Hate all you want.....Joe is still thinking about you!

[HawkItus]

http://hoopshype.com/articles/woelfel/johnson-silently-keeping-atlanta-competitive

And now the 30-year-old Johnson yearns to be called a “champion.’’ While winning the Eastern Conference is his primary goal now, Johnson candidly admits he craves an NBA championship ring … and not just for himself. “Winning an NBA championship would mean a lot to me,’’ the soft-spoken Johnson said. “I think everyone wants to win a championship. I know I do. But it would also be good for our fans because our franchise has never won one. That would be special. I would love to bring their first championship to them"

[Sothron]

But but but Joe doesn't care about winning! Or the fans!

[capstone21]

well if you care about a championship....why take so much money which prevents the ability to bring in others to help that goal?

[Admin]

well if you care about a championship....why take so much money which prevents the ability to bring in others to help that goal?

Joes contract hasn't made any difference, or wouldn't with owners who weren't strapped for cash. We've sold picks and not used our MLE and let players walk and no way does the 6-7 million less we should be paying Joe make a huge difference in them building this team. It's nice to hear Joe say that though!

[Diesel]

well if you care about a championship....why take so much money which prevents the ability to bring in others to help that goal?

Joe didn't demand his contract.Joe was handed that contract.If I was handed 121 Million dollars, I wouldn't turn it down for the sake of the company either.

[NineOhTheRino]

Joe didn't demand his contract. Joe was handed that contract. If I was handed 121 Million dollars, I wouldn't turn it down for the sake of the company either.

Wrong!

The extension offer in '09 was fair but not crippling. Turning down that offer was JJ effectively asking the Hawks for the kitchen sink.

If you think Joe Johnson gives a flip about wining a tittle....

I'm just saying...why would he corner the Hawks into offering that horrible contract if he was about winning? He knew that horrible contract would give ASG an easy out. He's in this for the money and anyone believing otherwise is not thinking clearly.

This doesn't even read convincing

I think everyone wants to win a championship. I know I do.

Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok! Edited April 4, 2012 by NineOhTheRino

[Sothron]

Wrong!

The extension offer in '09 was fair but not crippling. Turning down that offer was JJ effectively asking the Hawks for the kitchen sink.

If you think Joe Johnson gives a flip about wining a tittle....

I'm just saying...why would he corner the Hawks into offering that horrible contract if he was about winning? He knew that horrible contract would give ASG an easy out. He's in this for the money and anyone believing otherwise is not thinking clearly.

This doesn't even read convincing

Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!

Yes, Joe Johnson is the first player in NBA history to turn down an extension to become a free agent to earn more in an open market. CALL THE PRESSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AtLaS]

Joe didn't demand his contract.Joe was handed that contract.If I was handed 121 Million dollars, I wouldn't turn it down for the sake of the company either.

I have no qualms with Joe taking the contract. It was a dumb move by our ownership. We have no shot at a championship and we're going to deal with "pretty good" teams that take early exits in the playoffs every season. I am all for a trade but we won't make one. This contract locks us into mediocrity and prevents us from rebuilding.

[Sothron]

I have no qualms with Joe taking the contract. It was a dumb move by our ownership. We have no shot at a championship and we're going to deal with "pretty good" teams that take early exits in the playoffs every season. I am all for a trade but we won't make one. This contract locks us into mediocrity and prevents us from rebuilding.

Define "early exit" for me. This team routinely makes it to the second round of the playoffs. That automatically puts us every year in the top four of our conference. Look at the teams above us in that regard and tell me how we beat them with this horrible ownership. You want us to go from being a top four team in a conference to doing what exactly? Trading away all the players for draft picks and hoping one of them pans out?

[NineOhTheRino]

Define "early exit" for me. This team routinely makes it to the second round of the playoffs. That automatically puts us every year in the top four of our conference. Look at the teams above us in that regard and tell me how we beat them with this horrible ownership. You want us to go from being a top four team in a conference to doing what exactly? Trading away all the players for draft picks and hoping one of them pans out?

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Let me make sense of this. Are you telling us fans to forget thinking about winning titles and enjoy being just good enough?

Edited April 4, 2012 by NineOhTheRino

[Sothron]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Let me make sense of this. Are you telling us fans to forget thinking about winning titles and enjoy being just good enough?

I'm telling you to look objectively at the rosters of the teams better than ours and tell me how with the horrible ownership we have in place how we somehow become better than them. Because that is the only way we win a title. We have to have a better team than the top teams in our conference and also have a roster better than the best team from the West.

So yes, lay out your grand plans for this dream. The only way this team can do what some of you want to do is either have a miracle draft pick (assuming of course our cheap ownership doesn't sell that pick) or well wait that's about the only way. So yes, enlighten the rest of us. Tell us how we can win a title.

[AtLaS]

Define "early exit" for me. This team routinely makes it to the second round of the playoffs. That automatically puts us every year in the top four of our conference. Look at the teams above us in that regard and tell me how we beat them with this horrible ownership. You want us to go from being a top four team in a conference to doing what exactly? Trading away all the players for draft picks and hoping one of them pans out?

Absolutely I would. Making the playoffs with the same team over and over is pointless. We know what this team can do, they cannot win a championship as constructed. I guess MIN should've kept KG. Denver should've kept Melo. The Clippers should've kept Brand. NO should've kept Paul. Memphis should've kept Gasol Do you agree with all of these?

[Sothron]

Absolutely I would. Making the playoffs with the same team over and over is pointless. We know what this team can do, they cannot win a championship as constructed. I guess MIN should've kept KG. Denver should've kept Melo. The Clippers should've kept Brand. NO should've kept Paul. Memphis should've kept Gasol Do you agree with all of these?

And how many titles have those teams you mentioned won without those players. I'll wait with baited breath for the answer which I already know. You think this ownership is going to blow up a proven winner on the CHANCE that somehow we win a lottery where the best chance you can get is still only 25%. Unreal. I knew some of you guys had unrealistic expectations but at least you can come clean with them.

[NineOhTheRino]

I'm telling you to look objectively at the rosters of the teams better than ours and tell me how with the horrible ownership we have in place how we somehow become better than them. Because that is the only way we win a title. We have to have a better team than the top teams in our conference and also have a roster better than the best team from the West.So yes, lay out your grand plans for this dream. The only way this team can do what some of you want to do is either have a miracle draft pick (assuming of course our cheap ownership doesn't sell that pick) or well wait that's about the only way. So yes, enlighten the rest of us. Tell us how we can win a title.

Destroy and rebuild. See I'm not wired like you. I don't enjoy watching when I already know the outcome. I'd take a garbage team with some light at the end of the tunnel anyday. I'd rather have a squad like Min, Cleavland, or Golden St. There is hope there. For me 90% of the fun watching a team grow and this team reached it's apex two years ago. Edited April 4, 2012 by NineOhTheRino

[AtLaS]

And how many titles have those teams you mentioned won without those players. I'll wait with baited breath for the answer which I already know.

Which position would you rather be in? The Hawks or any of those teams above.

You think this ownership is going to blow up a proven winner on the CHANCE that somehow we win a lottery where the best chance you can get is still only 25%. Unreal. I knew some of you guys had unrealistic expectations but at least you can come clean with them.

In a deep draft such as this year, there will be star players that aren't drafted in the top 2. Regardless, the chance that we become elite through the draft is a lot higher than the chance that this roster somehow becomes a contender. Resigning Joe to this contract only delays the inevitable. We will eventually have to rebuild anyway.

[Admin]

Maybe I've been immersed in the doom and gloom of the Hawksquawk fan for too long but I'll gladly take going to the the playoffs and having a chance, whether you all agree or not it's a fact that we do have a chance, to upset a team or two and win a championship or at least compete for it over being a lottery team that the entire national media clowns on constantly.Someday when our roster is older and it's been proven that we're not getting any better I'll be happy to see us rebuild but we're not there yet as a team and I'm not there yet as a fan.

[Sothron]

Maybe I've been immersed in the doom and gloom of the Hawksquawk fan for too long but I'll gladly take going to the the playoffs and having a chance, whether you all agree or not it's a fact that we do have a chance, to upset a team or two and win a championship or at least compete for it over being a lottery team that the entire national media clowns on constantly.Someday when our roster is older and it's been proven that we're not getting any better I'll be happy to see us rebuild but we're not there yet as a team and I'm not there yet as a fan.

This. I already sat through this inept ownership trying to rebuild. I don't want to sit through it again. If we had a new ownership and they wanted to blow it up and rebuild I'd be open to believing in them. But the A$G? lol no, just no.

[Guest]

I didn't enjoy watching 13 and 26 wins and I didn't set foot inside of Phillips Arena back then. Now - I enjoy going to games knowing that we have a chance to win a game on any given night that I spend my hard earned money. I will take the excitement of the playoffs like against Boston and Chicago than stiiting at home watching other teams play.

[thatsmydawg]

Over the last couple of years my thoughts had moved toward this being as far as the Hawks are going to go. However, if Josh can keep his play at the level it has gotten to in recent months, I think this team might be able to pull off an upset. Joe's role as primary shooter/scorer and not leader seem to fit his game better. He may have never demanded his contract but he also has never appeared to demand being the leader of the team. Thats what Josh wants and his personality is more geared to being the leader out on the floor.Personally, I would have gone the rebuild route. Lebron is gonna rule the east for the forseable future. The picks were there too during the Hawks' rebuild. Iggy or Deng instead of Childress to go with Smoove. Then follow that up with Paul or Deron instead of Marv and the Hawks would be an elite team now. I know Horford wouldn't be here but Paul, Joe, Iggy, Smith would be a better team than we have now. Just gotta make the right picks during the next rebuild, which should be the year after Smoove leaves.

[Admin]

This. I already sat through this inept ownership trying to rebuild. I don't want to sit through it again. If we had a new ownership and they wanted to blow it up and rebuild I'd be open to believing in them. But the A$G? lol no, just no.

Yep that's a great point about ownership. On one hand I like having owners like the ASG who are willing to be patient and let young players grow but on the other hand we need owners who are willing to take chances and who have the means to spend what is necessary to build a championship team. I honestly think that the ASG would gladly spend as much as the teams above us but they're just not capable of it and while I understand it, it doesn't make me feel good about it, and as such I'd just see where our current "core" can take us and once we've reached our peak and stop improving in the playoffs we can look to rebuild.

I didn't enjoy watching 13 and 26 wins and I didn't set foot inside of Phillips Arena back then. Now - I enjoy going to games knowing that we have a chance to win a game on any given night that I spend my hard earned money. I will take the excitement of the playoffs like against Boston and Chicago than stiiting at home watching other teams play.

It sucked back then and people forget how the national media clowned on us all the time and we were rarely ever, far less than now, on national TV. As a Dolphins fan I've suffered through the last decade with only 1 playoff appearance so all I've had to look forward to is the draft and until 2007-2008 it was that way with the Hawks for the better part of a decade and I'm not in any hurry to get back to that point with the Hawks. It's not like we're the Smitty / Mookie / Deke Hawks who were all old and on the downside of their careers and got ran out of the playoffs due to age, we still have a young core and 2 very good young All-Star caliber players to build around plus a very good Joe Johnson for the next couple of years.