Do you approve of Billy Knight's job as GM thus far?

[LL Cool Scott]

Curious to know what the general consensus is here (kind of a little informal approval rating poll...)

[BMF Jet Jaguar]

coudlve been better, coudlve been worse

[HoopsGuru25]

I'd swap BK for any other GM in the league with the exception of Bird,Isiah,Mchale,Wallace,and the guy in Orlando(who hasn't made one good move in 3 years other than trading Steve Francis). BK is not only inept...but also very arrogant which makes it worse. He should also apologize for taking Shelden after basically telling us(the fans)that we don't know anything about basketball.

[conleyorbust]

I'd swap BK for any other GM in the league with the exception of Bird,Isiah,Mchale,Wallace,and the guy in Orlando(who hasn't made one good move in 3 years other than trading Steve Francis). BK is not only inept...but also very arrogant which makes it worse. He should also apologize for taking Shelden after basically telling us(the fans)that we don't know anything about basketball.

Co-signed.

He hasn't been the worst GM in the league and for the most part he did a good job at getting rid of the big contracts that he was saddled with when he came. Since then he has done a poor job of building a team and coaching staff and an even worse job as a front office man dealing with the public.

There are faint rationalizations for why he did everything but you shouldn't have to rationalize your bad moves when your good ones are just as easily rationalized as luck or common sense.

[Rip2137]

My only problem with Knight is the coaching.

He has mistakes, he has things you can champion.

I like the Josh Smith, Josh Childress, and Marvin williams all are damn good players.

Yes, they should have taken Chris Paul, but what he came away with isn't bad. Yeah, he probably should have taken Deng, but on this team I still like Chill better.

The Sheldon pick at 5 was stupid. But you aren't going to name GM that has gotten a lottery pick that doesn't have some dumb ones. He should have signed a big man and drafted a point guard or drafted Sheldon deeper in the draft.

I can't really fault him for the Speedy contract. you have to remember, its not exactly easy to get free agents to come here. he probably over gave for Joe and for Speedy, but neither was a bad pickup. Speedy just caught a bad break.

His inactivity during the year is also pretty annoying and he is a stubborn ass, but besides that, overall, I like the job he has done in the draft.

[atlsun]

No. Cp3 and D-will aresome of the top point guards in the nba and Shelden is just sitting on that flocking bench.

[JoshB914]

Considering we are a losing baskebtall team this long into his tenure, he has obviously done a poor job.

[SouthernBred]

I would really support him if he had not picked Shelden. That was a major blow. Basically we sucked all year that season and had nothing to show for it.

[Master8492]

I think he's done a solid job getting rid of bad contracts and bringing in talents. But I'm about to jump to the other side if he can't get rid of Woody this year.

[fo_o_fo_404]

He's horrible.

In 2004, you pass on both Luol Deng and Igoudala.....for a bench player?

You pass on CP3 and Deron Williams in 2005. For another forward.

And in 2006, you pass on Brandon Roy, who is, in my opinion, a taller Dwayne Wade. Shelden Williams is garbage...and I never liked his game. So in essence our backcourt issues should have never been. CP3 is a MVP candidate and Roy is a beast....and Deron's is a monster.

A backcourt of CP3/Deron or Roy (who's really isnt a PG, but can play the position) with JJ.....would have been one of the best tandems in the league.

Anyone of us on here could have done a better job at assembling talent or this team.

Add to the fact that he is arrogrant as hell....and yes, I think he is one of the worst GM in hoops right now.

Oh....by the way, his coaching selections have been Woody and Sidney Lowe.....nuff said!

[NWO4Life]

There about 4 bulletins that I wanted to comment on today but I can sum it all up right here.

BK is Dog Skit. I was bitching about him more today with a long time friend of mine. The biggest blunder that never gets talked about is BK going with Sheldon Williams over Roy! I not going down the entire list of his blunders the have been chronicled here well enough but when in the hell will he wake up and decide to get a PG. He of course would say "we have 4 already";- 1 that shoots, 1 that defends, 1 that gets assists but has no quicks to defend. Too bad we don't have 1 that can play at the level of an NBA starter.

I personally will not attend another hawks game at Phillips until BK is gone. Or fixes the PG problem before the trade deadline.

Of course the damn ASG will be happy with making the playoffs in the 7th seed and give BK and Woody another year. Thats pathetic. This is probably the weakest the Eastern Conference has been as long as I can remember. And you just know they will say what a great success it was. Its just marketing propaganda and denial on their part.

It just show that the ASG is not run by basketball people. Its run my carnival ring masters marketing a bad product and refusing to address the organizations glaring deficiencies.

But being that they are under the salary cap and making just enough ching to pay their legal team the will just keep believing in a Billy Knight plan that doesn't even exist.

The local AJC takes it so easy on them too. It justs frosts my ass the more I think about it.

I hope the front office wakes up soon. The fans need to make there voices heard. Half of the people in my keeper fantasy league could do a better job running the show drafting and working the cap.

And don't get me started on not taking louis williams in the second round. We got AJ what a steal. Or passing up on a cheap Telfare. Sorry I just get going and it infuriates me that a multi million dollar organization can be run so poorly. Seems the Hawks are run just like our government a democracy without direction.

~I'll press "QuickReply" now.

[HMFFL]

Pre this season, Marvin has been the only starter out of all the lottery picks. It makes me rather sick of what this team could look like right now.

Joe's not even the player leadership wise that Billy imagined. We can't market him. Billy also felt he would be a 1,2 and 3, but that's not the case and we learned that rather quickly.

I'm rather surprised that more aren't standing behind Billy Knight. A month ago I created a topic about how we won't become a serious contender with our current point guards. Some of you felt everything was fine and that we didn't need to seek out any trades.

[conleyorbust]

Yeah, to really understand how bad he has been you can't go through move by move and look at the rationalizations. Obviously Chil and Marv had potential and have look to be solid players but they were both high lottery picks and had much better players come after them. If those are bright spots on his resume' it makes the botches look even worse. The Speedy signing was justified as a desperation move, we needed a point guard so we signed an injury prone career backup, I was happy at the time because I have wanted this team to have a real pg for 9 years now but it was a desperation move that he shouldn't have had to make. Lo was past his prime, you can't make two terrible FA signings like that and justify them both. The Shel pick was obviously the worst, and the worst high lottery pick since Hoffa, yes we need a banger but no one was gonna pick Shelden with any of the picks following ours, why waste that asset? Then there was the desperation pick of Acie Law at 11... not a terrible pick when looked at in a vacuum but again, we still needed a point guard - many ATL fans thought we should have moved some assets for Calderon but instead we snagged a player in the draft and hoped he'd work. It all makes some sense if you look at it move by move but if you look at it as a whole it doesn't you can see that he has had numerous opportunities the make the "right" move and he doesn't so he makes a series of make up moves to cover for them which puts us into a deeper hole each time.

[td00]

BK is looking for 5 interchangeable players to play anywhere on the floor.
His formula is working...too bad its not a winning formula.

He has missed more than gotten it right....yes, he did get rid of bad contracts, but those teams won more than any of BK's current team.

Its probably better the Hawks don't have a draft pick next year.

Anybody want to deal for anyone on this team? I don't see much to offer here.

And Billy, thanks for Shelden, Salim, resolving our need for a PG and giving us no long term plan to win a playoff series.

[HMFFL]

Billy has gone after some top free agents, but thankfully most passed us, and are now cap holds for other teams. I expected us to pursue other free agents after trading for Joe Johnson, it looks like the youth movement, and lack of responsibility on the part of the ASG has pushed this franchise down.

Billy decides to build a franchise with bigs first and inks point guards as his final piece. Doesn't make sense to me, but hey, Billy still has time to put us into the right direction....(I'm waiting)

Bruce, feel free to chow in here if you want to correct anything.

Eric Dampier Bidding war and Dallas won. Dallas can be happy with Eric, but it would be a nightmare for Atlanta right now, so luckily he passed up on the Hawks.

Kenyon Martin: If signed, he was going to be our franchise player. I remember the ASG saying how good it would be for K-Mart to be the face of our franchise.

Eddy Curry The heart condition scared Atlanta away from this signing.

Sam Cassell: At 14 million per/year Billy offered the most. Still a better option over Speedy. If Sam had signed I believe many of our expiring contracts would not be on the team and Sam would be expiring.

Tyson Chandler: It was pretty apparent he didn't want to play for Atlanta, but we pursued him, and if only Billy managed to bring him to Atlanta. Nearly impossible to happen.

[conleyorbust]

HMFFL made a good point that BK can still put us in the right direction. We have an amazing core for a good running team, we just need the most important peice for a running team... a point guard that can push the ball up court and make the right passes.

[JoshB914]

The great thing about the Shelden pick was that EVERYONE on this board was upset. And EVERYONE wanted Roy (and a few Foye). And EVERYONE (except BK) was right.

[pughead]

I had always been a BK apologist for the drafting of Marvin Williams. My rationale was that despite most calling for Chris Paul, we were at a place with the franchise where you had to take a crack at the home run. At that time, Marvin was viewed as the player with the highest ceiling.

With that said, I was FURIOUS with the Shelden pick over Roy. While watching the game the other day, I found myself getting ridiculously pissed as RoY took over down the stretch and we lost in the closing seconds to Portland. For me, the Shelden pick was the last straw. I can no longer explain away the poor draft performance of Billy "I know more than you" Knight.

[tbhawksfan]

The Lakers have a very happy board. their GM just picked up an alll-star caliber, young C for an expiring and non lott picks. nice job BK.

[HMFFL]

The great thing about the Shelden pick was that EVERYONE on this board was upset. And EVERYONE wanted Roy (and a few Foye). And EVERYONE (except BK) was right.

I didn't see us going after Roy. I was wanting the rumored Head and Seattle pick to happen.