NBA'S BIGGEST OFFSEASON LOSERS
Posted: Tue Aug 5, 2008 12:35 am
From ESPN.COM
Well played, Atlanta Spirit. You guys are basically a committee full of Donald Sterlings. You're such a complete embarrassment. This team will never go anywhere until this team is sold. It's even worse than when the Smith family owned the Falcons. At least that was just ONE incompetent tight-wad, now we have to sit around and watch in misery as an entire COMMITTEE of incompetent tight-wads ruins our franchise.
What was hilarious was getting an email soliciting my season ticket renewal THE DAY AFTER CHILDRESS SIGNED WITH THE TEAM IN GREECE. The next day! My email reply could basically be summed up as "F--- You!!! You will not get a single penny of my business until you sell this team."
Another thing - these clowns didn't let Knight "walk" - they actually wanted to keep him!!!
LOSERS
Atlanta Hawks
You've got to hand it to the Hawks, currently the most dysfunctional team in the NBA. After finally making the playoffs and pushing the Celtics to a seventh game in the first round, the Hawks looked like the team on the rise. Then the offseason came and the Hawks' ownership group, Atlanta Spirit, got to work.
Their first move was a good one, letting GM Billy Knight walk. The Hawks were in the playoffs despite Knight's consistent botching of the draft, not because of him. Unfortunately, after Knight resigned, everything got seriously mangled in Atlanta. A number of the top GM candidates they pursued said "no, thanks" and the Hawks ended up settling on Rick Sund, a nice guy who's failed badly as a GM in his last two stops in Seattle and Detroit.
Sund's first move was to bring back head coach Mike Woodson -- a guy who several players don't really like and whose coaching style doesn't fit the talent on the team.
Then the Hawks completely mishandled Josh Childress. First, they offered him a contract for less than the midlevel exception. Then they told him to go find a better deal, thinking no team would make a strong offer. Childress found a better deal in Greece and warned the Hawks he'd take the money. The Hawks called his bluff and Childress took the money and ran. Normally, I wouldn't make such a fuss over a sixth man, but Childress was the glue that held the team together -- he was very underrated.
Now the Hawks are between a rock and hard place with Josh Smith. Their offer is lower than what Emeka Okafor and Luol Deng got. Smith is upset and doesn't really want to play in Atlanta. If they up the offer, they risk overpaying a player who is unhappy in Atlanta. If the Hawks don't increase the offer, they risk Smith taking the one-year qualifying offer in Atlanta and bolting next summer as an unrestricted free agent.
Well played, Atlanta Spirit. You guys are basically a committee full of Donald Sterlings. You're such a complete embarrassment. This team will never go anywhere until this team is sold. It's even worse than when the Smith family owned the Falcons. At least that was just ONE incompetent tight-wad, now we have to sit around and watch in misery as an entire COMMITTEE of incompetent tight-wads ruins our franchise.
What was hilarious was getting an email soliciting my season ticket renewal THE DAY AFTER CHILDRESS SIGNED WITH THE TEAM IN GREECE. The next day! My email reply could basically be summed up as "F--- You!!! You will not get a single penny of my business until you sell this team."
Another thing - these clowns didn't let Knight "walk" - they actually wanted to keep him!!!