Dear Alex....don't pay all that money to a consultant....

[Wretch]

The collective intelligence on this board has followed this team for decades and can tell you exactly what's wrong and where to start. I'm going to throw my $0.03 out there for you:

1] We haven't had a true game changing, franchise player since this guy back in the 80's:

2] We have screwed up a crapload of draft picks (At one point, management decided they weren't necessary...and gave them away).

3] Marvin Williams is DA DEVIL!!! But seriously, good enough is not good enough. That's always been a management issue with our team and is IMO the biggest reason why the people of Atlanta (and most of Georgia from what I can tell) hop from winning bandwagon to winning bandwagon.

I hope all the hoopla is true and I hope you're serious about this team. LISTEN TO THE SQUAWK! They will tell you!

Edited August 7, 2011 by Wretch

[ATLJA316]

I agree with bad draft picks, but for the sake of having just gone through what, 5 years of Woodson?... I had to pick bad coaching.

[Diesel]

My take on it is definitely bad draft picks and that falls on the front office.

We are living out the mistakes of the Marvin Williams, Shelden Williams picks right now. Not that they were bad guys but they were definitely bad picks where we got them. Both guys are late first round players. However, we took both guys high in the lottery.

In Dominique's time, we drop the ball time and time again. However, I don't think the drafting mistakes were as criminal as what BK did because we rarely saw a lottery pick. When we did, we got Augmon. But that wasn't so bad of a pick for that draft. The only other mistake was DeMarr Johnson... but that guy had potential.

[NineOhTheRino]

bring woody back Alex!

[Wretch]

My take on it is definitely bad draft picks and that falls on the front office.

We are living out the mistakes of the Marvin Williams, Shelden Williams picks right now. Not that they were bad guys but they were definitely bad picks where we got them. Both guys are late first round players. However, we took both guys high in the lottery.

In Dominique's time, we drop the ball time and time again. However, I don't think the drafting mistakes were as criminal as what BK did because we rarely saw a lottery pick. When we did, we got Augmon. But that wasn't so bad of a pick for that draft. The only other mistake was DeMarr Johnson... but that guy had potential.

I believe Babcock made a lot of mistakes by ignoring the draft. It's true that we didn't draft during the Nique era much, but then again...we did have a superstar. Babs was ok at trades, or simply making something happen. But when this team started to decline, instead of allowing it to do so gracefully he tried to "win without losing." That's what killed us in the 90's. If we hadn't given away picks, or if the team had been allowed to properly cycle, there's a lot of players we could have had during those years.

I get that feeling now...that we may be headed back to that "win without losing" philosophy. Personally, I don't think it'll work...and I don't think we're close enough talent-wise. Barring a breakout, I just don't see this core getting over the hump. Not without a breakout by somebody AND a real coach (*ahem* Adelman! *ahem*).

[AHF]

(*ahem* Adelman! *ahem*).

I have been wanting him for years.

[Wretch]

I have been wanting him for years.

Same here man. Just like Carlisle, you can see the effect that his coaching has on a team and you know once he gets the right talent, he's going to put that team over. At a minimum though, the guy has TONS of experience, he's been to the conference finals and almost the NBA finals, and in Houston, he's done a great job with a little bit of talent.

It's a no brainer for me.

[frosgrim]

I chose drafting, but you combine poor drafting with bad coaching, poor cap management, and ownership problems you end up with an appathetic fan-base.

This team has almost always been poorly run. Even when Turner had the team, they were second to the Braves. Hopefully, Alex will put the financial and infrastructure resources to the team AND hire basketball people to run the show. I echo the disre for Adleman, he'd be perfect for this team.

[hawkman]

I chose drafting, but you combine poor drafting with bad coaching, poor cap management, and ownership problems you end up with an appathetic fan-base.

This team has almost always been poorly run. Even when Turner had the team, they were second to the Braves. Hopefully, Alex will put the financial and infrastructure resources to the team AND hire basketball people to run the show. I echo the disre for Adleman, he'd be perfect for this team.

True. You can't just say one thing is the reason the team is 'decent' instead of great right now. It's the combination of all the things mentioned above that has made the team what it is today. I have to admit that this team could be a LOT worse than what it is right now considering all the coaching/GM/ownership issues over the years, but it could be a heckuva lot better too. Hindsight is 20/20, but we flat out botched the lottery under BK for the most part. I still can't believe we only have Horf(3) and Smoove(17) to show for all those trips to the lottery. The ASG was doing their best to make the Hawks look like the worst run team in sports. Woody was Woody. This will be the first season the Hawks organization will be stable and competent from top to bottom in 7-8 years, maybe more since Babcock made some pretty rough coaching and player decisions his last few years here too. An LD with some head coaching experience, an untethered Sund, and an enthusiatic new owner looking to make a splash are all reasons to be optimistic looking forward. We won't have the lottery to lean on like we did under BK though so improving the team will be a little more complicated than before. But I think we are right there as far as being capable of reaching the ECF. A little more discipline and toughness on the floor during the Bulls series and I think we beat them.

[Wretch]

True. You can't just say one thing is the reason the team is 'decent' instead of great right now. It's the combination of all the things mentioned above that has made the team what it is today. I have to admit that this team could be a LOT worse than what it is right now considering all the coaching/GM/ownership issues over the years, but it could be a heckuva lot better too. Hindsight is 20/20, but we flat out botched the lottery under BK for the most part. I still can't believe we only have Horf(3) and Smoove(17) to show for all those trips to the lottery. The ASG was doing their best to make the Hawks look like the worst run team in sports. Woody was Woody. This will be the first season the Hawks organization will be stable and competent from top to bottom in 7-8 years, maybe more since Babcock made some pretty rough coaching and player decisions his last few years here too. An LD with some head coaching experience, an untethered Sund, and an enthusiatic new owner looking to make a splash are all reasons to be optimistic looking forward. We won't have the lottery to lean on like we did under BK though so improving the team will be a little more complicated than before. But I think we are right there as far as being capable of reaching the ECF. A little more discipline and toughness on the floor during the Bulls series and I think we beat them.

When it comes to managing a sports team, it is suicide to ignore the past. We have to be careful right now that we don't parallel this team to the team of the 90's - a team that was not good enough to get out of the 2nd round and was not bad enough to draft a superstar. The crowning achievement of that 90's team was stealing homecourt from the Bulls on their homecourt and pretending to be able to advance to the ECFs. Ironically, that might be true word for word with this team.

It's quite obvious to me that our biggest issue has been management. We replaced an incompetent idiot with a crazy fool and piled on mistake after mistake. I initially started to list bad management as an option on the poll, but that's just too all inclusive and everyone would have voted for that...because it's the truth. Whether or not any of us like the lottery, I hope we can all agree that if and when we do end up there....that making a selection is not a trivial matter.

About the here and now:

While I am encouraged that we beat the Magic, and honestly could have blown them out had Joe been able to rise, I remain skeptical. Many coaches will tell you that they don't put stock in moral victories. End the end, our team is just one of the many that went home. The better teams always end up playing deep into the playoffs, on national TV, drawing the attention of the better players and better coaches. The guys we think will put us over sign on with these teams for peanuts, while they toy with us and/or hold our hopes for improvement hostage by asking for a king's ransom - i.e. KMart, shaq, Rick Fox.

If guys improve, we can beat the Bulls AND the Heat. I'm sure of it. But we're talking "If" again. If Teague is for real. If Horford.... If Josh.... If Joe... If Marvin... If, if, if....... I've heard that word so many times in 20 something years, I think we should be called the Atlanta If's.

Edited August 20, 2011 by Wretch