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Thursday, August 11, 2005
The end is near in Belkin saga
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
At 3:55 p.m. Thursday, the Atlanta Hawks stopped frowning. The e-mail detailing David Stern’s support of the other eight owners and his rejection of one Steve Belkin reached team officials just as the press conference to introduce Zaza Pachulia — who’ll forever be known as the free agent who isn’t Joe Johnson — was concluding. Just like that, there appeared an exit strategy from the abyss of this wretched week.
Assuming the Boston judge was telling the truth about requiring Stern’s prior approval to oust an NBA governor, the end of Belkin’s short, capricious ownership is at hand. First he gets defrocked, and then he gets bought out. And then the Hawks make the deal for Joe Johnson and everybody lives, if not quite happily ever after, then at least with one fewer megalomaniac to accommodate.
We may never know what impelled Belkin to do what he did. A guy waits 20 years to buy into the NBA and then, 16 months in, he all but begs to be bought out? Does he need cash that badly? Did he decide that holding 30 percent of the Hawks didn’t count as owning a real team? Is he the one man left in this world who thinks Boris Diaw is a real asset?
Billy Knight didn’t shake Belkin’s hand for a reason. “You have to have principles,� Knight said, and by blocking the trade Belkin had essentially announced that he knows the NBA better than his general manager. Asked if he could work for Belkin from here on, Knight said: “If he’s a minority owner, sure. If he’s the sole owner, no.�
The latter won’t happen, thank goodness. Haggling over the price of Belkin’s buyout has already begun. (What, you expected the ol’ trade-blocker to take the first offer?) He’ll be gone within a month, not that he was ever really here in Atlanta. But what of those few locals who still, boats against the current, care about the Hawks? Will this latest embarrassment convince them that the Hawks aren’t worth caring about?
“I’m trying to get players,� Knight said. “I don’t worry about things I can’t control. I don’t sit around pining away about things like that.�
And that’s exactly what he should say. The only thing that will put a 13-69 record and Belkin of Boston behind the Hawks is enough good players and enough early wins to make people believe that, recent events notwithstanding, this franchise can walk and chew gum at the same time. Johnson will help. Marvin Williams will help. Salim Stoudamire will help. Heck, even Zaza from (the other) Georgia will help. In this as in everything else, Belkin got it wrong. Knight knows his business. Knight has taken a bad old team and is replacing it with a shiny new one.
Had the Johnson deal gone through the first time, there would be more enthusiasm about the Hawks than there has been since Dikembe Mutombo arrived in the summer of 1996. We can quibble about giving Phoenix two first-round picks and spending $70 million for the Suns’ fourth-best player, but that’s just quibbling. The Hawks were desperate for a big-name free agent, and doggone if Knight hadn’t gone and gotten one. And then Belkin said no, and we all started saying, “See? Same old Hawks.�
Only they aren’t. Once Belkin departs and Johnson arrives, you’ll see a franchise with a shared agenda. You’ll see a talented young team — not yet a good one, but on its way at last — assembled by a clever GM whose refusal to shake Belkin’s hand will stand as the lasting image of this strange episode. And it’s surely just coincidence that, one day after he spurned Belkin, Knight banged up his right pinky while working in his yard. So he really can’t shake hands now.
No matter. He made his point. He stood on principle, and he’ll be here long after Steve Belkin is a forgotten footnote. At 3:55 p.m. Thursday, the forgetting officially commenced.
Permalink | | Categories: Hawks / NBA
Longing for the Hawks good ol’ days
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Is it just me, or have the events of the last 10 days cast Stan Kasten and Pete Babcock in a brighter light?
The Hawks have made mistakes over the years: Jon Koncak’s contract, Alan Henderson’s contract, Lon Kruger’s hiring, J.R. Rider’s mere presence. But nothing they did under Kasten and Babcock was as damaging as the Page 1 picture — worth about a million words, this one — of Billy Knight spurning Steve Belkin’s handshake. (By the way, did you notice the person sitting in the background? The AJC’s Tim Tucker, taking it all in.)
Real organizations don’t behave like this. For all their failings, the Hawks had never behaved like this. And there are, as we’re learning, different levels of failure. The Hawks under Kasten and/or Babcock were seen as a disappointment because they couldn’t advance past Round 2 of the postseason, but let’s recall that they at least made the playoffs 13 times in 16 seasons. The Hawks today are both the NBA’s worst team and its worst front office.
Yes, things can get better. (They could hardly go any lower.) Belkin can get removed as governor and the Joe Johnson trade can get made and the Hawks can improve to 25 or 30 wins next season, but the events of the last 10 days will linger long in memory. Knight has done some good work over the last two seasons, but Belkin undid much of it simply by saying no and giving the world the clear impression that the Hawks are rank amateurs.
Why, it’s enough to make you long for the days of absentee ownership.
Come back, Time Warner. All is forgiven.
Permalink | | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Mark Bradley
Partners should have seen Belkin problem coming
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
The only surprise about the Hawks ownership mess is that folks actually are surprised. To quote an AJC sports columnist from March 2004, when Time Warner sold what allegedly was an NBA franchise to a group that allegedly was the savior of that franchise: “Nine owners? That’s nine successful businessmen, with nine different personalities and nine different egos. Plus, they will hire a CEO to oversee much of their operation.
“That’s another different personality and another different ego. That’s why there is the potential for 10 different voices whispering into the ears of Hawks general manager Billy Knight, when he should hear only his own.�
Surely anybody involved with this crazy deal knew that disaster was a Steve Belkin away. Speaking of which, it was clear within weeks of its formation that Atlanta Spirit LLC had an Alexander “I’m in control here” Haig. One day I checked my telephone messages to hear the voice of somebody I’d never met. It was Belkin, the Boston portion of the Hawks’ three-tiered ownership group that also has a Washington and an Atlanta connection. In sum, Belkin introduced himself, then gave his credentials and then spoke for minutes, hours and days about how he truly was the primary owner of the Hawks. He left his number in case I needed more information, but he had said it all: Forget the Haig analogy. In Belkin’s mind, the other eight owners were the rest of the Rolling Stones to his Mick Jagger.
When I told a couple of the other owners about Belkin’s message, they were not amused. They said the Boston faction of Atlanta Spirit had no more power than the ones from Washington and Atlanta. They said they knew about Belkin’s efforts to become their Jagger. But here’s the strangest thing: They still elected the guy as their NBA governor. They also did the equivalent of wrapping lead weights around their ankles and jumping off a cliff by giving Belkin a five-year term.
“We looked at it at the time as just being a very ceremonial position,� said Michael Gearon Sr., 70, among the few wisemen for the Hawks through the decades, speaking on Wednesday. He joins his son, Michael Gearon Jr., as the most prominent members of the local portion of Atlanta Spirit. Added Gearon Sr. about Belkin’s designation as NBA governor, “I don’t think we realized at the time what was involved.�
Obviously not. One moment, you had Knight continuing as the quietly effective miracle worker that he is for the franchise by trading for the talented Joe Johnson (a nice fit for a Hawks team already with several promising youth). The next, you had Belkin using his authority under NBA rules as team governor to kill the deal.
According to Belkin, he doesn’t wish to lose the two first-round draft picks that Knight promised to the Phoenix Suns for Johnson. According to everybody else with Atlanta Spirit, Belkin is just cheap. They say he views the $70 million that Knight is offering to Johnson as ghastly � especially since they say Belkin wants a Hawks payroll of $32 million while the other owners are willing to spend $16 million more.
As a result, the Hawks have a soap opera, with eight owners seeking to remove Belkin as governor, with Belkin dragging the other owners into a Boston court over the matter, with Knight calling Belkin a liar, with NBA commissioner David Stern preparing to discuss the matter sooner than later, with the Hawks’ dwindling fan base on the verge of dwindling further.
All of this was avoidable, because all of this was foreseeable.
“Well, I really didn’t view (Belkin) as a serious problem until we got to this recent issue,� said Gearon Sr., a former Hawks general manager and a minority owner of the franchise for years. “I’d seen some problems with the fellow, but it wasn’t to this magnitude. He doesn’t wish to spend money on the franchise. That’s fundamental.�
So is this: You can’t have nine Mick Jaggers. Those with Atlanta Spirit either should accept their self-proclaimed one or declare another one. Then leave Knight alone.
Permalink | | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Terence Moore
