LETTER TO LEVENSON - AND HIS RESPONSE

[AHF]

I think the litigation is really impacting our ownership more than they can publically admit for multiple reasons. I do appreciate Mr. Levenson's response and his honesty with respect to our team's performance. It is nice to know that his expectations are not being met right now, either.

[DJlaysitup]

I won't re-copy your whole post newkid (since it's not far up the thread) - but that's an excellent analysis of ways to do it right and ways to do it wrong.

[Diesel]

I think it's called saving face.

Do you honestly believe that an owner is going to go out and say: Man, this coach sucks, but we can't do much about it right now because our ass is in a sling?

Of course not. Whenever you see owners words in the paper, they are there to make the customer feel better. That's all.

"Everybody Lies".

[Johnnybravo4]

I honestly don't know how any of these men made any money. They must have inherited it. There is no way in hell a business man could look at this situation and not immediately make changes. 3 years of sucking is not a knee jerk reaction.

[Diesel]

To be short and honest here:

Baseball, Football is far different than Basketball.

IN Baseball, there's the luxury of a farm system and there are several roster spots.

In football, there are several roster spots and several positions that do not make or break a team.

In basketball... There are only 5 main positions and 7 bench spots. Somewhere in that group of 12, there has to be one or two guys that are very good at what they do.

So to build a champion in basketball, a team has to be good and lucky (if there is such a thing). The other thing is to build a championship type team, a team has to be willing to spend some money. It takes money to get those good players.

Well, we're not that. We're not in a position to spend big money because the courts said we can't. So for now, it's just Joe and we hope that another one of our young players develop.

[Diesel]

Business men, look and see "What's profitable".

In this case, It's profitable to wait. It doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money if there's a great possibility you can lose it all.

I know the owners are fans, but the real deal is that at the end of the day... It's strickly business that guides what this team will do.

[newkid]

Diesel, I respect your perspectives and value your insight. I also take Mr. Levenson at his word when he says the ownership fiasco hasn't been - and isn't - a deterent to the various moves they've made and the players they've identified for acquisition. Having accepted that, there's obviously a problem in the 'vision', the players acquired to bring that vision to fruition, and/or the coaching required to bring those players to a performance level required to give life to that vision. I usually try and stay away from providing diagnoses, but somewhere within the above styled triangle there's a problem, and I dare say a fairly dreadful problem.

I accept fully that there are differences the tools available to the 'builders' as they try and build a winner in the 3 sports. Your point is....

[DJlaysitup]

I also can't help but think that the owners are fairly happy having a hot hockey team - it's more of a glamour sport with the white upper middle class anyway (they are richer than umc of course). They can probably live with the Thrashers being good and the Hawks being bad. I wish we had an owner who had a passion for basketball (Lord B??)

I also wish we had an owner that only owned the Hawks.

...and I realize that "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride".

[TexasPete]

JB, you are right on. Most of these guys are not businessmen...they are lawyers. There is a big difference in a lawyer and a true businessman. Big difference. I think Gearon was a businessman and Belkin is one. But they run this team like a bunch of turkeys.

I wouldn't let these guys sell lemonade in my neighborhood. Damned most incompetant people I have seen in awhile. How do these guys justify another dead last NBA team? You say were not dead last? Don't worry cause its coming.

The Spirit to BK to Woody combo is one rotten trifecta.

BTW, how does a British guy with no basketball experience end up the President? It makes you almost want to cry...or laugh, not sure which.

[DJlaysitup]

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JB, you are right on. Most of these guys are not businessmen...they are lawyers. There is a big difference in a lawyer and a true businessman. Big difference...

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Agree T-P...I hate to generalize, but Lawyers tend to be "rule of law" types. The best buisnessmen are ruthlessly competitive.

The danger for lawyers going up against businessmen is that (in a contract situation like we are stuck with now), the lawyers think "I'm a lawyer...I can handle this and make sure it's a fair deal"...the businessman doesn't give a damn about "fair deals" he has a plan to win AND hires the BEST lawyers.

[AHF]

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JB, you are right on. Most of these guys are not businessmen...they are lawyers. There is a big difference in a lawyer and a true businessman. Big difference...

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Agree T-P...I hate to generalize, but Lawyers tend to be "rule of law" types. The best buisnessmen are ruthlessly competitive.

The danger for lawyers going up against businessmen is that (in a contract situation like we are stuck with now), the lawyers think "I'm a lawyer...I can handle this and make sure it's a fair deal"...the businessman doesn't give a damn about "fair deals" he has a plan to win AND hires the BEST lawyers.

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(1) Law is a very competitive business.

(2) The ASG did hire the firm that is considered one of the best in the country (King & Spaulding) and the best in the southeast. I think they messed this deal up but the assertion that somehow the ASG were too passive because they are lawyers just doesn't hold water, IMO.

(3) Look at our principal owners:

Levenson, Foremen & Peskowitz - businessmen in publishing and business information arena

Gearon - businessman in telecommunications

Seydel - lawyer

Only one makes his fortune as a lawyer.

[DJlaysitup]

Your point is well taken AHF. I was thinking more "theoretically" and admit that I didn't really know the background of the ASG whizz kids.

[Diesel]

Newkid,

I'm not argumentative here, but here's my basis:

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The judge ordered that the other owners

can't "initiate the purchase, sale, trade or negotiation of any NBA or NHL player contract ... excluding contracts involving present or future draft picks and contracts for any other player with a contract duration of one year or less."

The ruling would appear to put the Hawks and Thrashers at a significant competitive disadvantage in their ability to attract free agents.

Belkin, however, said he was "extremely confident in our ability to get the players we need."

The judge also ordered the owners to post an appeal bond of $11.4 million to protect Belkin against any decrease in the value of the franchises during the appeal. Belkin requested a much larger bond of up to $450 million.

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As far as our owners... this is one response:

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Atlanta-based Michael Gearon Jr. of the Atlanta Spirit ownership group applauded the ruling.

"This is exactly what we always expected," Gearon told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "It's hard for people who are looking at it from outside to understand all that has happened, but we expected to get a stay and are more confident than ever we will win on appeal."

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From that response, it leads me to believe that our owners will always see the cup half full...

[DJlaysitup]

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...As far as our owners... this is one response:

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Atlanta-based Michael Gearon Jr. of the Atlanta Spirit ownership group applauded the ruling.

"This is exactly what we always expected," Gearon told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "It's hard for people who are looking at it from outside to understand all that has happened, but we expected to get a stay and are more confident than ever we will win on appeal."

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From that response, it leads me to believe that our owners will always see the cup half full...

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Well, in all honesty I don't think they could really put out a press release saying "Oh lord...we are seriously screwed"

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Just one question to the board:

Right now, we're sitting at 9 - 20. What would the Hawks record be if no more than 1 out of our top 7 players were hurt?

Our top 7 players, in no particular order, are:

JJ

Chill

Speedy

Lue

Smoove

Marvin

ZaZa

. . . with Shelden being the only guy outside of that group gathering 15 - 20 minutes a game.

Salim and Lorenzen should be the other 2 guys complimenting the top 7. But they should never play more than 10 minutes a game, unless they're playing real well.

Interesting facts here. Here is our record for each of our top 7 players, when he doesn't play:

ZaZa ( 2 games ): 1 - 1

Marvin ( 17 games ): 8 - 9

Childress ( 19 games ): 5 - 14

Speedy ( 8 games ): 2 - 6

JJ ( 4 games ): 1 - 3

Lue ( 7 games ): 0 - 7

Smoove ( 4 games ): 0 - 4

Total games missed by at least one of the top 7 players: ( 61 games )

When you look at these numbers at first glance, two things should stand out.

(1) When one of the Hawks guards are out, it's a loss more than 75% of the time. Why? Because we're forced to give guys like Ivey, Salim and Bozeman ( formerly ) extended minutes. Ivey is an offensive liability and Salim is a defensive liability, who may even be an offensive liability when he's not on. Boze could play decent defense at times, but he was horrible offensively. This team could fully function with Speedy, Lue, JJ, and at times, Childress playing the guard spots. But when one of those guys are out, it hurts the entire team.

(2) The team at least survived without Marvin in the lineup. That's true. But that was in large part of JJ's ability to play the 3 at times. And he was only able to effectively play the 3, when Speedy and Lue was healthy, giving us a viable offensive threat at the 2 and the 3, with Speedy at the point. The interchangeable parts we have with our 6 - 7 to 6 - 9 guys, can enable us to survive with one of those guys out of the lineup. But not when we have more than one of those guys out, or playing hurt.

With Marvin in the lineup, there wouldn't be a dramatic dropoff in talent when a guy like Chill or Smoove came out of the game. He's not as good as those guys yet, but the dropoff wouldn't be significant. Think of it like the Clippers subbing in Shawn Livingston for Sam Cassell. Sam is the better player, but subbing Shawn for him doesn't cripple your team, because he can do some things better than Sam.

But when we were without Chill and Marvin, and Smoove and/or JJ needed rest or were in foul trouble, our options were very limited. We either had to play Salim extended minutes, or even put a stiff like Freije out on the floor.

One more thing to note about this team. Even when the Hawks win, it has been a struggle most of the time. And we struggle to win, because we have been forced to play guys like Lorenzen, Ivey, and Salim way more than we should be playing them, when a guy is injured.

Think of the Hawks as a very fragile ecosystem, that can be disrupted with one slight change. Complain about the coaching if you want. But fully understand that injuries to our key guys, is the #1 reason why we are where we are right now.

Record with the top 7 fully healthy: somewhere between 15 - 14 . . and 13 - 16.

[TexasPete]

The problem goes much deeper than the injuries. I have suffered in my seats for too many blown 4th quarter leads and last second losses. Those weren't injury driven, those were poor execution driven. Those were guys standing around watching...no passing, cutting, or attacking the rim. Those were settling for long jumpers as the shot clock went down. Those were watching our opponents do the things we should have been doing...attacking the hole, getting to the line.

The injuries would be more relevant had we not blown large leads and pissed away game after game late.

No injuries...11-18.

[exodus]

Don't forget that the Hawks center play has absolutely sucked on both ends and they have been healthy at that position. In fact they have played noticably better when Zaza and BLo have been on the bench and Shelden has been playing center.

Zaza is shooting 46% on the season which is horrible for a center, he can't play D and turns it over way to much. And BLO has been bad beyond words.

[gutz]

I say when Smoove comes back we need to have this starting lineup play the most minutes period!

Speedy/Lue

JJ

Marvin or Chill

Smooove

Shelden

I don't care if its undersized. Its obvious Shelden is leaps and bounds better than Zaza both offensively and defensively especially the defense. I think with more touches Shelden can be a force offensively as well. This way we have to capable shot blockers in Shelden and SMoove as well on defense. Zaza is just horrible to me and is backup Center at best in this league. Shelden can do everything better than Zaza right now. Name one thing Zaza can do better?

[Johnnybravo4]

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JB, you are right on. Most of these guys are not businessmen...they are lawyers. There is a big difference in a lawyer and a true businessman. Big difference. I think Gearon was a businessman and Belkin is one. But they run this team like a bunch of turkeys.

I wouldn't let these guys sell lemonade in my neighborhood. Damned most incompetant people I have seen in awhile. How do these guys justify another dead last NBA team? You say were not dead last? Don't worry cause its coming.

The Spirit to BK to Woody combo is one rotten trifecta.

BTW, how does a British guy with no basketball experience end up the President? It makes you almost want to cry...or laugh, not sure which.

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Whoa slow down, I am one of those "Lawyers". But I do think that it is significant that the owners of the Hawks still "work" for a living. I think they see the Hawks as more of a recruitment tool for clients more than as an actual investment that they are trying to grow. What I wouldn't give for a Mark Cuban like, billionare/fan to own this team.

If I hit the Mega Millions tonite I will buy controlling interest...lol

[DJlaysitup]

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...If I hit the Mega Millions tonite I will buy controlling interest...lol

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We'll say a prayer for you to win JB...even though it will mean more minutes for Salim