Nique promoted to Vice President basketball

[tmac13]

I have been a Hawks fan since the early 70's and I have to say Nique seems to become a better player every year since he retired..

The truth...Nique was a high scoring no passing ball hog who NEVER won anything of consequence and NEVER made those around him better and NEVER had the respect of the other great players in the game..I remember a Charles Barkley quote before a Philly/Atlanta game..He said"any team with Dominique as its goto player is never gonna win anything". I know Charles is a big mouth but he only said what everybody already knew..Nigue should never be mentioned in the same breath with the great ones, cause he simply was not one of them. He was a great athlete, a great scorer, but he was also a dumb basketball player, who played mostly for his own stats.

I know I will get flamed for this dose of truth on the ever growing legend of Dominique, but it is the truth. Anyone who watched him game in and game out, saw the reactions of Doc rivers and Mike Fratello to his selfish play, saw the total lack of respect the likes of Magic, Byrd, Jordan, Isaiah, and Barkley gave Nique, know exactly what I am talking about..

[Nicholasp27]

kinda like how tmac doesn't make those around him better? how tmac just goes for scoring crowns?

oh wait, i forgot that nique's teams at least won games...they didn't finish dead last like tmac's team

[chillzatl]

that nique was left off THE LIST. That's partially what lists like that are for you know... To honor guys who were great players, but weren't winners. There are a lot of players on that list who were far from being complete ball players and didn't win squat either.

Nique was a great player and worthy of being recognized as such.

[pathway23]

You're probably right about Nique in the late 80s, he was just like Jordan in the late 80s, a bigtime ballhog. but Nique in the 90s became a better passer, became a better rebounder, got his teammates more involved, even played better defense...(while Fratello was GONE, where we had the sorry *** Bob Weiss as coach)...when Lenny got there and Nique was there, Nique was a complete ballplayer and we were on track to have the franchise's best season in 1994 UNTIL the Nique for Manning trade by Babs...

[Traceman]

player and he DID (still does) have the respect of other great players in the game. You mentioned a Charles Barkley quote where Barkley said "any team with Dominique as its goto player is never gonna win anything." Well I remember Barkley saying "not having 'Nique as one of the 50 greatest players of all time was a travesty. 'Nique was a great player." Barkley made the quote on Inside the NBA and both Magic Johnson and Kenny Smith agreed with him. In addition, Larry Bird said that he really respected Dominique's game and he thought Nique was a great player after their epic playoff battle. Jordan ALWAYS gave Nique his respect.

Current players such as Shaq, Paul Pierce and T Mac see Nique as NBA royalty. Jason Richardson said that he idolized Nique growing up even though he grew up in Michigan where Magic Johnson was from.

No, Nique never did win anything of importance but neither did Barkley or Karl Malone despite the fact that both of them are great and both of them played with FAR better talent than Nique ever did. Who is the best player Nique ever played with? A WAY past his prime Moses Malone? Doc Rivers? Kevin Willis? Meanwhile, Bird had 3 or 4 future Hall of Famers around him in McHale, Parrish, Dennis Johnson, Walton (one year). Danny Ainge and Cornbread Maxwell were terrific players as well. Put Nique with that group and I'm sure his winning percentage would have been a LOT higher. Malone played with one of the top 3 or 4 PGs OF ALL TIME for his entire career. Magic had Kareem, Worthy, Scott, Nixon, Wilkes, Cooper, etc. Nique wasn't as good as Bird, Magic or Malone but his teams would certainly have won more games had he played on teams with that kind of talent. He can certainly be mentioned in the same breath with those guys.

All that being said, was Nique selfish at times? Sure he was. Did he frustrate his teammates/coaches at times? You bet ya! But he was a tireless worker who played hard EVERY night and who NEVER took a day off from practice. He was also the only reason the Hawks' franchise was relevant from the late 80s through the early 90s. Fratello said the thing that he admired most about Nique was that he ALWAYS gave 100% whether it was the 7th game in a playoff series or practice. Those very same qualities were attributed to a guy named Michael Jordan until his greatness led his team to his first NBA championship. Many people thought Jordan was a ballhog (many STILL do) but they have to respect the fact that his teams won. Funny how winning changes peoples' perspectives.

The bottom line is that Nique is without question the greatest Atlanta Hawk of all time, he is respected by his peers and by the NBA's current stars and the fact that he was left off the NBA's 50 greatest players list after scoring more than 26,000 points in this league is a travesty.

[Wretch]

[CHORO44]

AMEN TRACEMAN!

[ATLien_]

Traceman you have made me proud. Well Said Well Said.