AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 05
Monday, February 5, 2007
All hail the “Ticket Stub”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’ve read many times about Hawks guard Tyronn Lue and how vital he is to his team’s success, both on the court and in the locker room.
Never was that more obvious than Sunday afternoon at Continental Airlines Arena, where a one-legged Lue (his left hamstring is being held together by a shred of cartilage) came off the bench cold and delivered the Hawks’ first win at the Meadowlands since the Dominique Wilkins era (okay, it was just a six-year drought, but you get the point).
It was a fine finish for a guy who’s been under immense internal pressure ever since he came to the Hawks overt two years ago in a trade. And while no one has publicly stated that there is pressure on Lue to deliver, there is. As the only seasoned point guard on the roster, prior to Speedy Claxton’s arrival, Lue has had the unenviable task of taking the heat every time someone mentions Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Marcus Williams or any of the other point guards the hawks could have had.
All he’s done is rescue the Hawks when they needed it time and time again. During his first half season with the Hawks, after Antoine Walker was traded and Al Harrington went down late in the season with injuries, it was Lue that carried them down the stretch. It was Lue that saved them from infamy and helped them to late wins to keep the Hawks from an 11-win season (I know, 13 wins isn’t exactly the promised land but it’s better than 11).
He’s played every role asked of him, from super sub to starter to Robin to Joe Johnson’s Batman, and never complained (despite the fact that he’s in the second year of three-year deal that underpays him by at least $1 million per year. He ought to get an extra million for keeping the Hawks’ locker room in one piece during this age of ownership feuds and constant NDBL additions and subtractions).
I know it’s easy to knock the guy for what he can’t do - and Lue’s not as young, athletic or dynamic as any of those hotshots mentioned above. But he’s a steadying force on a team in desperate need of one (and perhaps a few others). And to top it off, he’s a guy who does it because it’s the professional thing to do and the right thing to do, not for any other reason. There are few players in professional sports without any ulterior motives (playing for a fat new contract, stats, status, etc). Lue is one of them. He has already been to the top, winning back-to-back titles with the Lakers early in his career. He’s played with the best (Shaq, Kobe and an aged Jordan in Washington), done it all and seen it all.
Now he’s on a team where he’s being asked to mentor young players while also helping to save a franchise from the depths of its own self-inflicted misery (thanks to an ownership feud that simply won’t go away). It’s a tough job, one any of us would do for all the money Lue makes. But it’s one few veterans in demand elsewhere (trust me when I tell you that there are several teams with designs on chasing NBA titles that have aggressively pursued Lue in trade talks but to no avail) would do if they didn’t embrace such a challenge.
Like him or not (and I hear from plenty of people who don’t think Lue is good enough and think he’s a washed up veteran who doesn’t measure up), it’s hard not to appreciate what Lue is doing. And when you factor in his personality, he’s easily the most hilarious person I’ve ever met and the best locker room comedian of his generation, it’s hard not to root for the self-proclaimed “Show.”
(One of his best jokes/stories this season was when he explained to anyone that would listen how he and his good friend Kevin Garnett came by their nicknames. Garnett, he said, is known as the “Big Ticket.” Lue claims he’s the “Ticket Stub.” And as he said, “people show up with the ticket but go home with the stub.”)
Now if he was only 6-3, 23 or 24, healthy and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound …
