I still believe the Hawks/Ferry aren't serious about obtaining Dwight

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

I'm so tired of the word "superstar". Do people not realize this is just a word that doesn't in itself bring a championship to Atlanta. Dwight is not LeBron. Lets keep that in mind. To gut the team for him leaves us with a team no better than it is right now, possibly a lot worse. Dwight is a good player, but not a go-to player like other stars in the league. He does add relevance to Atlanta though but is that all being a "superstar" entails?

Really the problem with the Hawks isn't zero championships since '44, it's ticket sales. No one in Atlanta is going to Hawks games and it's because in Atlanta most people are fans of the players, not the teams. A team like the Spurs or '04 Pistons might win a lot of game in Atlanta and maybe even a title, but no one in Atlanta will care except for diehard fans on Hawksquawk. Peks isn't selling tickets. Granger and Gay aren't selling tickets. WLOC didn't sell tickets. If the Hawks want to start selling out games and making revenue then they have to appease the locals by bringing in a superstar athlete that the people will root for. We aren't Boston or New York where the fans support the team regardless of who's playing for them. Atlanta needs stars to sell tickets and Dwight so happens to be our best shot at getting such a superstar athlete.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jody23]

Dwight or no Dwight, I believe Danny Ferry is serious about building a championship team. Period. If he was content with mediocrity heaven, Joe and Marvin would still be here. So I believe he's serious about everything he pursues in connection with trying to make the Hawks a REAL winner. Doesn't mean everything he pursues will come to fruition, but whether you like the moves he's made or not, he clearly is trying to elevate this franchise.

[Ruckus]

Is Dwight that guy that you want to commit to long term and go all or nothing for?

[benhillboy]

Y'all are killing me. Evidently many of you don't follow the Lakers. Check the ESPN Gamecast against Utah tonight. I guarantee you Milsap and Jefferson will have their way down low. It details every bad pass, missed free throw, dropped pass, missed layup, and foul Dwight commits. If you gotta see it in person, check ABC at 3:00 Sunday when OKC mauls them. You'll see the bewilderment on his face when something happens he can't understand, sulking on the bench, and how easily the ball is stolen from him. His passing out of double teams used to be bery good. its now poor. He is regressing as a player. You think he's a superstar leader, North? He can't even look Kobe in the face and man up during a sideline spat. You'd still be okay with Joe raping our payroll, though, after he goes to a superior team yet continues to decline. Only casual fans like Dwight. People who actually watch a lot of NBA ball despise him.

[yungsta]

Y'all are killing me. Evidently many of you don't follow the Lakers. Check the ESPN Gamecast against Utah tonight. I guarantee you Milsap and Jefferson will have their way down low. It details every bad pass, missed free throw, dropped pass, missed layup, and foul Dwight commits. If you gotta see it in person, check ABC at 3:00 Sunday when OKC mauls them. You'll see the bewilderment on his face when something happens he can't understand, sulking on the bench, and how easily the ball is stolen from him. His passing out of double teams used to be bery good. its now poor. He is regressing as a player. You think he's a superstar leader, North? He can't even look Kobe in the face and man up during a sideline spat. You'd still be okay with Joe raping our payroll, though, after he goes to a superior team yet continues to decline. Only casual fans like Dwight. People who actually watch a lot of NBA ball despise him.

Well thats perfect because we are trying to draw in the casual fan because that is the majority... We need the revenue..

[HawkItus]

what is wrong with change? I swear Atlanta seems to be the only city in the world that refuses to try something different. This thing we're doing now? It doesn't work. If we get Dwight and it doesn't work we can trade him. But, more importantly we trade or change around him. No matter your gripe the guy is still getting 18 boards on most nights. That's what our whole front line gets. It's okay to take chance. All the best stuff in life happens on the fringe, it lives where there is risk. Vanilla is fine, but it isn't memorable. I don't get the objection to a move that may fail, but could also change destiny.

[Admin]

Dol . . we don't even know if Josh Smith is going to stay here at season's end. It's not like he's said that he wanted to re-sign at the end of the year either. He's going to weigh his options as well.

The fact is that 2 of our best 3 players are NOT ENOUGH to get us out of the 1st ( possibly the 2nd ) round of the playoffs. So if you have to get rid of them, just to have an advantage of obtaining a guy who is a top 20 player in the league, then so be it.

LOL . . as bad as Teague was playing 2 weeks ago, people were ready to trade him. Now he's a vital part of the franchise? And we survived all year without Horford.

If we sincerely want Dwight, we need to go after him . . . HARD. If we let this go to the summer, we're going to not only lose him, but also be forced to sign Josh Smith to a near max, long term contract.

I guess I'm just willing to be more patient and play the waiting game until the summer than you. But no way am I giving up prime assets that can be used to reshape the roster AROUND Dwight and Josh if that's the direction we choose to go in. Horford could bring in 2-3 quality young players and Teague is worth keeping. I wasn't one of the ones wanting him out of town back then and I don't want him gone now as he's just starting to grow into who he's going to be.

[frosgrim]

I'm in favor of making a move for Howard right now. I think the proposed trade is a little too much, but in the right direction. I look at it this way, Arizona wanted Simmons for Upton. Wren didn't bite and in the end got Upton and Johnson for a solid but not spectacular player and some prospects. The Hawks shouldn't overreact right now either.

[MaceCase]

No GM will make public what they offered in trades, that is just stupid. Why would you give other teams any knowledge about what you would give up? Additionally, when trades don't materialize what do you tell your players? Plausible deniability.

Yup. 98% of the time you hear about an actual trade proposal it's because it didn't happen or is seconds away from happening. GMs especially don't like their business aired out there by other GMs of all people. Just like with agents, that's the quickest way to get on someone's shit list and this whole "plan" could be considered grounds for tampering because you are publicly discussing another team's contracted player in a poor attempt at shame tactics.

[Kimsey]

It's time to get greedy for a change. Dwight at the very least knows he gets to the playoffs here, even without him, without Al for a year, or Josh for a year as well. Keep all assets and build the right way.

Belkin was a character but he was right. All or nothing for Joe was the right move. Those draft picks turned out to be Rondo and Hibbert, two more pieces this team could absolutely use. Been missing a true big and pure point guard far too many years. All roads leads to us if the Lakers want the best pieces in a trade.

[Wretch]

I guess I'm just willing to be more patient and play the waiting game until the summer than you. But no way am I giving up prime assets that can be used to reshape the roster AROUND Dwight and Josh if that's the direction we choose to go in. Horford could bring in 2-3 quality young players and Teague is worth keeping. I wasn't one of the ones wanting him out of town back then and I don't want him gone now as he's just starting to grow into who he's going to be.

For me, it's a little late for the Dwight Howard thing. I mean...I guess we could make a play for him in the off season, but what reason does he have to want to come here? The culture hasn't changed and expecting him to want to be here is a pipe dream.

Trading for him means we are in win now mode. I'm with that. Problem is, if we deal everything we have for him...what makes this team any better than what he left in Orlando? You'd have to build a winner around him in one offseason or convince him to stay as a part of a rebuild. He's not going to stick around for a rebuild.

If we were going to nuke the core, I would rather do it for something tangible. Some young talent that we have the rights to keep and draft picks. To me, Teague is a young talent worth keeping. At the very least, he is JUST like Jason Terry before we shipped him. Once he left this ridiculously run organization, he went on to an environment that figured out how to use him.

As for D12 himself, he's not such a great player with the phenomenal ability to lift a team. But through him, Orlando did reach the finals. Dwight is a guy who can't be contained deep in the paint. He's just too big and too strong. He creates a matchup problem and if you've got guys around him that can score, then you have a team that is a threat to contend. There is nothing anyone can present to me that would change my view on that (especially not the Kobe/DiAntoni mess going on in LA right now). Dwight is worth going all in on. I just think we missed that boat by about 2 1/2 seasons.

[macdaddy]

For me, it's a little late for the Dwight Howard thing. I mean...I guess we could make a play for him in the off season, but what reason does he have to want to come here? The culture hasn't changed and expecting him to want to be here is a pipe dream.

Trading for him means we are in win now mode. I'm with that. Problem is, if we deal everything we have for him...what makes this team any better than what he left in Orlando? You'd have to build a winner around him in one offseason or convince him to stay as a part of a rebuild. He's not going to stick around for a rebuild.

If we were going to nuke the core, I would rather do it for something tangible. Some young talent that we have the rights to keep and draft picks. To me, Teague is a young talent worth keeping. At the very least, he is JUST like Jason Terry before we shipped him. Once he left this ridiculously run organization, he went on to an environment that figured out how to use him.

As for D12 himself, he's not such a great player with the phenomenal ability to lift a team. But through him, Orlando did reach the finals. Dwight is a guy who can't be contained deep in the paint. He's just too big and too strong. He creates a matchup problem and if you've got guys around him that can score, then you have a team that is a threat to contend. There is nothing anyone can present to me that would change my view on that (especially not the Kobe/DiAntoni mess going on in LA right now). Dwight is worth going all in on. I just think we missed that boat by about 2 1/2 seasons.

The reasons to come here are:

- it's not the Lakers - i mean that's a rebuild

- it's not D'antoni - that system has no use for a dominant center other than rebounding missed 3s

- it is his hometown

- Josh plays here

- we are a decent, young team in need of a star

- we have the money to offer

That's a lot of legit reasons. I've never been a fan of Dwight's but hell many consider this season a bad one for him and he's average 16/12. He's a monster on the boards.

[WakaFlocka]

The reasons to come here are:

- it's not the Lakers - i mean that's a rebuild

- it's not D'antoni - that system has no use for a dominant center other than rebounding missed 3s

- it is his hometown

- Josh plays here

- we are a decent, young team in need of a star

- we have the money to offer

That's a lot of legit reasons. I've never been a fan of Dwight's but hell many consider this season a bad one for him and he's average 16/12. He's a monster on the boards.

You can get guys that are monsters on the boards on a per minute basis for a whole lot cheaper than Dwight Howard. They also won't have the maturity level of a middle school girl, so that's a plus.

I really am trying to understand why so many people here want Dwight to play for the Hawks... He is NOT the same player he was when the Magic went to the Finals and even then, he's not a franchise changing player on the court.

[yungsta]

You can get guys that are monsters on the boards on a per minute basis for a whole lot cheaper than Dwight Howard. They also won't have the maturity level of a middle school girl, so that's a plus.

I really am trying to understand why so many people here want Dwight to play for the Hawks... He is NOT the same player he was when the Magic went to the Finals and even then, he's not a franchise changing player on the court.

Cause many people are thinking this not only from a basketball stand point but from a business standpoint.

He is recognizable face to help bring in fans and revenue. He arguably isnt a franchise changing player on the court but he is off the court by making us more popular, a more attractive place for free agents to sign, etc.....

Btw I dont like Dwight either he is arguable the biggest diva in the nba but we need to spark this franchise and get the fans excited to come out hawk games and spend money.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

The worse thing that can happen this offseason is that Dwight and Smith sign elsewhere in the offseason which still isn't that bad of a situation. Ferry gets ALL of his cap space to build a contender with. Sure, it'll take longer to build a winner without Howard/Smith, but with all of that cap space, Ferry will have more flexibility with who he signs. Hell, with that much cap space, he'd even have room to experiment. We could snag Corey Brewer out of Denver, start Jenkins, and make Zaza our center. Start fresh and begin to reload.

[Ruckus]

The reasons to come here are:- it's not the Lakers - i mean that's a rebuild- it's not D'antoni - that system has no use for a dominant center other than rebounding missed 3s- it is his hometown- Josh plays here- we are a decent, young team in need of a star- we have the money to offer /quote]That's funny. Those are many of the reasons not to come here as well.

[Wretch]

The reasons to come here are:

- it's not the Lakers - i mean that's a rebuild

- it's not D'antoni - that system has no use for a dominant center other than rebounding missed 3s

- it is his hometown

- Josh plays here

- we are a decent, young team in need of a star

- we have the money to offer

That's a lot of legit reasons. I've never been a fan of Dwight's but hell many consider this season a bad one for him and he's average 16/12. He's a monster on the boards.

Eh...I think you're overstating some of those reasons. The world is acting like LA is such a bad place to be, but at the end of the day, Dwight Howard is looking up at this:

That is a legit reason to stay. We're still talking about the Lakers here. We're talking about an organization that builds championship teams. They don't f*** around. It's no guarantee that ANY team is going to be able to provide him a winning environment, but you best believe that Jerry and Mitch will not dance around the issue. Neither will Kobe. They'll do what it takes to win, they will sell that to Dwight, and I would not bet against it. I'm certainly not betting against it on a franchise that has embodied the opposite mentality, with an unproven front office, and owners who have embodied incompetence and frugality.

Dwight has made no indication that he wants to play for his hometown and has pretty much dodged the whole subject for the entirety of his career. Correct me if that has changed, but I stopped following him and his statements when we got no consideration in the whole "Dwight-gate" thing. And though I've heard Smoove go on about how nice it would be to get him here, I have heard nothing coming back from Dwight on the subject of playing with Josh HERE.

Also not concerned about Di'Antoni. The Lakers would just as soon have Phil Jackson make the offseason pitch to him. They'll do what it takes to win and if it means getting Di'Antoni out of there to appease him...he will be gone.

What's left?

We have the money? So does Los Angeles...and they can offer MORE. Not only that, but Dallas has money too and you're talking about out pitching Mark Cuban...a dude that just bleeds money and passion on his team. That's another championship organization we're competing with.

Not only that, but L.A. still has the option to sign and trade him right? So if worst came to worst, there are other teams that could make a pitch for him. Long story short, I'm not holding my breath on him. It'd be great and I would bow down to you guys and eat all the crow you can cook. Not being pessimistic or negative, I'm just looking at this realistically. We have a chance, yeah...not a big one.

Edited January 25, 2013 by Wretch

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Bringing dwight isnt just for basketball reasons its for business reasons too. If you didnt see the forbes thread we are 28th in franchise value. This franchise is in a bad state and is losing money fast. WE desperately need a recognizable face so we can bring in more revenue.

There are very few stars in the nba and if you want a star like howard you give up valuable assets. If you dont want to trade AL, Korver, and teague for howard that is a bad business move. Neither of them are stars, neither of them have culture changing potential like howard,

It is pretty obvious D12 isnt a go to guy he wont lead a team to a championship but bringing howard can have a domino effect that can lead us to building a team to that is a title threat. He can make this a more attractive free agent destination. That will have more stars considering to come here, have guys willing to come here for less money, have us get more favorable ref treatment etc......

Just look at blake griffin. Everyone and there mama knows he isnt a go to guy and isnt even a top 10 player but its pretty obvious he was the start of that clippers culture change.

BING ( friggin ) O!!

[Guest]

Ferry doesn't have to say it himself. All he has to do is put out a "strong rumor" of this type of deal going down. NBA franchises do this all the time, to test the waters of a trade, without specifically saying it themselves ( although it would have more weight if they did publically say it ).

This is how the game is played. How the Rockets acquired James Harden

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--inside-look-at-james-harden-s-trade-to-rockets-28301609.html

Before sitting down a final time with Pelinka, Presti became more serious in his discussions with Morey. Houston wanted Harden badly, believed he would evolve into a transcendent franchise star for a championship-caliber team and planned to award him a five-year maximum contract worth nearly $80 million. So, Presti laid out what he wanted for Harden and the original price was steep: Kevin Martin, Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lamb and three first-round picks, including Houston's own in 2013.

Across 72 hours and culminating on Friday night, the deal became this: Martin, Lamb and two first-round picks, including a guaranteed plumb lottery pick via Toronto. Before Presti sat down with Pelinka on Saturday morning to make his final offer of $54 million over four years, the Rockets were made to understand: If Harden turns it down, your long-awaited star is on his way to Texas.

***************

And THAT'S how you get a superstar player. You give up a lot, for a player who you envision being a franchise changing player.

At the very least, Ferry needs to be willing and able to do something like this behind the scenes, if not put rumors of it out there publically, to drum up interest in a trade like this going down.

Contrary to popular belief, we do NOT hold the advantage, if we let this thing go to the summer. We need to make our move NOW, if he's serious about even making a move.

And all this came to light after the fact - Morey did not announce to the world that this is what we are willing to give up Harden. When big trades go down they are usually unexpected and the GM's work behind the scenes.

Edited January 25, 2013 by JayBirdHawk

[Kimsey]

At the end of the day it's easier to make the finals here. The pieces here fit Dwight better than all teams that can acquire him. Ferry has room to sign a pure point like Calderon who has no problem getting him the ball.

There is no debate as who will be focal point on this team. The Lakers have a team full of hall of famers but they are fading, some faster than others. The brand of basketball here would be totally different than Dwight has ever experienced during his career as far as getting up and down blocking shots, sprinting for easy baskets. The best weak side defender to cover his back and a guy like Al to hit most of his wide open set shots. We hold rights to the best 3 point shooter currently and two other 45% caliber 3 point shooters. It's the perfect dynamic.