Sothron

They think they will win the court battle but they also believe the total amount of time spent on appeals and cases will last 2-3 years. Whether or not they keep the purse strings cinched up for at least another two seasons AFTER this one is a decision totally up to them and I guarantee they will not make it public if they decide to only stay to the league minimum.

The Spirit have every intention on spending money. Look at the Thrashers: they are at the NHL salary cap. The AS was going to spend money on the Hawks until Belkin reared his ugly head and came back. As much as I hate it as a fan I totally understand the business decision to NOT sink even more money into the Hawks with a chance that Belkin can steal it away from them.

Belkin does not have enough capital to own any sports team in his own right. He does not have enough capital to invest in player salary and stadium upkeep on his own. As much as we hate the cheap ass way of the Hawks now with Belkin it would be an unchanging litany of cheapness. The Spirit had given Knight the OK to spend up to the salary cap for the Hawks before this happened. They just are protecting their financial fortunes from the snake Belkin.

Agreed. I have defended them on that in the past but this is painfully clear.

We need to get Biedrins out of GS in this deal. That kid can ball. He is the long, lean athletic type that BK covets. Just Joe Smith on an expiring contract is nowhere near enough return for Harrington.

Not just his contract. He is riddled with injuries and he already has had the kiss of death for a NBA player: microfracture surgery on his knee. No one who has had that surgery has played at the same level they were at before it.

Mihm is mediocre and would not be here past one season. In point of fact with Wright signing Mihm would be on the bench behind both Zaza and Wright.

I just hope and pray we can get Bynum out of the Lakers and deal Al off to them.

We all want Bynum. Its just a question of how available he is. I'd love to have a legit true center who could potentially excel in all areas as a center on this team.

Sene, Ridnour, ANYONE else from the Sonics = Soth signing off on that deal right quick.

I don't like BK but he does not have the permission of the AS to add salary beyond the minimum NBA payroll until the Belkin situation is taken care of. Unless the AS change their minds and from what I was told that is extremely unlikely. They are not going to put more money into the Hawks just to potentially watch it go down the drain if Belkin steals the team away.

As much as I love Pryz's game there was no chance he would ever sign a deal to come back and play under Knight. Not a chance of that happening.

Stotts being fired and Pryz leaving are not mutually exclusive. The coach and the player both wanted to stay and both wanted the other on the team. Joel saw his hard work go for nothing and the coach he liked tossed off as well. There was no way Pryz was going to sign a deal to come back to Atlanta after that.

Again, that whole inside the team drama made me scratch my head then and it still does now. I liked Collier but he couldn't do the things Pryz did. And call me crazy but tough defense, rebounding and being a team enforcer should at least get you the deal Collier got. But maybe that's just me.

...somewhere between the next Ice Age and the next Hawks playoff appearance?

Where's Code of Grammarabi when we need it? Death, death to this topic.

Yes, the first offense will be a ban against puns and the PUNishment will be hanging.

Argh I violated the first rule already!

I'll admit, my first major "WTF?" moment with Knight came when Jason told me about Pryz and how the coaches wanted him to be resigned and instead we traded him off. Pryz does several things on the court that you need in order to win in the NBA. Why we would trade a young seven footer who could do those things AND was willing to stay in Atlanta was just...yeah. I still scratch my head over that one.

I will be the first to admit I always have had a bit of envy for my good friend Jaywalker and his good fortune in having a chance to cover the Hawks. I think most of the hostility toward here is the same sense of "Hey I can do that too!" you ascribed to in your post.

Edit: first time I have used the word "ascribed" at this site. There was much cavorting in the streets.

This is truly the most slow news day in Hawks history when several people have nothing better to do than rip apart someone's grammar.

But FWIW I admit I wince slightly at some of her posts. I have two degrees in history and my wife is an English major. I had to proofread my own papers and some of her errors are either intentionally bad or show she needs work on her grammar.

What if she's legit? I remember when Jason Walker started bringing insider info to the old espn.com boards and then the realgm.com boards. He was called a liar so many times it was not even funny. When in time some of the things he said came true or were repeated by Babock or Kruger people finally realized he was being honest with them.

If this article never appears then I will agree that Princess is probably lying. But it seems like a lot of effort for nothing. I believe her until proven otherwise. I've had people question myself at realgm.com when I would mention something I heard from Jason or one of the people he used to go to for information inside the team. I understand skepticism but when someone keeps giving solid information at some point you have to conclude they are either wonderful liars or have real connections.

I don't think Bballprincess is that good of a liar

I believe she said this article was written months ago. Why would anyone, and no offense to anyone here, come to an unofficial fansite of a team like the Hawks and pretend to be a journalist? I mean seriously. I understand being skeptical but it seems some of the peeps here have really went overboard about her.

Again, when he came over they asked him to do three things: hustle, rebound and play D. He did all three things that were asked. He actually liked the team we had and where he thought we were going. Then when he thought after he had proven himself on the team by doing all the dirty work BK shipped him off.

I'd bet my shirt that Ford's change of heart re: the Hawks has more to do with the fact Babcock was very open about with the press, while Knight prefers to piss off the national media.

I'm not exactly sure what specifically went on between them but I know its on a personal level with Pryz (at least). He did not feel he was given a fair chance after busting his ass on this team and not given a chance to stay and sign a deal with us. I never understood why we gave up on Pryz when all of us except for BK could see the effort, rebounds and defense he gave us every single night out there.

I hope you post when that article comes out Bballprincess. I have my own suspicions what the context of "financial difficulties" truly means, I am fairly confident Miller has at least mismanaged part of Al's money or cost him an endorsement but the only thing I feel safe to say for sure without my own editorial opinion is that Al left Miller not over getting more money in this deal. That was already agreed to. Its getting an agent in Tellum he feels safer in trusting with his financial future.

Chad Ford had a good relationship with Pete Babcock and was often complimentary to the Hawks. Take out Pete and insert a man who could get the Sphinx to start talking out of the need to break the silence and suddenly the Hawks are the team he writes the most negatively against. There are certainly several valid criticisms you can make against BK and the Hawks but Ford's are based entirely on his personal dislike against Knight. When Chad Ford ran sportstalk.com he was complimentary of the Hawks. When he sold out to ESPN and became the "Insider" he still was complimentary of the Hawks. It was only the change of the guard to Knight that brought this on.