More Hawks Bashing...Interview with Joe Johnson

[Wurider05]

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/102906/nba_102357.shtml

Man it never lets up!! We have got to make the playoffs this season. We got to!!

[Johnnybravo4]

People in Augusta don't even read the Chronicle.

[TheDude]

it's make you register so if you can copy and paste it...

i was born in augusta but i never lived there. sounds odd i know.

[Final_quest]

I was born their too! Dad was in med school.

[Diesel]

Can you post the article.

[Wurider05]

ATLANTA - Joe Johnson averaged more than 20 points last season. He played on the U.S. team at the world championships. And he can still walk the streets of Atlanta without being bothered.

"I love to go out in the city and have nobody recognize me," he said. "If I could have it like that throughout my career, I would love it."

Such are the perks of playing for the Atlanta Hawks, the city's forlorn NBA team and perhaps the worst franchise in all of pro sports.

Granted, there's stiff competition from teams such as baseball's Tampa Bay Devil Rays and football's Arizona Cardinals. But the Hawks can make a pretty good - or should we say bad - case for themselves in several key categories:

- Seven consecutive losing seasons. The Hawks haven't made the playoffs since 1999, the second-longest drought in the league behind the Golden State Warriors. Two years ago, they managed to win all of 13 games, the worst season in franchise history.

- Apathetic fan base. The Hawks usually rank at or near the bottom of the league in attendance. Last season, only woeful Portland drew fewer fans at home than the Hawks, who often announce turnouts that are in no way reflective of how many people attended.

- Bad luck, bad karma, bad trades. Did you know that Julius Erving once suited up for the Hawks? Dr. J played for the team during the 1972 preseason, but a legal injunction forced him back to the American Basketball Association and the rest is history. The Hawks lost first-round picks David Thompson and Marvin Webster to the ABA in '75 - one year before the upstart league was absorbed by the NBA.

With that sort of track record, it's little wonder hardly anyone is paying attention.

"Nobody likes a losing team," Johnson said bluntly. "The Hawks haven't made the playoffs in who knows how long. It's tough. Nobody likes to really root for a losing team. We've got to develop some respect. You don't get respect just on paper."

Back in the 1980s, the Hawks seemed on the verge of carving out a lasting legacy.

Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins led the team to four consecutive 50-win seasons, attendance soared over 15,000 for the first time and the city went wild for the Hawks during a classic 1988 playoff series against the powerful Boston Celtics.

After a stunning Game 5 win at Boston Garden, Atlanta returned home with a chance to wrap up a spot in the Eastern Conference finals. But the Celtics escaped with a 102-100 win at the Omni, then returned to Boston for another two-point victory in Game 7

Atlanta has collected some promising young players - Johnson, Josh Smith and Marvin Williams - who talk of leading the team back to the playoffs.

"This is the team of the future," Smith said. "We can't look in the past."

Of course, that's wishful thinking. No matter how good these youngsters are, it's going to take a while to escape the dark cloud that has hovered over this franchise for nearly four decades.

ATLANTA HAWKS PREVIEW

A look at the 2006-07 Atlanta Hawks:

LAST SEASON: 26-56, missed playoffs.

POTENTIAL STARTERS: G Speedy Claxton (12.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.8 apg), G Joe Johnson (20.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 6.5 apg), F Josh Smith (11.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.4 apg), F Marvin Williams (8.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 0.8 apg), C Zaza Pachulia (11.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.7 apg).

KEY ADDITIONS: Claxton (free agent, Hornets), C Shelden Williams (draft, No. 5).

KEY LOSSES: F Al Harrington (free agent, Pacers).

COACH: Mike Woodson, third season, 39-125.

OUTLOOK: Just as Claxton was set to return, the Hawks lost Marvin Williams to same injury. He's expected to be out 6-8 weeks. Hawks actually doubled their win total last season. If they do it again they'll win 52 games. Don't count on it.

From the Sunday, October 29, 2006 edition of the Augusta Chronicle

[gsuteke]

Quote:

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People in Augusta don't even read the Chronicle.

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i didn't read that article. i live in Augusta. you can't find anything more than a 3 sentence story on the Hawks in the Chronicle.

[bootsybug]

i think the overall point of the article that the hawks are going to have to blow people away to earn respect. if i were a hawk player, i would take that as a personal challenge. every hawk should play with an uncompromised passion and with unstoppable energy - that will translate to wins - that will transalte to respect.

look at how bad the clippers were for so long. now they are being talked about as contenders and it's like everyone has forgotten their 20+ years of woe. same can happen with us, if we win!

[Diesel]

I just didn't feel like finding the registration for that one.

I don't think that article bashed the Hawks.

[macdaddy]

I think the 4 decade dark cloud is a little bit of an exagerration. Just like almost all franchises in the nba we've had some good runs and some bad ones. We have had a really bad stretch lately but over the last 40 years I don't know that we're that much worse than a lot of other teams.

[TheDude]

4 decades? hello is it me or wasnt there a guy named Dominque Wilkins leading us in the limelight in the 80's? the mutombo/steve smith years?

stupid article from someone probably doesnt even know who we signed in the offseason.