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Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Hawks make another serious mistake
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
The Hawks just traded two players and received nothing but a draft pick. This sounds like a joke. A team that loses 125 games over two seasons can’t find something of value on a playoff team’s roster?
Sad to say, that’s the Hawks for you.
An unfunny joke.
Sometimes their many owners are trying to buy out Steve Belkin. Other times Belkin is trying to buy out those many owners. Sometimes these owners act as if they’re strapped for cash. (Why else ask Indiana for $3 million in this sign-and-trade?) Other times they’re throwing money at guys who might not be worth all that much. (Joe Johnson got $70 million, Speedy Claxton $25 million.)
Sometimes they’re hell-bent on drafting the best player available. (Especially if he’s a wing!) Other times they’re drafting for need. (Shelden Williams was chosen largely because he blocks shots and the Hawks lacked a shot-blocker.) Sometimes they talk as if they’re serious about winning. Then the playing starts and it becomes obvious this franchise isn’t serious about anything.
To recap the offseason: The Hawks took Williams with No. 5 pick when almost nobody else in the world regarded him so highly. They drafted Solomon Jones, another shot-blocker, in Round 2. (What, one wasn’t enough?) They spent big on Claxton, who backed up Chris Paul, whom the Hawks should have taken instead of Marvin Williams in 2005. Then, after weeks of confusion, they finally jettisoned Al Harrington, whom they should have traded at the February deadline.
An object lesson in the sign-and-trade: When the Hawks worked one with Phoenix for Johnson, the Suns held out for Boris Diaw, who would become the NBA’s most improved player overnight. When the Pacers worked one with the Hawks for Harrington and John Edwards, Indiana didn’t have to part with a warm body. Amazing.
Why would a team that isn’t exactly overrun with first-rank players not take a flyer on some Pacer lesser light who might prove useful? (The backup center David Harrison, say, or the shooter Sarunas Jasikevicius?) The only answer that computes is that the Hawks’ many owners — who also own the Thrashers, at least until Belkin seizes both — don’t care to absorb any more contracts. And if that’s the case, why should they continue to own these teams? Why not take a buyout and let the financial burden fall to the man they’ve come to despise?
I had hope for these owners, who are — or, more precisely, were — full of optimism and good cheer. I had hope for Billy Knight, the GM who moved boldly to disassemble the horrid roster he inherited from Pete Babcock. I had hope until the cheerful guys began to get out-litigated by Belkin at every turn, hope until Knight started to assemble a roster with little thought to actual positions. (Not for nothing has Knight become known around the NBA as the King of Wings.) I had hope until the Hawks got nothing from Diaw, of whom they didn’t know what to make. I had hope until every single decision made by this franchise left me wondering, “What are these guys doing?”
Moving Harrington in February made sense. No, demand wasn’t as great as the Hawks had hoped, but surely some contender would have come across with someone of value. Instead the Hawks chose to keep — and keep playing — Harrington, thereby depriving Marvin Williams of an increased workload. The belief was that they could get far more over the summer in a sign-and-trade. The reality is that almost no sign-and-trade could have yielded much less.
The Hawks didn’t have a No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft, Phoenix having absconded with that along with Diaw. This sign-and-trade brings the Pacers’ No. 1 pick. In June the Pacers picked 17th overall. According to NBAdraft.net, the 17th-best player apt to be available next summer is UCLA’s Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, whom the site identifies as an “extremely athletic and versatile wing.”
Great. Just great.
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Dump Duckett, start Stafford
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
10: If the Falcons can get a No. 3 receiver for T.J. Duckett, they should trade him. If they can get a backup safety for T.J. Duckett, they should trade him. If they can get a bag of chips for T.J. Duckett, they should trade him.
9: Nice guy. Has talent. Doesn’t get it. Not sure if he ever will.
8: And if Duckett ever does wake up and realize what he can be, it probably won’t be in the Falcons’ offense, which operates better with a slashing running back, and a fullback who can block and catch. Duckett is neither.
7: Meanwhile, the Hawks may finally be close to completing the Al Harrington trade. Billy Knight has narrowed his choices to the eraser and the decoder ring.
6: This newspaper stripped the announcement that Joe Tereshinski will start against Western Kentucky across the top of the newspaper. If you were looking for stories about world war and overthrown governments, I think they were on page 17.
5: Hey, I only work here.
4: Marion Jones’ statement on testing positive for EPO at the recent U.S. track and field championships: “I was shocked when I was informed about the positive A sample. I have requested that the testing of my B sample be expedited.” OK, maybe I missed it. Bit did she deny anything?
3: The Little League World Series continues today. Nice to see an event where the only juicing involves actual juice boxes.
2: My two bits occasionally parallels Mark Richt’s two bits. But not in this case. If Stafford is the future, doesn’t it make sense to start him vs. Western Kentucky and other early season opponents, reasoning that by late in the season he’ll be a better quarterback?
1: I’m assuming things must have been pretty one-sided in Richt’s double-secret closed practices. Because as far as I can tell, Tereshinski’s one career highlight is ALMOST beating Florida.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
