AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2006 > November > 17
Friday, November 17, 2006
Hawks, Heat building projects
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Talk about your polar opposites. Could there be two more contrasting styles (of roster building) than the Hawks and Heat? The Hawks are the youngest team in the league (roughly 23 and a half years old) while the Heat, with Shaq, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning, couldn’t get any older.
But it’s also an interesting dilemma both these teams will face from this point on. Miami will have to figure out how to rebuild around a great young talent in Dwyane Wade, while the Hawks have to figure out how to build to the Heat’s current (championship) level around a great young talent in Joe Johnson. I’m not sure which task is more daunting, going from where the Hawks are now to where the Heat is or trying to replenish and maintain a championship roster like the Heat has now?
I’m not sure which I think is more feasible – although I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to play with Wade in a city like Miami, and in Johnson the Hawks have a fabulously selfless leader who is only going to get better over the next three years. Which project would you rather be on? Would you want to have the task of building the Hawks into a playoff contender and, eventually, a title contender? Or would want to have to try and rebuild A.S. (after Shaq)?
As the folks in LA can attest, life after Shaq isn’t paradise. But as you all know, a seven-year playoff drought (and counting) feels like an eternity.
