| Goodbye B.K. Authored by Patrick J. Austin - May 7, 2008 - 9:07 pm
In a not-so-surprising move, Billy Knight resigned as the Atlanta Hawks Executive Vice President and General Manager. To be honest, the only surprising part of this news is that he resigned rather than getting fired. The writing was on the wall considering ownerships lack of effort, and general enthusiasm, at the prospect of extending Knight past the remainder of his contract.
It was a tumultuous six-year tenure for B.K. in the Hawks front office. He started off as the Director of Basketball Operations but was quickly promoted to the GM position in April of 2003 replacing long-time GM, Pete Babcock. During Knight’s reign, the club was essentially dismantled and wallowed in mediocrity. To top it all off, an ownership debacle made the franchise look completely lost and handicapped Knight for a period of time in making trades and signing free agents.
To Knight’s credit, he recognized the necessity to fully rebuild the team and successfully off-loaded the bloated contracts of Glenn Robinson, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Theo Ratliff. The Abdur-Rahim trade enabled the Hawks to draft Josh Smith with the first round pick they received from that deal.
Nevertheless, B.K. will be remembered more for his blunders than his successes. He is often regarded as the “bonehead GM who passed on Chris Paul.” Yes, Knight did indeed pass on a fantastic point guard in the 2005 draft when the team was in desperate need of a floor general, but so did other teams. It amazes me that the Hawks get the most flack for passing on Chris Paul when the Milwaukee Bucks had the top pick, but decided to take Bogut over CP3.
People also forget that the Portland Trailblazers had the third pick in the draft, but traded it to Utah in order to move down and select Martell Webster at the sixth spot. So Portland essentially traded the possibility to draft both Paul and Deron Williams so they could take the underwhelming Webster. Yet, the Hawks are the team everyone points to and laughs when mentioning Paul.
To be honest, I don’t blame B.K. for taking Marvin Williams over Paul. Everyone - and I mean everyone - was touting Williams as a can’t-miss prospect with limitless upside. Many scouts and analysts said Marvin would be the best player out of that draft in three years. Obviously, that hasn’t turned out to be the case, but you can’t blame B.K. for following the “best talent available” philosophy. He didn’t want to be the guy who passed on a talented wingman from North Carolina in order to fill a position of need (that illustrious title still belongs to Stu Inman, the Portland Trailblazers director of personnel and head of scouting in 1984).
The draft B.K. deserves a lot of criticism for was in 2006. That was the fiasco where he selected Shelden Williams with the fifth pick over Brandon Roy and other talents such as Randy Foye and Rudy Gay. This was a horrendous draft for the Hawks and displayed Knight’s inability to scout talent. He essentially shut down workouts after meeting with “Shellhead” and didn’t even give Roy and others a chance. Just imagine a backcourt of Joe Johnson and Brandon Roy. Very few teams, if any, could match up against that combination of size and athleticism. The Shellhead selection was terrible, but Knight’s inaction during draft day was even worse. The Phoenix Suns were dangling the 21st pick in the draft for cash and someone to take Brian Grant’s reasonable $3 million contract off their hands. The Hawks could have easily made this deal happen and been in a position to select a young point guard like Rajon Rondo, Jordan Farmar, or Sergio Rodriguez. Instead, Knight sat on his hands and the Celtics swooped in. They wound up taking Rondo and he’s now the Celtics starting point guard (Rondo outplayed our new PG, Mike Bibby, during the recent playoff battle against Boston).
Knight’s second round selections have been deplorable as well. He took Salim Stoudamire over Monta Ellis, Solomon Jones over Daniel Gibson and Travis Hansen over Chris Duhon. Everyone describes the Hawks as a team loaded with young talent, but it’s frustrating to think just how talented this team could be if we had made some wiser draft selections.
But even with his notorious draft blunders, it looked like B.K. was improving. He selected Al Horford and Acie Law in last year’s draft, which turned out to be two fantastic selections, especially Horford. Knight also made a good mid-season trade by acquiring Mike Bibby from the Sacramento Kings for a package of expiring contracts and the disappointing Williams.
This trade, along with the strong play of Horford, enabled the Hawks to make their first playoff appearance in nearly a decade. Of course, one cannot overlook the fact that the team still finished with 37 wins. The team battled valiantly against the top-seeded Celtics and many predict a bright future for the club. But it was clear ownership wanted to make some front office changes this summer. Both Knight and head coach Mike Woodson failed to have their contracts extended, and ownership didn’t even talk about the possibility of keeping them on long-term. I guess Knight realized change was in the air and decided to leave before he was shown the door.
So what does this mean for the franchise moving forward? Look for Mike Woodson to make an exit in the near future. He was Knight’s pick for the head coaching spot and ownership wanted him fired last season. With Knight now out of the picture, I can’t see Woodson staying on, especially with coaches like Mike D’Antoni and Avery Johnson on the market.
Who will be the new GM? Good question, with no definitive answer. A great selection would be Kiki Vandeweghe or luring basketball legend Jerry West out of retirement (he considered the Hawks before going to Memphis). Unfortunately, the still-unresolved legal battle between Steve Belkin and the Atlanta Spirit ownership group will make it difficult for the franchise to nab a top front office exec. Anyone of stature will want a steady front office that will give them control to make moves. The Hawks may need to promote from within for the time being and make a big front office hire at a later date.
Whoever becomes the GM needs to make sure they get three things accomplished. First, re-sign Josh Smith, no matter what. Second, re-sign Josh Childress, for a reasonable amount – don’t get carried away and give him starter money. Finally, strengthen the bench. It’s a simple three-step plan that will ensure the Hawks make a return appearance to the playoffs next year. |
