AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > January > 12
Friday, January 12, 2007
The cupboard looks bare
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In an attempt to keep my negative energy from spreading out of control, I plan on taking the weekend off from cracking the Hawks.
(Y’all are taking care of that just fine without me anyway, ha!)
But what I will do is attempt to once again try and help aim the focus on the fervor a bit higher up the Atlanta Spirit food chain, say at the top. And I mean this in all sincerity, but what makes any of you think that the team with the second lowest payroll in the NBA is supposed to do much more than what the Hawks are doing now?
Seriously, ask yourself why it would make any sense for the Hawks to overachieve at a miraculous level when that simply is not based in any sort of reality. (The worst argument I’ve seen here in the past few days is the analogy between what the Falcons did in firing Jim Mora, who had a team with the highest payroll in the league that couldn’t make the playoffs. An owner has every right to pull the plug on a coach, GM or a janitor when he’s spending like that and not getting positive results). In short, pointing fingers at the coaches and players is the easy way out. But it doesn’t speak to the larger problem.
When a situation is in the tatters the Hawks are in right now, there are a few simple questions that need to be asked:
1) Are the coaches and players turning on each other left and right?
2) Has the team been given all the necessary resources to compete at the highest level?
3) Has the owner (or owners in this case) allowed the GM to provide the coach with all that he needs in the way of personnel to put forth a competitive group on a nightly basis?
Chew on those over the weekend and we’ll get back into the great debate after MLK, Jr. Day!
