My two cents on the Hawks

[Dejay]

Amazing how much has changed over the last three weeks. Three weekends ago, we were celebrating a good opening series win over the Bucks; someone on this board even posted something up about feeling sorry for Milwaukee. Well, after seeing them have to fight for their lives with the Bucks, then watching the Magic run through our squad in similar fashion as Duke would to Brookwood High at Cameron Indoor on Senior Night, everything has changed. And now, everything must change.

While it's easy to throw blame around for this debacle that has reached comedic levels, I decided to take another approach. Before watching Game 3, I saw a show by NFL Network featuring current and former head coaches. The late Bill Walsh told a story about being on Paul Brown's coaching staff. Their team was headed to the stadium for a ballgame and the bus driver didn't know the route and got totally lost. Brown was obviously upset but instead of railing on the poor driver, he told him that he didn't blame him for getting them in this situation; he blames the guy who hired him. So while we can spend day and night looking at Woodson, JJ, Marvin, Smith, Bibby, et al as reasons why they can't get within single-digits in a second round game yet, you know who we really should be tossing granades at? Look no further than Billy Knight and the Notorious A.S.G.

Over the last 30 years, the rule has been that a championship contending team was built by acquiring a superstar-level player and surrounding him with enough firepower to overcome opposing teams in the playoffs because of the superstar's ability to raise the level of his teammates. The nine years of infamy (1998-2007) notwithstanding, the MO on this franchise was always never being good enough to be a serious threat to the title while not being bad enough to draft and/or trade for a superstar player who can deliver the impact a team drafting that high really needs. When it became obviously clear that the Hawks needed to rebuild, who was the foreman in charge? Who was the one who hired Woodson in the first place, knowing his anathema to developing a true offensive system and disdain for playing young guys? Who's idea it was to build a team centered around a group of 6'9" players with length? Is there any example of that idea ever panning out without a Kobe/Lebron/Wade on the roster? And more importantly, who's strategy it was to rebuild this team based on the lone exception to the NBA championship formula (2004-05 Pistons) instead of the rule? No need to respond, we already know the answer.

Bill Parcells once coined a phrase, 'you are who you are'. While Woodson improved his win total in each of the last five seasons, he has yet to show that he can motivate the team into doing anything once faced with any adversity, especially n a gametime situation in the playoffs. There's no justification for this team having to go seven games with an outclassed Miami team last year and an undermanned Bucks squad this season. Simply put, he's a 'bridge' coach; the Doug Collins/Del Harris type you bring in to get a team out of the abyss, only to be let go in order to bring in the Pat Riley/Phil Jackson level guy who can get you over the top when it matters most. Woodson did exactly what should have been expected of him; you are who you are.

Joe Johnson is a perennial All-Star level player but nothing more. I've defended him as far as re-signing him but it's become painfully obvious that he isn't the go-to guy that this team needs in order to contend with Cleveland and Orlando. He's a darn good player but not on the same level with Lebron, Kobe, or Wade; he isn't on the same level as Kevin Durant. He is who he is.

Josh Smith should have been an All-Star this year and has made quantum improvements to his game over previous seasons. But he doesn't have the skillset to be dominant on both ends of the courts for a full 48 minutes. He still show signs of immaturity and a total lack of court awareness (why he still leads the fast break sometimes is beyond me at this point) but we knew this going in. He is who he is.

Marvin Williams is the classic case of why guys like him leave school early and why there is now a rookie cap. Roy Williams didn't raise much of a stink when he declared early and now we know why; he knew there would be a team willing to take a chance on his 'length and upside' and spend a lotto pick to do it. And him being drafted high means more aspiring McDonald All-Americans looking at UNC as a springboard to the league. There isn't a single thing on the court he does that warrants Hubie Brown rewinding the film to highlight to the masses; not one. He defends and rebounds okay and has a decent mid-range shot but okay and decent isn't what anyone should expect from a former #2 pick of the draft. When I suggested that he needed to put up borderline All-Star numbers (at least 20/7) or help get them to the ECFs to get me to stop yelling 'CHRIS PAUL, CHRIS PAUL!!!!' everytime he misses a wide-open shot or runs over someone in the paint and get called for charging, I was called crazy. Am I crazy now? And no, I'm not letting go the fact that two All-Star point guards were passed up to bring him in because while he has some skills, he lacks the 'want to' which is totally inexcusable. Besides, how many years did Jon Koncak have to hear about his employer passing over Karl Malone and Joe Dumars to draft him when he was here? He is who he is.

But you know the most sobering moment of all, especially for the uninformed posters on the AJC blogs who thinks they can simply replace JJ with Wade in the offseason and start scheduling parades down Peachtree Street? I have a sneaking feeling that this is the best we can expect for the near future. I took a look at the current payrolls and the only playoff teams with lower ones that the Hawks are younger squads in Portland and OKC. It gets even worse; of the eight teams who made the second round, seven of them have top-10 payrolls, with the Hawks' an estimated $8M behind the next team (Utah) and over $17M behind SE rival Orlando. While the use of the $$$ is more important than simply having it to spend (see Knickerbockers, New York), the Hawks are trying to win gunfights with dulled steak knives. While teams like the Bucks (even they have a higher payroll) made midseason moves to bring in more talent, the Hawks had no choice but to stand pat, even when it became clear that their bench was suspect sans Crawford and Pachulia. Judging from this forum, I wasn't the only one who noticed. There's already rumors of them wanting to sell their draft picks in order to dig up enough scratch to sign Johnson; do we really want to bet on this bunch convincing Wade or Chris Bosh to show up here?

You know who the Notorious A.S.G. reminds me of? The Little Rascals. While Spanky, Alfalfa, and Buckwheat would pool their nickels, pennies, and bottle tops together to buy one soda they can share, this ownership group does the same thing in regards to the Hawks and Thrashers. It was no small wonder why Knight's attempts to fire Woodson were so quickly rebuffed because of them having to pay Woodson's contract, then recruit and pay another coach at the same time. Yet, this is the same group who expressed 'disappointment' about the attendance figures?

Well, as Vince McMahon once told Jesse Ventura when he was governor, if you want to make $$$, you must be willing to spend it. You can't say that you're sacrificing as owners when the teams you're trying to overthrow in the East are spending $17-22M more. That idea may work in baseball and football but its all relative in this case because we're not talking about the Knicks; we're talking about teams who know what they're doing with the extra resources and not sitting on their hands when the cards they're dealt isn't enough to win.

Watching the Hawks look as incomplete and inferior as they have in this series reminds me of a college dropout who's making $7/hr. at Walgreens, only to get his first student loan bill in the mailbox. I'm not talking about the guy who only had a few classes to complete and ran out of $$$; I'm talking about the guy who didn't get out of sophomore-level classes, spent up all his financial aid, only for life to get in the way. Now, he doesn't have the $$$ to pay the bill and its due. The Hawks, for all their improvement, is that team who in all likelihood will have to drop out because what they have isn't enough to put up a fight with Cleveland or Orlando; even at home. The bill for having Billy Knight run the show when more competence was needed, is now due for payment. It has a lot of interest on it.

GAME, SET, MATCH.

[macdaddy]

I disagree with the premise. BK made some mistakes but if you're counting the hiring of Woody as one of them then you're way off. At least BK was smart enough to know when to fire him. ASG was not and lost faith in the plan.

Who was the one who hired Woodson in the first place, knowing his anathema to developing a true offensive system and disdain for playing young guys?

I'm not sure how anyone would know this since he had never been a head coach before. I'm pretty sure it was made clear that we were building through the draft so the idea that Woodson came in openly with the attitude of not playing young guys is suspect. That's all he had.

BK's plan was to build a contending team and he did good. If he was allowed to do his job (fire woodson, make some trades) we might be there. Or we might not. But remember other teams have tried the blow it up and draft strategy with disasterous consequences like Chicago. How many number one picks did they hand Tim Floyd only to never make the playoffs?

So where does this superstar come from? Sure everyone knows you need a superstar but there aren't 26 superstars. Who was the last superstar not acquired in the draft by their team? How many GMs are tasked with 'finding a superstar' Its mostly luck. Had BK been allowed to fire Woody when he wanted and still had control of the team i think we'd be a true contender now without a 'superstar'. BKs drafting was suspect sure but he still knew what to do. What are the two top demands from posters around here? Fire Woody and bring back Chillz. BK would have fired him 2 years ago and there is no way Chillz is playing in Greece with BK in charge and Woody gone.

Place the blame on owners not trusting their GM.