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[Jimmy103]

Every 15 minutes I have to hear a story about how stupid the Hawks front office is for not taking Chris Paul.

Okay, Chris Paul is a flat out superstar, but it's not like the Hawks were the only team to pass. He wasn't even the 1st PG taken! 20/20 hindsight is beautiful for Hornets fans, brutal for the Hawks.

Fast forward to the summer of 2007. The Hawks still have a gaping hole at PG, but the Hawks decided to make what I like to call a big boy decision. Faced with either the "obvious" choice in Mike Conley Jr. or risk the embarrassment of passing on another "stud" PG by taking a bit undersized C/PF...the Hawks manned up and made THEIR choice.

So where are the same guys who were beating the "you should have taken a PG" drum? I don't hear those same people lauding the Horford pick. What about everyone who ragged on the Joe Johnson trade...Boris Diaw and the 2008 #15 pick, how will your franchise ever recover? Haha



Let's give some credit where credit is due, the Hawks front office has assembled an extremely talented and more importantly PASSIONATE young core. It has been a privilege to compete with a team who is leaving everything on the court (as compared to the West's 8 seed who just rolled over and died.)

This series has been SIGNIFICANTLY more exciting than I ever anticipated. While I can't say (in the moment) that I'm pleased we're going 7, if the first 6 games are any indication...I CAN NOT WAIT FOR GAME 7!


CONGRATS ON EVERYTHING THUS FAR, SEE YOU BOYS SUNDAY!!!!

[LHughes/JSmooth]

Thank you. I am happy a non-Hawks fan is saying this.

[HoopsGuru25]

1. I think alot of hindsight is used by the media when it comes to Chris Paul/Marvin Williams. Marvin was considered the player with the highest upside in the draft and Portland actually traded down when it was clear we intended on drafting Marvin. I also believe the Bucks only worked out TWO players for the top pick and that was Bogut & Marvin.

2. BK has to be smarter than the media(think Mario Williams to Houston). He is paid to know more than everybody else. It's not like Paul came out of no where like Andrew Bynum did. Paul said he had his best workout with the Hawks and expressed a desire to remain close to home.

3. BK has gotten credit for picking Josh Smith and Al Horford. Those two have played really well in this series...although it should be mentioned that BK fell backwards and got lucky with even getting a chance to draft Horford.

4. It's not like BK's mistakes have set the world on fire in the playoffs. Childress,Marvin,and Bibby(didn't make a mistake trading for him but with a smart GM we would have Roy)have all struggled this series.

[td00]

To think that of all the offseason trades, the Hawks potentially has benefitted the most this year.
Yes, Cleveland is better with Wallace, but Bibby helped us solidify a spot in the playoffs, and it is true, like it used to be with JJ......

The Hawks go as far as Bibby takes them. Both have to improve their games on the road, end of discussion.

[evildallas]

Actually, some in the media bashed him right away on the Marvin pick. I too hated it at the time. I wanted Deron Williams, so I admit that I missed on Paul also. However in my defense they didn't work out for me. A lot of others have come in to attack in hindsight though.

2006 was the really bad BK year. Signing Speedy and Lo Wright may have set the club back years. The drafting of Shelden Williams was ridiculous. It's only made better by the fact he's gone. A paid GM should have seen the flaws in his game on those handful of televised games he had in college (oh wait, he went to Duke so all but 4 of his college games were televised in the Atlanta area. I managed to see 2 of those in person, but I don't recall seeing BK there).

BK hasn't done the worst job of any GM, but I still don't he's done a good job either.

[killbuckner]

The problem wasn't passing on a player of need to take the BPA. It was passing on the BPA when he played a position of need. If you are passing on a player of a need position it should be because you think he just flat out isn't nearly as good as the player you are picking. Its putting yourself out on a limb. And It just happened that the limb broke in a major way and he should take the blame for that.

[Retrovision]

If the hawks picked chris paul, we dont know anything else. But their wouldnt be a Al Horford.

[LL Cool Scott]

Thanks man.......but you're not going to find any Billy Knight fans in Atlanta. Lol!

[NWO4Life]

For me it was always the promise made and then the pick of Sheldon Williams over Roy who was obviously the pick the Hawks should have made. Horford is a stud but I have to because he is not mentioned much give props to AC Law. He was playing some good under the radio basket ball in gm 6. Lets not forget he's a rookie too.

[evildallas]

Thanks man.......but you're not going to find any Billy Knight fans in Atlanta. Lol!

Well said. We've had these discussions many times, many ways. The jury isn't still deliberating. We're waiting for the sentence to be executed.

[_BBIB_]

Not as much hypocrisy as it is a blind agenda.

As much slack as we get for not taking Paul, Deron Williams, or Brandon Roy, the same people who beat those dead horses will not acknowledge the wheeling and dealing we did to bring in Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Mike Bibby, and Acie Law.

They won't acknowledge that we made the right decision going against expert opinion that suggested Hawks could not pass on Conley and that Horford was just another forward.


From the media, it's the mind set of the Hawks being the laughing stock of the league and them wanting to always have something to hang over the head of the team.


From the fans, it's the dislike for Billy Knight in general and for those moves that leads them to ignore this young talented roster has more than enough pieces for those two mistakes/hindsight decisions to prevent us from competeing from a Larry O'Brien trophy over the next 5+ years.