According to ESPN ... Howard is gone to LA

[Plainview1981]

-Nobody wants to sign here? We (management) brought this on themselves. Not winning, bad drafts, fans not supporting the team. All of that is ownerships fault. I see with Ferry he is trying to change that and also with ASG keeping their mouths shut and not conducting basketball operations. Ferry is doing something that should have been done years ago. Going away from the way operations was being conducted. Same thing that TD did with the Falcons. -Atlanta doesnt want to rebuild. Lord knows i dont want to go another 10 years from playoff appearances. We are trying to stay competitive. Horf, Teague, and Smoove. You can build around that. Shoot we dont need a D12. We need a true center that can rebound, block, and throw in 5-8 points a night. -Once again being an Atlanta fan and D12 being from ATL and Howard doesnt even mention us? Howard doesnt want to bring his hometown team up even though he sees us making moves, offends me. The ATL metro area should be pissed off at the hometown guy not wanting to come here. Not even mentioning us for a one year rental. Thats why i say F Howard. Personally i hope he doesnt win anything. -I think our drafts will improve but once again. Until we get a real coach that plays players on talent and not sit them on the bench because they are a rookie and also hold players accountable. It doesnt matter who we have on this team. Larry Drew is not that guy. -NO shit Ferry knows about no one wants to play here and thats why he is making all these moves in the FO to change that. We have to build the reputation and win on the court. LA has nothing that ATL cant offer as far as being a city thats why tons of players live here. We have to improve our reputation. Im not worried about the Hawks. Ferry is going to make us a winner. yup nothing we can do about that now.

It makes it tougher knowing that this franchise did it to themselves. It also makes it harder to hate teams like The Lakers. They reap the benefits of having decades and decades of success. No, we can't build around Teague, Smith and Al because they're not up to snuff unless you have a player that is way better than them. The best bet is getting rid of Josh Smith. Whatever this dude does well on defense, he does poorly on offense. His poor shot selection, bad free throw shooting, mental mistakes and bad attitude. He will want the big bucks, and he simply isn't worth it. I would offer him 6-8 million a year and no more. He isn't even a real all star, much less a superstar. The problem is that not offering him a big contract makes the team look bad. It will look to people as if the Hawks would be low balling a home town. The handling of him is more complex than it first appears, but I don't think the Hawks can afford to offer him a large contract. He simply isn't worth it. A core of Horford+Smith+Teague+ 2nd tier player is not going to get us closer to a title than we were before. Edited August 10, 2012 by Hotlanta1981

[NineOhTheRino]

They had the chance, but they drafted that lousy piece of S___ Marvin Williams.

Damn! I remember a well-known Atlanta radio guy calling Marvin a potential superstar. Needless to say that radio guy is now dead to me.

[Plainview1981]

Damn! I remember a well-known Atlanta radio guy calling Marvin a potential superstar. Needless to say that radio guy is now dead to me.

Dude wasn't even a starter on his own college team. I've seen NOTHING from him that shows he EVER had that type of potential. He slightly improved his 3pt shooting over the years and that's it.

[Dejay]

_{Well, I might as well put my 2.4 cents in since everyone else has...}

_{What the Lakers did to Orlando was, in a basketball sense, a jail rape. The Barkley to Phoenix trade wasn't as bad as this. Hell, Nique for Manning wasn't as bad as this. They essentially get the best center in the game for a good but oft-injured and sometimes not as motivated one. As for the pick, well, the Heat, Celtics, along with the Packers, Patriots, Saints, and Falcons would've all made their selections by the time Orlando finally gets to use it in the draft. As we've come to know by now, whatever the Lakers want, the Lakers get while spending .243442 cents on the dollar.}

_{So where does this leave our beloved team? For once, I really don't have an answer. They could tank but we've all been so badly burned by this franchise over the years because of their lousy drafting that no one on this board would be willing to suffer through having to hope for the lottery again. And even if they do well and win, say 45 games, we all know how that would end come playoff time; hell, Hulk Hogan matches from 1986 have less predicability. So really, I'm asking, what do the Hawks do from here beside pray that Dwight and/or CP3 doesn't really like LA (yeah, right)? Trade Smith for....what, a B-lister that the Lakers, Celts, or Heat didn't want? Build around Horford and Teague after Smith forces our hand to send him to LA for Gasol in February?}

_{I really hope that Ferry has some other things in mind other than hoping on ping-pong balls. We all been here long enough to know how well that tactic works out for us...}

[lethalweapon3]

http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2012/08/10/atlanta-hawks-danny-ferry-covets-wing-player-but-no-hurry-to-add-one/

(Ferry) approached the Orlando Magic about a trade for Howard in early July but was turned down. He never had the opportunity to share his vision with Howard and try to convince him the dysfunction that Howard (an Atlanta native) was familiar with was a thing of the past. It never even got as far as being in position to convince Howard to sign an extension.

“We had discussions with Orlando about Dwight Howard,” Ferry said. “They were apprehensive to trade him within the division.”

That may seem to hard to fathom. Logically, the Magic should’ve been more concerned about acquiring strong assets for Howard than him playing for another Southeast Division team. But given the dumpster full of unspectacular players, bad contracts and lottery-protected draft picks the Magic ended up with in the four-player trade, maybe it’s not so hard to believe.

Also, helping answer a question I had about the CBA punishments coming next year:

He is convinced it can be done here. He came from San Antonio, which is a far smaller market than this one. The new collective bargaining agreement also should – should – start to work against some of the high-profile teams’ signings and trades we’ve seen around the league. Teams over the luxury tax threshold must pay steeper penalties and will be far more limited in player movement. The sign-and-trade that enabled the Lakers to acquire Steve Nash this summer would not be available to them in 2013 because of their tax situation.

~lw3

[tonegully]

It makes it tougher knowing that this franchise did it to themselves. It also makes it harder to hate teams like The Lakers. They reap the benefits of having decades and decades of success. No, we can't build around Teague, Smith and Al because they're not up to snuff unless you have a player that is way better than them. The best bet is getting rid of Josh Smith. Whatever this dude does well on defense, he does poorly on offense. His poor shot selection, bad free throw shooting, mental mistakes and bad attitude. He will want the big bucks, and he simply isn't worth it. I would offer him 6-8 million a year and no more. He isn't even a real all star, much less a superstar. The problem is that not offering him a big contract makes the team look bad. It will look to people as if the Hawks would be low balling a home town. The handling of him is more complex than it first appears, but I don't think the Hawks can afford to offer him a large contract. He simply isn't worth it. A core of Horford+Smith+Teague+ 2nd tier player is not going to get us closer to a title than we were before.

-Yes the Lakers have had decades of success. I think we are heading in that direction. Letting basketball people run basketball operations. Simple things like pushing for our players to be all stars. More active on social media will also contribute to our teams growth and change in perception. -Yes we can build around Teague, Horf, and Smoove. The problem i see here is that we dont focus our offense on players strengths. It has been like that for awhile now, and once again players have not been held accountable. Example: we know josh cant shoot 3s, so why in the offense is he posted out there? We know teague has speed and get in the lane, why he just standing there once he gives the ball up to joe. Thats why we need to get rid of Larry Drew. Spend real money for a real coach. No woodys, no mike browns. a real coach. I think if we added someone like Ibaka to hold the paint down we could play with any team in the league. BTW Ibaka isnt a max player either but i would love to break up OKC core. Harden will get overpaid but he really sucks to me. He wouldnt fit here. We need a coach to hold Josh accountable and play to his strengths not what he thinks is his strength. One thing i would always respect about Marvin is that he knew is role and played it. Its not like Marvin even had the green light to go all out shooting like most number 2 draft picks get IMO. We just suck at developing talent. Im glad Ferry sees that and has addressed the issue. -Is Josh a max player...Hell no. but he isnt no dam 6-10 million player either. -Teague will make the jump big time this year. He will be a baller, borderline allstar. this year.

[tonegully]

http://blogs.ajc.com...rry-to-add-one/ Also, helping answer a question I had about the CBA punishments coming next year: ~lw3

Well dam. that says alot right there. Ferry didnt even get a chance to speak to him. I believe if Ferry can get to him we could get him in FA. Orlando is a pathetic organization. Rob should be fired. Trading within the division??? I just posted something like that. At this point who cares where he goes, the Magic has seats to fill and you worried about trading within the division? Now my outlook has changed on this whole situation. Im glad we have cap space now. I wonder how big of a part Fegan plays in getting dwight.

[High5]

I have to think that if Ferry offered the Magic Horford/Teague and two first rounders then we'd have Dwight right now and could realistically go after CP3 in the offseason. Instead we're going to have a 35-42 win team and people will be begging Ferry to resign the Josh Smiths of the world so we won't have the cap room or the ability to be bad enough to go into the lottery to possibly get an actual superstar. That is what I was referring to in my post. People will demand Ferry sign B level guys when we desperately need A+ guys.

None of us have any idea what was or wasn't offered. Nor do we know Orlando's thought process. There are 20+ fanbases right now thinking, "We could've had Howard!"

[Plainview1981]

Well dam. that says alot right there. Ferry didnt even get a chance to speak to him. I believe if Ferry can get to him we could get him in FA. Orlando is a pathetic organization. Rob should be fired. Trading within the division??? I just posted something like that. At this point who cares where he goes, the Magic has seats to fill and you worried about trading within the division? Now my outlook has changed on this whole situation. Im glad we have cap space now. I wonder how big of a part Fegan plays in getting dwight.

Where does it say that?

[Watchman]

Howard testing FA is a smoke screen. If we got him here he'd have Josh and Morrow and Louis Williams as some of his best friends to work on him to stay. We'd have the bird rights to give him 25 million more reasons to stay here. Now? We have nothing. Dwight's not leaving the Lakers to take less money to come here. Instead of having a year to build his faith in Ferry and the new direction with his friends and 25 million extra to stay now we have, what, a routine max deal to offer him with?

No matter what we did he would have to accept less money to come here. Have you forgotten about the $100 million incentive on his shoe contract if he goes to LA or NY? If money is the issue, we can't possibly win for that one reason alone, whether we traded for him or went after him in free agency.

[Plainview1981]

I see it now... And you know what, I hope they suffer for a long time. I hope that they never recover from this.

[Wurider05]

The Laker's will definitely be interesting next season. The team features a nut case in World Peace, a locker room cancer in Dwight Howard, an old man in Steve Nash, a rapist, and a Spaniard. Wonder how that will meld together.

LOL!!!

[Guest Walter]

Honestly, I can't imagine a worse deal for Orlando. Did they shave their legs for this load of crap? They'll be lucky if any of the picks are top 15. This should get a GM fired IMO.

[Sothron]

No matter what we did he would have to accept less money to come here. Have you forgotten about the $100 million incentive on his shoe contract if he goes to LA or NY? If money is the issue, we can't possibly win for that one reason alone, whether we traded for him or went after him in free agency.

Considering in my own post I mentioned the 100 million dollar Adidas bonus, no, I did not forget.

[tonegully]

Why cant he get 100 million shoe deal in atlanta? Im lost here. Vick is the prime example that if you are a star in ATL you can get everything you need as if you were in NY or LA. Im tired of hearing that crap.BTW i collect kicks and i never see anyone buying or wearing D12 adidas..lol. A center with a shoe deal, hilarious.

[tonegully]

Where does it say that?

Right here http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2012/08/10/ferry-made-pitch-for-dwight-howard-but-was-stopped-short/ I knew that boy Ferry was going after Howard.