Dominique Wilkins does not deserve a statue!

[Admin]

Oh God don't get me started.

 

@Spud2Nique's acting debut...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqFGVpTukJA

[Guest]

@Spud2Nique's acting debut...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqFGVpTukJA

It never gets old...hahaha

[benhillboy]

Of course I'm not opposed to it, just a little embarrassed. If I were a visiting fan from another team and saw it, I'd get a good laugh. Statues for living people, especially an athlete, 9 times out of 10 is just silly IMO. Mandela, Powell, Clinton, Okay. Nique, RG III, Niekro, not okay.

Edited September 19, 2014 by benhillboy

[Admin]

Of course I'm not opposed to it, just a little embarrassed. If I were a visiting fan from another team and saw it, I'd get a good laugh. Statues for living people, especially an athlete, 9 times out of 10 is just silly IMO. Mandela, Powell, Clinton, Okay. Nique, RG III, Niekro, not okay.

 

We know, we know. He's no Joe Johnson. Man get over your love of the guy already. 

[benhillboy]

We know, we know. He's no Joe Johnson. Man get over your love of the guy already.

I know, it's just I love him so much, Dol.

Seriously though, Joe would probably pay for a statue at Arkansas. I suspect it would capture him rubbing his waves.

[macdaddy]

Of course I'm not opposed to it, just a little embarrassed. If I were a visiting fan from another team and saw it, I'd get a good laugh. Statues for living people, especially an athlete, 9 times out of 10 is just silly IMO. Mandela, Powell, Clinton, Okay. Nique, RG III, Niekro, not okay.

 

Hank Aaron is still alive but maybe you give him a pass because he's the greatest hitter ever?  And a great atlantan to boot.  I don't know.  I still say it's worth it because people will love it and the Hawks can desperately use some fan base building.   It's good to celebrate accomplishments and despite no championship Nique as a Hawk has plenty of accomplishments to hang his hat on.   

[Admin]

Hank Aaron is still alive but maybe you give him a pass because he's the greatest hitter ever?  And a great atlantan to boot.  I don't know.  I still say it's worth it because people will love it and the Hawks can desperately use some fan base building.   It's good to celebrate accomplishments and despite no championship Nique as a Hawk has plenty of accomplishments to hang his hat on.   

 

Greatest hitter ever?? I think Ted Williams would probably have something to say about that. Great hitter no doubt, but greatest ever? Noooo. 

 

http://www.baseballsgreatesthitters.com/Retired_and_active.html

[Wretch]

awesome vid!  The good ol days

 

Damn right it is!  :)  And what's in that video ain't just some highlight fluff.  That's was Nique game in and game out as he chased MJ for the scoring title year after year.  Anybody that hates on Nique needs to watch that video and read these names:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Karl Malone

Michael Jordan

Kobe Bryant

Wilt Chamberlain

Shaquille O'Neal

Moses Malone

Elvin Hayes

Hakeem Olajuwon

Dirk Nowitkzki

Oscar Robertson

John Havlicek

Kevin Garnett

Alex English

Reggie MIller

Jerry West

Paul Pierce

Tim Duncan

Patrick Ewing

 

There are some hard hitters on that list and there is one missing, just below the names in bold, right up in the THICK of it:

 

You DO NOT keep company like that by accident.  Dominique Wilkins is up there in the THICK of those LEGENDARY scorers.  Don't tell me he isn't one of the Top 50 players of all time because he wasn't on one of the greatest TEAMS of all time.  Give us Scottie Pippen or McHale or Magic to run with Nique...then let's talk about missing rings and conference finals.

 

People need to watch the duel again and understand that was two LEGENDS going at it.  Guys like Larry Bird are what you run into on your way to the conference finals.  Players like that will hit you in the gut.   You need a dude like 'Nique that can hit back.

(Some of ya'll need to understand who was coaching that team.)

 

Give that man his damn statue.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I was listening to NBA Radio on Sirius during lunch, and they had Mark Stein on there. Surprisingly, they spent about 5 minutes talking about the Hawks.

Stein admitted that he has a soft spot for Atlanta and specifically Dominique, because some of his first exposure to the NBA was by watching the Hawks on cable TV ( TBS ).

His first job as an NBA beat writer was with the Clippers. After only a week on the job, the Clippers traded Manning for Nique, and he got to cover one of his sports idols for a little while. And Nique was no slouch with the Clippers.

He said all that while the hosts of the show was talking bout the ownership situation and why fans don't show up at Hawks games.

Stein correctly stated if the Hawks had a charismatic player that could also ball, the fans would come out to see him and the Hawks. He cited how it's really only been Nique and Michael Vick that has fit that description in Atlanta.

He stated that those guys style of play enticed the people of Atlanta to come out and watch them and the team.

It makes you think that maybe ownership has this all wrong. If we're not going to seriously compete for championships, maybe the goal should be to put an exciting team on the floor and hope they gel.

As crazy as it sounds, maybe the fan base would respond better to more showman type players on the team. Instead of constructing a "robot personality" team, maybe what would sell in ATL are a bunch of Nick Young, Nate Robinson, Kenneth Faried personalities out on the court.

Mike Scott is maybe the only guy on this current squad with an infectious personality.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

He cited how it's really only been Nique and Michael Vick that has fit that description in Atlanta.

I would add Deron Sanders to that list as well.

Edited September 19, 2014 by TheNorthCydeRises

[ViperXX79]

Greatest hitter ever?? I think Ted Williams would probably have something to say about that. Great hitter no doubt, but greatest ever? Noooo. 

 

http://www.baseballsgreatesthitters.com/Retired_and_active.html

I have no idea what "formula" they use but wRC+, wOBA, and WAR have The Babe owning everyone.  Also Barry Bonds was really good even though he was a cheater...And Ted Williams was a god awful defender.

[Admin]

I have no idea what "formula" they use but wRC+, wOBA, and WAR have The Babe owning everyone. Also Barry Bonds was really good even though he was a cheater...And Ted Williams was a god awful defender.

So clearly you didn't look down the page at their rankings as Ruth was easily #1.

Nothing Bonds did counts. He wasn't close to the same hitter pre-PEDs.

It's my opinion that Williams is the best "hitter" (which is what the statement above mine was about) but that list has him 3rd.

[anxietyreigns]

I say give it to him.

He still has a significant presence around the organization and seems to genuinely care about the Hawks franchise.

I usually come down for one game a year and I may just come down for the statue unveiling, provided I can get tickets as we're playing Cleveland that night.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

I was listening to NBA Radio on Sirius during lunch, and they had Mark Stein on there. Surprisingly, they spent about 5 minutes talking about the Hawks.

Stein admitted that he has a soft spot for Atlanta and specifically Dominique, because some of his first exposure to the NBA was by watching the Hawks on cable TV ( TBS ).

His first job as an NBA beat writer was with the Clippers. After only a week on the job, the Clippers traded Manning for Nique, and he got to cover one of his sports idols for a little while. And Nique was no slouch with the Clippers.

He said all that while the hosts of the show was talking bout the ownership situation and why fans don't show up at Hawks games.

Stein correctly stated if the Hawks had a charismatic player that could also ball, the fans would come out to see him and the Hawks. He cited how it's really only been Nique and Michael Vick that has fit that description in Atlanta.

He stated that those guys style of play enticed the people of Atlanta to come out and watch them and the team.

It makes you think that maybe ownership has this all wrong. If we're not going to seriously compete for championships, maybe the goal should be to put an exciting team on the floor and hope they gel.

As crazy as it sounds, maybe the fan base would respond better to more showman type players on the team. Instead of constructing a "robot personality" team, maybe what would sell in ATL are a bunch of Nick Young, Nate Robinson, Kenneth Faried personalities out on the court.

Mike Scott is maybe the only guy on this current squad with an infectious personality.

 

That sounds a lot like WLOC and the Highlight Factory days...

[Wretch]

One more thing I want to point out before we put this to bed (I had to point this out to another hater many moons ago)...

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Karl Malone

Michael Jordan

Kobe Bryant

Wilt Chamberlain

Shaquille O'Neal

Moses Malone

Elvin Hayes

Hakeem Olajuwon

Dirk Nowitkzki

Oscar Robertson

Dominique Wilkins

John Havlicek

Kevin Garnett

Alex English

Reggie MIller

Jerry West

Paul Pierce

Tim Duncan

Patrick Ewing

 

The list is top heavy with centers and power forwards POST PLAYERS who are the biggest things on the court and play closest to the basket.   To be up there with even the BEST low post players is a statement unto it's own.  Ranking the all time scoring leaders at G/F?  Guys that needed more than just size & position to get baskets?

 

Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Oscar Robertson....and Dominique "The Human Highlight Film" Wilkins.

 

 

WHAT!?!

 

 

`For more shits and giggles, consider a player like Shaq and his 7 foot 300lb body, living in the paint, racking up 28,596 points over 20 seasons...  Compared to Nique, playing on the wing and racking up 26, 668 points...over 16 seasons.  You gotta be some kinda damn awesome to do that shit.  

[ATLien_]

So clearly you didn't look down the page at their rankings as Ruth was easily #1.

Nothing Bonds did counts. He wasn't close to the same hitter pre-PEDs.

It's my opinion that Williams is the best "hitter" (which is what the statement above mine was about) but that list has him 3rd.

I looked at the top 10 didn't see Tony Gwynn and immediately stopped reading. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I continued and found him listed at 55. Comical. What ever weights they are using it clearly values homeruns to much.

Chipper Jones did an interview after Gwynn passed. The host were asking him how it felt to be mentioned in the same breadth as Tony; Chipper politely told them him I'm not then proceeded to throw out stat after stat that blew my mind. A few of my favorites according to Chipper. Chipper is listed at 35 I believe.

1) Tony could have gone 0 for 1000 to end his career and still had a career average 2 points higher than Chippers.

2) Tony played I believe 16 or 17 seasons. He only struck out around 450 times for his career. There are guys on the Braves that could do that in 1 and a quarter seasons.

3) Only hitter in major league baseball history to bat over 300 for his career with 2 plus strikes on him.

There have been better homerun hitters, ,but it's hard to find someone better at putting bat on ball than Gwynn. He also played in the modern era probably with some steroid users. This is a un-winnable debate because some value power, average, clutchness differently. Fun debate though.

[Plainview1981]

Embracing the best players in franchise history is what is best for business...This is one way to try and build a franchise. What other franchise basically tells the best player in franchise history to go f*** himself?

[anxietyreigns]

Giving him a stake in ownership, VP of Basketball, and hire him as the color analyst on TV is telling him to go f*** himself?

As someone has mentioned before, giving a statue to a living person is a strange thing to do. And the more I think about this, it almost gets me to care enough about the issue. But I don't, it's small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.

I agree that a statue for the living is sort of creepy.

[Diesel]

 

You guys are taking this from a Hawks only point of view.  Nique is a son of Atlanta.  Georgia, Hawks Iconic status in the city.  If we had a mount rushmore for sports heroes in this town it would be Aaron, Nobis(maybe Tuggle), Nique, and Herschel.  

 

IF there were a mount Rushmore for Atlanta Sports, it would have:

 

Nique, Hank, Deion, and Awesome Bill from Dawsonville on it.

 

Dudes waiting to get on would be Chipper, Dale Murphy, Glavine, Maddux,  Steve Bartkowski, Joe Johnson, Smitty, Deke, Roddy White, Nobis, Mathis, Riggs, and Andruw Jones.

Edited September 20, 2014 by Diesel

[Guest]

What about all the NFL HOF busts - not a full statue but.....

Why wait until the person dies to celebrate him when he can't appreciate it?

Give that man his statue.

Minor matters in the grand scheme of things.