AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > January > 12 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USOne win doesn’t change state of Hawks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
They are not a bad basketball team anymore. They’re a good cartoon.
They make you think, “Remember that time when Wily E. Coyote strapped himself to a rocket so he could catch the Road Runner? That could really happen. But the Hawks? Dude, that never could happen.”
How many professional (work with me here) sports franchises have a general manager who responds to a question the morning of a game with, “I don’t talk during the season”? (Then again, maybe Billy Knight was being truthful. He confirmed suspicions the Hawks haven’t started the season, yet.)
How many franchises have an owner in the locker room before the game, taking pictures of the players and kids, as if this was Wally World? (That was Bruce Levenson and his digital camera roaming the Hawks’ room Friday.)
How many franchises have the father of an owner phone a newspaper columnist two hours before tipoff, in hopes of dissuading him from writing something negative about the head coach? (That would be Mike Gearon Sr., who, as it turns out, has my cellphone number.)
Well, I’m going to give Gearon some credit. He might be right when he said Mike Woodson shouldn’t be the scapegoat for this Hawks season. I never thought I would have sympathy for a coach who is 98 games under .500 less than two and half seasons into his tenure. But maybe Woodson doesn’t deserve to get fired. Maybe he just deserves more mental-health coverage. ] I hate to bring you this after such a glorious evening. The Hawks upset the Detroit Pistons, 99-93. But this is about a season, not one game. At 11-23, the Hawks are far closer to a lottery pick than the playoffs. If this win sparks a turnaround, I’ll eat my Billy Knight quotes. If I have any.
With the victory, Woodson (50-148) avoids dropping 100 games below .500. But there is time. With this franchise, there is always time.
“If you’re looking for a scapegoat,” Gearon said, “it might be the owners and it might be the GM. But it’s not the coach.”
Actually, it’s everybody.
Injuries or not, it’s impossible to defend a coach with so many losses, even when you’re forced to start a game with Lorenzen Wright (although, it’s close).
As for Knight, I’m not sure what’s scarier: That he might not really have a plan, or that he does — and this is it.
The Thrashers have managed to mostly succeed this season, in spite of the ownership. The Hawks — who required far more work — are largely a joke because of them. The biggest thing they have had to cheer about the past few seasons is salary-cap space (unless you count the fact Levenson also snapped pictures of “Bow Wow” on Friday).
And here’s the biggest problem: The fortunes of this team are not going to change for a long time.
The fractured Atlanta Spirit ownership group is tied up in litigation. It is bleeding red ink. It doesn’t want to fire a coach because that would mean having to pay money to another one. That’s not going to happen — even assuming you could get everybody to agree on a candidate.
They need a new architect. They need a general manager who not only knows what he’s doing but is willing to take the heat when things aren’t going well. (For the record, Knight actually has spoken to the media this season, as recently as three days ago. “I try not to,” he said.)
Knight’s not getting fired for the same reason Woodson’s not getting fired: money to lure a new one. Besides, if you were an NBA general manager, would you take this job under current owners?
Prior to Friday’s win, the Hawks had lost 14 of their previous 16 games. They have lost to four current last-place teams — Seattle (twice), Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Sacramento. They have lost by double digits 16 times. Their past seven losses have come by 27, 13, 26, 14, 13, 19 and 19.
They managed to rebound off a horrendous home performance Wednesday, losing to a New Orleans team that was missing four of its top six players (including Chris Paul) and had dropped 19 of 23. A spin-free analysis from Salim Stoudamire: “It was embarrassing, losing to a third-string team by 20 points. It just seems like we have no chemistry.”
For one game Friday, there was no lab explosion. But one game means nothing. This team is stuck in ToonTown.
Permalink | Comments (29) | Post your comment | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Jeff Schultz
Comments
By Fan01
January 12, 2007 11:44 PM | Link to this
Do You Even post anything positive ?about any of the teams in ATLANTA, It was nice to get a win regardless of how the season ends.
By Jay
January 13, 2007 12:00 AM | Link to this
Um, there isnt anything positive to post about the Hawks, unless you’re cheering for the first pick in the draft.
By Chris
January 13, 2007 12:20 AM | Link to this
Nice post as usual Jeff. The Hawks are the joke of Atlanta sports (and that’s not something too easy to accomplish with the sorry teams in Atlanta.) The fact Knight clears up salary cap space does no good at all when you don’t then go out and spend to get players to fill in your salary cap space. Don’t the owners realize that spending more money to get quality players on this team and a new coach along with a new general manager would actually make them more money in the long run because more people would actually start caring about the Hawks again.
By Mr C.
January 13, 2007 12:21 AM | Link to this
You might as well forget that first pick cos the Hawks will probably get the 4th pick and lose it to Phoenix Suns. What a cursed franchise. Even if we have the 1st pick, Billy King will draft another power forward and ignore Greg Oden and co.
As someone mentioned yesterday, the best thing to happen to the Hawks is the Judge that ruled that Billy King can’t make any other useless deal. We need to thank the Judge and hope that Billy King’s days are numbered.
Jeff, You didn’t have to throw Mike Gearon Sr under the bus. Even if he called you!!!
By JohnGTFan
January 13, 2007 12:42 AM | Link to this
Nice posting the obvious. Is there any guesses on when the legal mess will be finished? This is ridiculous. I think we all understand the Hawks can’t do much…but it doesn’t mean they have to just sit back and take this abuse.
By vdunkndunk
January 13, 2007 01:20 AM | Link to this
Things are really, really bad for the Hawks. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, and I’m sympathetic to those who want to criticize the Hawks right now. But this blog kind of rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.
I guess it just annoys me to hear a news professional call a bunch of other people unprofessional just because those people took some pictures with their kids.
Jeff, if this blog is supposed to be an example of how a real professional should act, I don’t think you made your point…unless your job description includes acting like a big baby and a petty tattletale.
By the way, Marc Cuban actually ran on the court during a fight, and he ahs warmed up with his team on the court. If that’s not WallyWorld, I don’t know what is. But if you didn’t notice, his team was in the NBA Finals last year.
So Jeff, please tell me again why we’re supposed to care if an owner of a team wants to take pictures with his kids?
By Rat
January 13, 2007 01:55 AM | Link to this
Man, Schultz you are what they call in the hood a snitch. The man calls you for a favor and you rat him out. Everything you said is true but dang man. No one in Atlanta really cares anyhow. Why even stay here? The real blame for all these problems is Lenny Wilkins. Now all the true fans know what I’m saying. He killed this franchise when he traded Nique. I know it sounds insane, but its the truth. It destroyed at least one generation of fans, but also future generations. This disloyalty to Nique soured everyone, for a pompass coach who is known for the most losses as much as he is for wins. What a joke. But seriously, basketball took a huge tailspin in Atlanta with that and hasn’t recovered since. These men are tasked with a huge recovery project and don’t have a clue what the heck they are doing. How in the world, can the capital city of Hip Hop/RB, in a game that is linked hand and hand with Hip Hop, not draw top ranked talent. This team would be a goldmine if a guy like Blank took over. Look at what he has done with the lowly Falcons. True they are struggling, but Vick is mainstream and thus goes the Falcons. If the Falcons traded Vick, they would sink in this city the same way. The Northern part of town would pretend to support the Birds but there hearts are mostly in Athens are there transplants.He would lose downtown and the southside of town for years like the Hawks have. Ok, can rant forever, but this article is right. The Hawks are a cartoon, but its not even close to being funny!
By petebabsuckscok
January 13, 2007 06:05 AM | Link to this
yea i agree with u man. Why rat out the owners dad like that? its really not a big deal, we all know the hawks suck and will continue to until we get another allstar big man to go with joe johnson. This year is important for us to loose alot because we can get Oden, or Durant in the draft…now that would be a pick we cant mess up!
I like how the hawks brought dominque back now as a personal rep when they had no loyalty to him in the first place. First of all i was a hardcore hawks fan back then, used to stay awake in bed listening to the hawks late night games on the radio in the dark sneaking so my mom couldnt hear the radio on. But when they traded Nique when i was like 11 or so everything changed! i mean we were in first place that year!! And you trade for a unloyal (not to mention half the player) danny manning!!!! WTF… man i was a little kid but i knew the hawks messed up big time. Things just havent been the same since. GO Falcons, Braves, and Ga tech basketball….i dont think the hawks will ever be my favorite team again.
By mountain_jim
January 13, 2007 08:19 AM | Link to this
Thank goodness I did not spend the $ on NBA League Pass to be able to see this team’s games this year!
I thought 40 wins was possible - but then I also thought the Falcons might make the Super Bowl. Well their coaches were exposed (and now gone - yes!), and this season has further exposed BK. I gave him the benefit of the doubt until this season, but his free agent signings have really stunk this year and he has done nothing to try and right the ship. The fact that he can ‘lead’ this mess and feel he does not have to talk to the media or the fans about it shows he deserves to go the way of the Falcons coaches - out of town on the horse he road in on.
By b man
January 13, 2007 09:10 AM | Link to this
Great win Hawks!!!
Three things stood out to me during the Detroit game:
1) The Hawks seemed to have good chemistry on both offense/defense. They played w/ energy & emotion!!
2) In the 4th, they didn’t stand around expecting Detroit to win. Yes, Detroit made their push but the Hawks were driving to the basket & fighting for rebounds and loose balls…out hustling the Pistons.
3) Josh Smith is very IMPORTANT to the Hawks. The rest of the team seems to feed of his blocks/rebounds/loose balls.
Another interesting fact I read on an ajc.com aritcle mentioned: “with Friday’s game being the first all season that the Hawks had Johnson, Childress, Smith and both Marvin and Shelden Williams healthy and in uniform at the same time.”
Let’s hope the Detroit game is an indication of what the Hawks are capable of w/ a healthy team!!!
They have an very steep uphill climb but if they play like they did against Detroit, this will be a fun team to watch & given the weak East…who knows what could happen. Well, lets sit back and watch the show.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!
By Kamal
January 13, 2007 09:15 AM | Link to this
In football, a coach with such a credential would have been fired before Christ was born !!! Or… resigned with dignity
By Kamal
January 13, 2007 09:17 AM | Link to this
In football, a coach with such a credential would have been fired before Christ was born !!! Or… resigned with dignity.
By Mike Gearon Sr.
January 13, 2007 10:04 AM | Link to this
Mr. Shultz, I had your cellphone number, but henceforth you have been removed from my rolodex and this article will not be forgotten.
By **NATIVE SON**
January 13, 2007 10:37 AM | Link to this
AWWW,Mr. Shultz;did they take your press cred(s)?
By A. Blank
January 13, 2007 10:41 AM | Link to this
You people need to lay off of Schultz. If you don’t like this column, blame me. I’m the guy who tells Schultz what to write, and when to write it.
If it makes you feel any better, within the next week or so, Schultz will be writing a column about how Michael Vick deserves immediate induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
See you at the temple, Jeff.
By Evan
January 13, 2007 10:47 AM | Link to this
Way to write your column 2 hours before the game last night, and then change one sentence 5 paragraphs in to accomodate the win. The whats-wrong-with-the-Hawks-it-must-be-the-owners-GM-or-coach column is a recycled rant beaten to death by ajc sports columnists that requires no actual journalism and makes all of you instantly popular with the fickle fans of Atlanta.
The bottom line is that you saw a Hawks game last night where they won, and impressively at that. Joe Johnson didn’t miss a shot until the fourth quarter. Josh Smith ran the floor after coming back from hernia surgey a month early. Yet you chose to go with the quote from Salim about not not having any chemistry. That looked like chemistry against Detroit, and the locker room was open last night, too.
Real column writing involves a little reporting (How many quotes did you include, not including Billy Knight saying he doesn’t want to talk to you?) open-mindedness and the ability to change your opinion when circumstances change, and that’s pretty tough to do when you write a column 2 hours before a game.
By lawton
January 13, 2007 11:00 AM | Link to this
whats funny, and im not making this a black and white issue, im making it what it is, the hawks former ownership refused to talk to the african american prospective ownership when the hawks were up for sale a few years ago and instead chose to sell to the one hundred owners they have now. i knew then that it was a mistake because there would be no unified vision for the team. atlanta sports world mirrors the everyday social problems you see in society. they are stuck in the slave era mentality with all their sports management.
By GO GATECH
January 13, 2007 11:14 AM | Link to this
The only pro-basketball team in Ga is GA-Tech. The Hawks suck,its not the players fault its ownership/mgmt/coaches fault. Yesterday sports radio 680fan tried to give away tickets to the game and two people turned them down. I thought Isiah Thomas was the worst GM in the NBA but Billy Knight has shown everyone that he is really worse. Congratualations Billy!!! My solution to this total mess would be for Arthur Blank to buy this team then hire Jim Mora Jr to coach and have Greg Knap, be his assistant. At least he could kiss Joe Johnson on the head, and act like he was one of the players. But seriously Mr. Blank look into if they would sell you the Hawks, they got to be hemorahaging money, you could probably get it for a good discount.
By Steve
January 13, 2007 11:15 AM | Link to this
The ATL Spirit are a bunch of “jock sniffing” dolts who didn’t have the money to buy the team so they all kicked in…and we are now an underfunded mess where the owners know nothing about what they are doing. Billy Knight is the most arrogant and incompetant GM in league history. The guys he has passed over in the draft over the years would have made us an East contender right now. He is a like a mad scientist, drafting guys without thought of chemistry. We have 3 small forwards, all drafted in the first round. But, in his strange little world, PG’s are not really important. Billy Knight is worse than Isaih Thomas and the Spirit still keep him in charge of personnel matters, because they don’t have the money or the gall to take action. Is this all Woodson’s fault? No, but he is clearly a coach in over his head. The man is just plain bad but the Spirit don’t know this…they don’t have a clue either. I have been a season ticket holder for a number of years. However, this is my last year supporting these incompetant men. Collectively, not one of them knows what their doing and it takes 6 lousy people to try to get something done. Clearly, the Spirit model doesn’t work, and it will never work. So, I’m through supporting a team that will never be any good. And it is true that any reputable coach or potential GM would never consider working for these clowns. The people of the town deserve better. Significantly better. But, they are far too selfish to sell the team. Their kids like the fact that my daddy owns the Hawks. Nice work, guys.
By Bruce Levenson
January 13, 2007 11:20 AM | Link to this
Must be a lot of pressure on you these days with the newspaper’s circulation falling like a boulder torn from a cliff. Your columns have gone from witty, clever and insightful to just plain mean. Too bad.
PS. The kid I was taking pictures of in the locker room was there with his grandfather who paid several thousand dollars for the privilege in a charity auction to benefit disadvantaged youth. There is even more to the story but the point is a good reporter would have at least asked me what was going on. Shame on you.
By BuckWheat
January 13, 2007 11:29 AM | Link to this
I bet Belkin is loving this kind of press.
By Claude
January 13, 2007 11:49 AM | Link to this
Obviously, the column was written with the idea that the Hawks would lose, and probably lose badly, to the Pistons. When the Hawks instead played inspired basketball and won, the right thing to do would have been to kill the column, not make a few edits and submit it anyway.
By IHateUGA
January 13, 2007 12:48 PM | Link to this
vdunkndunk, I for one happen to like Jeff and his sense of Humor. Sometimes the truth hurts. should he just not report or cover the Hawks? What, ignore them and maybe they will go away?
I know for a fact that I am a bigger fan of the Hawks than you are, I am a home grown Atlanta native who has held season tickets to Hawks, Braves and Falcons. I used to attend Flames games religiously as well. That being said, what the Gm and the Coach have done to this team is EMBARRASSING. I am all for moving this franchise and its ownership to a more deserving city, say Birmingham, Huntsville, Nashville, etc. You know, somewhere where they wont expect much. These are NOT the Hawks of Dominique, Doc, Kevin W., and Cliff Livingston. However, I have no problem with an owner being in the mix with players, but why Levenson would want to hang around these underachievers is beyond me, though. Good thing Howard Cosell isnt around to see this.
By J. Shuttlesworth
January 13, 2007 01:10 PM | Link to this
Jeff,
I usually think your articles are garbage, but thanks for writing this one. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve seen anyone at the AJC call out the organization using insight (interviews, lockerroom scenes) the casual fan can’t come up with.
And for Billy Knight. You don’t talk during the season?? What the holler, buddy? Fine, I don’t go to games “during the season” either.
By vdunkndunk
January 13, 2007 01:43 PM | Link to this
IHateUGA,…I love how your line about how you say that you “know for a fact” that you’re a bigger fan of the Hawks than me.
Good point there. Maybe I should respond by saying that my dad could beat up your dad.
And I already said that the Hawks are bad. No one questions that. It’s just that this blog didn’t seem like real reporting to me. It was more like a rant about how much Jeff doesn’t like the Hawks ownership/management…something that belongs on a fan forum instead of in a newspaper.
Plus, I think Jeff could have made his point in a lot less words. I’m no reporter, but here’s my attempt at a concise version of his blog: “hey the Hawks are in last place and the people running the team are a bunch of jerks and you should just see the way they go around taking pictures in the locker room with their kids, it makes me wanna puke.”
By Bruce, wait come back!
January 13, 2007 03:27 PM | Link to this
Bruce, please don’t go yet! Yes, Shultz sucks, but tell us fans, what are you guys going to do to fix this disaster of a season? One win won’t do it.
By Dennis G. Berdanis
January 13, 2007 06:34 PM | Link to this
When you three Doom & Gloom crew wrote off Petrino before he had his first day as Falcons coach, I decided to quit taking any of you seriously. You seem to think it makes you a good sports writer to only trash the home team. Whatever.
Our Hawks were courageous in beating the Pistons. WTG Hawks!! First time we’ve had those five healthy at one time. If we can stay healthy Woodson should have us playing .500 or better the rest of the season. Which will be one more step up the ladder on the road to competitiveness. Hang in there Mike and Billy. Don’t listen to these professional boo-ers!
By Jeff Schultz
January 13, 2007 06:49 PM | Link to this
Thanks for the comments all, even the negative ones. … To JohnGTFan: I’m not sure, but I think the next stop on the Atlanta Spirit Litigation Timeline is in March. Tim Tucker of our staff has all of that memorized if you want to e-mail him. … Mr. C: As for throwing Gearon Sr under the bus: This isn’t the first time members of the Atlanta made an orchestrated effort to spin things. I have no problem with owners, GMs, coaches calling me. It happens all the time. But Mike Gearon Sr and I don’t have any kind of relationship, and, I admit, the whole thing was so patently phoney that it set me off. Had Mike Jr. called me, it might’ve been different. … To vdunkndunk: I’ll make you a deal, when the Hawks are as good as the Mavericks, the owners have a little more leeway to be goofy. And Mark Cuban is pretty good owner in other areas. … A.Blank – Where’s my check? … Evan, it’s a column about the team, not the game. One win is inconsequential. The team is 11-23. And I provided several things that you can’t find in a box score – that is reporting. Also, I often talked to people who aren’t quoted, as was the case here, for background. But thanks for the Journalism lecture. … Bruce Levenson: If that’s really you, I’ll be happy to discuss this with you privately, not in an open forum. … JS
By Volman
January 13, 2007 10:49 PM | Link to this
Mr. Schultz
Will you please talk about the BASKETBALL playing last night? All you talk about is the dirty tabloid type rumors and speculation about ownership. We don’t really care about that crap.. Yeah, it’s important at times, but I don’t want to read about ownership and you calling out the owners.. I want to hear what YOU think about the Hawks’ play last night.
So, what do you think? What was your opinion of Smith? What was the Hawks’ problem on this bad run of losses in December?
Don’t give me anyhting about ownership.