Sothron

C- from me.

Drafting Shellhead at #5 was a mistake. Unathletic player who was dominated in college by true big men. 6'8" PF with arm reach four inches shorter than Marvin Williams. Extremely limited offensive game at the pro level. A complete dud in the summer league. Was predicted to go from 11-16 in predraft mocks. Only the Hawks saw him as a #5.

Not trading Harrington at the deadline when he was warned about the possibilities of the summer blowing up in our faces.

Only getting a lottery protected first for Harrington. We could at least have gotten a center project out of it.

The ownership situation. It dwarves everything else. No matter what spin they try to put on it, the AS is not going to spend beyond the league salary minimum on the Hawks until Belkin is dealt with. Or even worse for Hawks fans, Belkin wins and keeps control of the team. Welcome to Donald Sterling 2.0 in that case.

People who claim Paul is "average" on defense clearly did not watch any game the Hornets played last year. He was horrible. He was routinely outmatched, outmuscled and outplayed by his man. Offensively he was given a free ticket to do whatever he wanted and he did well with the freedom.

Contrast that with Deron Williams who had to play under a coach notorious for not playing rookies in Jerry Sloan and a much more controlled and half court tempo offense than the freewheeling Hornets offense. Deron battled through injuries last year and had to get playing time when he could get it. It reminded me of the way Lenny treated JT his first season in the L.

Deron has a great stroke and has great handles. He will always play at a consistent level on defense. I would most definitely still take Deron over Paul. Notice Utah doesn't get any media scrutiny over taking Deron over Paul.

I agree about Diaw. He had already informed the Hawks he was going to go back to France so trading him was getting something out of nothing. You could put Ed Gray next to Nash on that Phoenix team and watch him put up some numbers.

No, just someone who has friends within the team and has friends that have more contacts within the team.

The AS won't admit publically that they won't spend more than the league minimum while the Belkin situation is unresolved. But trust me, they aren't adding salary.

It was just a good hearted shot at Pete's propensity to draft tall white players that shall we say never worked out like he thought.

Paul is good on offense and atrocious on defense. I would taken Deron at our spot last season but oh well.

I disagree. I would take Deron and his equal offense/much better defense over Paul.

I love how Ford shows his bias: he rips the Hawks at the beginning and then completely ignores the effect of the trade for the Hawks the entire rest of the article. He didn't even mention what Indiana gave up for Harrington.

Lelie is much cheaper than Porter. We swapped one year rental players and hopefully Lelis can hold down the #3 wideout position.

I love the signing of Grady Jackson. The DL needed a big fattie in front of our playmaking LBs and we got that.

I agree that getting only a lottery protected 1st is poor change for a player like Harrington but its the best deal BK could have made. I do not blame BK outside of making a deal before the deadline. Obviously getting a first round pick is better than letting Al walk for nothing.

I heard he, Adam Keefe and Cal Bowdler opened a "Honkeys R Us" chain of stores designed to meet the needs of today's honkey in our fast paced industrial modern world.

Sadly I have to say you are apt. Belkin will not be gone in summer of 07. That means unless the Spirit makes a serious change in thinking we will still sit on cap space and do nothing.

I personally still weep in copious amounts the loss of Priest Lauderdale and Ed Gray. If only we had them!

We should be at the league minimum with the signing of Wright.

People on the team in the FO told BK there could be legal troubles trading Harrington in the offseason or the ownership could tighten up the pursestrings due from it. He was warned about it and BK believed he could still make a better trade in the offseason. Obviously that thinking was wrong.

BK got the best trade he could get with the handcuffs in place by ownership not to take on more salary. The only real blame for BK is that he was warned by people inside the team (not ownership) to make a trade for Harrington before the trading deadline to avoid any kind of legal wrangling or ownership woes and BK ignored that advice.

Al was going to go wherever paid him the most. Let's just be real about that. He was slobbering over the Warriors and they haven't made the playoffs in 13 years.

This deal is sadly the best we could have done with the ownership forbidding BK to take on more salary. I'm honestly surprised we got a 2007 first rounder (lottery protected) out of it since Indy absolutely knew what our handcuffs were in this deal.

I hope they really did verify this kid's birth certificate. I heard on PTI that they did but there were no details given about it. I can't believe this kid is 12, 13 and is that size.

And go Columbus, Ga! That is where I live so I gotta root for the hometown team.

That was changed by the judge into contracts no longer than 4 years, Diesel.

It means Al gets to try the new CBA and he'll try to cash in again.

I have not heard what year the first rounder is or what protection its going to have. The last I had heard on Saturday was that it was a 2008 first rounder, not a 2007 first rounder but that may have changed. Or may not. We'll see.

Very disgusted at the ownership situation that has seen us get taken advantage of from all this.

You can't blame Knight on this one unless you want to say he should have dealt Harrington at the trading deadline last season before any of this really hit the fan.

That would really help season ticket sales:

"Hey fans. Our legal team was a bunch of morons who left a loophole for Belkin to steal the team away from us. Out of the ongoing legal battle that may see us lose everything we are forced to keep expenses down and can not spend real money on the Hawks.

Keep coming out and let's RISE UP together!"

I love Holyfield. Always have. But it should be criminal to allow this man to fight anywhere in the world. It is so obvious listening to him speak that he has reduced mental capabilities due to the head damage he's taken over the years. Its a disgrace anyone would let that man fight just to make a quick buck off his name and history.

Evander, please retire for good. You have half your life to live yet. Don't ruin it for some daydream of returning to former glory.

Only if one side drops the legal battle and that is not going to happen. Belkin thinks he can finally own a NBA team on the cheap and the Spirit are fighting to keep their assets. I believe Stern and the NBA will have to come in at some point but that could be a year or more from now.