If we don't make a move we're giving up on this season.

[niremetal]

You conveniently skipped 2001-2006. The Heat before Wade never drew. When Wade was a rookie and made the playoffs they didn't draw. They only drew when they decided to spend money to bring in Shaq in a trade and then resign him. When they try to clear payroll for 2010 they became an avg team and guess what, they stopped being a top 10 team in attendance. When they bring in Chris Bosh next year guess what they'll draw again because the fan base will realize that their serious. I guarantee that if we brought in a Harris or a Stoudamire we'd sell out the rest of the season. Especially a stoudamire.

Those years don't change anything, actually. I excluded them because posting them would have simply been "etc, etc." In fact, the 2001-2006 period provides the strongest evidence for my point of the "missing" years, which goes to show that you don't know how to talk out of any orifice but the rear one. Even when the Heat were at the worst, their fans showed up more than Hawks fans. The Hawks outdrew the Heat exactly once during the "missing" years. But since you insist:

1996-97

Heat: 61-21 (3rd in NBA), 25th in attendance = -22

Hawks: 56-26 (T-6th in NBA), 27th in attendance = -21

1997-98 (the only year with a significant gap in the Hawks' fans favor, largely thanks to the super-sellouts in the Dome when MJ came to town)

Heat: 55-27 (8th in NBA), 24th in attendance = -16

Hawks: 50-32 (T-10th in NBA), 14th in attendance = -4

1999

Heat: 33-17 (T-5th in NBA), 23rd in attendance = -18

Hawks: 31-19 (T-7th in NBA), 27th in attendance = -20

1999-2000

Heat: 52-30 (7th in NBA), 12th in attendance = -5

Hawks: 28-54 (23rd in NBA), 25th in attendance = -2

2000-01

Heat: 52-30 (10th in NBA), 14th in attendance = -4

Hawks: 25-57 (24th in NBA), 28th in attendance = -4

01-02

Heat: 36-46 (T-20th in NBA), 19th in attendance = +1

Hawks: 33-49 (22nd in NBA), 27th in attendance = -5

02-03

Heat: 25-57 (26th in NBA), 22nd in attendance = +4

Hawks: 35-47 (22nd in NBA), 28th in attendance = -6

03-04

Heat: 42-40 (T-14th in NBA), 22nd in attendance = -8

Hawks: 28-54 (22nd in NBA), 29th in attendance (worst in league) = -7

04-05

Heat: 59-23 (T-3rd in NBA), 4th in attendance = -1

Hawks: 13-69 (30th/last in NBA), 28th in attendance = +2

05-06

Heat: 59-23 (5th in NBA), 4th in attendance = +1

Hawks: 13-69 (T-26th in NBA), 29th in attendance = -3

06-07

Heat: 44-38 (11th in NBA), 5th in attendance = +6

Hawks: 30-52 (26th in NBA), 26th in attendance = 0

In other words, the Heat have outdrawn the Hawks in every year but one since the team was founded. Their fans have been "better" than the Hawks in all but 3 years since the team was founded. Even when the Heat have been worse than the Hawks, they have outdrawn the Hawks.

If you want to continue this conversation, stop talking out of your *ss.

Edited February 17, 2010 by niremetal

[Sothron]

I remember talking to Terrence Moore and the guy who used to cover the Hawks before he died for the AJC, I can't remember his name, and they said the reason Atlanta will always have a NBA team despite the Hawks personal home attendance is that NBA runs numbers and for the total NBA market demographic (television ratings, ad revenue, shoe sales, jersey sales, etc etc.) that Atlanta was consistently either the fourth or fifth best market in the country.

The big question I have is that while the Atlanta area may be a great NBA area why the hell don't more people go to Hawks games? I understand the following:

1. Atlanta is a party town, sports has to compete with strip clubs, bars and every thing else for the young Atlanta dollar.

2. Atlanta is the largest transplant city in the country and the people that come down have no interest or loyalty to the Atlanta teams, just their old teams.

3. In general terms Atlanta sports teams are worse far more often than they are good.

ALL that said how are we still this bad in attendance? How can the Hawks have a top record and be this bad in attendance? Go back to our 93-94 season and look at those attendance numbers. They are atrocious.

[niremetal]

I remember talking to Terrence Moore and the guy who used to cover the Hawks before he died for the AJC, I can't remember his name, and they said the reason Atlanta will always have a NBA team despite the Hawks personal home attendance is that NBA runs numbers and for the total NBA market demographic (television ratings, ad revenue, shoe sales, jersey sales, etc etc.) that Atlanta was consistently either the fourth or fifth best market in the country.

The big question I have is that while the Atlanta area may be a great NBA area why the hell don't more people go to Hawks games? I understand the following:

1. Atlanta is a party town, sports has to compete with strip clubs, bars and every thing else for the young Atlanta dollar.

2. Atlanta is the largest transplant city in the country and the people that come down have no interest or loyalty to the Atlanta teams, just their old teams.

3. In general terms Atlanta sports teams are worse far more often than they are good.

ALL that said how are we still this bad in attendance? How can the Hawks have a top record and be this bad in attendance? Go back to our 93-94 season and look at those attendance numbers. They are atrocious.

I think #2 is the biggest reason.

[falc82]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yj3tzq5

Here is an example of a semi blockbuster trade that would make us title contenders.

Basically: Al Jefferson for Marvin, Teague, Collins, and Mo. Throw in a 1st or 2nd round pick if its uneven.

We'd have both big Al's at PF/C and Josh Smith at SF OR Smoove at PF with one of the Als coming off the bench and the other play C while Crawford plays SG and JJ moves to SF.

This move hurts are depth a bit and we'd have to sign a few people, but overall it could really help up and works within the cap. Our overall depth would be hurt, but we'd have the best top 6 in all of the NBA. It's not like our bench is our strong point now.

The T-Wolves are open to trading Jefferson for a SF as evidenced by their proposal to Indy of Jefferson for Granger which got shot down. Marvin is no Granger but I could see them mulling this one over.

Edited February 17, 2010 by falc82

[falc82]

Other possible trades that could help and work under the cap.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yjpmwq8 Jason Thompson from the Kings for Jeff Teague, Collins, and a 1st if needed.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yhjdmch Anthony Randolph, Brandon Wright, and Turiaf for Jeff Teague, Marvin, Collins, and a 2nd round pick? to Golden State

or http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yju22xf Anthony Randolph for Jeff Teague and Collins

Randolph has a lot of talent and would be a great addition to our bench, and his agent has gone public saying he would love a trade since Nellie is being Senile and not playing him because he gave him a bad look in practice. He plays hard, and when given a chance really puts up nice numbers. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=3455 with a PER of 19.0

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ykauq68 Devin Harris for Marvin and Jeff Teague to the Nets. Move Bibby to the bench and start Devin.

Basically I'm trying to show there are conceivable trades out there that would make us better and work under the cap.

I assumed trading Horford, Smoove, and Crawford out of the question, didn't see any trade of JJ making us better this year, and figured no one would take on Bibby for any reason and he at least still has value for our team. That really leaves trading some of our bench big men (expirings) and some combination of Teague, Marvin, and a pick.

Edited February 17, 2010 by falc82

[falc82]

One more trade idea that works under the cap. I'm not sure if adding Kirk Hinrich at the expense of Mike Bibby makes us better but some could argue it does.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yjd5jok

It's part of a 3 way that would help the Bulls net Tracy McGrady. The latest report I've read is that the Bulls want McGrady bad and have an enticing enough offer, but the Bulls want Hinrich including and the Rockets are balking and insisting a 3rd team be involved if he is to be a part of the trade. Bibby instead of Hinrich is 3 million less over the same 3 year period for the Bulls so they would probably go for this. The other elements of the trade I included are those spoken of in the following article.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4920108

Not sure if this makes us better. But it's another idea for discussion.

[lethalweapon3]

I remember talking to Terrence Moore and the guy who used to cover the Hawks before he died for the AJC, I can't remember his name, and they said the reason Atlanta will always have a NBA team despite the Hawks personal home attendance is that NBA runs numbers and for the total NBA market demographic (television ratings, ad revenue, shoe sales, jersey sales, etc etc.) that Atlanta was consistently either the fourth or fifth best market in the country.

The big question I have is that while the Atlanta area may be a great NBA area why the hell don't more people go to Hawks games? I understand the following:

1. Atlanta is a party town, sports has to compete with strip clubs, bars and every thing else for the young Atlanta dollar.

2. Atlanta is the largest transplant city in the country and the people that come down have no interest or loyalty to the Atlanta teams, just their old teams.

3. In general terms Atlanta sports teams are worse far more often than they are good.

ALL that said how are we still this bad in attendance? How can the Hawks have a top record and be this bad in attendance? Go back to our 93-94 season and look at those attendance numbers. They are atrocious.

The party-town factor is what brings fans out to see the likes of current/former mega-stars and potential "club VIPs" (Shaq, AI, LeBron, Wade, etc) and is what brings people to Philips on entertaining Friday/Saturday night matchups ("nightclub warmups"). The Hawks benefitted from a great number of Friday night contests over the past two months.

The transplant factor will draw guys like me once/twice a year to display faux allegiance to a team from a major media-market with some semblance of a storied, multi-generational history (Lakers, Celtics, Sixers, Knicks, Bulls, Pistons). The predominance of such "fans" are NOT from towns in our current division (Charlotte, Orlando, Miami), and if they're from DC wouldn't show unless there's a sincere interest in seeing a retiring MJ or healthy Arenas. The SE division makes up a major number of home games, but it is too new to have engrained rivalries of interest to anyone. You didn't grow up hatin' on the Bobcats, so you're indifferent when they come to town.

Those party-town and transplant factors are not strong enough to attract fans for the Wendesday-nights-against-the-Clippers games. It is those games where the strength of the home team's product combined with the sustained local trust factor in the owners and management (ex. Cuban) has to be self-evident... before you can build a reliable season-ticket base, before people commit to anything more than one or two games a year.

As for trust, for many who were Hawks fans from the cradle, the Nique factor is still strong, too. A significant number of those adolescents/young adults strung along during the Hawks' contending years in the 80s/early 90s that would be the current disposable-income fanbase swore off the Hawks (and still do) after Nique got traded. I don't dare bring up the Hawks at my barbershop, unless I wanna wind up with a 'do like Brandon Jennings'.

~lw3

[niremetal]

As for trust, for many who were Hawks fans from the cradle, the Nique factor is still strong, too. A significant number of those adolescents/young adults strung along during the Hawks' contending years in the 80s/early 90s that would be the current disposable-income fanbase swore off the Hawks (and still do) after Nique got traded. I don't dare bring up the Hawks at my barbershop, unless I wanna wind up with a 'do like Brandon Jennings'.

~lw3

I figured someone would bring that up, but the truth is that the Hawks posted atrocious attendance numbers during the Nique era as well. The Hawks never finished in the top third of the league in attendance during the Nique era. Even when they won 57 games in '86-87 (3rd best in the NBA), they only finished 8th in attendance. The next year, they finished 8th in attendance again despite winning 50 games (7th best in the NBA). It was all downhill from there - but even at the Hawks' peak with Nique, they still didn't crack the top third of the league in attendance, and teams that were as bad as or worse than the Hawks in both regular season and postseason play outdrew them.

In 1992-93, the Hawks were dead last in attendance. That was Nique's last full year with the Hawks. The year before that, they were 25th of 27. So the idea that fans fled after the Nique trade again doesn't jive with reality. I think that a lot of Hawks fans just used the trade as a convenient excuse for why they didn't show up, despite the fact that they had stopped showing up well before he left.

[coachx]

The Omni area (present day Phillips Arena arena) was an extremely bad part of town in the 80's when Nique was a Hawk. People were scared to go there (or maybe I was just scared of all the homeless since I was a kid then). I know SOME people say that about the Phillips Arena area now, but the difference in the area is night and day from what it used to be. Besides the CNN Center there was really not too many "nice things" around there. I do remember going to "The World of Sid" back in the day as a kid and thought it was pretty cool.

I think the ghetto scared alot of people away from the Omni even though the Hawks were good in the 80's. I will never forget my first Hawks game. I went to see the Pacers play (they had Vern Fleming as their starting PG who was the UGA PG that lead them to the Final 4). Me and my dad went to see 2 former Dawgs play (Nique and Vern). We sat beside some punk rockers with pink and green mow-hawks that were wearing those 80's black leather jackets with chains......LOL. There were 10 X as many homeless walking around outside compared to now. I felt like I was on another planet.

Then the Dome was built and Centinnial Olympic Park was built, the Aquariam and Coke Museum then followed, soon the College Football Hall of Fame will be there too. The area now has severla nice hotels (Omni Hotel, Embasssy Suites, and others). That area of town has truely come along way from where it was in the 80's.

Edited February 17, 2010 by coachx

[niremetal]

The Omni area (present day Phillips Arena arena) was an extremely bad part of town in the 80's when Nique was a Hawk. People were scared to go there (or maybe I was just scared of all the homeless since I was a kid then). I know SOME people say that about the Phillips Arena area now, but the difference in the area is night and day from what it used to be. Besides the CNN Center there was really not too many "nice things" around there. I do remember going to "The World of Sid" back in the day as a kid and thought it was pretty cool.

I think the ghetto scared alot of people away from the Omni even though the Hawks were good in the 80's. I will never forget my first Hawks game. I went to see the Pacers play (they had Vern Fleming as their starting PG who was the UGA PG that lead them to the Final 4). Me and my dad went to see 2 former Dawgs play (Nique and Vern). We sat beside some punk rockers with pink and green mow-hawks that were wearing those 80's black leather jackets with chains......LOL. There were 10 X as many homeless walking around outside compared to now. I felt like I was on another planet.

Then the Dome was built and Centinnial Olympic Park was built, the Aquariam and Coke Museum then followed, soon the College Football Hall of Fame will be there too. The area now has severla nice hotels (Omni Hotel, Embasssy Suites, and others). That area of town has truely come along way from where it was in the 80's.

The thing is, all of the reasons that people bring up for why Atlanta fans don't go to pro sporting events are also true of many other cities that outdraw us (both in absolute terms and relative to our position in the standings). Most arenas are in unsafe areas of big cities. Cobo Arena and Memorial Coliseum were notorious for being crime-infested areas. Same with the blocks around Madison Square Garden pre-Giuliani. The area around the MCI Center in DC used to be awful, although it has become thoroughly gentrified in the past decade. The Boston Garden, The Summit, Reunion Arena...virtually every arena was either built in a run-down area of town or saw the area around it become run-down (due in no small part to the arena itself, no doubt).

The Hawks lack of success in the playoff, the fact that the area around the Omni was dangerous, the years that Atlanta has gone without a superstar...all of these things are true. But they also are true of other cities' teams, but those teams don't show the same lag between record and attendance that Atlanta sports teams do (and again - it's ALL Atlanta sports teams, not just the Hawks; the Braves are actually an even better example).

I seriously think it's the transplant population factor that is mostly responsible. It's tough to cultivate city pride and team loyalty when most city residents were born elsewhere and brought their existing loyalties with them. I'll be a Hawks fan all my life even though it's been 8 years since I left Atlanta, and my girlfriend will be a Blazers fan all her life even though it's been 8 years since she left Portland. Imagine people like us forming 2/3 of the population of a city, and you have Atlanta.

Edited February 17, 2010 by niremetal

[mrhonline]

I seriously think it's the transplant population factor that is mostly responsible. It's tough to cultivate city pride and team loyalty when most city residents were born elsewhere and brought their existing loyalties with them. I'll be a Hawks fan all my life even though it's been 8 years since I left Atlanta, and my girlfriend will be a Blazers fan all her life even though it's been 8 years since she left Portland. Imagine people like us forming 2/3 of the population of a city, and you have Atlanta.

As I'm getting used to things in Raleigh, I've noticed how significant the transplant population is in driving attendance (NHL's Hurricanes). I would like to see how the attendance would be if the Hawks acquired a true superstar (don't ask me to explain how that happens, because I don't know) or had some surprising postseason success (EC finals, at least).

[coachx]

I seriously think it's the transplant population factor that is mostly responsible. It's tough to cultivate city pride and team loyalty when most city residents were born elsewhere and brought their existing loyalties with them. I'll be a Hawks fan all my life even though it's been 8 years since I left Atlanta, and my girlfriend will be a Blazers fan all her life even though it's been 8 years since she left Portland. Imagine people like us forming 2/3 of the population of a city, and you have Atlanta.

It has been reported that ASG really only markets to Atlanta. Bill Shanks pleads for them to market in the Macon area, for example.

The people around Atlanta are the life-long Georgians who grew up watching the Hawks, yet there is no marketing in Macon, Augusta, Gainesville, or Athens for the Hawks. That is where your real fan base truely is...........and this is probably why the crowds on weeknights are so small since its too far them to drive after work and then get up early for work the next morning.

I live right between Atlanta and Athens and I normally only attend weekend games b/c of that commute. (Though I did go to the Celtics game on weeknight)..................so I assume its weekday night games the marketing dept. is trying to improve attendance for and they know most people in Macon and Athens won't make thr trip on a work night anyway.

Edited February 17, 2010 by coachx

[niremetal]

As I'm getting used to things in Raleigh, I've noticed how significant the transplant population is in driving attendance (NHL's Hurricanes). I would like to see how the attendance would be if the Hawks acquired a true superstar (don't ask me to explain how that happens, because I don't know) or had some surprising postseason success (EC finals, at least).

Of course, the Hurricanes are 25th in the NHL in attendance despite being the only major pro sports team in the area, having a superstar, and being just 3 years removed from a Stanley Cup victory. Even the year right after that victory, they were only 15th in attendance (then 20th, 20th again, and now 25th). Clearly, the transplant population isn't driving very hard.

It's not unlike what happened with the Hawks with Nique - fans kinda sorta paid attention when the Hawks became contenders, then tuned out as soon as they backtracked a bit. Same with the Braves in the 90's - the Braves only led the NL in attendance once (1992, right after the miracle season) and never led the league (never came close, actually). They never finished better in attendance than they did in the standings, despite winning

The Hawks had a superstar in Nique who led the league in scoring and was electrifying to watch. Fans still didn't show up in great numbers - as I said, they never cracked the top 1/3 of the league in attendance despite 4 consecutive 50-win seasons. The rule about Atlanta sports teams doing worse in attendance than in the standings held true even when the Hawks were winning 57 games and had one of the 3 most exciting players in the league.

It has been reported that ASG really only markets to Atlanta. Bill Shanks pleads for them to market in the Macon area, for example.

The people around Atlanta are the life-long Georgians who grew up watching the Hawks, yet there is no marketing in Macon, Augusta, Gainesville, or Athens for the Hawks. That is where your real fan base truely is...........and this is probably why the crowds on weeknights are so small since its too far them to drive after work and then get up early for work the next morning.

I live right between Atlanta and Athens and I normally only attend weekend games b/c of that commute. (Though I did go to the Celtics game on weeknight)..................so I assume its weekday night games the marketing dept. is trying to improve attendance for and they know most people in Macon and Athens won't make thr trip on a work night anyway.

That argument can only go so far. Because the Braves most certainly have (and, far as I know, still do) market to those areas, but the Braves attendance has always had the same problem as the Hawks - attendance lags behind (and usually well behind) the team's record in the standings. Even after they won the World Series and had superstar players. And I don't think anyone will argue with a straight face that basketball trumps baseball or football in the areas of Georgia outside Atlanta (which is in and of itself another reason that Atlanta is a poor pro basketball town).

Another reason is one you alluded to - the Atlanta metro area is VERY spread out. It also has incredibly poor public transit. The result is a ton of congestion on the highways and a frustrating time getting to games even if you're a fan who lives in the close suburbs. If you're trying to get to a 7pm game coming from Athens, Augusta, or Macon...well, it's even harder. And as I said, basketball is just not as popular as football or baseball in Georgia generally and the areas outside Atlanta metro in particular.

Edited February 17, 2010 by niremetal

[Diesel]

I remember talking to Terrence Moore and the guy who used to cover the Hawks before he died for the AJC, I can't remember his name, and they said the reason Atlanta will always have a NBA team despite the Hawks personal home attendance is that NBA runs numbers and for the total NBA market demographic (television ratings, ad revenue, shoe sales, jersey sales, etc etc.) that Atlanta was consistently either the fourth or fifth best market in the country.

The big question I have is that while the Atlanta area may be a great NBA area why the hell don't more people go to Hawks games? I understand the following:

1. Atlanta is a party town, sports has to compete with strip clubs, bars and every thing else for the young Atlanta dollar.

2. Atlanta is the largest transplant city in the country and the people that come down have no interest or loyalty to the Atlanta teams, just their old teams.

3. In general terms Atlanta sports teams are worse far more often than they are good.

ALL that said how are we still this bad in attendance? How can the Hawks have a top record and be this bad in attendance? Go back to our 93-94 season and look at those attendance numbers. They are atrocious.

Denberg and Moore are right. The thing is Atlanta is a hub. Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, SC don't have strong franchises to follow. Even with the invent of Memphis and N.O., Nique built a pretty good following outside the state. The other thing is the transplants. This has been stated. The last thing is the city has to make some changes too. Once the city makes it easier for people to commute in and see the games, the Phil will stay full.

[Diesel]

Denberg and Moore are right. The thing is Atlanta is a hub. Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, SC don't have strong franchises to follow. Even with the invent of Memphis and N.O., Nique built a pretty good following outside the state. The other thing is the transplants. This has been stated. The last thing is the city has to make some changes too. Once the city makes it easier for people to commute in and see the games, the Phil will stay full.

The other thing is Branding.

Dominiques hawks were branded. Just like AI's 76ers, Magic's Lakers, Jordan's Bull. In other words it takes a superstar and success to develop a following like these guys had. That's the branding in the NBA. Right now, ASG has kept a good talent around. 4 time Allstar, but he is no where near branded. We missed out on Branding Deke. Smoove can be branded... but somebody has to be the face of the franchise.

[lethalweapon3]

I figured someone would bring that up, but the truth is that the Hawks posted atrocious attendance numbers during the Nique era as well. The Hawks never finished in the top third of the league in attendance during the Nique era. Even when they won 57 games in '86-87 (3rd best in the NBA), they only finished 8th in attendance. The next year, they finished 8th in attendance again despite winning 50 games (7th best in the NBA). It was all downhill from there - but even at the Hawks' peak with Nique, they still didn't crack the top third of the league in attendance, and teams that were as bad as or worse than the Hawks in both regular season and postseason play outdrew them.

In 1992-93, the Hawks were dead last in attendance. That was Nique's last full year with the Hawks. The year before that, they were 25th of 27. So the idea that fans fled after the Nique trade again doesn't jive with reality. I think that a lot of Hawks fans just used the trade as a convenient excuse for why they didn't show up, despite the fact that they had stopped showing up well before he left.

No doubt about it, attendance sucked bad during the Omni years... thank goodness Nique was there otherwise they would've really had crickets! Where I merged that undeniable fact into the "why they don't draw, Philips Arena edition" is that young native Atlantans that wanted to see Nique & the Hawks live didn't have to schlep downtown 40 times a year... they could turn on WTBS (a non-cable UHF station back then) in the comfort of their own living rooms and bedrooms. Many of the "seeds" (the adolescents/young adults I alluded to earlier) fortunate enough to watch from Momma's basement (and "maybe" catch a game or two at the Omni) back then would become the grown folk with disposable income who'd be buying season-ticket packages annually now... and bringing new "seeds" with them. Nique's trade uprooted those seeds, who with cable access would grow to get their NBA jollies from watching WGN (Mike 'n Da Bulls) and perennial championship contenders on TNT+ESPN. Under the Wilkens-Babcock regime that jettisoned Nique... Mookie, Smitty, and Deke's wagging finger were not enough to regain that trust from a demographic critical to the franchise's arena-filling future.

~lw3

[Joker]

The other thing is Branding.

Dominiques hawks were branded. Just like AI's 76ers, Magic's Lakers, Jordan's Bull. In other words it takes a superstar and success to develop a following like these guys had. That's the branding in the NBA. Right now, ASG has kept a good talent around. 4 time Allstar, but he is no where near branded. We missed out on Branding Deke. Smoove can be branded... but somebody has to be the face of the franchise.

Good point, only Horford can be branded. He is the only one with superstar potential and he has the personality and the look. Smith is exciting but exciting in a Ben Wallace way, not Dwayne Wade.

[Diesel]

Good point, only Horford can be branded. He is the only one with superstar potential and he has the personality and the look. Smith is exciting but exciting in a Ben Wallace way, not Dwayne Wade.

I think it's easier to Brand Smoove than it is to Brand Horf.

Horf is a great personality but how can he be branded. He's still a working class Center. He's like Duncan with less moves. Smoove on the other hand has heart. He already has a Nickname (J-Smoove). His Athleticism makes him easy to brand. However, it's hard to brand Smith or Horf with Joe being the main cog. I think they would have to wait until Joe was signed to do such a thing and then they'd have to Brand Joe first.

JOE COOL!!!

I think there was a commercial a few months back...

The Most interesting man in the world.

I say for Joe, they start running

The Coolest man in the world.

A spoof. Featuring Joe Cool.

Start branding him as Cool and never sweats under pressure.

[BusBoyIsBack]

We need to stay the course. Even if Cleveland is the team to beat, guess what? They are aging at key positions just like Boston.

Shaq, Big Z, and Jamison are all on the wrong side of 30 as far as athletics are concerned. I'm assuming they get big Z back, but he'll be 35 in June and Shaq will be 39 next season. Jamison will be 34.

We have guys who should be getting better not worse in Josh Smith, Al Horford, etc.

We are in perfect position to compete with Orlando over the next 2 years as the top team in the conference.

[Joker]

As I'm getting used to things in Raleigh, I've noticed how significant the transplant population is in driving attendance (NHL's Hurricanes). I would like to see how the attendance would be if the Hawks acquired a true superstar (don't ask me to explain how that happens, because I don't know) or had some surprising postseason success (EC finals, at least).

Atlanta does have a lot more fans now then it has ever had. So I believe there is potential.