What if Belkin is balking - because...

[WraithSentinel]

That is the sad thing to all of this. Nearly every Hawks fan despises Ford. I am sure ownership isn't a big fan of him either. The problem is they continue to make Ford look like a genius when talking about the Hawks. It is getting real pathetic now.

[Lascar78]

And it is entirely possible that the entire ownership is wondering if they can get JJ for less, and are publicly stating that it is just Belkin not wanting to do the deal so the group as a whole doesn't come across as backing out of an established deal. Who knows? Certainly no one on this board. The truth will come out in due time.

[Diesel]

We should learn from the mistakes of McDavid...

When you keep Dicking somebody around, eventually, they will go elsewhere.

Don't think that we had the only offer for JJ. There were others. I think Phoenix did us a courtesy by allowing us to get JJ for Diaw and 2 protected picks...

Think about it... Phoenix offered JJ a 6 yr 50 million dollar deal last year. There's only 20 million dollars of difference. They traded Qrich to make room for JJ. If they really wanted to, they could resign JJ and trade somebody else... Their fans want JJ back, their GM wants JJ back... What their ownership did was do us a favor.

In our position, we don't draw FAs as it is.

No other FA will turn down equal money to pass up playing for a 62 win team to come here and play for us...

WE have been granted a gift from GOD.. Now we want to try to dictate the terms...

IT'S STUPIDITY!

Like I have said before, we are in NO POSITION to dictate anything.. It's grace that Phoenix even dealt with us in the first place...

[Admin]

gnomes to sign off on the deal?

Seriously though, I am pretty confident its not a big deal. Probably just one of those things with having an ownership group instead of a single controlling owner. I cant imagine a situation where BK agreed to the trade and it became publicly known without him first getting approval (at least verbally) from the owners.

[tmac13]

He got to the old mans perm shop and had to wait behind Don Sutton and was not immediately available to sign off on the deal?

[Traceman]

realizing. Even if this deal does eventually go through, the fact that it is taking so long to get done is a VERY bad omen for future dealings with big name free agents. The implication is clear - Hawks' ownership does not have its collective act together and BK is NOT free to make decisions as ownership has previously stated. Situations like this thoroughly undermine BK's ability to get the job done.

There is NO WAY that any of you can convince me that this is a "minor procedural problem" or that Belkin has simply been unavailable to sign the deal. Give me a break! The deal has been talked about for weeks and the signing date has been known for at least a week. You mean to tell me that he has business so pressing elsewhere that he has been unavailable to sign a SEVENTY MILLION DOLLAR deal that he knew about well in advance? Please! A man with that much money and power is ALWAYS available when that kind of money is being discussed, particularly when he knew about it in advance.

I'll tell you this, if the deal does not get done because of Belkin, I will ask for my season ticket money back. I bought my tickets because I thought we were going to go out and use our capspace to acquire quality free agents who would help us get better. I am NOT going to buy season tickets to watch a team that has ZERO chance of being competitive. I did NOT buy season tickets for last season for the first time in years because I KNEW we were not going to be competitive. I will still go to SOME games if the deal doesn't go through but I have a lot of things I could do with the money I invested in my season tickets. This is BS!

[Nicholasp27]

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the signing date has been known for at least a week.

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didn't they tell us last friday when the permanent date/time would be?

[capstone21]

Everyone just needs to calm down until the reasons are announced. It may not be a big deal at all. There is no use getting riled up until we know the deal is not going through or if ownership is making some big issue out of the trade. I havea feeling it is just a little thing that is getting ironed out.

[Traceman]

A FIVE team, THIRTEEN player deal can be completed on the first day signings are allowed and we have a "procedural snag" on a very simple two team trade? Come on guys! There is a procedural issue alright. The other owners are trying to figure out the proper procedure to use to convince Belkin to allow the trade to go through!

[Seano]

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The implication is clear - Hawks' ownership does not have its collective act together and BK is NOT free to make decisions as ownership has previously stated. Situations like this thoroughly undermine BK's ability to get the job done.

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I agree. They should not have announced this trade until ALL systems were go and ALL sides were in full agreement to the deal. The alternative is what we have- some kind of dissension, some kind of holdup somewhere along the line, and the Atlanta Hawks as an organization looking once again like a bunch of freaking amateurs.

If the deal falls through, the embarrassment won't lie in that fact- because deals fall through all the time. The embarrassment will lie in announcing it as a done deal, to the point where it was all over the sports pages. That's just lame, and there's no other way to put it.

[emeans]

The longer this takes and the longer absolutely NO ONE knows what the problem is the worse this looks.

My biggest problem is that no one knows the problem and of course this gives way to negative speculation. That is only natural!!

At least give the fans (the ones paying all of their salaries) the benefit of knowing the problem if it is indeed a minor problem.

This is why I think it is a bit more than a "procedural issue". More like an owner disapproval issue.

[Lascar78]

"They" DIDN'T announce a trade. ESPN sources reported that the 2 teams were close to agreeing on a SNT. HUGE difference

[sirchaz]

The Suns held the Raja Bell press conference today.

They talked about the JJ situation for about 10-15 minutes.

They said the "procedural issue" is with Atlanta and they are just waiting now. They hoped it would be cleared up by this weekend.

Sarver said they are/were prepared to match Atlanta's offer.

He asked Joe directly "Do you want me to match this offer" Joe's reply was "Absolutely not".

That is when they decided on the S&T.

I do think though that if Phoenix is faced with matching against Joe's wishes and letting him walk for nothing then I would guess they will probably still match. If Atlanta wants him I imagine they will have to give up something.

If it is a Hawks owner has a problem with the deal I wonder if it is with the contract or the trade.

[Lascar78]

we offered him a sheet so long ago, it can't be the contract. It has to be the trade

[tmac13]

At the very best, we still get the deal done but look like fools for not having all the i's dotted and the t's crossed. At the very worst the deal does not get done and this franchise slides back into the ocean for awhile..This is just another blackeye on the Hawks organization...

Hey, all you guys that talk endlessly about BK's "vision", I think I just got a glimpse of his newest vision..There is an old very wealthy guy in a big house up in Boston, I see 2 huge paws that look like they belong to an ex NBA player wrapping around his neck and squeezing the life out of that old wealthy guy...

[chillzatl]

all of this will be completely forgotten

Nobody, including ME, knows ANYTHING about what's going on. We can say "it's bad" or "it's good" until we're blue in the face. But we simply DO NOT KNOW. It might be bad, or it might not. But nobody here knows anything, everyone is speculating. It's all a matter of how we choose to interpret how bad "procedural snag" may or may not be.

The fact that it simply hasn't happened, DOES NOT mean that there is something bad going on behind the scenes. Sorry, it just doesn't. It doesn't mean there are going to be future problems like this. It doesn't make the franchise look bad or make the management look like idiots.

This amounts to nothing more than 100 kids standing outside the candy store waiting for it to open. When the store is 30 minutes late in opening, 50 of the kids say "something bad happened, maybe Mr. Candyman is dead!" and the other half says "it's nothing, he probably just over slept!". The truth is, NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING.

[Diesel]

Chillz...

"The other owners and management are in favor of the deal."

.....There must be fire...

[chillzatl]

then you will let yourself believe there is fire, even though nobody has seen any.

[tmac13]

I would agree except the Hawks have been taking a beating all day in the national and local sports media and there has not been one word of response..If it was a nothing issue, if Belkin was in the Alps climbing mountains why not just say that..The Hawks know their image is fragile, they are not fools..They still need to seel tickets..So if it was nothing someone should come out and say its nothing..Instead, there is complete silence..

[drzachary]

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I would agree except the Hawks have been taking a beating all day in the national and local sports media

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Hawksquawk threads and other web forums are not 'the national and local sports media' (though in the 'Squawk's case, it should be!)

There have been what, 10 words about it total in the national media, if that?