It’s official. The Atlanta Thrashers are on their way up north. The Atlanta Spirit Group, owner of the Hawks and operating rights to Philips Arena, sold Atlanta’s professional hockey team to True North Sports and Entertainment earlier today. The team will play in Winnipeg, Manitoba for the 2011-12 season.

Economics drives a lot of transactions in sports, and the sale of the Thrashers was no exception. Atlanta Spirit, which had been under financial stress, will receive $170 million, and the NHL will take in a $60 million relocation fee from True North.

The move doesn’t necessarily erase the financial difficulties of operating a team in the league, and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman acknowledged the challenges True North will face, particularly with the Thrashers playing in the 15,015-seat MTS Centre, the smallest arena in the NHL:

“It isn’t going to work very well unless this building is sold out every night,” Bettman said.”

However, Winnipeg just might be better suited to bear some of the financial burdens. The Thrashers will no longer be competing with the likes of the Braves, Falcons and Hawks for fans, and Winnipeg has been itching for a pro hockey team ever since the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996.

While several Thrasher players and fans are outraged about the move, some are looking on the bright side. Atlanta goalie Chris Mason stated:

“I remember growing up watching the Jets, and I’m just excited to know NHL hockey is coming back to a city that has always wanted hockey.”

And Vancouver Canucks player Alex Burrows pointed out:

“I’d rather play in a rink that holds 15,000 and feels like it’s 20,000 than go into a building with 20,000 seats and just 5,000 fans.”

And besides, the Canadian dollar is stronger than the U.S. dollar now anyways, right?

The NBA Finals begin tomorrow night with the Miami Heat taking on the Dallas Mavericks. My heart’s with Dallas, but my head is leaning towards Miami.

It’d be great to see Dirk finally take home a ring, but a one-man team is going to have its work cut out for itself in a seven game series. Not that I don’t think highly of Kidd, Chandler, et. al., but the Big Three are The Big Three for a reason, and they’ve managed to live up to the hype thus far during these playoffs.

Former Hawks superstar Dominique Wilkins appeared less impressed with the potential of the Wade-Bosh-James trio, however, and had actually picked the Bulls over the Heat:

“(The Heat) has two superstars and a very good player in Chris Bosh, but they’re not that strong on their bench so I think it will be tough for them to beat Chicago.”

[Sidenote: I think poor Chris Bosh might forever be relegated to his place in the shadows of Wade and LeBron.]

And Wilkins probably would be against contraction in the NBA, preferring that superstars play against rather than with one another:

“We didn’t want to play with one another. We wanted to kick each other’s butt. Basically, that’s the way it was. I didn’t want to team up with (Larry) Bird or team up with Magic (Johnson) or (Michael) Jordan. I wanted to play against those guys.”

So we’ll soon see if Dirk and Wilkins-style basketball can overcome the Heat and this new-fangled contraction trend.

Shortly after the Hawks’ front office extended his contract, GM Rick Sund sat down with beat reporter Michael Cunningham. A few highlights:

Q. Do you think this core group has peaked?

No.

Q. How can it be better?

In some ways it might be a little bit like Dallas, although we were younger than Dallas. Dallas went three straight years with disappointing playoffs and eliminated in the first round and I think that prompted Cuban the other day to grab the mic and say, ‘For all you people that didn’t believe in us . . . ‘ Because they kept their core group together including Kidd and Nowitzki and Marion and they got criticized for that quite a bit. And they got beat pretty much embarrassingly, by their standards, in the last three years. I think we have learned along the way.

Q. You look at Dallas, they did make a trade that helped them so . . .

Yeah, well, you asked me about the core group and that’s what I’m responding to. The core group of our players have, I think, improved every single year.

Q. So you are not inclined to break it up?

I didn’t say that. I said we will continue to look. Your question was, ‘Can this core be competitive again?’ I think we were pretty competitive in the playoffs.
————
Q. When there was trade speculation last fall about Josh, you talked to him and reassured him. Now that there is more speculation, and he seemed frustrated with a lot of the criticism he got during the playoffs, do you talk to him again?

No, I’ve talked to him a number of times—collectively, our team—and the age of the Internet, bloggers make trades and then media feel compelled to write, and don’t worry about that. If an opportunity presents itself to improve our club, they know we would do it. Bibby got traded, Mo got traded, we traded for Jamal, we traded our draft pick—they know we will pull the trigger. But one thing I’m not into is addition by subtraction or shopping one guy or two guys. We are looking to see what makes us better as we go forward.

Q. But I think the difference this time with Josh is the frustration is coming from him as far as saying ‘I’m taking too much of the heat.’

He hasn’t expressed that to me.
———–
Q. Larry’s offense didn’t go the way he planned as far as getting team to play that style all the time. Do you still think this . . .

I don’t know. You have got to ask that question to Larry.
———-
Q. During the playoffs Joe expressed frustration with whether it was best share the ball or for him to try to do more. It seems like he never really . . .

I don’t know. That’s between him and Larrry. But from my perspective I thought he did a pretty good job.
———-
Q. Those are mostly intangibles you are talking about. From a personnel standpoint, what do you think the team needs?

I don’t know. We are still in the process of evaluating that.

Q. Are you talking to Jamal about a contract extension?

I’m not going to discuss contract stuff. Jamal knows that we want to do everything in our power to bring him back but we don’t know what the [CBA] rules are yet.

For the full transcript, see http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2011/05/27/atlanta-hawks-rick-sund-q-a/?cxntfid=blogs_hawks
———-

Ease up, Rick! Your job’s not on the line, you just got your extension. No need to get so defensive…

“Flopping.” The act of over-exaggerating the impact of a foul to get a call in your favor. It’s most often associated with soccer, and today’s Champions League championship match between Barcelona and Man U was no exception.

I couldn’t help but remember Rajon Rondo’s comeback against the Heat in which he dislocated an elbow, had it popped back into place and came back to play with essentially one arm. In one case, a player grimaces and rolls around as if his life is over after a slight shove; in another, a player shrugs off a dislocated elbow and returns with his game face on.

The NBA isn’t exactly void of its own floppers either, and players have been increasingly called out for it of late. LeBron James gave what was called the “greatest flop of all time” in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdvwepbKG9E&feature=youtube_gdata_player

You do what it takes to win. In basketball, sometimes that means falling over for a 250-lbs. center when a 185-lbs. guard runs into you, and sometimes that just means sucking it up and popping that elbow back into place.

But somehow it seems like that gap is that much greater in the NBA. Admittedly, this could be because my familiarity with great moments in soccer is dwarfed by my memory of NBA comeback stories. But it just seems like there aren’t as many of those instances in soccer, whereas basketball is full of them (Rondo, Willis Reed, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, etc.).

They are two different kind of games that entail different styles of play– quick sprints down the court in three to five minute increments versus long 45-minute stretches. You could also make a cultural argument– those Europeans and Latin Americans always have a flair for the dramatic. And of course, it’s about the incentive structure and the kind of behavior is rewarded and punished with free throw, free kicks, fouls and penalties. And what about “taking one for the team” in baseball? The hitter who inches up a little to get brushed by a ball inside?

This is a rather inconclusive thought. Not a value judgment one way or another, just some recent event-inspired musings. And maybe a shout out to any more knowledgeable soccer fans out there that might be able to shed some light on the issue!

The teams for the NBA Finals are set: the Dallas Mavericks against the Miami Heat. A repeat of the 2006 series that the Heat won in 6 games. I wouldn’t mind seeing Dirk finally get a ring after what has been a terrific post-season for him; at the same time, wouldn’t it be something to see the Heat pull off the “I told you so!” despite being the team everyone loved to hate all season? (Thanks, Rick Reilly.)

Anyways, although I was a little disappointed to see some of the younger underdogs get knocked out, it should be a good series, and it would be fun to see either of these two teams take the trophy. (Read: indecision is a win-win.)

And so we’re back to 2006 again. How did the Hawks do in the 2005-2006 season? So glad you asked.

• The summer before, the Hawks selected Marvin Williams in the 2005 draft with their Number 2 pick. This was the year they passed up Deron Williams and Chris Paul. For a UNC bench player.

• Also that summer, the Hawks picked up Joe Johnson from the Suns in return for Boris Diaw and two first-round draft picks. This was the deal that provoked controversy among Atlanta Spirit owners and eventually resulted in the dismissal of Steve Belkin from the group. And is also still being mocked as quite possibly the worst return on investment for a player with a maximum contract.

• On the bright side, Atlanta came back from its worst season in history, doubling the team’s win total from the previous year: 26 wins, 56 losses. Great job, guys.

So as hard as it was to watch the Hawks get eliminated in Round 2 of the playoffs, a little perspective helps. It could always be worse. It could be 2006.

Well, it looks like the Hawks and Philips Arena will remain under Atlanta Spirit ownership despite earlier talks with John Moores who had expressed interest in buying the team. The prior exclusive negotiating period was ended without any agreements before the window closed on Friday. According to Spirit partner Michael Gearon, Jr., the decision was not provoked by one side or another, but rather “ended by mutual agreement after preliminary discussions.”

On the other side of the house, it looks like the Thrasher are getting closer and closer to a move up north. The AJC indicated that the Spirit was nearing a finalization of the sale of Atlanta’s hockey team to True North Sports and Entertainment, which would move the team up to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

While Atlanta’s pro baseball, basketball and football teams are clearly the city’s focus (SB Nation calls out the AJC outright for prioritizing an inconsequential regular season Braves game over the potential sale), the Thrashers had developed a loyal following in their 11 years in the city.

I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t follow the NCAA basketball season as closely as I would have liked this season. Or maybe it’s just my über short-term memory. Little flashes stick out to me– the Big East was stacked and unpredictable, the Pac-10 championship game kept me up way past my bedtime, and Duke and UNC got a lot of pre-season hype and then floundered in the tourney as surely as the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. I saw ‘Cuse dominate St. John’s at the Garden and Kemba dominate everyone at the Verizon Center.

Syracuse @ St. John's

UConn-Bucknell, NCAA Tournament Round 1

But that’s pretty much the extent of what’s stuck with me. So I’m pretty open to first-round draft candidates for the Hawks. Except. Except this:

“By getting younger and more athletic at the point guard position despite Jeff Teague’s emergence, why not solidify that position by drafting Connecticut’s Kemba Walker? This team has many needs, but I do see a scenario in which Kemba Walker could help transform Atlanta’s team profile and franchise.”

And this:

“I believe Jeff Teague, Kemba Walker and Kirk Hinrich can co-exist together in much the same way that Dallas’s trio of Jason Kidd, J.J. Berea and Jason Terry have thrived with the Mavericks.”

Nope. Wrong answer. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge Kemba fan. I too was in awe of his determination and work ethic during the Big East tournament. But he is not the answer to the Hawks’ problems.

» Continue reading “What Not To Draft: Kemba Walker Is Not The Answer To The Hawks’ Problems”

It’s like the unfortunate consequences for two kids caught in the middle of an ugly divorce– you go with mom, you go with dad. Atlanta Spirit, LLC, the ownership group of the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena was recently criticized by Thrashers forward Chris Thorburn for how the group has handled the proposed sale of the Thrashers. Thorburn commented to Fox 5 News at a public appearance last Saturday:

“For owners to turn your [sic] backs on you, it kind of makes you mad. Obviously, we don’t know every aspect of the deal and where they’re coming from because it hasn’t been publicly noted in the papers. From everything we heard and rumors we heard, it’s discouraging knowing that they’re not behind us and they’re trying to dump us. That makes a guy mad.”

While the details of both deals are still in the works, it looks like any potential sale of Atlanta Spirit’s holdings would be separate: the Thrashers to a Winnipeg investment group; the Hawks and Philips Arena to former San Diego Padres owner John Moores. Doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of “Atlanta spirit” going around…

Josh Smith, forward for the Hawks for the past seven years. Andruw Jones, centerfielder for the Braves from 1996-2007. Two players that came in with immense talent and potential. Two players that failed to meet expectations and have gotten into scuffs with their managers for attitude problems.

When Andruw first came into the league, Bobby Cox said he was the greatest center fielder he’d seen since Willie Mays. Jones had an uncanny ability to instinctively sense where a ball was headed at the crack of the bat. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 1996, but hit a disappointing .231 the following year as the starting center fielder.

Jones, who grew to rely solely on natural talent, became complacent and lazy and was even pulled from a game by Bobby Cox in the middle of an inning for his lackadaisical play. After stints with the Dodgers, Rangers and White Sox, Jones has settled in as a washed-up, overweight backup outfielder for the Yankees.

When the Hawks selected Josh Smith in the first round of the 2004 draft, Atlanta was abuzz with excitement. With such sheer, natural athleticism, Smith had the ability to take over a game as an inside force. The hometown hero, born and raised in Atlanta, quickly became a fan favorite. In 2010, Smith became the youngest player in NBA history to record 1,000 blocks.

But Smith’s run in Atlanta has been all but “smoove,” and the 25-year old ran into his fair share of troubles during the 2010-2011 season. Immaturity, absentminded turnovers and careless jump shots provoked boos from his own Atlanta fans and disapproval from head coach Larry Drew who sat Smith on numerous occasions during the playoffs for erratic play.

» Continue reading “Josh Smith:Hawks::Andruw Jones:Braves?”

So who is this guy anyways? The Hawks signed the 25-year-old Bahamian player as a free agent for a whopping $52,622 in April, but Rolle didn’t end up entering a game for Atlanta. With so much focus on the big names in the draft or top prospects out of high school, it’s easy to forget that the path to the pros isn’t always a straight shot.

Adding to the Hawks’ already diverse roster that boasts a Dominican (Horford) and Georgian (Pachulia), Rolle grew up and spend most of his life in Freeport, Bahamas. The forward/center didn’t start playing basketball until his freshmen year in high school, but was a quick learner. After his senior year, Rolle transferred to a  North Carolina prep school and then played for an LSU team that reached the Final Four. A year later, Rolle transferred yet again to Louisiana Tech where he finished fourth in blocks in the school’s history despite only playing for two years.

He entered the draft and was picked at number 51 by the Thunder and then promptly traded to the Pacers. He played in five games and averaged 6.6 minutes per game with Indiana before being waived. Rolle stuck with it, however, and was the third overall pick in the NBA D-League draft. He played with the Marine Red Claws before the Hawks picked him up.

So Rolle didn’t exactly get to the pros easily, and it’s still unclear how long he’ll stay. But he may be a good (and cheap) pickup for the Hawks who could use a little more depth at the power forward/center position.