Mediocrity is the name of the game

[nyte3k]

This should be the Atlanta Hawks' marketing campaign:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3V5S7NhvcA&feature=related

But seriously, can we have ownership who wants to actually have a goal of a championship? Like someone said in another post, we haven't had a superstar since 'nique, and the playoffs the last couple years and the beginning of this season is just a complete joke.

I've been a diehard Hawks fan since before the days you could get 50% off tickets on the back of Sprite cans (and people still just threw them away), but it's hard to see that we have/had a talented team that has seemed to peak, and management isn't willing to do anything about it except wait until they age and slowly but surely deteriorate. I was looking forward to this season, and less than a month in, i'm already waiting for Braves Spring training, and Sundays to roll around so i can watch the Falcons play hard. ...Wouldn't it be nice if Arthur Blank owned this team....sigh :(

...Wouldn't it be nice if Arthur Blank owned this team....sigh :(

[DJlaysitup]

We now have exactly what BK designed over the years of great draft picks...nearly interchangeable sizes along the front line and a SF who is nearly the same size. Only thing that doesn't adhere to BKs master plan is Bibby, who Woody is responsible for.

[DreamChaser]

Honestly, I don't think we are mediocre anymore. We are just bad, now. Let's start chanting... "WAKE UP, HAWKS!!!"

[Dejay]

Well, I couldn't agree more with the sentiment regarding Blank. He's beloved in this town because he puts his $$$ where his mouth is. Whenever there was a player to be had that the coach and/or GM wanted, he ponied up the $$$ time and time again. Even when the move didn't pan out (see Price, Peerless), it didn't deter him from making another one (John Abraham, Rod Coleman, Tony Gonzales, Dunta Robinson). Sure, he eventually upped the ticket prices since buying the team back in 2001 but because he always put out when it came to his wallet instead of pocketing every dollar while counting on practice squad-level guys to win the day, the fans responded by continuing to sell the place out. In other words, Blank gets the props in town because of him being proactive. Even when things go totally to the pot (see 2007 season), there's a feeling that he'll do whatever it takes to turn it around. And up to this point, he has.

The Hawks, on the other hand, epitomizes the slogan of 'doing more with less' gone wrong. They get swept in record-setting fashion and rewards their fans who paid top dollar for that display by hiring Woodson's top assistant to the cheapest head coaching contract in the league, selling off draft picks and 'assets' (see Childress, Joshua) for $$$, bringing in/returning minimum-salary guys (Etan Thomas, Jason Collins, and Josh Powell) and telling the world how critical they were to the team, knowing that it was a lie from jump street, then telling the folks who are still stinging from the laughter from the national media and rival fans (in town no less) that they have to pay even more $$$ to see them? And yes, they re-upped with Johnson and Horford but that was more to save face with its fanbase than anything; even after those contracts, they're still lightyears behind the other top teams in the conference in terms of payroll. Their ownership group is reviled here, not just because of their frugal ways; it's because they have such a reactive approach to doing business.

Folks can say what they want about the Cubans and the Blanks of the world but I loved sports owners who will do and/or spend what it takes to bring in a winner. Sure they don't have rings (well at least until February, knock on wood) but I appreciate having an owner who doesn't allow his front office to stand pat and operate on the cheap while calling fans out for not showing up to watch its pretender squad get embarrassed at home. I couldn't even imagine Blank not making a move that could help his team get over the hump because he wanted to keep pocketing escrow checks from not going over the luxury tax; I know of one franchise in this town who would, which explains why people don't have any confidence that they'll make the choices it has to make to get where it needs to go. I mean, fans of other playoff-level teams don't even know what an NBA escrow check even is.

And no, I don't buy the 'conservative' approach when it comes to winning big in the pros. When you have a playoff team in hand, you must strike while the iron is hot and make the tough decisions right then and there if/when a player is available for you to get, luxury tax/salary cap be damned. There's no such thing as 'liking our core' when you get curbstomped by 30 at home in the second round. There's no other GM in the league who could get away with calling his team 'elite' after getting pushed to a seventh game by a squad missing its two best players. The Lakers can be conservative. Why? Because they already have rings. The Spurs can do that. Why? Because they have rings, too. So can the Bulls, Celtics, Pistons, and Heat. The Magic, Maverick, and Suns fans know what an NBA Finals in their town feels like; do we?

Edited November 25, 2010 by Dejay