State of Hawks fans...........................

Vol4ever · April 4, 2007

well I am old school and probably will get highly citicized by you young guns.

But I have followed this franchise since 1980 (some of you weren't even born then) and have watched the franchise start down the path of destruction. When Ted Turner owned the team, we had a decent GM and he could make trades and we had good years.

Now, I think the fans are really getting short changed with the current organization from top to bottom. They decided to totally destroy the team and start over, it simply has not worked. At this point the Hornets and Bobcats are better teams. The Hawks IMO have no direction and WHEN is the last time the Hawks made a decent trade to upgrade the roster without giving a player away in a trade (to get cap space to rebuild"?

IMO this team needs new ownership and basketball staff. The basketball staff obviously does not know what they are doing. The team will not spend the cap space (did I say CHEAP) to improve the team.

In short, the Fans are getting screwed buy this organization!

Packfill · April 4, 2007

I agree. This franchise would be more successful with better owners, management and coaching.

Sothron · April 4, 2007

I totally agree. I wish Ted Turner would buy back the Hawks and Braves (and own the Thrash for the time time) and spend money to get them back where they used to be.

TexasPete · April 4, 2007

I don't know how anyone could criticize you because you are 100% correct. If our GM had made even one or two better picks our "rebuilding" would be a thing of the past. Instead, we have nothing but question marks. The last straw was the picking of Shelden Williams. If last years draft were held today it is entirely possible that Shelden would not even be a 1st round pick. Amazing. And we took him top 5! And promised him when we didn't even need to...

The ASG just don't have it when it comes to basketball. I doubt they get hockey either but they have a GM on the hockey side that is clearly better than the basketball GM. Because these owners are so clueless they have to have great people GM'ing and coaching and BK and Woody are simply terrible. BK assembles a certain kind of player and Woody is a coach who runs the opposite system to make the picks effective. And BK's picks have been bad when you consider WHERE we draft every year.

And the final straw is we very well may be shut out of this draft entirely. We essentially got no 1st round pick last year...and we have the very real possibility of having no picks again this year. We have 4 back-up PG's on the roster...for $13M. Why did we get Anthony Johnson again?

Without a ping pong ball miracle the future of this team is dark. I love how Bruce Levenson spins all of their "accomplishments" in the paper. When you take the time to analyze what Bruce actually said, there is nothing there. He talks about building relations with other teams. Whoopee. He talks about making the arena better (where?). Whoopee. Bruce talks about the solid young core but we all know the core should be a ton better.

This ownership group could not be worse. And if their past is any indication of the future all Hawks fans need to run for shelter. The least they can do is stop making excuses for their GM and coach and get some quality people in here. What they really should do is put the team on the market if they win the lawsuit...and give us few Hawks fans a better ownership group. These guys are just incompetant.

KB21 · April 4, 2007

I disagree. The foundation for success is in place. The Hawks have the first legitimate star player to build around since they had Dominique Wilkins in Joe Johnson. BTW, Joe Johnson was acquired in a trade that didn't send any players anywhere that was a salary dump. The Hawks traded two first round picks and a bit player for Joe Johnson.

Along with Joe Johnson, the Hawks have a budding star in Josh Smith. Josh Smith's game has really taken off this year, and over his past 15 games, he's averaging almost 21 points and 10 rebounds per game. He's already getting some publicity as a potential All NBA Defensive Team member.

Marvin Williams is another young player who is has the ability to be a star and has shown some signs of it this season. The combo of Marvin and Josh may be the best up and coming young forward tandem in the NBA.

Those three players form a foundation that the Hawks haven't had since they had a young Dominique Wilkins, Doc Rivers, and Kevin Willis.

I think fans are jaded on the ownership right now, and to me, that's a foolish stance to take. Steve Belkin is the guy that has caused the problems in the ownership. Michael Gearon Jr. and Bruce Levenson are terrific owners. If it weren't for them, the Joe Johnson trade would have never been pushed through. Steve Belkin is the one that blocked that because he wanted to run the team on the cheap and turn a profit off them. I think the fans should be careful when thinking the team needs knew ownership. You could get Steve Belkin, who would likely try to trade off Joe Johnson and Josh Smith before he gets his big pay day and try to run the team on the cheap at all times. He would also bring in the definition of incompetent in ML Carr and Jan Volk, the two people who would be put into place as GM and President if Belkin is to take over.

I don't think the fans are being screwed. I think the fans had and continue to have unrealistic expectations considering the shape the franchise was in when this new ownership group and new management team took over.

Packfill · April 4, 2007

Quote:

I disagree. The foundation for success is in place. The Hawks have the first legitimate star player to build around since they had Dominique Wilkins in Joe Johnson. BTW, Joe Johnson was acquired in a trade that didn't send any players anywhere that was a salary dump. The Hawks traded two first round picks and a bit player for Joe Johnson.

Along with Joe Johnson, the Hawks have a budding star in Josh Smith. Josh Smith's game has really taken off this year, and over his past 15 games, he's averaging almost 21 points and 10 rebounds per game. He's already getting some publicity as a potential All NBA Defensive Team member.

Marvin Williams is another young player who is has the ability to be a star and has shown some signs of it this season. The combo of Marvin and Josh may be the best up and coming young forward tandem in the NBA.

Those three players form a foundation that the Hawks haven't had since they had a young Dominique Wilkins, Doc Rivers, and Kevin Willis.

I think fans are jaded on the ownership right now, and to me, that's a foolish stance to take. Steve Belkin is the guy that has caused the problems in the ownership. Michael Gearon Jr. and Bruce Levenson are terrific owners. If it weren't for them, the Joe Johnson trade would have never been pushed through. Steve Belkin is the one that blocked that because he wanted to run the team on the cheap and turn a profit off them. I think the fans should be careful when thinking the team needs knew ownership. You could get Steve Belkin, who would likely try to trade off Joe Johnson and Josh Smith before he gets his big pay day and try to run the team on the cheap at all times. He would also bring in the definition of incompetent in ML Carr and Jan Volk, the two people who would be put into place as GM and President if Belkin is to take over.

I don't think the fans are being screwed. I think the fans had and continue to have unrealistic expectations considering the shape the franchise was in when this new ownership group and new management team took over.

Would this team really be worse off if it had never traded for JJ? Let's say they never trade for JJ and instead of drafting Marvin and Sheldon they draft Paul and Roy. In that case they Hawks have argueably the best young backcourt in the NBA along with a collection of promising forwards (Smoove, Chill and Diaw). Heck, with the picks the Hawks gave up they could have drafted Rondo last year and potentially a Hibbert, Conley, Brewer or Green this year.

And for the record, I am happy to have JJ around, but lets make that trade out to be something it is not.

Vol4ever · April 4, 2007

Quote:

I disagree. The foundation for success is in place. The Hawks have the first legitimate star player to build around since they had Dominique Wilkins in Joe Johnson. BTW, Joe Johnson was acquired in a trade that didn't send any players anywhere that was a salary dump. The Hawks traded two first round picks and a bit player for Joe Johnson.

Along with Joe Johnson, the Hawks have a budding star in Josh Smith. Josh Smith's game has really taken off this year, and over his past 15 games, he's averaging almost 21 points and 10 rebounds per game. He's already getting some publicity as a potential All NBA Defensive Team member.

Marvin Williams is another young player who is has the ability to be a star and has shown some signs of it this season. The combo of Marvin and Josh may be the best up and coming young forward tandem in the NBA.

Those three players form a foundation that the Hawks haven't had since they had a young Dominique Wilkins, Doc Rivers, and Kevin Willis.

I think fans are jaded on the ownership right now, and to me, that's a foolish stance to take. Steve Belkin is the guy that has caused the problems in the ownership. Michael Gearon Jr. and Bruce Levenson are terrific owners. If it weren't for them, the Joe Johnson trade would have never been pushed through. Steve Belkin is the one that blocked that because he wanted to run the team on the cheap and turn a profit off them. I think the fans should be careful when thinking the team needs knew ownership. You could get Steve Belkin, who would likely try to trade off Joe Johnson and Josh Smith before he gets his big pay day and try to run the team on the cheap at all times. He would also bring in the definition of incompetent in ML Carr and Jan Volk, the two people who would be put into place as GM and President if Belkin is to take over.

I don't think the fans are being screwed. I think the fans had and continue to have unrealistic expectations considering the shape the franchise was in when this new ownership group and new management team took over.

Well I will submit that while JJ is a very good player he is not a franchise player like Nique, Bird, Magic, Lebron. He is a second tier star. Your really reaching out there to defend this organization. How can you defend the point guards brought into this organization? I love marvin Williams but he has not gotten it done, maybe it is a youth thing, or maybe it is coaching, or maybe he is just a star caliber player BUT I would take Chris Paul 101 times out of 100 if we could do it over again. BK is completely incompetent and there are people in this league that just smile when the happenings of the Hawks franchise is discussed.

Time to get a grip KB. If you end up running your medical practice like the hawks have been run you will be on the street.

Fans want it today and will not wait 5 years, just go to Phillips and watch.

The Hawks will not be a playoff team 2 years from now if they stay on the same path.

KB21 · April 4, 2007

That's exactly why fans don't run basketball teams and never will. They want nothing but instant gratification. I don't need to get a grip. I have a grip on the situation. The fans who want it right now are the ones that don't have a grip on the situation. It's not possible to take a team, have 100% of the roster turned over, and win immediately. It's never happened, and it never will happen. That's what some of you think should have happened here. It's either that or you believe the Hawks should have stayed the course with overpaid, underachieving players like Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Glen Robinson, and Theo Ratliff.

It's also silly to think that we would be in the playoffs if we had drafted Chris Paul. Chris Paul hasn't made New Orleans a playoff team yet. Plus, he wouldn't have improved this team defensively, and before the Hawks make that playoff push, they have to become a consistent defensive team.

KB21 · April 4, 2007