Atlanta Hawks being sold, team not being moved

[Real Men Wear Green]

ESPN reports:

The Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena will be sold to California developer and pizza chain owner Alex Meruelo, but the NBA team will remain in Atlanta, a person familiar with the deal said Sunday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because no official announcement has been made. The deal, subject to the approval of the NBA, is to be announced on Monday.

Meruelo confirmed the deal to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, saying "I'm a person who doesn't give up. I want to bring a championship to the city of Atlanta."

So, which owners were right about JJ?

[marion706]

Great News!

1 Owner>group

[Kurosawa0]

Anaheim Hawks?

[Sakkreth]

Seattle Hawks ? Sounds lame and Seattle is in west though...

[Hotlantadude81]

So, which owners were right about JJ?

Marvin Williams over Chris Paul is the bigger kick in the ass to me.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Could be a lie but the new owner says they're staying in ATL. Be interesting to see if his opinion changes when and if the Kings move.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Marvin Williams over Chris Paul is the bigger kick in the ass to me.

It wasdefinitely a bigger mistake, but the debate over JJ trade is what fractured the ownership group and is more controversial. There are reasonable people on both sides with the Johnson trade but people that think Marvin Williams was the right pick after all these years are just idiots.

[JaskoX1]

Cinncinasty callin'

[Hotlantadude81]

It wasdefinitely a bigger mistake, but the debate over JJ trade is what fractured the ownership group and is more controversial. There are reasonable people on both sides with the Johnson trade but people that think Marvin Williams was the right pick after all these years are just idiots.

If one guy can destroy a group of owners they're not going to last very long anyway.

If Chris Paul had been taken the Hawks probably would have been less desperate and might not have given JJ that type of contract.

[hawkfan]

The Hawks are staying.

One of the problems with the Atlanta Spirit was that they were stuck with owning the money-losing Thrashers, now sold and moved to Winnipeg.

Let's see what happens with roster moves. The Hawks can re-sign Jamal Crawford, or let him go and get a big (Tyson Chandler) or a younger wing. Then next year, we can either let Kirk Hinrich go and sign a younger player, or re-sign him. Plus we will have a first round pick next year.

So within 1 season, the Hawks have the possibility of adding 3 young players to Jeff Teague, keeping the team with some youth.

[G.O.A.T]

No franchise has been as transient as the Hawks.

Buffalo to Tri-Cities to Milwuakee to St. Louis to Atlanta to ...

[Real Men Wear Green]

If one guy can destroy a group of owners they're not going to last very long anyway.

If Chris Paul had been taken the Hawks probably would have been less desperate and might not have given JJ that type of contract.

Yu missed the point. No one is going to argue that Marvin Williams was the right pick, so it's not a discussion.

[Hotlantadude81]

Yu missed the point. No one is going to argue that Marvin Williams was the right pick, so it's not a discussion.

I got that you weren't arguing the point, but I'm just bitter about it. It's the one move that sticks with me the most.

[G.O.A.T]

Whats the official word on the Paul/Williams thing.

Were the Hawks that high on Williams or just not as high on CP3?

At the time it didn't seem like a terrible choice. Williams had superstar potential and not many point guards had been making a major impact around that time. The best in the league were guys like Kidd, Billups, Parker, Cassell. More of the complimentary type player. Even more so, point guards from recent drafts were not making big impacts. Jay Wiulliams, Shawn Livingston, Devin Harris, T.J. Ford, Marcus Banks, Kirk Hinrich, Sebastian Telfair. Those were the last guys drafted in the lottery at the PG spot. Meanwhile wing players were all the rage...Melo, Bron, Wade.

What was the reasoning there?

[AI3Anthony]

Thank God.