PARTY LIKE IT'S 1999!!!!

“RISE UP ATLANTA!!!!” The Hawks have ended the longest current playoff drought in the NBA. We are in the playoffs for the first time since 1999. I know that many people feel that a team with a below .500 record (the Hawks finished the regular season 37-45) doesn’t deserve to be in the playoffs. But in the NBA, the top 8 teams in each conference make the playoff regardless of their records. These are the rules. We don’t make them, but we sure do like them. I will be the first to admit that it takes hard work for a franchise to be inept enough to miss the playoffs in the NBA for nine straight years. I mean this is a league with 30 teams and 16 of them make the playoffs.

The Hawks have made some unbelievably stupid decisions since 1999, which led to this lengthy drought. These decisions include:

Trading for Isaiah Rider (Had all sorts of issues, in fact I believe he could be in some sort of rehab facility right now)

Hiring Billy Knight as General Manager (Outside of the LA Clippers, rebuilding in the NBA has never been this ugly.)

The 2001 draft (We traded the draft rights to Pau Gasol along with Brevin Knight & Lorenzen Wright for Shareef Abdur-Rahim. We also passed up Tony Parker.)

Drafting Marvin Williams in 2005 (Nice guy, nice player, but NOT A POINT GUARD)

Not drafting Chris Paul in 2005 (Don’t worry we made up for it. Please see below.)

Signing Speedy Claxton to a 4-year $25 million contract (We passed on Chris Paul the previous year, so we did the next best thing. Signed his backup. He is now the Mike Hampton of the NBA.)

Not drafting Deron Williams in 2005 (Are you noticing an anti-PG trend?)

Not drafting Rajon Rondo in 2006 (Now he is the PG on a potential championship team)

NOT DRAFTING A POINT GUARD

Drafting Sheldon Williams with the fifth pick in the 2006 draft (WHAT????)

Building a roster full of 6’6” to 6’9” wing players (No true Point Guard or Center, which are the two most important positions in the NBA)

Having a man named Bimbo on your roster (I am referring to Bimbo Coles who was a Hawk during the 1999 – 2000 season)

On the other hand, the Hawks have worked hard over the past couple of years to right their wrongs. They have made such wise moves as:

Not firing Mike Woodson (He walked into a horrible roster. He deserved a chance, and the best thing for this team was consistent leadership).

Trading for Joe Johnson (I still can’t figure out why he WANTED to come here, but I’m glad he did. I hope the team hypnotist got a nice bonus for that one.)

Drafted Josh Smith, Josh Childress, and Al Horford (These three have been essential to the playoff run and will be key to the future success of the team.)

TRADING FOR MIKE BIBBY (I CAN’T BELIEVE IT, WE TRADE FOR A LEGIT PG AND WE MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. WOW!!!! what a novel concept. We also found a team dumb enough to take Sheldon Williams off our hands.)

Although I haven’t attended many games in recent years (if I want to watch a basketball game alone, I can watch from home. No need to sit in a big arena alone.), I consider myself a Hawks fan. They are actually my favorite Atlanta sports team (I will explain my feelings on the other Atlanta teams in later blogs). I have watched almost all of their televised games over the past several years, no matter how bad the team.

I am thrilled to be a Hawks fan and I can’t wait for the playoff games to begin. I feel as though this is the beginning of great things to come.

NOW THE SOBERING REALITY OF THE SITUATION:

The Hawks will lose four straight games to the Boston Celtics by a combined 60 points or more. So take it all in and enjoy the playoff run, because it will be a short one. Four games to be exact.