New Belkin Article

[bballfan]

Belkin has a right to his opinion. Who knows, It might be a short matter of time all of you will be saying he was right not to want this deal.

IMO he is right, Johnson is not worth this contract. Even if he was worth it why is Belkin wrong for not wanting this deal? This is an OWNERSHIP group, which means if they all don't sign off on the deal then it should not happen.

[Lascar78]

yeah I agree. I think it's basically Belkin wanting to give up less for a player who's already stated he wanted out of Phoenix and wanted to come here. There is probably internal fighting on whether they should play hardball or not. It doesn't look great, but it's not necessarily the end of the world, depending on exactly what is happening. We'll know the truth soon enough.

[spid3167]

Wow!! Incredible... I never liked the way this group was constituted in the first place. Maybe the Malachi group should have been given more than token consideration. Time Warner/CNN shut them out, even though they reportedly had a great portfolio and a unified vision for what they wanted to do with the team and it's impact on Atlanta and the surrounding area. Of course, controlling interest in Philips Arena was at stake and that may have been the real crux of the problem for TMG. I have no problem with BK and Woody. They've done quite well considering what they had to work with. I also have no problem with the Atlanta Spirit, sans Belkin. If reports are true, that he is the sole reason for the trade not being finalized, than it would be for the best if he divest himself from the ownership group immediately. With all due respect the man's business decisions appear to foster stagnation and negativity and in this case is a lightning rod for it.

[Diesel]

Oh... The ownership is in place... I agree. We're not changing owners, we're chaning managing partners...

For instance....

How many minor owners have been allowed to buy in since the orignal deal??

I think it is two... because we started with 7...

I know Dominique's minor spot only took like a day and a half..

However, changing the managing partner should be just as simple as moving and verifying shares...

We will see how it plays out... But I think the best way out for all concern is a coup, then have Belkin sell out...

[Diesel]

Belkin knew about this for weeks. He knew about our persuit and I'm sure he knew how much we offered for JJ at least for a week...

Why wait until today to sabotage.

He waits until the Hawks are on the National Stage and throws his tantrum and takes his ball, his bat, and leave???

It ain't right!

You take care of in-house matter, in-house...

He has disgraced the franchise in public.

[Guest Walter]

IF pheonix was not going to match I guaran-damn-tee you they will after this [censored] went down. You don't call a bluff LIKE THIS and expect PHE to not make you pay for it.

If Belkin did not agree to a sign and trade, he still wouldn't have waited to hour 11. I was warry of the deal as well as Belkin, but you this type of maneuver, the raw history between ownership, etc. says this is much more than just a disagreement on whether a deal is good or not.

W

[Final_quest]

I would like to point out that this article gives no more information than the AJC article gave this morning. No one is talking about what the snag is. We can only speculate on that.

Also, I don't believe Belkin can stop this deal all on his own. Even though he is governor, he only owns 30%. If everyone else is for the deal I don't think Belkin can kill it regardless of his title.

In my company we have four owners. One owns 30%, the others own 70% combined. The primary owner with 30% had many decisions overturned by the other three. This is a similar situation. Belkin will have to concede to the other owner's wishes imo.

This is bad, but we still don't know the details of this.

[Diesel]

Quote:

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In all fairness, I don't think anyone was saying it was not serious.

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Damn.. Should I believe this Lascar or the Lascar who was saying "Relax.. this is just a procedural Snag... it's nothing serious... it happens everyday... look Ray Allen is not signed yet.."

Whatever Lascar!

[Diesel]

The NBA Board of Governors is a republic.. Not a democracy. One man, one vote... Just like your congressman. When he goes to vote, it doesn't matter what you think.. really... he can vote how he sees fit; ask all those bastards who voted for CAFTA that lied in their homestates...

Usually the Governor is the GM or the VPOBO or the President of the team. Usually he is the guy because the owner doesn't have the time, doesn't know enough, or doesn't care.. Moreover, if that guy fouls up, he can be fired.

I think that there are 2 teams with owners who sit on the board. US and Milwaukee...

What it really says is that the GM or VPOBO or President doesn't weild any power.

I think Stern can change the appointment if he sees that we have a new majority owner.

We need a Hostile takeover!!

[Inside_Man]

Quote:

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this article gives no more information than the AJC article gave this morning.

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Both articles clearly leave the impression that Sekou has someone from the other owners feeding him bits of info.

[drzachary]

Stop it! No! My hopeless optimism will not be crushed! It's all a trick engineered by the owners so the league thinks we're in disarray! You know, luring them into a false sense of security! Yeah, that's the ticket!

(Mmm.. this crow is delicious with ketchup!)

[drzachary]

Belkin has just about entered that territory where you can kill him as long as there's one Hawks fan on the jury.

[deester11]

Everyone pool in a few funds for a full tank of gas...and the grassy knoll theory would come into play wherever Belkin is....!

[WraithSentinel]

This issue is about hit main stream very soon if this keep up. Just what the Hawks need more negative press.

[Plainview1981]

I wonder if this is all a scam to buy the Hawks

by himself and move them to Vegas or some

thing. Hasn't the league been wanting to put a

team there? The allstar game is supposed to be

there in a few years isn't it?

[mdawg]

The only time I've seen more conspiracy theories than I have on this board is when people talk about JFK. This looks bad, and I'm worried and pissed. But I think this could be something like the wording of the contract or the payment per year of the contract. Maybe Belkin thinks, if they won't match, why give a huge payment in the first year, which has been widely reported as part of the deal. Or, maybe he thinks they can sign him without a trade. I'm going to save my rage until it completely collapses. But, in their press conference, PHX did say they expect the deal to be done this weekend. Let's all take a deep breath and relax. If it falls apart, then we can storm Phillips Arena. I'll bring the torches.

[thescout10]

You guys crack me up!

[sirchaz]

I don't believe the Suns will give up JJ without compensation.

Even if it means matching that contract.

The Suns still have all the options. The worst Atlanta can do is force the Suns to take a bad contract.

Financially they are prepared to do it. Sarver said so today.

[Sage11]

I am ready to Burn Belkin at the stake and all my tickets to the Hawks. This is friggin ridiculous. All hope in the rise of this franchise is misplaced with a idot like that as part owner. We are snake bit.....

[Final_quest]

I agree with Mdawg on this. We have so few details about what the snag is that we should be worried but not outraged.

I'm sorry I don't agree with the perspective that Belkin, as the governor, can do whatever he wants regardless of what the rest of the organization thinks. GMs cannot sign whoever they want without ownership approval even if they are the governor.

Belkin in particular has a lot to lose by going against everybody else. With only 30% ownership they could take the governor position from him, or even force him out of the ownership group.

If Belkin owned the Hawks outright than he would have all the power, but at 30% he's not holding all the cards. The fact that he is the governor means he has to sign off on deals. That still doesn't mean he can stop any deal he wants to.