Smoove praising Celtics fans.

[ag82]

We average out to a good record. But it cost a lot of money to go to a game and this team has way too many no shows to go often.Hell I drove to Portland last year to watch.

[EazyRoc]

We are 23 out of 30 teams for attendance. It doesn't cost much to go to the game. I paid 90 bucks for the OKC game and sat about 8 rows from the court and had a parking pass for the CNN center. I ended up catching Marta though which is $6 round trip. I'm not questioning you personally, but that's a bad excuse for our poor attendance. We have had a chance 5 seasons in a row to play for a trophy and we can't finish in the top half of the league for attendance. Going to a sporting event isn't cheap, but they offer family deals with a meal included for 4. Marta isn't a bad way to get to Phillips either. I've used Marta about half a dozen times between the Hawks and Falcons and the worse its ever been is a lady who was preaching for about 10 minutes against the will of the train cars passengers.

[Admin]

We are 23 out of 30 teams for attendance. It doesn't cost much to go to the game. I paid 90 bucks for the OKC game and sat about 8 rows from the court and had a parking pass for the CNN center. I ended up catching Marta though which is $6 round trip. I'm not questioning you personally, but that's a bad excuse for our poor attendance. We have had a chance 5 seasons in a row to play for a trophy and we can't finish in the top half of the league for attendance. Going to a sporting event isn't cheap, but they offer family deals with a meal included for 4. Marta isn't a bad way to get to Phillips either. I've used Marta about half a dozen times between the Hawks and Falcons and the worse its ever been is a lady who was preaching for about 10 minutes against the will of the train cars passengers.

How many tickets did you get for 90 bucks? I usually only go to 1 game a year, when Atlanta is here to play Houston, and I never pay anywhere near that much for a ticket.

[EazyRoc]

Just one. However, I was literally 8 row of seats from the court by the Hawks tunnel. The family next to me even got one of Marvins very large shoes.

[EazyRoc]

http://imageshack.us/photo/photo/829/imag0070zx.jpg/ Edited May 11, 2012 by EazyRoc

[EAambassador]

Its a combination of things why we don't support the hawks they way should. Its not just this teams fault but its Dominique and Doc Rivers fault for not beating the Celtics in '87. Its the 90's teams fault for not winning any meaningful postseason games. Its this team fault for not capitalizing on a performance in '08 that took the city by surprise by following it up with a 7 game series against Miami and a sweep against Cleveland by a average of 20 and again the next yr against the Magic. Blame it all on the Braves for winning 14 straight division titles and only 1 world series. Blame the Falcons for laying a egg in '98 and getting embarrassed their last 2 playoff appearances. Lets be real, it is easy to be a Boston fan when you have the Patriots, Celtics, and Red Sox for a stretch winning big time and not just enough to be somewhat relevant. I have folks who are older than me who have been disappointed more than me tell me time and time again not to believe in our teams because they will let you down. Sadly to say, but I am slowly becoming that way. I don't know about you guys but I do not have the money to go to a lot of games, I wish I did, but I'm not spending my hard earned money on a team that won't give me their all every time they hit the floor/field.

[frankthetank966]

He's right, all of you love to rip on him. Yet again he is right. We could barely sell out the games at Philips. And soo many Celtics fans were there. Obviously the users on the board here are Hawks fans. However, that's not enough to support an arena that seats 18K people

[AHF]

I don't mind Smooth thinking these things to himself or saying them to his buddies in a private setting. I don't like it, but I understand his point.I really, really dislike him saying it to the press. If you think the fans are subpar, telling them you don't care about them or that you think they are subpar has no upside and plenty of downside. It is just very poor judgment. At a minimum, you could make your pitch to Boston by talking about the great fans there and throw a bone to Atlanta fans by acknowledging that their support means a lot to you as well. Crapping on them leads to nothing good.

[EazyRoc]

Another example is I paid like $20 for 2 300 section seats and then $12 bucks for round trip for 2 on Marta. We may not have the best fans for various reasons, but cost isn't one.

[Jody23]

Again though, what was the purpose of him making those statements after the game? What did lack of fan support have to do with them loosing game six in Boston. He may be right, but making those statements at that time to me is weak and a cop out.

[EazyRoc]

I don't mind Smooth thinking these things to himself or saying them to his buddies in a private setting. I don't like it, but I understand his point.I really, really dislike him saying it to the press. If you think the fans are subpar, telling them you don't care about them or that you think they are subpar has no upside and plenty of downside. It is just very poor judgment. At a minimum, you could make your pitch to Boston by talking about the great fans there and throw a bone to Atlanta fans by acknowledging that their support means a lot to you as well. Crapping on them leads to nothing good.

You're right though just because we have a bad fanbase, crapping on them won't make them any more loyal. Our problems start at the top and trickle down.

Again though, what was the purpose of him making those statements after the game? What did lack of fan support have to do with them loosing game six in Boston. He may be right, but making those statements at that time to me is weak and a cop out.

hard to argue with that.

[macdaddy]

All i could think of last night at the end was that this is just the typical Atlanta sports end of the season feeling. With the Braves, Falcons, and Hawks how often to you feel good about the way the season ends. Whether its Brooks Conrad making 17 errors in one crucial game, lonnie smith base running gaff, Matt Ryan throwing lollipops to the Packers, Josh taking and badly missing a go ahead long jumper, Al missing a free throw. It always seems to end with goats on our side rather than heros on the other. I can live with getting beat by heroics. When I think of paying for a Hawks game this always goes through my mind. I'll have to deal with d*ck fans who are from Atlanta but think its cool to cheer for the other team and there's a good chance it doesn't end well for us. Start exceeding expectations and fans will come out. Continually falling short and fans notice.

[Sothron]

I do hope we send Josh packing at the draft. I know I'll miss his defense, rebounding and his "wow" moments either from a dunk or a great pass but I will be so, so, so relieved to not have to worry about a guy who is guaranteed to not pass the ball to the PG and will insist on taking horrible long twos when he simply can not hit them. This last shot at Atlanta fans is just the kind of free pass the A$G can use to get rid of him and explain it to the fans.

[Jody23]

I do hope we send Josh packing at the draft. I know I'll miss his defense, rebounding and his "wow" moments either from a dunk or a great pass but I will be so, so, so relieved to not have to worry about a guy who is guaranteed to not pass the ball to the PG and will insist on taking horrible long twos when he simply can not hit them. This last shot at Atlanta fans is just the kind of free pass the A$G can use to get rid of him and explain it to the fans.

Actually, when you think about it, it makes alot of sense money wise for the Hawks to trade Josh Smith approaching draft time for a high pick and complimentary pieces. With Joes mammoth contract that runs for four more years, the ASG isn't likely to give out another big longterm contract. Everyone knows it would take a max contract to keep Josh in Atlanta. I don't see the cash strapped spirit doing that. If they trade him for a high pick and filler on the other hand, you buy yourself time because you don't have to worry about extending the pick for at least three to four years. That would be around the time Joe's deal would be coming off the books. So instead of giving out another big contract just to keep things the same, I think the Hawks would be smart to get a young talent who they can keep on the cheap for three or four years. Edited May 11, 2012 by Jody23

[Dejay]

Oh boy. Do we have to do this AGAIN? Really folks???

We've beaten the 'why don't Atlanta support their teams more' debates to death on this forum. As stated a billion times, we live in one of, if not the biggest transient city in the country, where 80+ percent of the populace is from somewhere else. You're telling me that a lifelong Celtic fan who moved here from Amhurst three years ago is going to suddenly trade in his Paul Pierce or Larry Bird jersey in exchange for a Josh Smith one? You're telling me that a guy who grew up a Knick fan like Spike Lee did is going to adopt a 'second team' after venturing down here? If so, I have some wonderful swampland in Florida that I'd love to sell you.

Let's do some mathematics, boys and girls. Say you have a metro area of 5 million people. Of that total, over 80% of them (let's use 80% to get a clean total) do not care about the local pro teams and will not show up to the arena/stadium no matter how many giveaways and promotions that are done unless the local team have a transcendent superstar, are in serious contention to win world titles, or their hometown squad comes in to play. How many natives are left to sell your local product to, hmmm? If you guess a million people, that would put your city in the same boat market-wise as cities like Charlotte, Milwaukee, and Sacramento (oh, nevermind, their metro areas would be double that figure). And on top of that, that million knows your penchant for blowing big games, wasting/selling draft picks, being non-active during the offseason, et al. How many of those potential fans are going to buy in, especially when they see expansion teams and even worse franchises have 'step up' moments and win games/series that matter? The 'effin New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets have been to the Finals; have we?

Is it sinking in yet? I would assume not because cities like Sacramento, Portland, and Salt Lake sell out every night. Well, Sacramento use to do that until the Webber/Bibby/Divac days were behind them, they started losing, and what's this, they started finding other things to do. And speaking of other things to do, what other sporting options are there in Portland and Utah? Any SEC or ACC teams to compete with for your sporting dollar? Any NFL teams in Salt Lake? What, no MLB baseball to worry about in Oregon unless you're a Mariners fan and like visiting Seattle?

I know, excuses, semantics, whatever. All I'm doing is stating some facts and here's another one you can't deny. No town in this country, and I mean NO TOWN is better at discerning a playoff phony from the real McCoy better than this one. Who had the Braves pegged as playoff pretenders while the national media was still slobbering on Bobby Cox's left one? Lucy (the local teams here) can only pull the football away from Charlie Brown (the local fans) so many times before Charlie Brown either finds something else to do or find someone else to hold the ball. The only difference is that this isn't some wacky cartoon where he keeps coming back, knowing that he's going to crack his backbone on the ground...

Edited May 11, 2012 by Dejay

[thecampster]

His comments maybe true, but what sense did it make to say that after the game? Many here are missing the point of his motive in saying this as ATL fan support had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the Hawks losing this game in Boston. Make no mistake, sooner or later, Josh is as good as gone.

I resigned myself to that this season. My favorite player will be a Bull, Laker, Net, Knick, Celtic in a year or two and I will be forced to find someone else to root for.

[Jody23]

I resigned myself to that this season. My favorite player will be a Bull, Laker, Net, Knick, Celtic in a year or two and I will be forced to find someone else to root for.

If he's your favorite player, cool. However, it makes plenty of sense from both a money and basketball standpoint to trade him prior to the draft. I'm a Hawk fan first and foremost and don't want to see the team be held hostage which will happen if they don't trade him. Edited May 11, 2012 by Jody23

[Supporter]

I resigned myself to that this season. My favorite player will be a Bull, Laker, Net, Knick, Celtic in a year or two and I will be forced to find someone else to root for.

Let me introduce you to a one Mr. Jefferson Teague

[Watchman]

I resigned myself to that this season. My favorite player will be a Bull, Laker, Net, Knick, Celtic in a year or two and I will be forced to find someone else to root for.

Another team or another Hawks player? Are you saying you are a Josh Smith fan, and only support the Hawks because Josh Smith is on the team?

[Kimsey]

I called it in the chat once again. When we made that comeback i was saying that we were going to lose. I also stated taht i refused to be all excited just to see teh Hawks mess up and disappoint me once more. Boy was i right.

You also said Duck would be a beast too right...