Gearon: We're Not Cheap, and We Are Willing to Exceed LT at Trade Deadline

[sturt]

ajchawks Gearon Jr.: "People say, 'The #Hawks owners are cheap.' Yet . . . we will probably have one of the top 5 payrolls in NBA. " 6 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite

ajchawks Gearon Jr. says #Hawks willing to add $, pay tax at trade deadline to get "missing piece we think will take us over the top."

Clip and save.

[JohnnyCASH]

B

S

[High5]

I've never had a problem with the amount they spent, only how it was spent.

[MaceCase]

I've never had a problem with the amount they spent, only how it was spent.

Precisely, the ASG go out and buy a mansion but then balk at furnishing it and tell fans they should be happy they have an expensive roof over their heads.

[Wurider05]

They are not cheap. Cheapness isn't the problem. The fact that they don't have the money is the problem.

[HawksFan87]

They don't have the money, and there are zero superstar centers available.

[Randy]

Yeah - cheap isn't the problem. And I don't really blame them for not wanting to go over the tax. If you add a guy for say $5 m (e.g. Crawford) and you are over the tax then its what - $10 m (5+5) + you lose the refund check of 2-3 m. Was Crawford worth $12 m? No one else thought so. I think all the teams he was seriously talking to were under the tax. The Knicks wouldn't go over the tax for him, I think Portland amnestied Roy so they were under.

[niremetal]

Precisely, the ASG go out and buy a mansion but then balk at furnishing it and tell fans they should be happy they have an expensive roof over their heads.

Great analogy.

[sturt]

Randy, the word is that under the new CBA, the revenue sharing is significantly less than previously, and what's more, you don't sacrifice the entire revenue sharing privilege with the first dollar over the the LT threshold.

[Jody23]

He also said "We haven't seen enough to say this team is not capable of competing [for a title]."

This guy just doesn't get it and is in denial about the truth.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Jody23

[Diesel]

Well, the premise is where I have a problem. I don't think that they are cheap. I believe that they misspend. However, his statement is nothing.

He says we will go over the cap at the trade deadline. At the trade deadline, he's not picking up new players, he's trading for players. That means that the most that the Hawks will spend is 125%+ 100k of what we trade.

So that means if we traded Horf + Marvin. That's 20.5 Million going out and 25.725 that can come back. That just 5.725 Million over what we have spent thus far. In that situation, The hit from the LT would be something like 3-4 Million.

This of course is my dream.

Horf/Marvin/Picks for D-12 at the deadline.

But even my dream wouldn't be that expensive to them LT wise. However, if that were to happen, the question becomes... next year, when we have to sign D-12... Will we reup him at the max and then look for a BU PG and a Sf talent that can help us win it all? That's when we explore the spending policies of the ASG.

[Joker]

Dwight Howard dreams?

[Diesel]

Dwight Howard dreams?

Yep..

Everybody ought to have a dream...

[Joker]

lol, Dwight ain't coming to Atlanta Gearon.

[Devon]

I was so hopeful that these windbag douches were out of the picture and then Mereulo didn't have the funds... Why are we stuck with this group of Assclowns?

[AHF]

Diesel - salary matching rules relaxed. Now must be 150%.

[ryandauwalker]

I've never been a fan of the Atlanta Spirit, but I can really appreciate where Michael Gearon is coming from. If you haven't read it, take the time out of your weekend to read the Q&A:

http://blogs.ajc.com...ron-jr-q-and-a/

Here are the facts:

1) Nobody shows up to the games: If owners maintain a higher payroll than their attendence percentage, complaints against cheapness really do not apply. I'm too lazy to gather the figures, but I know we aren't 5th in attendence (what we're projected to be this year). For the last three years, we've been above our attendence.

2) We get ZERO support from the media despite our regular season and first round performance: We are not the Braves winning fourteen division titles so our expectations are World Series or failure. The Hawks have put together some really good seasons and the media (local and national) just rip the owners because of the internal squabbles and just assume they are cheap. This trickle effect affects everyone's opinions.

3) The owners pay for players: While they haven't made massive splashes, they've kept their guys in Horford, Smoove, Marvin (much to our chagrin), and Joe by paying up. This has been spoken about and does not need to be elaborated on.

4) Atlanta's sports market is an absolute mess due to the suburban nature and transcience of the city.

Considering all of the above, and despite the internal ownership squabbles, have they done that bad of a job? I know this is controversial, and I've always hated them, but the more I think about it, my viewpoint has been tarnished by a fallacious negative media viewpoint.

Edited December 18, 2011 by ryandauwalker

[Buzzard]

Diesel - salary matching rules relaxed. Now must be 150%.

So if we send away Kirks 10 million we can take back 15 million. Just using that as a easy example for the 150% rule but, if true and my basic math is correct, that is a huge change in the trade rules.

Edited December 18, 2011 by Buzzard

[sturt]

As long as we aren't taxpayers... for taxpayers, it stays the same as it was (125%).