ESPN says Billy King is a strong candidate

[Plainview1981]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3385104

ATLANTA -- Billy Knight will resign as general manager of the Atlanta Hawks in July, despite leading the team to its first playoff appearance in nine years.

Knight said Wednesday it was time to "take a break" following a season when his authority appeared to be weakened after unsuccessfully lobbying owners to fire coach Mike Woodson.

Knight will step down July 1.

NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that former Philadelphia 76ers general manager Billy King will be a strong candidate to replace Knight with the Hawks.

The Hawks, absent from the playoffs since 1999, lost in the first round to the heavily favored Boston Celtics in seven games. In six years, Knight played the lead role in rebuilding the Hawks and ending the NBA's longest playoff drought.

One of the team's owners, Michael Gearon Jr., said Knight's resignation did not affect Woodson's status.

"You cannot tie the two together," Gearon told The Associated Press. "Frankly, this was not a decision by us, it was a decision by Billy."

More in the link.

[AHF]

OMG. Billy King was an abject failure as a GM. Keeping BK would be loads better than going with King. Please let sanity prevail in this.

[DJ_Money]

The more I hear from Gearon, the more convinced I become that this guy is a complete fool.

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Gearon said he had no list of candidates to replace Knight "because this was unexpected."

That's a signal that...

A. They had every intention of extending Knight.

B. They really don't know what the hell they're doing.

[acielawschool]

I just read that and almost freaked out. I don't need to explain why - you should know. If they hire King I'm going to break something.

[Plainview1981]

I think he is lying. Why would Billy go through all of this and quit when the team makes the playoffs??? Something had to be the final straw. Keeping Woody is probably it and the owners knew that would probably be it.

The owners are going to do what THEY want to do regardless of who they hire.

[exodus]

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OMG. Billy King was an abject failure as a GM. Keeping BK would be loads better than going with King. Please let sanity prevail in this.

At least we will still have a BK to make fun of.

Granted i haven't followed the guy closely but i can't imagine that he was as bad as Knight.

This is probably just a weak rumor anyway.

[ncthompson11]

Maybe since King is a duke guy he might trade for JJ Redick. If he didnt play for duke id probably be against this but Ive got to love the possibilities for future draft picks.

[atlien]

That just can't be true. Billy King was the worst GM in basketball for a number of years, right up there with Chris "Trade Gasol for 5 cents on the Dollar" Wallace.

70% of Hawksquawk posters would be a more capable GM than Billy King. I just cant buy this. There's no way our owners can be THAT stupid. I mean, damn.

[khaos7]

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That just can't be true. Billy King was the worst GM in basketball for a number of years, right up there with Chris "Trade Gasol for 5 cents on the Dollar" Wallace.

70% of Hawksquawk posters would be a more capable GM than Billy King. I just cant buy this. There's no way our owners can be THAT stupid. I mean, damn.

Billy King? Heck no!

[AHF]

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OMG. Billy King was an abject failure as a GM. Keeping BK would be loads better than going with King. Please let sanity prevail in this.

At least we will still have a BK to make fun of.

Granted i haven't followed the guy closely but i can't imagine that he was as bad as Knight.

This is probably just a weak rumor anyway.

King's signature moves were grossly overpaying crappy talent.

For example, here are Bill Simmons comments at his terrible GM summit:

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Bill Simmons' Atrocious GM Summit article nicely sums up the bumblings of King (and other NBA GMs). Here's what King said at the summit: "Since we made the 2001 Finals, I gave Mutombo a $68 million extension even though he could have been, like, 48 years old for all we knew. I gave $35.5 million to Aaron McKie. I gave $29 million to Eric Snow. I gave $18 million to Greg Buckner. I gave $40 million to Kenny Thomas and $25 million to Brian Skinner. I gave $25 million to Kyle Korver and $60 million to Sam Dalembert last summer. That's $300 million of contracts to guys who were either on the decline or never that good in the first place. Plus, I traded for other bad contracts, guys like Keith Van Horn, Glenn Robinson, Kevin Ollie, you name it. And then, last February, the pinnacle -- dumping three bad contracts for C-Webb, who everyone thought couldn't be traded because of his contract and because he ran with a limp.

[AnakinJoe]

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OMG. Billy King was an abject failure as a GM. Keeping BK would be loads better than going with King. Please let sanity prevail in this.

I don't want Billy King, but just to offer another perspective. The team that just finished 7th and had a pretty damn good record after the All-Star break is essentially Billy King's team. After he was fired, the one move that Ed Stefanski made was trading Korver for Giricek, who was later sent to Phoenix. So the core group of players, Iggy, Milly, Dalembert, Green, Reggie Evans, Lou Williams, Thad Young and the coach, Mo Cheeks, were all King decisions. He was in a no-win situation with Iverson, but Andre Miller allowed Iggy to develop in ways the true AI could have never done.

Again, I'm not bumping for him to come here, but the facts remain that his group of players and his coach had a really, really good record after the All-Star game.

[Admin]

He built the current Sixers team that really looks like it has the potential to be good, hired a good head coach, and made some good trades. He did great getting Miller and a pair of 07 1sts for AI and if the current GM hadn't trade Kyle Korver they might have given the Pistons a little more of a challenge. He also drafted Iggy which according to many on here is who BK should have drafted.

He's probably not much of an upgrade as an evaluator over BK but if he works well with Woody and keeps Gearon from being the GM then maybe he could work well here.

The best news for the Woody haters is that King isn't afraid to fire a head coach if he isn't performing.

[Admin]

My thoughts exactly!

[AHF]

Why so against King?

Easy. See how he handles free agents? I can't think of any GM who has so consistently overpaid mediocre talent. He also has a bad record in trades, IMO (for example, trading Larry Hughes, Bruce Bowen & Billy Owens for Toni Kukoc; trading for Webber; etc.).

His draft picks are actually not that bad - at least on par with Knight's. I just fear what he will give our FAs and FAs off the market when he is willing to give Kenny Thomas $40M+, etc.

[DJ_Money]

Actually, while we're speaking on ESPN reports and writers...

I can't wait to see Chad Ford's next piece.

[Admin]

Larry Hughes looked like an injury prone bust at the time and the word was that it was Iverson who pretty much demanded that Hughes was traded because of Iverson's ego. Bowen was a nobody at the time and Billy Owens was on the severe downside of his career. In the long run the Sixers lost that trade but it wasn't nearly as bad at the time.

He does have a history of overpaying but that won't be a problem here since the owners won't let him overpay LOL.

[Diesel]

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OMG. Billy King was an abject failure as a GM. Keeping BK would be loads better than going with King. Please let sanity prevail in this.

An Abject failure?

Dalembert, Miller, Iguodala. Getting out of Iverson's contract. Louis Williams, Thad Young...

Where's the failure??

[Diesel]

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Why so against King?

Easy. See how he handles free agents? I can't think of any GM who has so consistently overpaid mediocre talent. He also has a bad record in trades, IMO (for example, trading Larry Hughes, Bruce Bowen & Billy Owens for Toni Kukoc; trading for Webber; etc.).

His draft picks are actually not that bad - at least on par with Knight's. I just fear what he will give our FAs and FAs off the market when he is willing to give Kenny Thomas $40M+, etc.

First off... ASG will set the limit as to how much BKing can spend... so that's not so much of a problem.

The biggest concern of any GM is weather or not they can spot talent.

This guy was picking midround & 2nd round and getting guys like Kyle Korver. Thad Young. Louis Williams.

2ndly, he overpaid free agents because that's what he had to do to get them. AI was overpaid and he killed players around him. King did what he could to keep a good team around AI.

He was the GM who put the team around AI that went to the finals.

He hired Mo Cheeks.

Before he got to Philly, they were sub .500.

[frosgrim]

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Why so against King?

Easy. See how he handles free agents? I can't think of any GM who has so consistently overpaid mediocre talent. He also has a bad record in trades, IMO (for example, trading Larry Hughes, Bruce Bowen & Billy Owens for Toni Kukoc; trading for Webber; etc.).

His draft picks are actually not that bad - at least on par with Knight's. I just fear what he will give our FAs and FAs off the market when he is willing to give Kenny Thomas $40M+, etc.

[Joker]

I have never seen someone overspend for everyone. He is a joke. I would never give him another chance again. He is smart but his contract dealings are what makes everyone in the that industry never want to give him a chance again.