Time To Blow Up The Hawks

Let me start out by saying the Atlanta Hawks effort in Game Three versus the Boston Celtics was a cute story for about 24 hours.  They were short-handed without Josh Smith yet took the Celtics to overtime.  Fantastic.  So when Game Four began Sunday night with the news that (1) Josh Smith was returning to the lineup and (2) Al Horford was going to play 15 – 20 minutes, there was room for optimism.  Yet, before I could fire off my first tweet Sunday night, that game was over.  Once again proving that using the words ’optimism’ and ‘Hawks’ in the same sentence is an oxymoron.  The Hawks fell behind by 37 points Sunday night.  You know who does that?  The Charlotte Bobcats on a Tuesday in January.  Not the #4 seed playing a #5 seed in the playoffs. 

That brings me to the following conclusion (and I feel like I talk about this topic every May), it’s time to blow up the Hawks.  Clean house.  Nobody is safe.  This team consistently disappoints and when the results continue to be the same, you must look at what the common components are to this franchise and say – SEE YA!

You have to start at the top.  The very top.  Ownership.  The Atlanta Spirit needs to cut ties with this franchise.  They teased us last summer.  They were so close to finally getting out of the basketball business and selling the team to a guy who made his money in the pizza business on the West coast.  Turns out that guy didn’t have enough ‘dough’.  Deal fell apart.  Atlanta Spirit still here.  A city continues to suffer.

In the NFL, the model franchises score high marks in four areas: Ownership, General Manager, Head Coach, and Quarterback.  If we applied these same principles to the Atlanta Hawks, what would their report card look like? 

Ownership (Atlanta Spirit): F.  General Manager (Rick Sund): C-  I’m not going to grade Rick Sund on draft picks, but rather free agent signings, which is how you create depth on a roster.  Filling the bench up with guys that are running on fumes in their NBA career doesn’t cut it (McGrady, Stackhouse, Dampier, Radmonovic).  Head Coach (Larry Drew): C for CHEAP.  He is lowest paid coach in the NBA.  The Hawks promoted him from within because he was the low cost option.  You get what you paid for.  Cheap coach equals cheap results.  Finally, let’s grade the Hawks quarterback, Joe Johnson: D.  Joe Johnson has zero leadership.  He wants no part of the pressure that comes with leading a team in a big moment.  Joe Johnson had 7 points at halftime last night.  Go look at how Paul Pierce came out in Game Two for the Celtics.  He scored the Celtics first 9 points.  That’s called coming out and making a statement.  Joe Johnson usually comes out with a question mark.   

Calling Joe Johnson a 6-time All Star is like calling me a 6-time Gold Medallion flier with Delta.  Sure I feel like I’m elite, but the reality is there are platinum and diamond fliers that get all the love.  Joe is Gold Medallion.  Guys like Durant, Pierce, Kobe, Lebron are Diamond. 

I’m not going to go over every Hawks player and talk about why they need to shipped out-of-town.  The reality is this team needs to cut the head off the snake (ownership) so this team just dies.  Time to stick a “Fire Sale” sign on the front lawn of the “Highlight” factory.  I will be down at Philips Arena tomorrow night for Game Five.  Hopefully I’ll be witnessing the beginning of the end.

Follow me on Twitter and Global14: @kidcue