*maniacal laugh*

[DJlaysitup]

I venture to say another sub-.500 playoff appearance, especially one vs the Heat (which will undoubtedly guarantee 4 Heat home games) will damage the franchise's rep among FA more than the playoff experience will help the young guys.

Yeah, that's my fear too kg01 (as AHF mentioned)...our crowd will be outnumbered by the "fans" who want to see and cheer for Miami and shout MVP for Lebron.

Oh well, at this point it looks like that is what will happen. I guess I'd rather lose to MIA and at least get to watch the "show" than lose to Indy.

My prediction....MIA over Brooklyn in 6 in the ECFs.

Edited April 8, 2014 by DJlaysitup

[Wretch]

Man you must've just become a fan. What you described sounds great, however, it's exactly (and I mean exactly) where we were in '08 vs Boston. Tell us exactly how that series benefited us? Was Woody's system validated in anyone's eyes? Nope. (For the record, I love Budz so that's not intended as a shot.)

The only national exposure we got from '08 was the pat on the head for making the series interesting then the kick in the teeth from being a sub-.500 playoff team while more deserving Western conference teams stayed home. Fast forward a few years and we're the poster children for treadmill, mid-teen drafting teams. To that I say no thanks.

Let's keep piling it on....

So now, you have a franchise that is like...one of the top 3 or 4 in overall playoff appearances...

That already has this amazing playoff streak going...

That brings in this really smart guy from a winning culture to run the show...

That already has an All-Star PF that can stretch the defense with his outside shot...

And you go after two free agents who could pair with him to create the next "Big 3"...

To play in one of the cities that players love to visit and can't stay away from..

The same city that one of said players is actually FROM...

And both players have desperately wanted to play together forever...

With both players having MISERABLE seasons where they are...

...and despite the cosmos lining up for us, along with all that winning and competitiveness, we get snubbed by both.

But somehow, this "new brand of competitiveness" is supposed to taste 100% better and put us over the top and get us all this exposure and turn the culture around.

[AHF]

We are the new Lakers. The next Shaq is totally signing here, right? Right?

[High5]

At this point, I think it's all moot. We're going to the playoffs, we're going to stay competitive, we're not rebuilding. I will say though that I just don't buy the whole "Let's win and show the world we're winners!" thing. What is so different now? You guys act like we have not been winning for years. We had 50+ win teams in the 90's and our boys have been playing winning/competitive basketball for the last 6-7 seasons.

Where is all the praise and culture change from that?

Why aren't the free agents begging to come here?

Where is all the increased media coverage?

It's fool's gold man. All that stuff comes when you win big games. You can't win big games without elite talent.

[insert tired argument about the best way to get elite talent here]

Winning a decent amount of regular season games and unimpressive first round series only to get embarrassed in the 2nd round (or simply losing in the first round) does not make a team "winner." We've been a team that could get by on raw talent and athleticism, but when push came to shove against the actual winners, we got dismantled. Every time. We've had two noteworthy playoff series and we got blown out 4 times in one of them, and in the other we gave up 50/25 to Dwight while his shooters went ice cold. We still had a negative point differential in that series.

I'm not arguing one way or the other for the direction of the current Hawks, but I just wanted to point that out since people seem to be romanticizing the past to suit their arguments.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

We are the new Lakers. The next Shaq is totally signing here, right? Right?

The last All-NBA center to leave the Magic ended up in Houston. The Rockets are the poor man's turn-of- the-century Lakers. Hawks will always be the Hawks. That little brother team that brings home C's on the report card, gets bullied by the bigger markets, and gets his lunch stolen daily... until one day we finally grow up and make something of ourselves. How much longer do we have to wait?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sothron]

I have to echo what Wretch is saying because, well, several of us have been espousing the same point for years.

This team already had a winning culture before Danny Ferry and it failed to land us a single superstar.

Look around the NBA. Look at how many teams also have great winning cultures...and not one superstar even looks in their direction.

Who is lining up to go play in Memphis? Portland? Denver?

Hell even the Bulls can't attract a superstar even with a then healthy Rose and Noah.

So you will excuse me if I think this blind faith of "Danny Ferry and his system will magically draw superstar free agents to Atlanta" is nothing but sheer unadulterated fantasy.

[ATLSmith]

This thread was more fun when it was filled with gifs.

Right now it feels more like this:

[macdaddy]

I have to echo what Wretch is saying because, well, several of us have been espousing the same point for years.

This team already had a winning culture before Danny Ferry and it failed to land us a single superstar.

Look around the NBA. Look at how many teams also have great winning cultures...and not one superstar even looks in their direction.

Who is lining up to go play in Memphis? Portland? Denver?

Hell even the Bulls can't attract a superstar even with a then healthy Rose and Noah.

So you will excuse me if I think this blind faith of "Danny Ferry and his system will magically draw superstar free agents to Atlanta" is nothing but sheer unadulterated fantasy.

I'm guessing you are not being sarcastic but you really think we had a winning culture? The Hawks are known for never getting out of the second round and being an easy team to beat in the playoffs for the last 7 years. Did you not notice the constant jabs from national analysts? Did you see Kenny Smith spend 5 minutes diagramming the Hawks offensive possessions during the playoffs a few years ago while they all sat around and laughed? How Reggie Miller and Barkley were caught during a commercial break scoffing at the idea that the Hawks could win in the playoffs with our core and totally dismissing the idea that Dwight would ever play for Atlanta?

And lest you say 'well the national media are just haters', they were right in every instance. In which of the last 7 playoffs did we not ultimately exit in humiliating fashion? The Bulls series was the high point of our recent run and we lost game 6 by 20 points. Name one decent team we've beat in the playoffs in the last seven years? There isn't one.

Making the playoffs doesn't equal a winning culture.

[macdaddy]

Man this is a crazy thread. Moderately sure this is the point @Sothron was trying to make.

Ok yeah. I didn't back up far enough i guess. My apologies @Sothron.

[Sothron]

Ok yeah. I didn't back up far enough i guess. My apologies @Sothron.

's all good

[macdaddy]

Nah man, stick to your guns. Thread's better with all kinds of crazy conflict. It's the interweb, nobody's gonna care about the details.

You're an idiot!

[macdaddy]

Ah geez. Our winning culture on display again

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/08/atlanta-hawks-have-some-really-wishful-thinking/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

[Wretch]

Ah geez. Our winning culture on display again

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/08/atlanta-hawks-have-some-really-wishful-thinking/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

OMG.........................

[BudBall]

lol wow that is not even comparable...

[Guest]

Ah geez. Our winning culture on display again

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/08/atlanta-hawks-have-some-really-wishful-thinking/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

Only Atlanta can up with this kinda stuff...​ ......why? just why?

Made me choke on my lunch from

[Wretch]

You guys remember the "Buy your season tickets because we're signing Chris Paul and Dwight Howard!"

Remember this.

I look at us, and you measure a team on its results: How are we doing vs. the league? There are three teams the last three years that have advanced past the first round. The Lakers—who everybody loves the Lakers—the Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks. It’s not the Dallas Mavericks, it’s not the Miami Heat, it’s not the New York Knicks, it’s not the Oklahoma City Thunder, it’s not the Orlando Magic. It’s just those three. Have we been able to win a championship? No. But our goal is to be as competitive and entertaining as possible and it’s unrealistic to every year have the only measure of your success as winning a championship because one in 30 do it. So you keep getting better and competing each year in order to try to complete for that championship.

Remember the ownership debacle? The Lawsuits? The Thrashers?

Hiring Larry Drew for Food Stamps?

Refusing to fire Woody?

The Joe Johnson contract?

Remember this:

Please excuse me if I'm just a little skeptical of these guys' decision to hire the guy that had this in his back pocket:

And did this with it:

[nathan2331]

Ah geez. Our winning culture on display again

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/08/atlanta-hawks-have-some-really-wishful-thinking/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

Really have to give it up to the people running the Hawks Twitter account. As bad as this franchise is, they still manage to come up with content (no matter how weak it makes us look).

[TheNorthCydeRises]

The moral of this thread is that you can't wait until the last minute to tank. More than likely, you're not going to get an impact type of player at #12, nor are you going to get into that top 3. So if you're waiting until 2 minutes before midnight to tank, it's no sense in doing it. Most players have too much pride to scale back their games. Even if Bud made an intentional attempt to not play his better players, the reserves still might eek out a few victories.

So if you're going to tank, do it from the jump.

As for the free agent discussion, I'll still stand by what I say. When you're not in the playoffs, the only way you're going to attract a free agent, is if you overpay for them ( i.e. - Charlotte for Al Jefferson ). If you're in the playoffs, at least a little attention is on your team, so that a potential free agent can make an evaluation on whether he'd want to go there or not.

Either way, this is probably the worst spot we can be in right now. Some of you who have blindly supported this GM, need to really start looking at what he's doing. We're not going to contend for anything if we're hoping on 2nd round picks to turn into legit starters and rotational players. We need an "engine" to this team, even if he isn't a bonafide superstar.

But to me, the GM doesn't want an "engine" . . . he wants a team of reindeer pulling a sled.

I'm just glad that some of you are seeing a little of the light about the true intentions of what this GM is doing. I don't think he has a lot of interest at all in bringing in elite talent. He's committed to his "system", and believes that will save the day.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

You guys remember the "Buy your season tickets because we're signing Chris Paul and Dwight Howard!"

Remember this.

Remember the ownership debacle? The Lawsuits? The Thrashers?

Hiring Larry Drew for Food Stamps?

Refusing to fire Woody?

The Joe Johnson contract?

Remember this:

Please excuse me if I'm just a little skeptical of these guys' decision to hire the guy that had this in his back pocket:

And did this with it:

I still have no idea WTF they were thinking selling Kobe's jersey shirt in the arena. They couldn't have been that hard up for money. At most what . . they make a few hundred dollars? Maybe a few thousand if they sell them out?

That's completely unacceptable.

[Wretch]

There's a lot of things that are unacceptable about our current ownership. My biggest concern is this:

I look at us, and you measure a team on its results: How are we doing vs. the league? There are three teams the last three years that have advanced past the first round. The Lakers—who everybody loves the Lakers—the Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks. It’s not the Dallas Mavericks, it’s not the Miami Heat, it’s not the New York Knicks, it’s not the Oklahoma City Thunder, it’s not the Orlando Magic. It’s just those three. Have we been able to win a championship? No. But our goal is to be as competitive and entertaining as possible and it’s unrealistic to every year have the only measure of your success as winning a championship because one in 30 do it. So you keep getting better and competing each year in order to try to complete for that championship.

I have quoted it several times, but it just shows you how delusional our ownership is. Not only that, but it's a slap in the damn face when you're telling your fans that you're as good as the title contenders - when you've never even sniffed the ECF's and you continue to roll out a mediocre product. Now, you don't hear Gearon these days...but you hear the front man Danny Ferry saying the exact same things.

To me, it's the same lame-ass soft drink repackaged and marketed as something different.

Do these guys really believe we're "competing" with the elite teams?
Did Ferry believe that when we built around Smoove?

When we built around Horford?

Will he believe that when he builds around Millsap?

I don't think he's against elite talent. He's not that stupid. But is he stupid enough to think that he can keep building "competitive" teams and expect to crack the ECF's?

...and just how does he plan to do it without lottery picks to trade or develop and without the assets to pull off a blockbuster? As I said before, I think he's putting all of his eggs in the free agency basket - whether the marquee guys or constantly reloading with quality, but not elite, guys like Korver/Millsap/Carroll.

Morever, do we even understand what he's doing besides perpetually trying to play for an 8th/middle of the pack seed?