TAKE A BOW BILLY KNIGHT

[NJHAWK]

http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/200...rk_bradley_blog

I agree with this 100%

[NowYouKnow]

Yes, thank you Billy Knight for spending three top five picks on a career sixth man, a solid but not spectacular starter instead of a future hall of famer and a guy who will be the LA Sparks' biggest cheerleader once his contract is up. If Billy Knight had done anything right prior to drafting Horford this franchise would be serious contenders in the East, not trying to piece together a contender thanks to a GM who has half an idea of what he's doing.

[NineOhTheRino]

I'll say it again. Billy K. was a darn good GM that lacked the communication skills to deal with the whiny ATL media. The man did a helluva job sewing this thing together.

And big props to Mark B. for keeping it real!

[Plainview1981]

Yes, thank you Billy Knight for spending three top five picks on a career sixth man, a solid but not spectacular starter instead of a future hall of famer and a guy who will be the LA Sparks' biggest cheerleader once his contract is up. If Billy Knight had done anything right prior to drafting Horford this franchise would be serious contenders in the East, not trying to piece together a contender thanks to a GM who has half an idea of what he's doing.

I agree. This teams run is going to end like Memphis did. Billy blew most of the top picks because he had little ability to evaluate talent. All those lotto picks and none are even sniffing an all star appearance. Yeah, great job Billy.

[Plainview1981]

I'll say it again. Billy K. was a darn good GM that lacked the communication skills to deal with the whiny ATL media. The man did a helluva job sewing this thing together.

And big props to Mark B. for keeping it real!

Shelden Williams over Brandon Roy. Good job Billy!

Marvin "The Bust" Williams over Chris Paul. Good job Billy!

Drafted a role player with the 6th pick. Good job Billy!

You really know how to build a championship team.

Dump talent for nothing and blow almost every single draft pick.. Yeah, nobody else could have did what bnilly did. lol

You have to have EXTREMELY low expectations if you approve of what Billy did. He made sure this team has little long term potential for greatness.

Edited July 8, 2009 by Hotlanta1981

[drzachary]

Shelden Williams over Brandon Roy. Good job Billy!

Marvin "The Bust" Williams over Chris Paul. Good job Billy!

Drafted a role player with the 6th pick. Good job Billy!

You really know how to build a championship team.

Dump talent for nothing and blow almost every single draft pick.. Yeah, nobody else could have did what bnilly did. lol

You have to have EXTREMELY low expectations if you approve of what Billy did. He made sure this team has little long term potential for greatness.

"The Bust" ?? That's pretty excessive.

[NineOhTheRino]

Shelden Williams over Brandon Roy. Good job Billy!

Marvin "The Bust" Williams over Chris Paul. Good job Billy!

Drafted a role player with the 6th pick. Good job Billy!

You really know how to build a championship team.

The man made some bad picks but give me a GM that hasn't. He's not the GOAT but he's not as bad as the local media makes him out to be.

Hard to defend the Shelly Shell pick but I can understand to a degree. The Hawks already had JJ and really needed something down low. Good lord the man is known as "The Landlord"! How do you get the nickname "The Landlord" and not be a powerful beast?

At the time I would venture to say that %70 of fans (me included) were on board with taking Marv over CP3 so I can't kill him too much for that.

[SmooveTheFuture]

Chris Paul , Deron Williams Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay enuff said.

[NineOhTheRino]

Chris Paul , Deron Williams Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay enuff said.

Billy definitely got caught up with drafting for need over talent in the cases of Roy and Gay.

[buckeye242424]

I find it hard to blame/praise a man for draft picks. It's so difficult to determine what type of pro a player may be, unless it's an obvious choice at number one. Even so, how many are obvious? For example, Orlando went back and forth on Dwight Howard or Emaka Okafor. I think we all know they made the right decision, but at that point in time, we're they certain?

The draft is a crapshoot. We can't call him a complete idiot for passing on CP3? Who knew he would turn out AS GOOD as he did? On the flip side, at the time, we were ridiculed for taking Smoove at 16 - awful pick correct (see Jay Bilas) - but he turned out to be a cornerstone of this turnaround.

[Plainview1981]

The man made some bad picks but give me a GM that hasn't. He's not the GOAT but he's not as bad as the local media makes him out to be.

He crippled this teams long term future. When the run ends for this Hawks team, you will look back on it and see it. He made horrific mistakes. I fail to see how somebody could look at Shelden Williams and see a top 5 pick. He was slow, undersized, and under talented.

Hard to defend the Shelly Shell pick but I can understand to a degree. The Hawks already had JJ and really needed something down low. Good lord the man is known as "The Landlord"! How do you get the nickname "The Landlord" and not be a powerful beast?

When I look at Shelden Williams I ask... Where is the talent? He doesn't have much of it.

At the time I would venture to say that %70 of fans (me included) were on board with taking Marv over CP3 so I can't kill him too much for that.

It doesn't matter. Were not paid to do the best research and were not paid to make the correct choices for this franchise. That was Billy's job and he failed at it.

[NineOhTheRino]

I find it hard to blame/praise a man for draft picks. It's so difficult to determine what type of pro a player may be, unless it's an obvious choice at number one. Even so, how many are obvious? For example, Orlando went back and forth on Dwight Howard or Emaka Okafor. I think we all know they made the right decision, but at that point in time, we're they certain?

The draft is a crapshoot. We can't call him a complete idiot for passing on CP3? Who knew he would turn out AS GOOD as he did? On the flip side, at the time, we were ridiculed for taking Smoove at 16 - awful pick correct (see Jay Bilas) - but he turned out to be a cornerstone of this turnaround.

Nicely said. I'm sure the Trailblazers are kicking themselves for choosing Oden over Durant but at the time it was considered a no-brainer.

[Plainview1981]

I find it hard to blame/praise a man for draft picks. It's so difficult to determine what type of pro a player may be, unless it's an obvious choice at number one. Even so, how many are obvious? For example, Orlando went back and forth on Dwight Howard or Emaka Okafor. I think we all know they made the right decision, but at that point in time, we're they certain?

The draft is a crapshoot. We can't call him a complete idiot for passing on CP3? Who knew he would turn out AS GOOD as he did? On the flip side, at the time, we were ridiculed for taking Smoove at 16 - awful pick correct (see Jay Bilas) - but he turned out to be a cornerstone of this turnaround.

Shelden is a SLOB. He doesn't resemble anything of a quality player and never did the moment he walked onto the court.

The facts are that Billy had lots of high picks and not even one of them are all star players. That includes Josh Smith.

[NineOhTheRino]

Shelden is a SLOB. He doesn't resemble anything of a quality player and never did the moment he walked onto the court.

The facts are that Billy had lots of high picks and not even one of them are all star players. That includes Josh Smith.

I can see Marv, Al, and Smoove making the All Star team in the near future. The talent is here. For a while now it's been a matter of our coach putting these guys in a position to win.

[exodus]

Four consecutive top 6 picks with only two role players to show for it. Great job.

Years of high second rounders with nothing to show for it. Great job.

Free agent aquisitions like Blow Wright and Speedy. Great job.

Hiring Woody as a coach. Great job.

[exodus]

I can see Marv, Al, and Smoove making the All Star team in the near future. The talent is here. For a while now it's been a matter of our coach putting these guys in a position to win.

Smith might have a chance. Al and Marvin don't.

[Packfill]

The man made some bad picks but give me a GM that hasn't. He's not the GOAT but he's not as bad as the local media makes him out to be.

Hard to defend the Shelly Shell pick but I can understand to a degree. The Hawks already had JJ and really needed something down low. Good lord the man is known as "The Landlord"! How do you get the nickname "The Landlord" and not be a powerful beast?

At the time I would venture to say that %70 of fans (me included) were on board with taking Marv over CP3 so I can't kill him too much for that.

Let's be honest, it is hard to do less then what Billy Knight did on a collective basis with 3 top 6 picks. His only saving grace is Horford, who he had to pick after blowing the Shelden pick the year before.

BK only gets a pass if the current group continues to make progress. If the team plateaus at 45-50 win range then really there is nothing to get too excited about. Hopefully, the Hawks prove BK right this year.

[Plainview1981]

I can see Marv, Al, and Smoove making the All Star team in the near future. The talent is here. For a while now it's been a matter of our coach putting these guys in a position to win.

How is Al going to make the all star game? He's not even that good. 10/10 is not all star production. His offensive game is flat out bad. How is a 13PPG 5RPG SF going to make an all star team? The Hawks went 13-7 without him last year and they likely would have lost most of the game in than span if he had played when you consider the teams they lost to. In fact, Marvin Williams is an expendable player all together.

[NowYouKnow]

Billy Knight thought that Childress was a better pick than Luol Deng and Andre Iguodala.

Billy Knight thought Chris Paul was too small and picked Marvin, who isn't a bad player or a bust, when the Hawks most glaring needs were at Center and Point Guard. Picking Marvin wasn't a reach because everyone had him in the top two, but when you need a point guard and there is a good one there YOU TAKE HIM.

Billy Knight passed on Brandon Roy to draft Shelden Williams a player that was a fringe lottery pick on just about everybody else's draft board.

Billy Knight panicked and gave a four year contract to an injury prone career back-up named Craig Claxton.

Billy Knight got lucky that his terrible drafting landed him back in the lottery and he ended up in the top three and drafted the clear cut third best player in the draft in Horford.

His drafting decisions were from flawed in logic to just terrible decision making. His free agent signings, outside of Joe, were either average or terrible.

Billy Knight did a piss poor job as GM of the Hawks. Yes, he did get things right. When you're given so many opportunities to draft in the lottery you're bound to get it right eventually...unless you are the Clippers. Whoop de doo, we aren't the Clippers.

Edited July 8, 2009 by NowYouKnow

[MaceCase]

Al has the best chance to make the Allstar game out of all three. Not because of his talent but because of the lack of talent overall at the center position in the conference...league for that matter.