The All-Time Drafted By the Hawks But Never Played For the Hawks Team

Inspired by this post at Hardwood Paroxysm:

PG -- Bob Cousy
2G -- John Williamson
SF -- David Thompson
PF --Pau Gasol
C --Bill Russell
6th man -- Wayne Embry

Honorable mention to Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis since the Hawks drafted him but did so before Sabonis turned 21. The pick was voided so they never really held his rights.

Leave your corrections, commiserations and caterwauling in the comments.

Hardwood Paroxysm: Trade Winds, Vol. 1: Atlanta Hawks

Over at Hardwood Paroxysm, Sean Highkin takes a look at the the five best and five worst trades in the history of the Hawks franchise. Either I really overrate the value of two first-round draft picks and the averageness of Boris Diaw (freed from Mike Woodson, natch) or the Hawks haven't made very many good trades. Maybe both.

Also, trading Bill Russell certainly puts not drafting Chris Paul into perspective.

History Awaits

In lieu of a standard game preview (plus your Game 4 recap, if needed) and in the interests of perspective, let us be reminded that the Atlanta Hawks:

• Have not won a playoff series without holding home-court advantage since May 5, 1996
• Have not clinched a playoff series with a win on the road since that day
• Have not won a playoff series without playing the maximum number of possible games since May 1, 1987

Has it been pretty so far? No.
Have the Hawks won the series yet? No.
If they do win tonight, would it be, by the franchise's standards, historic? Yes.

Voice on the Floor: Relevance Is Overrated by Bret LaGree

It was a real treat to be asked to contribute to Voice on the Floor and I'm pretty pleased with the result: five-and-a-half minutes on attendance, demographics, playoffs, and a romantic notion of the meaning inherent in effort, not just success.

Fair warning to those of you tempted to listen at work: there is a gratuitous reference to Ed Nealy.

HoopSpeak: The TrueHoop Network Goes to College

This semester, University of Michigan Professor of Comparative Literature Santiago (Yago) Colas is teaching a course called Basketball Cultures.

Prof. Colas is blogging (quite well, and at length) about his experience teaching the class at Go Yago! One of the students in the course, Matt Gordon, is blogging about taking the course at Hoopism, and the TrueHoop Network will collectively follow the course by having a member write an essay each week on one of the course materials.

I'm up first, writing about Michael Schumacher's biography of the league first great star, Mr. Basketball: George Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers, and the Birth of the NBA.

You can read the complete essay at HoopSpeak as part of the Basketball Culture 101 series but here's an excerpt from George Mikan: The Ghost That Lingers:

The NBA is no longer arena-filler in between hockey games and ice shows in the Northeast nor joint vanity project and promotional vehicle for Midwestern industrialists. Teams don’t rely on balancing their books by scheduling themselves as the undercard on a double-header with the Harlem Globetrotters serving as the main event, and the best players are paid more intensely, for a longer period of time, and receive better medical treatment than Mikan, who retired (the first time) at 29. But the struggle to achieve a lifetime of success when your greatest skills abandon you at a young age is timeless, perhaps the inherent complication of having great athletic gifts.

Full credit and special thanks to Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak for organizing and running this endeavor. I enjoyed my participation in the project and look forward to reading the work of my colleagues in the coming weeks.

More Hawks on Christmas Day History

The Hawks haven't played on Christmas Day in 21 years but, in their last two Christmas Day games (1987 and 1989), two Atlanta Hawks (pictured together below in a scanned newspaper photo circa the 1986 All-Star Game in Dallas) provided their fans with holiday delights, displays that rank among the top 15 individual Christmas Day performances since 1986.


On December 25th, 1987 in Philadelphia, Dominique Wilkins scored 45 points on 28 shots, grabbed 9 rebounds, and earned 3 assists to lead the Hawks over the 76ers 106-100.

Neil Paine's adjusted plus/minus game score ranks this as the 15th-best individual Christmas Day performance since 1986. John Hollinger's game score ranks this as the 4th-best individual Christmas Day performance since 1986. And neither metric gives 'Nique extra credit for dragging Jon Koncak, Scott Hastings, and Chris Washburn along for the victory.

Two years later, the Hawks hosted Cleveland on Christmas Day. That 115-104 victory was far more of a team effort: all 5 starters scored in double figures (Wilkins, Moses Malone, and Spud Webb each tallied at least 20 points) and Cliff Levingston chipped in 9 points and 7 boards off the bench.

Webb, though, was the unquestioned star of the day, scoring 26 points on 14 shots, grabbing 6 rebounds, earning 12 assists, and committing just 1 turnover. Paine's game score rates this the 3rd-best individual Christmas Day performance since 1986. Hollinger's version ranks Webb 6th.

40 Years Ago Today

The Atlanta Hawks, featuring Lou Hudson, Bill Bridges, Walt Bellamy, and rookie guard Pete Maravich visited the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day.

Enjoy:

Christmas Shopping Alert: Photo of Dr. J As an Atlanta Hawk

You won't actually receive this original color negative of Dr. J dressed as an Atlanta Hawk until after Christmas (the eBay auction closes on the December 27th) but it's a gift worthy of receipt on any of the 365 days that constitute a year and no legal injunction can send this artifact back to Virginia.

(HT: Trey Kerby, The Basketball Jones)

Hoopism: NBA Team History Word Clouds

Hoopism created a word cloud for each NBA team based on minutes played.

Here's the visual representation of the Hawks:

Possible Atlanta Hawks Numbers To Be Retired

Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub wrote a thought-provoking piece about the probability of San Antonio retiring Bruce Bowen's number:

Most statistics show that Bruce Bowen contributed nothing to an NBA team.

And yet, despite an almost complete lack of visible basketball ability in a box score (and beyond) sense, Bruce Bowen is likely going to have his number retired and go down as one of the most memorable players of the last 15 years among hoops junkies. And there are two reasons—and only two—why he made this happen.

1) He became a tenacious, aggressive, relentless man-on-man defender. I’ll leave it to the Spurs blogs to tell you about that, but you probably know about it already.

2) He mastered the corner three.

Bowen's contributions did, of course, show up in the box score though largely in the difference between San Antonio's opponents' field goals attempted and made but that's not how any of us actually read a box score. Lowe goes on to acknowledge both the unique nature of Bowen's contributions and the history of teams retiring role players somewhat similar (Dave Twardzik, Mark Eaton) to Bowen or markedly inferior (Brad Davis).

The Hawks have been admirably stingy in retiring numbers. Only three players, Bob Pettit, Lou Hudson, and Dominique Wilkins, each of whom scored prodigiously and shone brightly for the franchise for at least a decade have their numbers retired. No other Hawks players approach the accomplishments of those three and none have joined them in the rafters.

For the purposes of this post, though, what if someone were to join them?

Ignoring active players (in deference to the unknown), assuming there's little impetus for retiring the number of an excellent supporting player from the St. Louis Hawks days (no disrespect to Bill Bridges or Cliff Hagan), and setting a minimum of five years service with the Hawks (thus eliminating Dikembe Mutombo, Steve Smith, and Pete Maravich) I've identified four possible candidates that could garner some support were the Hawks to lower the bar for retiring numbers.

#10: Mookie Blaylock

PROS: Criminally underrated. 9th in franchise history in minutes played. 1st in 3-point field goals made and attempted. 1st in steals, steals per game, and assists per game. 2nd in assists. First- or second-team all defense in six of his seven years in Atlanta. Finished in the top three in the league is steals per game in each of his first six seasons in Atlanta. Every Hawks team he played for made the playoffs. Until I saw Allen Iverson in the 1996 East Regional, Blaylock was the fastest basketball player I'd ever seen. Whatever Blaylock lacked comparatively in foot speed he made up for in hand quickness and strength. Billy Tubbs might attend ceremony. Would not let Pearl Jam name themselves after him.

CONS: Played only seven years in Atlanta. Those teams won just four of eleven playoff series and never advanced beyond the second round. Was noticeably past his peak (though still useful) in his final two years in Atlanta and as inscrutable as possible for a man named Mookie. Liked by members of Pearl Jam.

#14: Lenny Wilkens

PROS: Played for seven years and coached the team for seven years. As a player, 4th in franchise history in assists, 8th in minutes, 10th in points. As a coach, 3rd in wins and 4th in winning percentage. The Hawks made the playoffs in six of the seven years he coached the team. Named amongst NBA's 50 greatest players and 10 greatest coaches. Member of Naismith Hall of Fame as both player and coach. Seattle Supersonics no longer exist.

CONS: Played only for St. Louis Hawks. The teams he coached went 17-30 in playoff games. Hawks coaching career accounts for just 22% of games coached in NBA. Number 19 already retired by Seattle Supersonics.

#30: Tree Rollins

PROS: 2nd in franchise history in games played, 7th in minutes played. 1st in franchise history in blocks, tied for 1st in blocks per game. 5th in franchise history in rebounds. 1st in franchise history in personal fouls. 2nd in field goal percentage. 1st team All-Defense in 1983-84. Ably supported teams both John Drew and Dominique Wilkins for a full decade. Key figure in Hawks/Celtics rivalry lore.

CONS: A true role player, he has nothing in common with Pettit, Hudson, and Wilkins. The Celtics/Hawks rivalry burns briefly and irregularly ('57-'61, '86, '88, '08). Honoring someone, even in part, for having bitten Danny Ainge is in questionable taste and a poor hygenic example to the nation's children.

#42: Kevin Willis

PROS: 4th in franchise history in games played, 5th in minutes, 3rd in rebounds, 6th in points. Played ten seasons for the Hawks, seven of them being winning seasons, including the best four year run (1985-89) the franchise has had in Atlanta. Is a pleasant, ubiquitous presence around town. Makes quality jeans for a demographic traditionally underserved by denim companies.

CONS: Played another eleven seasons for another eight teams. He made only one All-Star team, generally struggled in the play-offs, and the limitations of his game helped make the Dominique Wilkins/Danny Manning trade worse even though it isn't Willis's fault that Stan Kasten failed to realize that Manning and Willis wouldn't complement each other at all.

Vote for your choice below. Choose other if you feel I've overlooked someone or reject any of the parameters I set for myself and name your choice in the comments.

Assuming the Hawks retired another number, whose number should they choose?
	Mookie Blaylock
	Tree Rollins
	Lenny Wilkens
	Kevin Willis
	Other (please specify)
pollcode.com free polls

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