Did Anyone See This About Belkin?

[vdunkndunk]

I haven't had a lot of time to read Hawksquawk lately, so I hope this isn't old news around here, but I saw this on ESPN and came over to see what people were saying about it and I didn't see it listed as a topic. Anyway, it's from Marc Stein, and if it's true, it's just that much more evidence that we're VERY lucky Belkin's right to buy out the other owners got overturned.

Here you go:

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Even if Belkin appears to be most responsible for the inactivity -- which suggests things might change someday if his former partners finally can force him out through legal channels -- I can't let go of a story that comes from multiple sources I trust: How the Hawks, reportedly at Belkin's insistence, were going to say no to taking on Amare Stoudemire if a three-way trade on draft day could have been worked out with Phoenix and Minnesota to send Garnett to the Suns and Horford (via the No. 3 overall pick) to the Wolves.

The Suns maintain that they never came close to trading Stoudemire and that all the talks in this case were between the Hawks and Wolves on the assumption that Phoenix would participate. Fine. But let's go ahead and assume for a moment that the Suns were willing.

The Hawks, as the story goes, were still going to end up saying no to trading for Amare. That kills me.

There was enough smoke coming from this trade scenario to convince Joe Johnson to call his former Suns teammate and tell Stoudemire that he hoped to see him in Atlanta. But the Hawks' dysfunctional ownership group, by all accounts, was going to block this deal even if Phoenix wanted it to go through.

Think about that.

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[Diesel]

The truth is that we're all ready to say good riddance to the dysfunction brought about by Belkin.

[DJlaysitup]

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The truth is that we're all ready to say good riddance to the dysfunction brought about by Belkin.

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Yep...Belkin is a dysfunctional idiot. He wanted to keep this year's 1st round draft pick (and we would have if we hadn't thrown everything at them - thanks to BK and the rest of ASG)...and we still would have had JJ and JJ still would have had the same big contract.

As far as a Horford (and others to make it work) for Amare deal...there are many on this board who would say no to that. We have a young team and Amare might not be the guy. Of course if Belkin again tried to bail us out of a bad deal he would again be the devil.

It's like you people are defending your alcoholic father who beats you. Jeez...the guy (Belkin) has been on the correct side of the issues but he is hated because he wanted to play a smarter poker hand against PHX.

[Duff_Man]

Now THIS is something worth talking about. Not what Marvin does in his free time.

If this is true, this is one of the most frightening things I have ever read. If Belkin really is this crazy, I can't imagine what would have happened if he had won ownership. This is beyond all reason. The guy needs to go away sooner rather than later.

[AHF]

How do you always manage to ignore that Belkin's "right" decision was to violate the partnership agreement and try a hostile takeover of the team that has led directly and foreseeably to years of litigation that has hampered and embarassed this franchise.

There is no way to justify the decision to blow up the partnership over that deal even if you agree with Belkin that we gave up too much. If you are a partner and get outvoted, tough. You go along with the decision and next time you use that as ammunition to get one of the other two groups that comprise the partnership to vote with you. That is the way a partnership works - you can't guarantee that you will get your way.

[DJlaysitup]

Who made Belkin the Governor?

Belkin has more money at stake than any of the other ASG. Thats the reason he was Gov.

If you give a person the position of Gov you give him certain powers. If he exercises those same powers and you get mad - - well....too bad. You shouldn't have given him the power in the first place. Of course you had to because he has considerably more money than you and is the Majority owner.

[Gangstur]

Stein is just a hater.

First off, I wouldn't be too surprised if the Hawks owners wouldn't have gone for this deal. That's because of the $60mil Amare's getting the next four years. I don't think any of the owners are willing or able to spend that kind of dough right now. So, yeah, I think if this rumor is true, it's not a good thing, but that's just because the Hawks owners don't have that kind of cash to throw around, especially when there's uncertainty regarding who's ultimately going to control the team. They'll get the ownership thing worked out in a year or so, then they can sit down and make long term financial decisions regarding this team. Putting that salary on the Hawks would put them in the top handful of pay-rolls in the league, and that's simply not where this group of owners is ready to go.

Second, in an article about the Summer of 2007 off-season moves and player movement Stein spent more time yapping about the Marvin/Chris Paul and Shelden/Brandon Roy debacles than he did talking about what he thinks was a great draft for the Hawks. He just loves ripping on the Hawks.

Rather than looking at positives from this off-season, he hyped up a rumor, and re-hashed the dead horse that is the 2005 and 2006 drafts. What a jerk-face. It's guys like him that would make me doubly enjoy seeing the Hawks do some damage in the East this year.

[DJlaysitup]

Good points Gangst..Go Hawks!

[AHF]

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Who made Belkin the Governor?

Belkin has more money at stake than any of the other ASG. Thats the

reason he was Gov.

If you give a person the position of Gov you give him certain powers. If he exercises those same powers and you get mad - - well....too bad. You shouldn't have given him the power in the first place. Of course you had to because he has considerably more money than you and is the Majority owner.

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He WAS NOT executing his powers as governor. If he had stuck to his powers as governor all would have been well. The Court ruled against him in the first place precisely because it was not within his power as governor.

"Majority" owner? Where is this coming from?

This post reads like a Belkin fantasy.

[Lascar78]

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"Majority" owner? Where is this coming from?

This post reads like a Belkin fantasy.

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Exactly. Bruce Levenson holds the biggest stake. I think Levenson has 40%+, and Belkin has 30% or something like that. And they invited Belkin to return a favor because he was going to have Levenson as a co-owner when he was going to buy the Bobcats.

[AHF]

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Belkin is certainly the majority owner in terms of individual status

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I am not trying to be a hypertechnical pri** but there is a HUGE difference between a majority owner and what Belkin is. Belkin has the largest individual minority share in the team. His voting block is 1/3 of the control of the team (less than 1/3 per his % of ownership but 1/3 per the ownership agreement).

If he had any kind of majority ownership of the team he could run the team like Mark Cuban whose majority status makes the minority owners in the Mavericks irrelevant. It is the fact that Belkin is not a majority owner in any sense of the word that makes his action on the JJ trade so galling, inappropriate, illegal, and destructive to this franchise.