"Atlanta fans will be back". McDavid= Mark Cuban

[Hawksman]

Well, looks like we are going to have a owner who cares. I cannot wait to meet him.

It has been nearly a month since David McDavid signed a letter of intent to purchase the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights from AOL Time Warner. And it is expected to be nearly another month before the sale -- estimated at $350 million to $400 million -- is completed. So the Fort Worth-based automobile tycoon wants to make it clear that he is not the owner -- yet.

But, "we will be surprised if it doesn't close," McDavid said Friday afternoon from the spacious glass office in one of his many car dealerships in Texas.

This two-story building stands behind a huge red and white sign that reads "David McDavid Auto Group" and is easy to spot on West Airport Freeway in Irving. McDavid is sitting at as his cherry wood conference table, where an autographed basketball and an autographed Dallas Cowboys helmet serve as the centerpieces. A rubber chicken, seemingly misplaced, is resting near a mound of paperwork.

Since there are "a few points" still to be resolved -- including the approval of both the NBA and the NHL -- McDavid can't outline his plans for a team that technically is still owned by AOL Time Warner. But he was quick to point out what he thinks the Hawks, Thrashers and their fans need.

"They need some love," McDavid said with his Texas twang. "Somebody needs to love those teams. If the owner doesn't love them, why should anybody else? Our vision is to embrace the community. Embrace our fans [and] do the best we can to bring the best people we can find to have a winning team.

"We think that AOL has done the best they can do. But we think because it will be our 'core business,' if you will. We're going to be involved and interested in it," McDavid said, leaning back in a green leather chair. "If we lose, we're going to bleed. And if we win, we're going to be happy. We're going to live and die with those teams."

When he was a minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, McDavid said he made himself available to fans. He also has been studying the entertainment models of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and hopes to make a similar splash in Atlanta.

"We think Atlanta is a great sports town," he said. "There are people who tell you it's not, but I think Arthur Blank has proved that's not true. Michael Vick helped him a lot, but Arthur Blank had made some major strides. You have to work at putting a good product on the field, work at trying to have good entertainment value for your customer. We think you need to win, but even if you don't it should be a fun experience for the people who are involved."

McDavid said he spoke with NBA commissioner David Stern during Game 6 of the Western Conference finals, then had to endure an almost two-hour drive home to Fort Worth since Interstate 30 was backed up ("I don't know if it's like this in Atlanta, but you sit there for an hour and you never see what caused it," McDavid said, laughing).

He is so impatient that he often avoids the stop-and-go Dallas traffic by hopping from his Irving dealerships to his Plano dealerships in his personal helicopter. That lack of patience is evident when talk turns to the coaching turnover and turmoil since the NBA regular season ended.

"It's difficult," he said. "We will not have any time to spare. If we closed today, we would not have any time to spare."

McDavid said he has been contacted by "a lot" of people who have expressed interest in living and working in Atlanta. He would not go into specifics.

"I'm kind of in a spot where I can't do anything about that," he said. "But there's not a reason in the world Atlanta doesn't have a contender in those teams. They've got incredible talent, an incredible facility, and there are some good people there in management, too. Certainly, there will be changes. But there are some pretty good-looking coaches in there, too. I mean, we don't know what we're going to do.

"Because we don't [own the team], we can't really go reach out to anybody. We can't go talk to anybody that's there. It's got to be an uncomfortable position for them, because they don't know what we're thinking. And I hate that."

McDavid is beginning to like hockey. His son, Jimmy, plays in a men's hockey league and his grandson, Matthew, plays youth soccer. But McDavid loves basketball and has been keenly watching the work of Hawks director of basketball operations Billy Knight, scout Chris Grant and coach Terry Stotts as the team prepares for the June 26 draft.

"They're doing it, I guess, because it's the honorable thing to do," he said. "They don't know whether they will be there or not. The fact is, we think a lot of [the Hawks' staff] will be, but we don't know who. It's an awkward position for everybody."

As for the Hawks missing out on the first three picks in the NBA draft, "That's OK," McDavid said. "The Lord wants us to earn it. He wants us to work hard," McDavid said.

"The Hawks were, what, eight games out of the playoffs? That ain't many, you know. They've got a great team, a great core. Because of our involvement with the Mavericks, we know a lot of NBA people across the spectrum, and you'd be amazed at how many well respected basketball people feel, without fail, that team is a whole lot closer to being really good than it is to not being good."

No, the deal is not done and McDavid is not the owner. So consider these the words of a very well connected fan 800 miles away.

"If we just get this thing closed -- and we think we can -- we think we're all going to have a good experience in Atlanta," McDavid said. "We'll get the fans back."

Watch out! Looks like we have a Mark Cuban! YES! Someone who cares.