An interesting article on ESPN...

[Watchman]

Owner making mess of Hawks' offseasonBy Marc Stein

ESPN.com

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There can only be one outcome in the Joe Johnson-to-Atlanta saga.

There can only be one outcome, that is, which spares the Hawks from irreparable damage as opposed to their usual doses of mere empty-arena humiliation.

The Hawks have to emerge from this nightmare with Johnson as their point guard … and with Steve Belkin stripped of any decision-making power.

It is no longer enough for the Hawks to simply push the trade through, which is what everyone close to the deal -- except Belkin, of course -- still nervously hopes for by sometime next week.

On top of completing a trade that was agreed to days ago, Atlanta must oust Belkin, buy him out, impeach him as team governor. Whatever.

Belkin, as the Hawks' representative on the NBA Board Governors, was given final say on player signings and trades when the new three-pronged group assumed control of the franchise March 31, 2004. Not every team empowers its governor in this manner, but Belkin -- in what ranks as a swap of monster significance given how far Atlanta has fallen -- is refusing to sign off on a sign-and-trade with Phoenix that has the support of everyone else in the organization who matters.

Only now there's more at stake than sabotaging a deal that would bring the moribund Hawks a young, promising free agent who A) plays three positions and B) actually wants to play in Atlanta.

If Belkin stays, who is going to be willing to do business with the Hawks?

How will Hawks general manager Billy Knight be able to convince his front-office counterparts that any future trade will reach done-deal status if the Hawks' governor reserves the right to back out at the last minute?

It doesn't really matter whether Belkin's belief that Atlanta has overextended for Johnson, who's not yet a proven franchise player, is someday proved correct. When you're a bad team with little to offer apart from money, especially for as long as the Hawks have been bad, you have to overextend sometimes. It's the only way to get players who might be able to stop the losing, and it's certainly preferable to running a team Donald Sterling style, in which an all-set deal gets undone at the last minute by the meddlesome boss.

Johnson is a restricted free agent who had been preparing for weeks to sign a five-year Hawks offer sheet worth $70 million, with a balloon payment of $20 million up front. The Suns, in turn, had been planning for weeks to match the offer, until Johnson implored managing partner Robert Sarver last Thursday not to match it -- a request Johnson revealed the following day to ESPN.com while in Toronto for teammate Steve Nash's charity game.

Phoenix then changed course and decided that $70 million is a steep price for a player who doesn't want to be in Phoenix, especially with a slew of big contracts already on the books. So Suns president Bryan Colangelo, unwilling to lose a prized asset without compensation, struck a sign-and-trade arrangement with Knight to send Johnson to Atlanta for Boris Diaw, two conditional first-round draft choices and a trade exception worth nearly $5 million. The deal appealed to Knight because it ensured that the Hawks would get their man, without having to sign Johnson to an offer sheet, wait seven days and risk coming away with nothing.

Belkin, though, says Knight is parting with too much, in addition to the money promised Johnson, and refuses to give his GM the go-ahead he needs based on the Hawks' power structure.

It has been suggested in Atlanta that Belkin, who has been feuding for months with the other two main factions in the Hawks' ownership ranks, is delaying the trade in an attempt to sweeten the buyout package he'd receive from the owners who want to remove him. Yet that assumes his main motivation is money.

Others who know Belkin well suggest otherwise. They note that Belkin has dreamed of NBA ownership for years, winding up with the Hawks only after a failed bid to buy the Celtics in partnership with Larry Bird. It's difficult to imagine, given the negative publicity from this flap, that the league would let him back in as an owner in another city … or that he could even find new partners to make a run at another team.

This, then, is looking like Belkin's NBA Alamo, which explains why he's fighting his ouster so stubbornly. Upon learning that the rest of the Hawks' ownership was planning a Friday vote to strip Belkin of his governor privileges, the Bostonian filed a restraining order in a Massachusetts court. That court is demanding that the Hawks "desist and refrain" from voting Belkin out until a Tuesday morning hearing.

Little wonder one Hawks insider expects "this thing gets worse before it gets better."

How bad can it get? If the Johnson deal falls through, one scenario could find the Hawks scrambling to give away some $12 million in a combination of one-year deals just to get to the league-mandated minimum of $37.125 million in salaries for next season.

Yet that would only be the start of the misery if Belkin wins the battle. The Hawks will never have a hope of attracting decent talent, and thus a decent crowd to Philips Arena, if executives and agents out there can't believe what Knight tells them.

"Obviously," Hawks CEO Bernie Mullin said at a Thursday news conference, "it's a concern at this point in time.

"It's not a concern in the long term."

Don't be surprised if NBA commissioner David Stern feels the need to intervene. The implication from Mullin, either way, is that the Hawks will survive this crisis by soon negotiating an end to the Belkin Era, or at the very least render him silent.

As part of a group known as the Atlanta Spirit LLC, Belkin holds a 30 percent stake in the franchise. Representatives from the other two ownership entities -- who combine to control 70 percent of the Hawks -- publicly expressed confidence Thursday that the trade will be salvaged.

Sources close to Johnson, meanwhile, insist the 24-year-old and his influential agent, Arn Tellem, still expect the trade to be rammed through.

The Suns cling to the same expectation, having given Atlanta extra incentive by vowing to match and keep Johnson if Belkin forces the Hawks to back out of the trade in an attempt to revert to the original offer sheet.

Not that the Hawks should really need any added motivation. If they hope to take their first firm step away from years of laughingstock status, they must know they cannot dare to lose the first marquee free agent in memory who says he longs to be a Hawk.

They also have to see, even more clearly after this week, that an overcrowded boardroom can be far more dispiriting than a half-empty building. It can be downright destructive.

Which is why overruling Belkin is only half of the project.

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here. Also, click here to send a question for possible use on ESPNEWS

[KB21]

I'd like to see the set of rules that govern the NBA Board of Governors, and I'd like to get the low down on the contract that was initially signed by Atlanta Spirit, LLC just to see what sort of power Belkin does have as a governor and as technically the ONE man that has more stake in the investment.

If he can block this trade and the courts hold it up, what's to stop him from making other decisions without consulting or having the rest of the owners agree with him?

I really believe his desire is to have majority ownership in the team so that there will be no question that he can do what he wants.

[macdaddy]

This is a good article. The real question is when did Belkin become any more knowledgable about running a team than any of us out here. He's the OWNER. This is equivalent to him running to the huddle during a timeout and saying 'Woody that play sux, here's what we are going to do.'

As most here have said it wouldn't matter if he had a point this is not the way to do business. Its a power grab pure and simple and I'm confident he will lose. The only possible outcome is that he loses his power. If you want to be sole owner then go make some more money and buy a team outright.

[tmac13]

The scarey question is, what if he wins?..What is the court determines he will remain as governor? Does this mean we are in constant limbo for 3 more years or until he does something that does break his contract and allows the other owners to dismiss him? I really see Tuesday as setting up to be the most important date in the History of the Atlanta Hawks..If Belkin wins, BK and Woody might as well resign..

[KB21]

If he wins this, I think you may see him push the envelope even farther in attempt to piss of the Levenson/Peskowitz and Gearon Jr./Seydel groups enough that one will sell to him.

I really believe that if Belkin is to get total control, you will see him bring in his Celtics buddies to the team.

[Final_quest]

It's impossible, you can't get 30% to equal 51% no matter how hard Belkin tries.

In a fluke decision he may get the courts help and snuff this deal. That is worse case scenario for the Hawks. However, long term Belkin will have his power stripped.

I lived in this scenario. Our company has one owner with 30% share. The other three owners would meet and make decisions for the entire company without inviting the director who owns 30%. Belkin will not be able to keep this up.

[KB21]

That's why it is going to be interesting to see what the contract says.

[Final_quest]

If Belkin gets one of the other groups to sell, that would be a sad day in Hawks history. How could anyone be a fan of this team then?

[Diesel]

Belkin will not lose Governor status.

According to Dominio... The governor can only be changed if he Binds the team to too many contracts....

This is a power move and it's costing the franchise much more than JJ.

[chillzatl]

[chillzatl]

according to the lawsuit filed Thursday. Those grounds are identified as casting a vote at an NBA Board of Governors meeting that does not reflect the wishes of a majority of the Hawks' owners, or taking any action that legally binds the team against the wishes of a majority of the owners.

the 2nd could be interpreted to fit this situation

[mudderfudder77]

Quote:

---

It's impossible, you can't get 30% to equal 51% no matter how hard Belkin tries.

In a fluke decision he may get the courts help and snuff this deal. That is worse case scenario for the Hawks. However, long term Belkin will have his power stripped.

I lived in this scenario. Our company has one owner with 30% share. The other three owners would meet and make decisions for the entire company without inviting the director who owns 30%. Belkin will not be able to keep this up.

---

He doesn't need 51%, his 30% is the majority single stockholder and he was voted in as Governer.

[mrhonline]

Quote:

---

according to the lawsuit filed Thursday. Those grounds are identified as

casting a vote at an NBA Board of Governors meeting that does not reflect the wishes of a majority of the Hawks' owners

, or

taking any action that legally binds the team against the wishes of a majority of the owners.

the 2nd could be interpreted to fit this situation

---

That second line seems about as "open-and-close" as you can get, but who knows what our great legal system will conclude.

[AHF]

The legal question is whether he is taking an action to bind the team. Arguably, refusing to sign someone to a contract is binding the team in the same way as signing a contract. On the other side, how is the team bound? They have no obligation today they didn't have a week ago. You can argue both sides of this.

[Traceman]

but we won't know until the decision is actually rendered. I good lawyer would be able to fashion a good argument for either side.

[mrhonline]

If Belkin wins his case, this thing could go on for months...

...and the only losers would be us.

[AHF]

Quote:

---

If Belkin wins his case, this thing could go on for months...

...and the only losers would be us.

---

I see David Stern stepping in and putting his foot down on this in a big way. This is embarassing for the league and one of its franchises and Stern doesn't like that at all.

[Final_quest]

Quote:

---

He doesn't need 51%, his 30% is the majority single stockholder and he was voted in as Governer.

---

My response is in your statement. He did not appoint himself governor, an agreement was made. Now the other 70% of the ownership group can remove him as Governor.

If he had 51% ownership, he wouldn't need to be voted as governor. That's my point. 30% ownership does not let you do whatever the hell you want, even if you are the majority owner.

[flava]

[Plainview1981]

If he wins I hope he does just ahead and moves

the team because it would be pointless for the

hawks to remain in Atlanta.