Atlanta Hawks being sold, team not being moved

[Real Men Wear Green]

ESPN reports:

The Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena will be sold to California developer and pizza chain owner Alex Meruelo, but the NBA team will remain in Atlanta, a person familiar with the deal said Sunday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because no official announcement has been made. The deal, subject to the approval of the NBA, is to be announced on Monday.

Meruelo confirmed the deal to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, saying "I'm a person who doesn't give up. I want to bring a championship to the city of Atlanta."

So, which owners were right about JJ? (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/6841180/atlanta-hawks-sold-california-businessman-reports-say)

[marion706]

Great News!

1 Owner>group

[Kurosawa0]

Anaheim Hawks?

[Sakkreth]

Seattle Hawks ? Sounds lame and Seattle is in west though...

[Hotlantadude81]

So, which owners were right about JJ? (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/6841180/atlanta-hawks-sold-california-businessman-reports-say)

Marvin Williams over Chris Paul is the bigger kick in the ass to me.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Could be a lie but the new owner says they're staying in ATL. Be interesting to see if his opinion changes when and if the Kings move.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Marvin Williams over Chris Paul is the bigger kick in the ass to me.
It wasdefinitely a bigger mistake, but the debate over JJ trade is what fractured the ownership group and is more controversial. There are reasonable people on both sides with the Johnson trade but people that think Marvin Williams was the right pick after all these years are just idiots.

[JaskoX1]

Cinncinasty callin'

[Hotlantadude81]

It wasdefinitely a bigger mistake, but the debate over JJ trade is what fractured the ownership group and is more controversial. There are reasonable people on both sides with the Johnson trade but people that think Marvin Williams was the right pick after all these years are just idiots.

If one guy can destroy a group of owners they're not going to last very long anyway.

If Chris Paul had been taken the Hawks probably would have been less desperate and might not have given JJ that type of contract.

[hawkfan]

The Hawks are staying.

One of the problems with the Atlanta Spirit was that they were stuck with owning the money-losing Thrashers, now sold and moved to Winnipeg.

Let's see what happens with roster moves. The Hawks can re-sign Jamal Crawford, or let him go and get a big (Tyson Chandler) or a younger wing. Then next year, we can either let Kirk Hinrich go and sign a younger player, or re-sign him. Plus we will have a first round pick next year.

So within 1 season, the Hawks have the possibility of adding 3 young players to Jeff Teague, keeping the team with some youth.

[G.O.A.T]

No franchise has been as transient as the Hawks.

Buffalo to Tri-Cities to Milwuakee to St. Louis to Atlanta to ...

[Real Men Wear Green]

If one guy can destroy a group of owners they're not going to last very long anyway.

If Chris Paul had been taken the Hawks probably would have been less desperate and might not have given JJ that type of contract.
Yu missed the point. No one is going to argue that Marvin Williams was the right pick, so it's not a discussion.

[Hotlantadude81]

Yu missed the point. No one is going to argue that Marvin Williams was the right pick, so it's not a discussion.

I got that you weren't arguing the point, but I'm just bitter about it. It's the one move that sticks with me the most.

[G.O.A.T]

Whats the official word on the Paul/Williams thing.

Were the Hawks that high on Williams or just not as high on CP3?

At the time it didn't seem like a terrible choice. Williams had superstar potential and not many point guards had been making a major impact around that time. The best in the league were guys like Kidd, Billups, Parker, Cassell. More of the complimentary type player. Even more so, point guards from recent drafts were not making big impacts. Jay Wiulliams, Shawn Livingston, Devin Harris, T.J. Ford, Marcus Banks, Kirk Hinrich, Sebastian Telfair. Those were the last guys drafted in the lottery at the PG spot. Meanwhile wing players were all the rage...Melo, Bron, Wade.

What was the reasoning there?

[AI3Anthony]

Thank God.

[hawkfan]

Whats the official word on the Paul/Williams thing.

Were the Hawks that high on Williams or just not as high on CP3?

At the time it didn't seem like a terrible choice. Williams had superstar potential and not many point guards had been making a major impact around that time. The best in the league were guys like Kidd, Billups, Parker, Cassell. More of the complimentary type player. Even more so, point guards from recent drafts were not making big impacts. Jay Wiulliams, Shawn Livingston, Devin Harris, T.J. Ford, Marcus Banks, Kirk Hinrich, Sebastian Telfair. Those were the last guys drafted in the lottery at the PG spot. Meanwhile wing players were all the rage...Melo, Bron, Wade.

What was the reasoning there?

Williams was the consensus no. 2 pick that year, so at the time it didn't seem like a horrible pick.

Marvin had back problems this year, but that said he has been fairly lazy in his practice skills. His jump shot should be a lot better than it is, and he finally became a solid defender this year, after years of putting no effort into it.

Hopefully he will do better next year.

[Clutch]

They should relocate.

Atlanta fans are absolutely horrible.
I remember when Knicks played against the Hawks in Atlanta,there were more Knicks than Hawks fans :lol

Move the team to a city with real fans.

[CLTHornets4eva]

Atlanta is a large market. The NBA is not pulling a team from ANY top 10 market. To top it off it's possibly the largest African American city in the US.

[hawkfan]

Add a couple shooters and someone who can handle the ball at 3, and some better execution, and the Hawks can get by Chicago or Miami next year.

[bdreason]

This just makes the NBA owners look more like a joke. Hawks ownership gives one of the worst off-season deals in the league, then turns around and sells the team, showing that it's the owners digging their own graves. Then they sell the team, without problem, showing that there are plenty of other people looking to purchase NBA teams (even in a lockout).

[bdreason]

Atlanta is a large market. The NBA is not pulling a team from ANY top 10 market. To top it off it's possibly the largest African American city in the US.


I don't know how their TV ratings are, but for a large market team, their arena sure looked empty on most nights. Either that large African American population doesn't care about the Hawks, or they just can't afford to attend games. A fan isn't worth much if they have no purchasing power.

[Real Men Wear Green]

This just makes the NBA owners look more like a joke. Hawks ownership gives one of the worst off-season deals in the league, then turns around and sells the team, showing that it's the owners digging their own graves. Then they sell the team, without problem, showing that there are plenty of other people looking to purchase NBA teams (even in a lockout).
The question here is ow much did they pay for it, and then how much did they sell it for? Or at least, how much did they sell their equity in it for? Adjust numbers for inflation, how much they spent on improving the team, how much they earned back in revenue, and we get some real numbers to base on whether or not owning a bad franchise is worth it.

[bdreason]

The question here is ow much did they pay for it, and then how much did they sell it for? Or at least, how much did they sell their equity in it for? Adjust numbers for inflation, how much they spent on improving the team, how much they earned back in revenue, and we get some real numbers to base on whether or not owning a bad franchise is worth it.


My Warriors, the losingest NBA franchise of the past 20 years, just sold for a HUGE profit, with a line of interested buyers out the door. The Atlanta Hawks, a team that plays to half empty arenas every night, just sold the franchise in a heartbeat. I don't really care how much these guys are making or losing on the sale of the franchise (although all signs point to large profits). The fact that there are willing and able buyers for marginal and terrible teams shows that these franchises have serious value, and are viewed by investors as either profitable, or at the worst, a marginal investment risk.


I can't even imagine the value of these franchises if they had GUARANTEED profits like the owners are pushing for. There are already people lining up to buy the teams. The value of a team with GUARANTEED profitability would probably double over night.

[bdreason]

And recent teams we know pulled large profits on the resale of the franchise include the Nets, Pistons, and Warriors.

[insidehoops]

The Hawks also wrote a brief open letter to their fans:

http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=8139

[MrRogers]

Most of the people in Atlanta aren't even from Atlanta, hence why a lot of them choose to root for the road team.

[kentatm]

No franchise has been as transient as the Hawks.

Buffalo to Tri-Cities to Milwuakee to St. Louis to Atlanta to ...

the Kings are up there

Rochester Royals
1945

[Lakers Legend#32]

An out-of-state owner (with no connections to the city of the team he just bought) claims he is dedicated to make that team a winner, even though there is an open arena in his home state.

This is the same bullsh!t Seattle was feeded by Clay Bennett. This is David Stern's NBA. Don't believe it for one second, Atlanta.

[sacredcow]

Where have I heard this before?

[bagelred]

Hawks about to be sold to a California maggot.

[G.O.A.T]

[QUOTE=kentatm]the Kings are up there

Rochester Royals
1945

[Joey Zaza]

Williams was the consensus no. 2 pick that year, so at the time it didn't seem like a horrible pick.

Williams was not a horrible pick at that time, but consensus #2 he was not. Bogut was arguable consensus #1, but Hawks were widely criticized for that pick the minute they made it.

Not sure how long they keep threads around here, but iirc, if you look back, you'll see it was not a consensus pick.

[hawkfan]

Williams was not a horrible pick at that time, but consensus #2 he was not. Bogut was arguable consensus #1, but Hawks were widely criticized for that pick the minute they made it.

Not sure how long they keep threads around here, but iirc, if you look back, you'll see it was not a consensus pick.

I guess that is debateable, it's been a while, but I remember that for the most part Marvin was considered the consensus no. 2 pick because of his potential, height and athleticism. He was expected to be a 20 ppg scorer, which clearly he has not turned out to be. If he had been close to that, then the pick would have been a success. Of course, Marvin's laziness and lack of work ethic has certainly played a significant part in his lack of growth.

That said, it was clearly boneheaded not to pick Paul or Deron Williams.

But even more boneheaded was picking Shelden Williams over Rudy Gay or Brandon Roy. Add either one to the Hawks (which could happen with Roy coming to the Hawks for Williams and Hinrich), then we are looking at a championship level team.

[MrRogers]

The Hawks needed a PG in 2005. Hell, Raymond Felton could've filled that void. Bad choice by Billy Knight.

[hawkfan]

hawkfan Trade Scenario:

Hawks get

Andrew Bynum (who could have been drafted instead of Marvin Williams)

Lakers get

Al Horford

[herschel4heisman]

I guess that is debateable, it's been a while, but I remember that for the most part Marvin was considered the consensus no. 2 pick because of his potential, height and athleticism. He was expected to be a 20 ppg scorer, which clearly he has not turned out to be. If he had been close to that, then the pick would have been a success. Of course, Marvin's laziness and lack of work ethic has certainly played a significant part in his lack of growth.

That said, it was clearly boneheaded not to pick Paul or Deron Williams.


At the time it was just a bad decision but in hindsight it is elevated to a historically atrocious decision. Once the NBA season ended that year I remember thinking we are finally gonna get a point guard, Deron or Chris Paul. I preferred Chris but Billy Knight didn't like him b/c he felt he was too small. This is even after Chris Paul publicly stated he wanted to get drafted by the Hawks and, as he even now says, had his best workout with the Hawks.

But Billy Knight, as I heard him say many times on Atl sports talk radio, didn't believe in specific positions like the 1, 2, 3 or 4. His dream was to have a center and the other 4 players to be interchangeable 6ft7 to 6ft9 swingmen. That's why a year after drafting 6ft8 Josh Childress with the 6th pick and 6ft9 Josh Smith with the 17th pick, he drafted 6ft8 Marvin Williams with the 2nd pick. At the time it made absolutely no sense to me especially considering the need we had at point guard with Paul and Deron available. I think I am right when I say prior to Acie LAw, in all Billy Knight's years as a GM, he had never drafted a guard in the 1st rd. He believed in his interchangeable theory to the point where. and people have forgotten now, but Joe Johnson was signed to be our point guard. When it became painfully obvious after about 10 games that he's not a pg, we had to go to the backup plan: Royal Ivey.

And that is why I really believe we didn't draft Chris Paul. The year of the Paul draft was the same summer we signed Joe Johnson. Billy Knight didn't see the need at point that any other reasonable person did b/c he was gonna offer JJ max money to be his point guard and surround Joe with the 3 forwards he had drafted in the 1st round the previous 2 drafts. I am being 100% honest when I say, at the time, drafting Marvin made no sense to me considering the talent available in the draft at a position of need. I at least tried to make myself feel better by saying Marvin is supposed to be talented so if he turns out to be this start others are saying he can become it'll mitigate the problems not drafting a point guard will cause. But we all know what ended up happening with Marvin . . .

[MrRogers]

Anyone got that pic of CP3 in Hawks gear?

[hawkfan]

At the time it was just a bad decision but in hindsight it is elevated to a historically atrocious decision. Once the NBA season ended that year I remember thinking we are finally gonna get a point guard, Deron or Chris Paul. I preferred Chris but Billy Knight didn't like him b/c he felt he was too small. This is even after Chris Paul publicly stated he wanted to get drafted by the Hawks and, as he even now says, had his best workout with the Hawks.

But Billy Knight, as I heard him say many times on Atl sports talk radio, didn't believe in specific positions like the 1, 2, 3 or 4. His dream was to have a center and the other 4 players to be interchangeable 6ft7 to 6ft9 swingmen. That's why a year after drafting 6ft8 Josh Childress with the 6th pick and 6ft9 Josh Smith with the 17th pick, he drafted 6ft8 Marvin Williams with the 2nd pick. At the time it made absolutely no sense to me especially considering the need we had at point guard with Paul and Deron available. I think I am right when I say prior to Acie LAw, in all Billy Knight's years as a GM, he had never drafted a guard in the 1st rd. He believed in his interchangeable theory to the point where. and people have forgotten now, but Joe Johnson was signed to be our point guard. When it became painfully obvious after about 10 games that he's not a pg, we had to go to the backup plan: Royal Ivey.

And that is why I really believe we didn't draft Chris Paul. The year of the Paul draft was the same summer we signed Joe Johnson. Billy Knight didn't see the need at point that any other reasonable person did b/c he was gonna offer JJ max money to be his point guard and surround Joe with the 3 forwards he had drafted in the 1st round the previous 2 drafts. I am being 100% honest when I say, at the time, drafting Marvin made no sense to me considering the talent available in the draft at a position of need. I at least tried to make myself feel better by saying Marvin is supposed to be talented so if he turns out to be this start others are saying he can become it'll mitigate the problems not drafting a point guard will cause. But we all know what ended up happening with Marvin . . .

1. Josh Childress was the reason the Hawks didn't pick Roy or go Gay that draft, instead picking Shelden Williams. Horrible.

2. Acie Law - terrible selection at no. 10 in the draft.

[hawkfan]

Looking forward, the Hawks need to get a passer in the front court, and better production from Josh Smith, and get Teague more experience. Not happy with the Hawks losing Hilton Armstrong, especially since the Hawks gave up a first round pick to Washington to get rid of Bibby's contract (which has turned out to be Chris Singleton).

[JaskoX1]

this thread quickly turned into the "lets make outragious trade scenarios"

cp3 hawks, dwight howard. lol

have a better shot of getting shaq out of retirement then landing the Howard.

[hawkfan]

Nice story about the Hawks new owner.

Seems like a great guy, and I think he will be a welcome change from the Atlanta Spirit Group, which overall did well considering the circumstances they had to deal with:

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/09/path-to-a-dream-from-a-family-that-fled-castro-to-first-hispanic-nba-owner/?hpt=hp_t2

[hawkfan]

Al Horford, Kirk Hinrich, 2 first round picks for Dwight Howard.

[Darius]

There's a nice open arena in Anaheim I hear...