It’s really funny how things happen sometimes. Here I was reading the comments placed on this post about how the Hawks don’t seem to know what they’re doing. I thought to myself that the Hawks are taking the place of the LA Clippers as the laughing stock franchise - the butt of all teams. In the past years, teams like the Clippers, Raptors, Warriors, Hawks and recently the Blazers were teams I labelled as sucky teams. The Clippers made the playoffs last year. The Raptors underwent a major overhaul that has great promise, the Warriors also improved themselves a lot over the past few years, and the Blazersare slowly lifting themsleves up especially with this offseason’s moves. The Hawks are still in trouble.

After doing my usual routine of reading the sports news I encountered an article in Sports Illustrated written by Marty Burns called “How To Help The Hawks”. What a coincidence! Burns suggests that the first step in solving the Hawk’s problem is to get the ownership situation settled.

The team’s current bloc of owners, Atlanta Spirit LLC, is trying to hold onto control of the team after a judge ruled it had to sell to former partner Steve Belkin. The Spirit group, which remains in power pending an appeal that could carry well into next season, insists it is not holding back on player spending.

But many around the league believe the protracted nature of the Harrington trade, and GM Billy Knight’s refusal to take on long contracts, was at least due in part to the unsettled situation in the front office.

Everytime you blame your team’s GM for making a stupid move, try to think that it’s probably not his fault but that of the owner(s). Many teams have been held back because of problems with owners. The T’Wolves’ Cassell and Sprewell of a few years ago can be pinned on owner Glen Taylor’s reluctance to have them around. The Clippers perennial losing situation was caused by the the former penny pinching attitude of owner Donald Sterling.

Burns also suggests that it needs a star and that it needs to stick to Mike Woodson. True, Joe Johnson isn’t enough and Marvin Williams is still quite far away from being the potential star he was drafted no. 2 overall in 2005 for. But they don’t need just stars. They’re a young team and they need veterans. Even if they do manage to get get their hands on the next Lebron James-like phenom, they still need vets. As for Mike Woodson, I think his “lack of success” can be traced to the fact that the team they have now just isn’t enough. Given the right mix of talent, youth and veteran leadership we just might see something promising from Woodson. Afterall he was an assistant when the Pistons won the title in 2004. Look at Terry Stots, who coached the Hawks a few years go. He took the job with the Bucks and made the playoffs. Same thing with Woodson.

As for that mustard yellow uniform… Mr. Burns, I actually like it! But that’s just me.