Atlanta Spirit Group prove they cannot afford team, sell best pick in 2nd round

[Buzzard]

Oh this whining about the 31st pick is making my head ache.

Expect Chilldress to be gone to clear his cap hold and for us to take back the bare minimum back in salary. Expect Joe to be gone and us to take back an underutilized or undercoached veteran.

Here is the skinny IMO. Those two losses above plus dumping the 2nd round pick are cheap business moves for cheap owners. The ASG wants to drive a Toyota; that is exactly what we (Hawks fans) are about to get!

[AHF]

How do you even say that?

10 years, 30 players in the round, equals 300 players.

Even if we just say the upper half of the round, that's 150 players over 10 years.

Your list above... about 15 players or so... is 10% of that.

You didn't read my post. Those are guys available through pick 35 of the second round.

For 2009, that means looking at picks 31-35. That is nothing like what you are talking about. If you included the entire second round or the first half of the round, the list would be MUCH longer but would also be a lower % because you aren't talking about the same range of talent available in the range of pick #31.

Basically, there is little difference between pick #27 and pick #31 except that pick #31 is non-guaranteed and even cheaper to sign. Arguably, we sold the most valuable of our picks.

[NineOhTheRino]

I do think the ASG-hate is beyond ridiculous. These people are losing money left and right and we are pissed because they worked to save $3 million. Give the poor guys (no pun) a break.

[AHF]

I do think the ASG-hate is beyond ridiculous. These people are losing money left and right and we are pissed because they worked to save $3 million. Give the poor guys (no pun) a break.

Give me the team that intended to compete and that saved good money by selling off draft picks.

I'll give you the Phoenix Suns for a team that threw away good, cheap players and ended up paying more money by selling their picks and signing veterans.

[Buzzard]

I do think the ASG-hate is beyond ridiculous. These people are losing money left and right and we are pissed because they worked to save $3 million. Give the poor guys (no pun) a break.

Honestly I wish they had not bought our team now. I am a fan and a selfish one at that. I want owners who will pay out money for FA's and buy draft picks instead of selling them. What a damn joke last night was for every draft fanatic Hawks fan.

I was in a local bar watching the draft surrounded by a bunch of Cavs fans....one minute I am bragging about getting that 31st pick, next I am embarrassed for looking like such a idiot.

Edited June 25, 2010 by Buzzard

[Endy9]

So do you think they will Pap Sy his butt back on the plane to go back to France?

The ASG will save extra money by not flying him to games. They'll make him ride his own bycycle.

[DJlaysitup]

I do think the ASG-hate is beyond ridiculous. These people are losing money left and right and we are pissed because they worked to save $3 million. Give the poor guys (no pun) a break.

Well I'm no ASG fan of course...but you have to give them credit for one thing. They say they wanted Crawford all along but were willing to gamble that he would drop from 24 to 27. By doing that (and getting away with it) they were able to not only get their guy but also get the money to pay his salary. I would think they were lighting up cigars in the "War Room" when it was all over with.

As far as ownership is concerned they basically got their 1st round pick for free (money out of pocket that is).

Edited June 25, 2010 by DJlaysitup

[Packfill]

Evidently, they talked about doing just that.

But, I guess ultimately they thought Crawford might actually find a role for this season.

What does that question have to do with anything? It's like asking, "Why not just sell off Al Horford, Josh Smith, and the whole lot of them, then?"

It's, after all, the same answer... not everything is worth $3 million, and the #2 pick of an entire draft represents greater value than $3 million. It's a business decision. The question is no more relevant than to suggest that the last pick of the draft is worth $3 million.

How do you even say that?

10 years, 30 players in the round, equals 300 players.

Even if we just say the upper half of the round, that's 150 players over 10 years.

Your list above... about 15 players or so... is 10% of that.

There are legitimate concerns. Turning a second-round pick into cash in an off-season where, by most accounts, the most critical moves the team will make will be in free agency???.... that's not one of them.

Actually, AHF was limiting his list to just players picked in the top 5 picks in the second round over a ten year period, so a total of 50 players. So we are talking about a 30% success rate, which is actually much higher than I expected.

If this moves does allow the team to resign JJ than great, if they don't than it is emblamatic of an ownership group that is undercapitalized. They aren't the first such ownership group, but it does raise questions about where the team is headed.

[NineOhTheRino]

Give me the team that intended to compete and that saved good money by selling off draft picks.

I'll give you the Phoenix Suns for a team that threw away good, cheap players and ended up paying more money by selling their picks and signing veterans.

53 regular season wins is my definition of competing. Put it in perceptive. Some suspect the rumored losses are bogus but what if there not? The way I see these guys are performing well considering the current economic difficulties. Last I checked this city this experiencing double-digit unemployment. Some families are going without food and ASG has to go without the #31 pick. Desperate times.....

Edited June 25, 2010 by NineOhTheRino

[Buzzard]

53 regular season wins is my definition of competing. Put it in perceptive. Some suspect the rumored losses or bogus but what if there not? The way I see these guys are performing well considering the current economic difficulties. Last I checked this city this experiencing double-digit unemployment. Some families are going without food and ASG has to go without the #31 pick. Desperate times.....

We are talking about Millionaires here. I guess you bought into Sprees "I have to feed my family speech" as well. Do not use the hungry and poverty stricken in the same light as these guys. It is a pitiful ploy and done in bad taste IMO...

[lethalweapon3]

Can we change the HAWKSQUAWK banner so the bird is clutching the 'S', and change the 'S' to a '$'?

~lw3

[NineOhTheRino]

We are talking about Millionaires here. I guess you bought into Sprees "I have to feed my family speech" as well. Do not use the hungry and poverty stricken in the same light as these guys. It is a pitiful ploy and done in bad taste IMO...

no disrespect intended

what I'm trying to say is the ASG (the rich) has to make adjustment too. It's all relative.

[AHF]

53 regular season wins is my definition of competing. Put it in perceptive. Some suspect the rumored losses are bogus but what if there not? The way I see these guys are performing well considering the current economic difficulties. Last I checked this city this experiencing double-digit unemployment. Some families are going without food and ASG has to go without the #31 pick. Desperate times.....

Sorry. That strategy was an abject failure for the Suns. The fact that they won a bunch of games has nothing to do with whether the strategy was successful or not. They had Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire and some really talented rotation players. That is going to win. The question for the Suns with this is whether they cost themselves both wins and money by selling draft picks and they clearly did.

So I am asking what teams have successfully sold draft picks and saved themselves money and/or improved their team by signing veterans in their place.

[Buzzard]

no disrespect intended

what I'm trying to say is the ASG (the rich) has to make adjustment too. It's all relative.

The ASG could file bankruptcy tomorrow; then go out and have a vintage Cabernet Sauvignon to go with their filet mignon that night. No disrespect intended but it is not relative.

They are proving themselves to be extremely cheap team owners; and after last night, what ever beating they take in the media is 100% deserved.

[EazyRoc]

In regards to selling that draft pick...I remembered something I was always told as a child.

A bird in your hand is worth 2 in a bush.

[NineOhTheRino]

The ASG could file bankruptcy tomorrow; then go out and have a vintage Cabernet Sauvignon to go with their filet mignon that night. No disrespect intended but it is not relative.

They are proving themselves to be extremely cheap team owners; and after last night, what ever beating they take in the media is 100% deserved.

and the average citizen can apply for govt. asst. or unemployment.

Cheap?????

3 million dollars is nothing to a billionaire. But 3 million dollars goes a long way when you're a millionaire losing millions monthly

[AHF]

3 million dollars is nothing to a billionaire. But 3 million dollars goes a long way when you're a millionaire losing millions monthly

It isn't 3M in isolation, though. Now you have to go out and pay a veteran to fill the roster spot that would have been taken by the #31 pick.

If there is a savings here, it is significantly less than $3 million.

[NineOhTheRino]

It isn't 3M in isolation, though. Now you have to go out and pay a veteran to fill the roster spot that would have been taken by the #31 pick.

If there is a savings here, it is significantly less than $3 million.

that still leaves them with 1.7 million. That's enough to pay LD's salary for the year.

[AHF]

that still leaves them with 1.7 million. That's enough to pay LD's salary for the year.

If we are signing a center for a salary in the $2.3M range, that guy has no future and no game. I don't know if that saves you any money in the long run.

[Diesel]

It isn't 3M in isolation, though. Now you have to go out and pay a veteran to fill the roster spot that would have been taken by the #31 pick.

If there is a savings here, it is significantly less than $3 million.

I'm not 100% sure that that was about money. I mean, skipping to 27 and getting the guy you wanted and using the money from the 31st pick is brilliant.

BUT you also have to consider what was available at 31 and would he have even made the roster?

We're not talking about the 20th pick in the draft being sold, we're talking about the 31st pick in a draft that is no so deep. We cry about Alabi and Whitesides but honestly would those guys have even made our rotation? At that point, it becomes a guessing game that we're paying to find the answer to. Maybe nobody was excited about the guys available at 31. What then? Do we just grab a guy because we have the pick?