Another home blowout tells us the Hawks have quit on Drew
Kirk Hinrich arrives and the Hawks start stinking it up at home. Cause and effect? (AJC photo by Hyosub Shin)
This is why you don’t promote the nice-guy assistant. Because the players who’ve known him only as the nice-guy assistant will quit on him. And if you think the Hawks are still playing hard for Larry Drew, how are we to explain the misdoings of the past three weeks?
The Hawks have lost six home games in 18 days. (By way of comparison, they lost seven home games all last season.) Only one of these six losses has been by fewer than 13 points. Average margin of the six losses — 17.2 points.
On Friday they trailed Miami by 29 points after three quarters. On Saturday Al Horford convened a players-only meeting, which apparently enabled the Hawks to subdue the awful Detroit Pistons by eight points the next day. But the shelf life on players-only meetings, at least for these Hawks, is only 48 hours. On Tuesday they trailed Chicago by 29 points after two quarters. (They would trail by 47 before it ended.)
Even if we stipulate that all six home losses have come against good opposition, that excuses nothing. The Hawks are, or at least were, supposed to be pretty good themselves. They won 53 games last season, and they’ve won 40 this time. But they’re not nearly the team they were a year ago, and the reason is clear:
The Hawks might not have loved Mike Woodson, but they played hard for him most nights. When they stopped playing hard against Orlando in Round 2 of the 2010 playoffs, it was time for Woodson to go. But it took the Hawks six seasons to tune out their previous coach; they stopped listening to his successor after 60-some games.
They’ve won 40 games because they still have talent; they’ve lost 15 home games because they don’t care enough to apply that talent when application requires effort. Stop shooting their beloved jump shots? Start guarding somebody? Why bother?
Say it again: Fifteen home losses for a team that boasts two All-Stars, a third player of All-Star caliber and the league’s reigning sixth man of the year. Fifteen home losses, nine of them by double figures. The NBA’s worst team shouldn’t be getting hammered like this at home on such a regular basis, let alone one that has been to the playoffs three years running and will get there again this spring. (The irony of Tuesday’s loss was that the Hawks could have clinched a postseason berth; instead they looked like a team in the running to be first in line for the draft lottery.)
Apart from the subtraction of Mike Bibby and the addition of Kirk Hinrich — that trade hasn’t exactly had a catalytic effect, has it?– these Hawks are essentially the same as they’ve been. What’s different is the coach. Like him or not, Mike Woodson was difficult to overlook. His former team has found Woody’s nice-guy assistant all too easy to ignore.
By Mark Bradley
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347 comments Add your comment
DrG
March 23rd, 2011
10:14 am
@ Larry. Agreed. Joe just pouts with his head down. He make $200 grand a game to be a leader and he is a loser. He is proven it time and again in the playoffs. For 200K a night I would run a nightly marathon while being beaten with sticks if you asked me to. This is a team full of over paid primadonnas. Period. I have no problem watching a team lose when they give it their best effort (I was a Braves fan when they were in the cellar for years). These guys just don’t show up to play. Its pathetic.
Hawks No
March 23rd, 2011
10:15 am
quit on the coach, they are paid to play every game, not every game for the coach. they are professional players and if they playing for the coach or not playing for him, then there is a problem with the players. these hawks are not a good team. they have been together for years now and they won’t get any better. the star player, JJ, doesn’t show up for big games and he’s not best or 2nd best player on the team. now with that said, maybe the rest of the team is playing down to his level since he is not leading by example. JJ should be the leader on the court each game, but Al is the only player with any leadership skills on or off the court. Paying JJ and he’s not showing up when it counts, makes the whole team bad. this team won’t do anything in the playoff, so trade eveyone except Al.
Atlanta
March 23rd, 2011
10:15 am
It’s my fault…I am only attending at 16K (about the same as most of the league) a game to attend this trash….I am such a poor sports market.
tremaine cooper
March 23rd, 2011
10:16 am
freeeman
March 23rd, 2011
10:05 am
As much as I dislike the direction of the Hawks
At least we are not the Nets, Clippers, and Knicks
All of those teams have a brighter future than the hawks.
DP
March 23rd, 2011
10:17 am
Mark Bradley, hasn’t it only been 3 or 4 weeks since you were proclaiming this Hawks team might be different from the ones who laid down against Orlando in the playoffs last year because they made a big comeback to beat the Bulls in one of an 82 game schedule?
And I seem to recall you saying that the Hawks had to hamstring the team’s payroll flexibility for years to come by signing a 29 year old jump shooting second banana (at best) Joe Johnson to a 6 year contract that made him the highest paid player in the NBA. Why? For the owners to show the fans they were serious. More like seriously stupid.
Please, leave the commentary on the Hawks to the beat writer.
Wink
March 23rd, 2011
10:17 am
No surprise in the out come of this game! National audience, prime time exposure,playing at home = embarrassment / blow out. Atlanta sports across the board can’t take the bright lights.
Secondly, the team has been up for sell. The Hawks current ownership is focused in on managing assets & liabilities to make the bottomline look attractive to a buyer:
a. The fight with Belkin over signing Joe’s first contract. We had to have him then, Spirit felt we had to have him now – Star Player signed locked up for six years.
b. Ownership group may concede its a bad contract, but they want have to deal with Joe’s salary or the state of the Hawks after they sell.
c. Of all the GM’s Sund may as under paid as Drew, so his track record of success was questionalble; helps bottom line if GM is cheap hire & contract ends this year; meaning new owner can hire his own GM.
d. Hiring of Drew, also was a cost cutting measure for bottom line. Cut 1 million from payroll by letting Woodson walk – he was not fired.
e. Sell the fans the CORE story, intact for 5+ years and improve thru organic growth, 3rd in East, advertise as Elite team and a new offensive philosophy, no more ISO Joe…which is what the fan base wanted or and Drew land job because he is familiar with CORE. Base championship aspiration on Continuity not TALENT. Improves bottomline because fans continue to come to games thinking they have a team that’s here to stay and all the while up for sell.
f. Signing ZaZa, Marvin, Bibby, Josh (forced to match Philly offer), convinced JJ to stay along with the dollars, which convince management to sign Horford, before Jamal; whild JC2 was insurance should Jamal leave. This insured we would have a team to market to a buyer, at least giving them something to start with: Improved every year for five years and currently a playoff team (SPIN Doctors)
g. Sign never were & never will player to the bench for league minumum contracts to keep liabilities down.
h. Hold on to all cash, sell picks for cash (3 mil), do not use player exemption, trade away future first round draft picks & current one; to limit current & future contract expenses.
i. Avoid the Luxury TAX at all cost…. entering the luxury tax would make sell of team more difficult and mess up the SPIN on how the team is on the up swing.
Proof is in the actions…BUYERS… are looking at assets to liabilities & potential for profit… Hawks are what they are…middle of the road. They are not good enough to make any noise in the playoff & not bad enough to end up in the Lottery….of course they don’t have any first round draft picks if they did.
Where is STATE FARM when you need them, “Like a good neighbor, sell this mess already”
bro
March 23rd, 2011
10:18 am
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR-IN COACHING AND PLAYERS. IT IS WELL PAST THE POINT OF HAVING A REAL OWNER LIKE MARK CUBAN, WHO REALLY WANTS TO WIN. A PROVEN COACH AND FIRST LEVEL PLAYERS. NEED COACHES AND SCOUTS WHO KNOW THE RIGHT PLAYERS TO DRAFT. THERE ARE NO REALLY BIG NAME STARS ON THE HAWKS AND YOU DO NOT WIN WITHOUT ONE OR TWO.
schmeckdawg
March 23rd, 2011
10:20 am
@DawginLex, It also says a lot that UNC’s fortunes took a major upswing when Drew’s kid departed Chapel Hill and the freshman took over at PG.
GREAT CALL!!!!!!!!!!!! The Heels have only lost two games since the little puke left AND can you believe he didn’t even have the stones to tell Roy Williams he was quitting, he had his dad call for him. Plus his roomate found about it through Drew II tweeting! What a p*^&y!!!!!
AS
March 23rd, 2011
10:21 am
The problem with this team is that the team have given up on LD. The guys are not running plays and the production has fallen with that. Two players that are killing the team, Atl Sprit I hope you are listening. Josh Smith and Marvin Williams. Marvin Williams does not deserve to be a starter in this league. He does not have a shot, he gets lost in the offence. When he gets the ball he misses the shot evertime. He has not heart, please trade or release this guy. He has not given anything since in Atl. Josh Smith, just not a smart player at all, stop shooting three’s and get on the block and post up.
AS
March 23rd, 2011
10:23 am
I cant watch the hawks anymore this season unless they make some changes, not buying anymore tickets, to watch these guys give up.
Marvin Williams suck!!!
joey
March 23rd, 2011
10:23 am
the hawks minus al horford play with no effort or heart when they get down 8 points they start to give up and thats a coaching problem . if the starters wont play with heart bench them and play the backups. i will tell you jeff teage and zaza play with more heart that any of the starters other than horford
jfreak13713
March 23rd, 2011
10:25 am
To say you CAN’T trade Josh Smith because he is talented is really stupid. Really and even better players get traded all the time. I’d trade Smith to whoever gets the 1st lottery pick that needs a SF and try to get a young center or point guard. This team isn’t going to win with Smith so maybe they should try to improve through the draft with younger and cheaper talent? Risk for sure but what options do they have?
joey
March 23rd, 2011
10:27 am
the hawks have so much talent but they are very inconsistent
Chill
March 23rd, 2011
10:28 am
This team has hit its collective ceiling and the worse part is that you could see it coming last year. There wasn’t any real reason to resign Joe to that God awful contract. If the big argument was to keep fans in the seats I implore you to go to Phillips and check out the imaginary people seated in the arena. You had an opportunity to go in a different direction but you decided against it and now you’re stuck with him and all these mediocre unmovable players. It’s Purgatory. This team should have been blown up last year after the Orlando Series.
mikey-mike
March 23rd, 2011
10:28 am
I gave up on this team last year when it showed so transparently how little they care and what little heart they have. Until the core of this team is changed, I will never be a Hawks fan again. Which will be a while because I think it all starts with Joe Johnson’s passive attitude and Josh Smith’s immaturity. This group should be campaigning for championships…not getting blow out by 33 at home on national TV.
Way to represent your city, guys!
steve brown
March 23rd, 2011
10:28 am
Drew gambled and made Josh Smith a co-captain and let him shoot the 3. Josh is not a leader in any stretch of the imagination and last year he took 7 threes, this year he is North of 140 which means he is nowhere near the hoop. The gamble is lost and with it the season and a number of jobs.
As sickening as this game was your comment that Smith is one of the most talented players in the league is as sick. Smith will read this garbage and believe it making him all the more intolerable. You have done as much damage with this idiotic comment as anyone or anything else.
Dwight Howard was the best man at Smith’s wedding. Make Smith or better yet his dad the coach and GM and get Dwight to come here. That we be a real circus.
jfreak13713
March 23rd, 2011
10:29 am
Oh, maybe time to fire the coach? There has to be an assistant who can take over and do as good a job. I like Marc Jackson but probably wouldn’t bring in new coach with new system this late in year. However, you can fire the current coach to send message to players and fans.
GT
March 23rd, 2011
10:30 am
I think Mike Bibby was the real coach on that team. He kept the young guys loose and focused. I have not been a Drew fan since his son through his father pulled that bone head move with Roy Williams and North Carolina. I kept thinking how can a guy that smart, as it appeared he was at the time, allow his son to make one of the most stupid moves, professionally and ethically, I have ever seen. Walking off the Carolina basketball team in the middle of the season, because his feelings were hurt. Now we are beginning to see a correlation between the private life Coach Drew and the basketball coach Drew. There is a disconnect between the culture some come from and the rest of the world. I suspect Hewitt had this problem too. Popularity with your culture become more important than worldly success and obligation. Mike Bibby was not of that culture though he was very popular. His was a professional outlook he showed wonderfully by buying out his own contract. I think the reason Atlanta has had such losers is the distractions this town offers off the playing field and courts. It is encouraged by a certain community that find success in cars and jewelry not in character. Mike Vick fell into that crowd, many of us knew he was there before all his trouble began. You start seeing that “too cool” attitude. Him getting busted was really a wake call and blessing for the Falcons. I think that is what Richt is fighting at Georgia. The press is not doing its job in this town which helps this conduct and immaturity infest the city and state.
b17211
March 23rd, 2011
10:33 am
No one on the Hawks works harder than Horford, Teague, and Zaza. The Hawks need a true center and an explosive point guard and we’ll see a world of improvement.
Carlos
March 23rd, 2011
10:33 am
The problem isn’t altogether Larry Drew. No, they shouldn’t of fired Mike Woodson. We see that now. Larry Drew unlike Mike Woodson isn’t a defensive coach. Woodson was. The Hawks need a leader. Lets face it, Joe Johnson i’m sure is a nice guy. Seems to be very humble, but he doesn’t want to be the leader of this team. So it’s hard justifying him making almost as much as Kobe and more than Lebron and Wade. He wants to be a Robin and not Batman. I said it last year the Hawks until they move Horford to the forward position and get a decent center and a true point guard will not advance past the good teams. That doesn’t mean that they should be losing as big as they do, escpecially at home but coaches can only work with what they have. If they get rid of Drew then I believe Mike Brown would be a good fit for this team. By paying Joe all the money and not rewarding Crawford for what he did last year, it plus all the problems are now coming to a head at the wrong time and right now the Hawks will probably play Orlando in the first round and likely get swept. I hate to say it but it does appear that certain players have quit and I think there is a lot of animosity to Joe getting all the money while he’s not even the leader on the team.
Steve
March 23rd, 2011
10:34 am
Glad I don’t waste my hard earned money on these quitters and very inept team management, and very sorry for those thousands who do – Atlanta deserves much better – getting blown out by 30 on a regular basis at home – OUCH!!!!!!!!!
Simple Jack
March 23rd, 2011
10:35 am
Good article, Mark! Agree 100%. Heard last night during the telecast that Josh Smith had said something to the effect of they (Hawks) don’t play together or communicate or help out. Soooooo, that means there is a serious trust issue amongst the players. Where is Drew when this happened? Really, a nice guy, but he is not going to pan out at all. Cut the losses now and let him go. AND then let’s go after a top tier coach—even take one from another team.
Sam
March 23rd, 2011
10:35 am
The Hawks have a lot of problems but where every other team in the East did something improve it’s team either in the offseason or pre trade deadline the Hawks made a lateral move and got Hinrich and gave way too much. Denver has 2 fast point guards (Lawson and Felton) that can get to the hoop and Hawks have 0, that needs to change. And the fact that Josh Smith has shot something like 140 3-pointers this year is unbelievable (he shot 7 all of last year which is more on the right track for him).
b17211
March 23rd, 2011
10:36 am
The team quit with the Mike Bibby trade.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
10:36 am
Folks agree with Mark’s bluntness today but can’t stand it when he doesn’t sugarcoat any criticism of their precious college team.
Gwinnett Fred
March 23rd, 2011
10:37 am
Said it before and will say it again.
If the ASG had spent the same amount of money on the Thrashers has they’ve poured into the Hawks, they would be a playoff team every year – but unlike the Hawks, could get past the first round.
It doesn’t take nearly the money to develop an NHL championship team as it does an NBA team.
In the NBA, if you are not one of the 4-5 ELITE teams – forget it, your ring will be on back order forever. The NHL has shown time and time again a team can rise from the ashes and compete for the Cup in a very short period of time.
Not to mention unless you are the Lakers or Heat – the NBA is pretty damn boring – especially compared to an NHL game IF YOUR TEAM IS WORTH A DAMN!!!
mikey-mike
March 23rd, 2011
10:41 am
no one could coach this group…not even phil jackson. i mean…you can train someone to care and have some heart. that joe johnson signing was the worst in atlanta sports history….next to mike hampton.
MistaGamer
March 23rd, 2011
10:44 am
As always, the problem first starts at the top:
1) We are so unsatisified with our coach that built the team for 6 years that we fired him (and rightfully so, it was time for him to go) only to hire his long time assistant with a “new voice???” on the cheap.
2) This “New Voice” talks the talk that everbody wants to hear in installing a motion offense, but the motion offense he installs doesn’t take advantage of our atheletic bigs by leaving the out on the perimeter. He then talks in the pre and post game press conferences about being more aggressive on the boards????
2) We gave a guy that is not a leader of the locker room, not a leader on the floor, and not a leader in any statistical category in the league $120M when his style of play and lack of attitude is one of the biggest problems night in and night out. Then we talk about no leadership in the locker room???
3) We then draft a guy at Mr. “Max Contract” aka Mr. “Screw You Guys I’m Going Home’s” position.
4) We then trade a very talented rookie (only after he’s rack up an unfathomable amount of DNP-CDs) AND 1st rd draft pick AND washed up point guard for ANOTHER washed up point guard that is a walking turnover.
5) We then have aurguably our best point guard on the team collect DNP-CD’s in the meantime while playing another matador defense, out-of-position, ball-hogging shooting guard at point guard.
Do you REALLY still have to wonder why this team of talent is steaming pile of poo? And if it sounds like I’m taking shots that’s because the bullseye is just way too big to miss, so let the hit dogs holler.
brad
March 23rd, 2011
10:46 am
anyone else notice last night that at about the 5 minute mark in the 4th quarter ther seemed to be some serious arguing going on on the Hawks bench. Drew called someone to go in and the player started to go to the table. Then Drew waved him back on the bench. Somebody than said something to Drew and he started walking down to the end of the bench but his assistants held him back.
Bill Stanfill
March 23rd, 2011
10:48 am
Last year’s play-off performance by the Hawks set me straight with this team.
I can take losing; I can’t take quitting.
Then came the “give-him-the-absolute-max” unrealistic contract for Joe Johnson, which basically put the team in a strait-jacket.
What to do now? Who knows. Trade for young talent and future draft picks?
Probably the best hope is the team gets sold and the new owner brings in new energy and completely new management. A thorough spring cleaning is what the Hawks organization needs.
TNT won't be back
March 23rd, 2011
10:50 am
Do the Hawks make the playoffs under Woody?: yes
Do the Hawks make the playoffs under Drew?: yes
Do the Hawks get bounced in the 1st rd. under Woody?: yes
Do the Hawks get bounced in the 1st rd. under Drew?: yes
Can we get blown out by 30 with Bibby?: yes
Are we getting blown out by 30 without Bibby?: yes
At which position are the Hawks deficient?: Center
At which positions are the Hawks pretty much set?: 1 thru 4 Teague, Joe, JSmoove, Horf
So why trade away Jamal Crawford’s heir apparent and a 1st round pick?: because somebody’s clueless
steve brown
March 23rd, 2011
10:50 am
For anyone interested-Jordan Crawford’s stats his last few games:
Game By Game Stats
Date Opponent Result MIN PTS
Regular
Mar 22 @ POR L 76 – 111 35 12
Mar 20 vs. NJN W 98 – 92 44 21
Mar 18 @ TOR L 107 – 116 42 25
Mar 15 @ CHI L 79 – 98 48 27
Mar 14 vs. OKC L 89 – 116 28 12
Mar 12 vs. LAC L 101 – 122 26 16
Mar 08 vs. MIL L 76 – 95 27 22
Chris
March 23rd, 2011
10:51 am
Hawks??? You mean we have an NBA team in Atlanta. Sorry, I had not noticed
JJ acts like a va-jay-jay
March 23rd, 2011
10:51 am
this is the reason i have been a bandwagon hawks fan since they traded dominique. almost every major move since the jon kontract (lol) and trade have been head scratching at the least. i blame ownership, management, and coaching. players too cuz they get paid waaaay too much money to be playing they way they are now. the resigning of jj and hiring mr nice guy was the nail in the coffin. we are destined for about four more years of this nonsense because ASG and Sund believed we could not function without jj who is NOT a leader, NOT a superstar, and most importantly NOT the answer. we all owe steve belkin an apology. im sorry steve for believing jj wud take us to new heights we had never seen before. u were right all along. blow this thing up PLEASE! i wont go to another game let alone watch this train wreck until i see players other than al, zaza, and hinrich, and maybe smith (who at least plays with some sort of passion and heart) who give a damn! im done with this version of the Atlanta Lost. Lets go Braves and Falcons!
Disenchanted
March 23rd, 2011
10:52 am
I agree with Najee to a point. We could have had Tom Thibbodeaux potentially but the Hawks chose to promote Drew without even shopping around. Much of the Hawks fairly recent woes began when they chose to draft Marvin instead of a point guard. They still have too many guys who play the same position. I blame the front office. They’ll be bounced in the first round. They should fire Drew and blow up this team except for Al and they are stuck with Joe because no one will trade for Joe with that huge contract.
JeJe
March 23rd, 2011
10:53 am
Mike Bibby kept the guys focused?
LOL. He was a bigger joke than we are now. He cared more about his lame locker-room pranks than ACTUALLY LOSING WEIGHT, GETTING IN SHAPE, AND ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING ON DEFENSE.
WTF was with Hinrich’s defense last night?
Mike
March 23rd, 2011
10:53 am
I had a chance to think about this mess that Hawks got themselves into, but here is the biggest thing, you dont hear nothing from ASG about this at all, not one word. The words that Drew and others are saying is the same thing, over and over again. The fans cant take it anymore. That is the reason why we are one of the most saddest sport city in America.
I think it is time for the Hawks to take a page out of the Falcons playbook; scrap everything and begin anew. This team has good pieces like Horford, Teague, and others. But you need to ship away those who doesnt want to complete at all like JJ, JC, and Marvin. High contract or not, those contracts are given to guys that work hard for it and they didnt do it. If they want to complain about it then they dont play, simple and clean. Then we can shipping them or release them after the season.
PBT Wednesday morning one liners | ProBasketballTalk
March 23rd, 2011
10:56 am
[...] The players are essentially the same but the results are worse this season in Atlanta. So new coach Larry Drew’s seat is getting a little warm. [...]
Dawglasville
March 23rd, 2011
10:57 am
Horford is the only keeper in the organization. I wouldn’t miss the rest of the team, Sund, or The Spirit Group.
JSS
March 23rd, 2011
10:57 am
GTT
March 23rd, 2011
8:50 am
“Don’t feel bad professor, JSS hates everybody and everybody hates him.”
Ha ha, thanks, I suddenly feel like Ray Romano… Stay out of Vegas, you’d be broke in a half hour…
joey
March 23rd, 2011
10:59 am
1st,the hawks minus al horford play with no effort or heart when they get down 8 points they start to give up and thats a coaching problem . if the starters wont play with heart bench them and play the backups. i will tell you jeff teage and zaza play with more heart that any of the starters other than horford
South ga boy in the Atl
March 23rd, 2011
11:01 am
Najeh, I don’t understand how u can contradict yourself and, I guess, not realize it. You stated to MB, correctly, about Smoove that athleticism doesn’t equal ball skills but then you say that you wouldn’t trade him. It’s a pipe dream to think anyone will take JJ contract in a trade, even a Russian billionaire. Smoove is not mentally tough. I’m not saying he’s not smart because he speaks fairly well and seems to be thoughtful at times, but he almost always will take the easy way out. Because people have derided his shooting over his 7 yr career, then he thinks, no is determined, to keep shooting jumpers even when it’s detrimental to the team. He let’s calls or non-calls get him all upset and then lose his focus for the next 4-5 minutes of a game. He will berate other players about their play but doesn’t like it if anyone dares to say anything to him. You can tell in his body language. Smoove may be the most undisciplined athlete I have ever seen in Atl and that’s saying a lot over the last 45 yrs. I think he’s probably a good guy away from the court. I love how he helped the family of the young man that was tragically killed last yr, but he’s not mentally tough. His actions on the court hurt the team, and they only get worse when the pressure is increased. He’s the only player of some value we can move this offseason and after LD going then he must be next for the sake of the TEAM
Mark Bradley
March 23rd, 2011
11:01 am
I won’t make the argument that Mike Bibby was a great player, but I will tell you that Jamal Crawford said: “He’s the best teammate I’ve had.”
No Show
March 23rd, 2011
11:02 am
What do you expect when you pay dummies millions of dollars a year?
All these jerks are interested in is picking up their ludicrously bloated paychecks.
joey
March 23rd, 2011
11:02 am
235
Disgusted
March 23rd, 2011
11:04 am
Mark, you are dead on. They have quit on LD and he has allowed it and is clueless. The problem starts at the top with ownership, down to GM-Sund, to LD, and to the players. These blowouts at home are completly pathetic with our talent. It is a shame that we are not even able to compete.
JSS
March 23rd, 2011
11:07 am
atlpaddy
March 23rd, 2011
9:46 am
“Isaiah Rider, a city turns its lonely eyes to you.”
Not even in sarcasm make that joke… That went over like ‘Kramer’ doing stand-up!
Hawks Fan
March 23rd, 2011
11:08 am
Any real fan saw this coming when they went cheap with Larry Drew and I’m still not understanding the JOE Johnson contract why give max money when no one else bid!!! Rick Sund was hired as a cheap GM he sucked at Detroit and Seattle. The owners should man up and admit they were wrong about Joe Johnson and they have no clue. Once Boston wins another championship the hawks should call a doctor say Doc Rivers and give him total control!!!
tremaine cooper
March 23rd, 2011
11:09 am
Mark Bradley
March 23rd, 2011
11:01 am
I won’t make the argument that Mike Bibby was a great player, but I will tell you that Jamal Crawford said: “He’s the best teammate I’ve had.”
If that’s the case then the hawks traded the wrong Crawford.
GStateBen
March 23rd, 2011
11:12 am
It’s more about an ownership group who hired the cheapest GM and the cheapest head coach. It’s unfair to criticize Sund because he is operating under the worst conditions in the NBA for a GM.
Drew is a competent head coach and it’s proven over and over and over this year.
Remember how everyone was talking this “New Offense.” Umm, no. The NBA game doesn’t work that way.
Please investors by this team so we can move forward.