Posted June 21, 2008 14:26:02
All of us sports nerds long to run our favorite franchises at some point in our lives. It is the reason why video games have expanded waaaay beyond gameplay and let you run your own team with authority! You get to wear the Owner, General Manager, and Coach hats. What fun!!! I have always wanted to take this one step further and do some deep research into just why a bad team reached its current level of disaster. I now present you with the breakdown of the Atlanta Hawks and their painfully slow rise to mediocrity.
The History
From the 1992-1993 Season until the 1998-1999 Season, the Hawks made 7 consecutive playoff appearances. In the previous 51 years of the franchises' existence dating back to 1949, the Hawks had 36 number of playoff appearances. This includes years spent in Moline, Illinois, as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (2), in Milwaukee (4), in St. Louis (13) and in Atlanta (32). After moving to Atlanta, playoffs were enjoyed 23 out of the 32 seasons or 72% of the time! Of course after the 1998-1999 season, the Hawks have suffered through an 8 year playoff drought (until they squeaked in this year, but that shouldn't really count). So what went wrong? Why the sudden fall from grace?
The current ownership took over in 2004. The first personnel move made was to hire the current coach in Mike Woodson who matter-of-factly steered the team into an iceberg of a 13-69 record. Ouch that hurts! But lets move back farther. Not much changed for the 4 years after Time Warner bought/inherited the Hawks in 1996. Lenny Wilkens still led a talented team to the playoffs 4 consecutive times from this point. Stupid personnel moves soon followed before the 99-00 season: Steve Smith was traded for Isaiah Rider and Jim Jackson and 2 first round draft picks were traded for the perennial bust Lorenzen Wright. The franchise was doomed the next year to a 28-54 record which led to Lenny leaving after the season. So we have reached my starting point for this rebuilding of the once might and proud Atlanta Hawks.
The Starting Point
The takeover will begin at the turn of the century: the 1999-2000 Season. My primary goal will be to build from the draft. Trades will be wiped from the public's memory. Bonehead draft choices will NOT be made here! My first act as Owner/GM/Coach is back out of the Lorenzen Wright trade and get back my premium drafts picks! Year One will follow shortly.
Disclaimer: Of course I can make the better decisions with the help of knowing what the future holds for these players. The outcome of this reconstruction is show what COULD have been had the right choices been made.