B+

Good picks overall, but I would’ve preferred a trade for a veteran; we have enough youngsters to develop.

Post all trade talk and draft info here.

Stoudemire deal in the works?:

 http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/hawks/stories/2007/06/27/0628hawkadv.html

This would be incredible if so.

This could be one of the biggest days in Hawks History. In honor of the day, we’ll have a best and/or worst five draft picks in the franchise’s history. If you go the bad route, there’s plenty to choose from.

If you need some reminders, here you go: http://www.insidehoops.com/teams/atlanta-hawks-history.shtml

 Worst:

1. Jon Con-crap
2. Rumeal Robinson
3. Roy Marble
4. Demarr Johnson
5. Cal “The Ticalian Stallion” Bowdler 

(There’s no way you can stop at five with this lot)
6. Dion Glover
7. Ed Gray
8. Roshown McLeod
9. Priest Lauderdale
10. Adam Keefe
11. Douglas Edwards
12. Anthony Avent
13. Billy Thompson
14. Boris Diaw (can’t believe how good this guy got once he left the Hawks; he was absolute shit in Atlanta)
15. Dallas Comegys
16. David Thompson (did nothing in the NBA after an amazing career at NC State; got into drugs)

This is only the last twenty-two years; it’s amazing how bad we’ve drafted.

Best: (Not much to choose from)

1. Kevin Willis
2. Lou Hudson
3. Tree Rollins
4. Josh Smith
5. Jason Terry

Come on Hawks, turn it around! End this Knightmare!

(My list is more of a Favorites rather than Biggest Moments) 

1. Braves win 1995 World Series

2. Tech goes to Final Four with Lethal Weapon 3

3. Tech makes it to 2004 NCAA Finals

4. 1990 Tech Football National Championship

5. 1991 NLCS Victory and World Series Run

6. Game 7 NLCS Comeback

7. 1996 Olympics

8. Hawks-Celtics Playoff Series 1987

9. Falcons Super Bowl Appearance; Reeves doing the Dirty Bird

10. Falcons run to the NFC Championship with Vick

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Todd Massar and I am a Hawks Season Ticket Holder. I am a native Atlantan and have always been a die-hard fan of the team, through good and bad. I am writing you today because it seems like most of Atlanta has very little idea that this franchise has a rich history that dates back 50+ years and that we have an NBA Championship to our credit. It seems that I can’t go a day without hearing people bash the team and mocking the lack of the Hawks’ past accomplishments, knowing that this is just not the case.

Since it is the 50th Anniversary of the Hawks’ lone NBA Championship, I was writing to inquire whether the Organization was planning to recognize this feat by having any ceremonies or other special events planned? It would be great to see banners in Philips Arena displaying their efforts. I know that in the Practice Gym there are several banners recognizing the various Championships (NBA in 1958, Conference Champs in ‘57,’58,’60,’61) from the St. Louis days, but none actually hang from the rafters in the main Arena. I realize that these acheivements occured in St. Louis, but they are still a part of our history; it’s not like when they moved to Atlanta, they started a brand new franchise. If we shouldn’t include the St. Louis acheivements as part of our own, then it seems strange that we would have Bob Pettit’s #9 jerseys hanging up since he never actually played in Atlanta.

This would also be a good time to recognize some of the other players from those teams by finally retiring their numbers. Cliff Hagan, Clyde Lovellette, Alex Hannum, Slater Martin and EdMacauley all played during this period and are all Hall of Famers. The one who’s especially deserving is Cliff Hagan, who played 10 seasons for the Hawks.

I hope that you will at least consider some of the things that I mentioned above; I want people to take more pride in the fact that this Club does have a rich history to its credit, including 1 NBA Championship, 4 Finals Appearances and several Hall of Famers. When the Hawks return to the playoffs in the near future, I want people to realize that our participation in the postseason is not an abnormality but is just another page in our franchise’s already exceptional past.

Go Hawks!

OK, the draft is Thursday and the question remains: Who will Billy Knight waste his picks on?”

I have a two-fold question for you:

1. Who do you think the Hawks should draft at 3 and 11?

2. Who do you think Billy Knightmare will draft? (This question can obviously be abused and taken in so many directions, based on his track record)

My thoughts:

1. Conley and Noah. Conley because we need a PG, Noah because we have no defense in the post and even though he sucks offensively, his intensity is good in the paint on D.

To be honest, i’d like to see them make some trades and get an established 4 or 5 in here instead of waiting 2-3 years for the draft picks to develop. However, I don’t trust Billy- he might pull a package deal trading #3 and #11 for the rights to Ivano Newbill. Although we did get our #11 pick for Al Harrington, that rip-off ( I don’t want to use the word “trade” because a trade implies something swapped for another on equal terms) will go down as one of the most uneven trades in Hawks history. Way to go Billy, you really showed some shrewd business acumen on that one. Who knows how much more damage he could do with two lottery picks to trade away?

2. It’s such a crapshoot trying to figure out what is going on in Billy’s Shell. He’ll probably do something like waste the #3 on Noah when he can have him at #11, just like he wasted the #5 on Shelden last year. With the #11, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him not address the PG issue at all and go for the best athlete- probably a 6′7 Swingman would fit the bill. Thaddeus Young anyone?  

Janet, Ismail, Olivia went down to the game on Friday night. We got there a little late and there was a long line, so we missed the first few innings. Once again, there was a lot of walk-up traffic for this one and we had to wait 15 minutes for tickets. The attendance for the game was 44K, with several Tigers fans in attendance. However, it didn’t seem anywhere near the numbers of Red Sox fans that infested Turner Field earlier in the week. I wonder if Sussman was there wearing his Swingster Tigers jacket?

I thought that a Smoltz v. Gambler matchup would be intriguing and for the first 5 1/3 innings, I was right. Then, Smoltz started throwing batting practice and the Tigers would score all five of their runs in 2/3 of an inning. Up until that point, Smoltz had given up two hits and had 7 Ks. The bullpen locked down 7-9, but the damage had been done.

The Gambler had a no-hitter into the fifth inning and look strong, starting his first game since coming off the DL. The Tigers bullpen also kept the Braves on lockdown and Atlanta went down like Anita on the Minstrel.

Andruw dipped below .200 on this night and got quite a few boos from the crowd. This is the first time I can ever remember an Atlanta Braves crowd booing one of their own. Welcome to the Big Leagues, Braves fans.

Chipper had menstrual cramps again, so he begged out of the lineup. Can someone please get this man a Maxi-pad?

The hitting has gotten to a point where we just can’t compete. The Sox series and this one have shown us what real hitting teams are like and we aren’t one of them. The bullpen has settled in nicely, but all they seem to be doing these days is mop-up duty ( Steve’s job at the Heretic) or coming in to keep the game close. Every series is becoming more and more frustrating and you keep waiting for everything to fall into place, but it hasn’t and probably won’t until some deals are pulled off.

Hey, thought you guys would be interested…I just leaked the new Hawks unis over at SLAMonline. Whaddya think?

I made my way to Arlington for the first game in the Rangers/Astros series last night. The engaging matchup of Woody Williams (era over 5.00) against Kevin “Mike” Millwood (era over 7.00). In the top of the first, Berkman hit a homerun and it felt like an Astros home game as the fans cheered. Naturally, Woody gave a run back in the bottom half. The first two innings took over an hour. Houston took the lead in the top of the 5th on a long double by Arlington native Hunter Pence (Rookie of the Year to this point in the season) followed by a run scoring single from Berkman. In the bottom half, Woody continued to suck the high hog by giving up an HR to Senor Steroid Sammy Sosa followed by the sixth longest homer in the history of the Ballpark to….Marlon Byrd? Williams fastball topped out at 86 on this night. When they signed him, the Astros said Williams would probably be the 4th starter. For most of the year, due to Jennings injury, he has been the second starter. Miserable. He was relieved by Stephen Randolph, who proceeded to give up 5 more runs. After the 8 run outburst from Texas, it was 10-2 going into the 6th. The rest of the game was anticlimactic with the Rangers winning 11-3. Tough to have much optimism regarding this Houston as it looks to be a long season. They might win the game today with Oswalt pitching but will probably lose on Sunday.

 I had a bratwurst at the game that was horrible. I’m going for the Garlic Fries on Sunday. A couple of people got foulballs to the face last night. Always pay attention kids!

Going off yesterday’s theme, I think it’s appropriate to visit the other side of this list:

(Note for Matt: You can’t put Matt Harpring 10 times)

1. Greg McMichael (Blew so many of Maddux’s wins)

2. Jeff Blauser (horrible fielder and sorry ass hitter; he only had good years when his contract was up)

3. Tom Glavine (Sold us out for pennies on the dollar; there’s no way that he’s living better in NY than in ATL on the extra money that he’s making if you throw in cost-of-living)

4. Chan Gailey (Is driving the Tech football team into the ground and his mediocrity gave me no choice but to cancel my season tickets until he’s gone)

5. Lonnie Smith (Pay attention to your 3rd base coach, crackhead)

6. Dikembe Mutombo (I hated him at Denver for all of that finger-wagging nonsense and never warmed up to him here)

7. Ray Buchanan ( What a shit-talker. Always got burned big time at least once a game)

8. Chipper Jones ( Besides ‘99, he’s never been a clutch player and lacks leadership)

9. Brad Clontz ( like McMichael, also had a propensity for specializing in blowing Maddux’s leads)

10. Spud Webb (always a turd to us as kids and sucked as a player; he was a novelty item)

Dishonorable Mention: DeAngelo Hall, Mike Vick (never thought he’d be on a list like this), Lenny Wilkens, Rasheed Wallace (just the fact that he wore a Hawks jersey for one game makes me ill), Dany Heatley, David Justice