Belkin Poll

frosgrim · March 8, 2008

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Totally wrong AtlaS....no offence but Belkin is the only "basketball man" in this crew. We would be MUCH better off with Belkin as our (sole) owner. BK would be fired - Woody would be fired.

and by the way - I am so sick and flocking tired of people saying that Belkin was flocking up the JJ trade - - - he WASN"T...all he was doing was protecting assets. If Belkin had his way we would still have Joe "30 wins" Johnson and we would have our 1st round draft pick this year.

Just to clear a slight issue up, Belkin actually has LESS NBA experience than Gearon Sr. who was the Hawks GM in the 70s. I think that does qualify Sr as having more experience as a basketball man. Nonetheless Gearon Sr's son is an IDIOT when it comes to running a team.

I just want the team sold to a local person who has the means and wherewithal to get the team going in the right direction.

Even if Belkin somehow gains control of the team, he doesn't have the finances to compete w/ the richer owners. Belkin would have to bring in another group to run the teams; thus we are back in the same damn dilemma .

OGRat · March 9, 2008

I don't trust Belkin.

TexasPete · March 9, 2008

You dont trust Belkin. But, you trust the ASG? We have one party that has already proven to be lousy and another party that we dont know about.

Hmmm. I'll take the one I don't know. The worst he could be is lousy like what we have now.

DJlaysitup · March 9, 2008

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[i agree completely with everything you have said, I wanted Woody gone 3 years ago. But just because the ATL Spirit sucks doesn't mean Belkin will make things better, he won't. It would be like trading Zaza for Brian Scalabrine. I'd rather not have either of them, but I'd rather at least have the one that "somewhat" cares about the team.

in

san

ity

Lascar78 · March 9, 2008

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Belkin will not improve this team.

Its replacing a bad situation with something much much worse.

I agree. I'll take the buffoons who mean well over the evil guy. Of course we'd all rather have neither, but, you know...

It's like, would you rather have George W Bush or Stalin ruling your country?

TroyMcClure · March 9, 2008

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It's like, would you rather have George W Bush or Stalin ruling your country?

That's a terrible analogy. George Bush is one of the biggest flat out liars in American History. All I know about Belkin is that he didn't agree or get along with what, to myself and many others, is the biggest joke of an ownership group in sports history.

Belkin as Stalin? Get real. If the ASG were secretely making millions and costing lives in the process, you may have a case for the Bush analogy. But seriously. You know what jokes these guys are. It just can't get any worse. Get over the Belkin fears. It's the only solution. These guys won't sell. They'll just lose. We(fans) lose if that happens.

bfwolf · March 10, 2008

The ASG are clearly incompetent. Nobody is arguing otherwise. But despite the fact that I think Belkin is smarter than they are, I'd rather have the ASG. Belkin blocked that JJ trade as the team governor when his responsibility as team governor was to reflect the opinion of the majority of the owners. Instead, he reflected only his own opinion. He can't be trusted, and while the chances of building a championship caliber team are greater under Belkin than the ASG, the chances of the Hawks being operated permanently on the cheap or even NBA basketball leaving Atlanta altogether are also much greater under Belkin than the ASG.

OGRat · March 10, 2008

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You dont trust Belkin. But, you trust the ASG? We have one party that has already proven to be lousy and another party that we dont know about.

Hmmm. I'll take the one I don't know. The worst he could be is lousy like what we have now.

If he can do what he's done to the ASG, what else is he capable of? While the ASG has been lousy, at least we don't have to worry about them trying to move the franchise.

TexasPete · March 10, 2008

What has he done to the ASG? Fight for some extra cash? Wow. What an idiot he is, trying to maximize his interests.

This Belkin hysteria is like a good folk story, it gets better and better. He gets more evil every time the story gets told.

All I know is he was against giving up so much for JJ. He felt like we could get him for less because Sarver was a cheap bastard. Turns out Sarver sells 1st round picks and auctions off key talent due to luxury tax worries so Belkin looks smart. He wasnt against JJ, just that BK was dropping his pants around his ankles. Yeah, BK has been so damn smart, we should trust he was making a great deal right? How could Belkin ever question BK?

The other fact is that Belkin has never stated his side in public. So, all the cutting payroll stuff was from the ASG. They went public with a position that he was against the JJ deal when I have since learned that he was for the JJ deal but against sending TWO #1 picks. He knew Sarver and he knew that he wasn't paying the tax. So he felt we could get him for less. What an evil guy.

He seems more nimble to me, more on the ball than the ASG. Naw, we wouldnt want that would we? Oh, and for all the people worried about him moving the team we have a thing called a lease in place. He can't move the team if he wanted.

Dejay · March 10, 2008

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as long as belkin doesnt move the team from atlanta hes fine with me

Couldn't agree more. As bad as we feel right now, imagine how much worse it would be for the team to be sold, move, then have the 'lightbulb' pop on and start winning? Just ask longtime residents in Cleveland, Quebec City, Hartford, LA, Houston, Minneapolis, and Baltimore how it felt to watch their original teams leave town, only to play for and/or win Super Bowls and Stanley Cups somewhere else. I even recall the Atlanta Flames never making it beyond the first round of the playoffs, only to hoist up a Stanley Cup a few years later in Calgary. How many more could they have played for with, say, Ted Turner's money, especially considering how bad the Braves and Falcons were in the '80s? They would've owned this town by now; instead, we're in year 9, waiting on the expansion-esque Thrashers to win its first postseason game. That was equivalent to swallowing a tub full of your own bile, watching Calgary celebrate when its original city couldn't get a team beyond the second round of anything at the time.

I want my payoff for all the years of being a Hawks fan and I want it here, not by watching them celebrate in St. Louis, Birmingham, Las Vegas, or Kansas City. I want it for watching Kasten, Babs, and BK blow draft pick after draft pick. I want it for all the years of watching Nique have to carry an entire franchise on his back while Isiah, MJ, Bird, Magic, Ewing, Barkley, and Hakeem had plenty of help to shoulder the load. I want it for watching Terry Stotts single-handedly kill the Hawks' chances of drafting Dwight Howard by allowing Bobby Sura to come off the injured list and play out of his mind for another contract. I want it for having to stomach the likes of Ennis Whatley, Jim Les, Predrag Drobnac, and countless others. Nothing less than an NBA title will do.

I'm sure I'm not alone....

GAME, SET, MATCH.

bfwolf · March 11, 2008

Don't be so sure, Pete. Sonics owner Clay Bennett is trying to weasel his way out of a lease right now so he can move the team to OC.

OGRat · March 11, 2008

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What has he done to the ASG? Fight for some extra cash? Wow. What an idiot he is, trying to maximize his interests.

This Belkin hysteria is like a good folk story, it gets better and better. He gets more evil every time the story gets told.

All I know is he was against giving up so much for JJ. He felt like we could get him for less because Sarver was a cheap bastard. Turns out Sarver sells 1st round picks and auctions off key talent due to luxury tax worries so Belkin looks smart. He wasnt against JJ, just that BK was dropping his pants around his ankles. Yeah, BK has been so damn smart, we should trust he was making a great deal right? How could Belkin ever question BK?

The other fact is that Belkin has never stated his side in public. So, all the cutting payroll stuff was from the ASG. They went public with a position that he was against the JJ deal when I have since learned that he was for the JJ deal but against sending TWO #1 picks. He knew Sarver and he knew that he wasn't paying the tax. So he felt we could get him for less. What an evil guy.

He seems more nimble to me, more on the ball than the ASG. Naw, we wouldnt want that would we? Oh, and for all the people worried about him moving the team we have a thing called a lease in place. He can't move the team if he wanted.

Regardless of how you feel about the JJ trade, Belkin went against the agreed upon decision making process. If his partners could not trust him to follow specifically defined decision process, how far are you willing to trust him? How far would a trading partner be willing to trust him? How far would a FA signee be willing to trust him?

Sorry. I'll pass. Once you lose your credibility, it takes a lot to get it back. The stakes in the NBA are often too high to take on additional risk.

AHF · March 11, 2008

Quote:

What has he done to the ASG? Fight for some extra cash? Wow. What an idiot he is, trying to maximize his interests.

This Belkin hysteria is like a good folk story, it gets better and better. He gets more evil every time the story gets told.

All I know is he was against giving up so much for JJ. He felt like we could get him for less because Sarver was a cheap bastard. Turns out Sarver sells 1st round picks and auctions off key talent due to luxury tax worries so Belkin looks smart. He wasnt against JJ, just that BK was dropping his pants around his ankles. Yeah, BK has been so damn smart, we should trust he was making a great deal right? How could Belkin ever question BK?

The other fact is that Belkin has never stated his side in public. So, all the cutting payroll stuff was from the ASG. They went public with a position that he was against the JJ deal when I have since learned that he was for the JJ deal but against sending TWO #1 picks. He knew Sarver and he knew that he wasn't paying the tax. So he felt we could get him for less. What an evil guy.

He seems more nimble to me, more on the ball than the ASG. Naw, we wouldnt want that would we? Oh, and for all the people worried about him moving the team we have a thing called a lease in place. He can't move the team if he wanted.

Regardless of how you feel about the JJ trade, Belkin went against the agreed upon decision making process. If his partners could not trust him to follow specifically defined decision process, how far are you willing to trust him? How far would a trading partner be willing to trust him? How far would a FA signee be willing to trust him?

Sorry. I'll pass. Once you lose your credibility, it takes a lot to get it back. The stakes in the NBA are often too high to take on additional risk.

Agreed. I have said my peace on this repeated times but Belkin deliberately provoked the unworkable infighting, legal battles with legal restrictions on the team, and the unprecedently bad ownership situation (which is different that simply bad owners) we have had to endure the past 5 or so years. Then he has deliberately prolonged it by stretching out the legal part of the case (for example, prolonging the appeals process) because he doesn't care about the success of the team only what gives him more leverage in his dispute. Belkin doesn't give the slightest crap about the city of Atlanta and the risk of him trying to move the team if he can finagle a way out of the lease is very real (realize that with no way to legally take over the team he has already tried to do that at least twice). I want no part of him as owner.

Packfill · March 11, 2008