ATL Ownership group
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ATL Ownership group
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LBusiness
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ATL Ownership group
What is the beef,and who has the most power, and does it mostly have to do with the Joe Johnson sign and trade
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W_HAMILTON
- RealGM
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I don't know if you are talking about the issue with Steve Belkin, but if so, I found a good article that lists a timeline of what happened with his "situation:"
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/sport ... _0912.html
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/sport ... _0912.html
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Atlanta Hawk Fan
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The latest is that David Stern opined yesterday that the ownership situation would be resolved by February 2009. I will believe it when I see it.
The link W_HAMILTON provided is a good one but the essence of the dispute is that Belkin tried a hostile takeover of the team (ostencibly over the JJ deal) that backfired when the Court ruled he didn't have the authority to run the team against the majority vote of ownership simply because he was the governor. At that point, the buyout process started and the Atlanta Spirit Group was foolish in the way they drafted the buyout contract and Belkin tried to, again, do a hostile takeover of the team by jury rigging the buyout process when he selected the first evaluator of the team and then claimed the right to pick the second evaluator because he received the report from his handpicked evaluator first and objected to it without reading it. The contract gave a period of time in which to object and both parties objected to the first evaluation. Under the contract, if the parties didn't agree to the second evaluator the NBA would appoint a third one.
It is still unresolved as to how the buyout procedure continues from the point of the first evaluation. The Courts have ruled, however, that Belkin did not get the right buyout the other owners because the buyout procedure was not completed in the required timeframe. At this point, Belkin is not contributing any capital to the running of the business and is more than happy to let the ASG pay to run the franchise while it appreciates in value.
During the interim, the ASG is running the team. Belkin participates but has only 1/3 of the voting power (like he always had) and so he doesn't really get a say in what is done. The restritions that Belkin previously got limiting the contracts the Hawks could offer (which is the first time in my knowledge that a professional sports team has operated under different rules than the rest of the league) are gone so the Hawks are currently free to resign Josh Smith and Josh Childress as they desire.
Billy Knight is still the GM but asked to fire Mike Woodson several times and had this request rejected by ownership. It is unclear whether BK or Woodson will be back next season - although this playoff run has to increase Woodson's odds of returning.
The link W_HAMILTON provided is a good one but the essence of the dispute is that Belkin tried a hostile takeover of the team (ostencibly over the JJ deal) that backfired when the Court ruled he didn't have the authority to run the team against the majority vote of ownership simply because he was the governor. At that point, the buyout process started and the Atlanta Spirit Group was foolish in the way they drafted the buyout contract and Belkin tried to, again, do a hostile takeover of the team by jury rigging the buyout process when he selected the first evaluator of the team and then claimed the right to pick the second evaluator because he received the report from his handpicked evaluator first and objected to it without reading it. The contract gave a period of time in which to object and both parties objected to the first evaluation. Under the contract, if the parties didn't agree to the second evaluator the NBA would appoint a third one.
It is still unresolved as to how the buyout procedure continues from the point of the first evaluation. The Courts have ruled, however, that Belkin did not get the right buyout the other owners because the buyout procedure was not completed in the required timeframe. At this point, Belkin is not contributing any capital to the running of the business and is more than happy to let the ASG pay to run the franchise while it appreciates in value.
During the interim, the ASG is running the team. Belkin participates but has only 1/3 of the voting power (like he always had) and so he doesn't really get a say in what is done. The restritions that Belkin previously got limiting the contracts the Hawks could offer (which is the first time in my knowledge that a professional sports team has operated under different rules than the rest of the league) are gone so the Hawks are currently free to resign Josh Smith and Josh Childress as they desire.
Billy Knight is still the GM but asked to fire Mike Woodson several times and had this request rejected by ownership. It is unclear whether BK or Woodson will be back next season - although this playoff run has to increase Woodson's odds of returning.
