play and not worry about looking over their should for the next wing player drafted. What's more, people are calling our front office all the time inquiring about our young talent.

They have value and instead of sitting on this talent and using it as bench fodder, we should be trying to make deals return that potential in the form of a player that can play WITH our forwards. The problem here is that you assume that I am looking to deal the young guys for "stars" like Iverson or Marbury; and you would be wrong.

[exodus]

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Very rarely will you see a star player traded or signed as a free agent in the NBA, especially with the Larry Bird contract rules.

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Vince, McGrady, Kidd, Nash, Shaq, both Wallaces and JJ have changed teams just within the last few years.

On a lesser level Webber, Peja (twice), Artest, Martin, Baron Davis, Cassell, and Odom have all changed teams.

[Guest Walter]

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They have value and instead of sitting on this talent and using it as bench fodder, we should be trying to make deals return that potential in the form of a player that can play WITH our forwards.

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That has been and is my biggest want and one of the main reasons I hate the SW drafting (as he has utterly no trade value). Our rebuilding turned in the direction of mediocrity this offseason. Our best chance to surround our primary young talent with additional young talent at other positions and we not only don't do that, we add another meager young talent at forward. Just GM lunacy if you ask me.

W

[Guest Walter]

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Very rarely will you see a star player traded or signed as a free agent in the NBA, especially with the Larry Bird contract rules.

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Vince, McGrady, Kidd, Nash, Shaq, both Wallaces and JJ have changed teams just within the last few years.

On a lesser level Webber, Peja (twice), Artest, Martin, Baron Davis, Cassell, and Odom have all changed teams.

---

Remember, it's Billy Knight who got us into this redundancy mess. To cry about how hard it is and what it might cost to get out of it is a silent criticism of BK's performance as GM from KB. Mind you, KB would call it brilliant GMing far above our comprehension, but when your GM gets you in a position when your only option towards title contention involves a "very rare" occurance that BK seems unwilling to even investigate, you're doubly screwed as a team.

Getting out of this mess ain't easy or cheap. The other 29 teams aren't out to help us or do Billy a favor. He's gotta build a contending team out of this mess, the on paper returns look bad, and after this offseason it's more than doubtful if even possible (anymore) BK can make the inspired, bold move necessary.

W

[KB21]

Yeah. Billy is so goddamn unwilling to investigate making a major trade that he didn't actually pull the trigger on the Joe Johnson deal. That must have been someone else.

Oh, but I forget. Billy traded for a star player, yet he traded too much for the star player. Afterall, he traded a budding superstar in Boris Diaw, who is a player that was only held back by Atlanta's coaching....not because he was a lazy ass that didn't want to do what the coaches told him to do.

[Guest Walter]

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Yeah. Billy is so goddamn unwilling to investigate making a major trade that he didn't actually pull the trigger on the Joe Johnson deal. That must have been someone else.

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Pheonix's bluff most definately turned that one into a trade.

While I want to keep JJ, Pheonix fans just as much want to keep Diaw, the cap space, and the many picks. Talent-wise, we'll see given our year this year and the pick's status.

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Oh, but I forget. Billy traded for a star player, yet he traded too much for the star player. Afterall, he traded a budding superstar in Boris Diaw, who is a player that was only held back by Atlanta's coaching....not because he was a lazy ass that didn't want to do what the coaches told him to do.

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Blah, blah, blah...calling Diaw names but no responsibility for Woodson (whose job it is to get the most out of his players). Free pass KB to the Billy Knight and Woody rescue.

...

KB, are you FOR or AGAINST a major trade? You seemed to like the stagnant moves this offseason. Actually, you HATED one, then liked it citing BK's "wisdom greater than that which we can conceive" (God-talk) when it was confirmed Billy Knight was going to draft Sheldon Williams.

I am asking a serious question. WHAT, WHEN, HOW, and WHY should the Hawk's make a particular move? You either don't make an assertion of opinion out of fear that BK won't following it, make it claiming "he is (or isn't) a BK-type player", or you make an opinion and change it 180 degrees when BK does differently. So, I'm giving you an open opportunity to say exactly what the Hawks should and shouldn't do. Specific player names preferable. Whom do we trade and not trade, for whom, when, why, how? How does this team become a title contender and by when. Be as specific as you can. I will not respond to your "plan" for this team, only any part said about the above. I will leave you to your own thoughts hopefully.

...

As always, I appreciate the mind control KB. However, since you have no thought of your own, owing them to BK, does that mean that BK is controling my mind (gasp)? The horror.

W

[Yeti]

So we have some depth at a position, thats not a reason to trade Chill. Would the Celtics have traded Havlicek? We need depth. No-one plays all game, every game.

[KB21]

Yeah.

Let's get into Walter's fantasy world and pretend that Phoenix had no intention of matching Joe Johnson's deal. In fact, in this fantasy world, there are actually no restricted free agents.

Also, in la la land, there are no salary cap ramifications for taking on bad contracts, one player is the difference between winning 35 games and winning 55 games, and that one player was actually being offered for Al Harrington.