Atlanta Sports: A State of the Union
The State of the Union is an important part of the American Presidency that lets the nation know where we stand as a united people striving towards common goals. My State of the Union for Atlanta Sports is a offshoot of that idea. As we close out 2014, I want to take a look at each of the professional teams in Atlanta, and see if they are standing on sure footing or the precipice of the abyss.
The Atlanta Falcons:
To borrow a famous phrase from Abraham Lincoln, “The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation.” The Atlanta Falcons are in the middle of a fiery trial. They just lost their chance at the playoffs in 2014, they’ve fired their head coach, and they’ve decided to retain the General Manager in Thomas Dimitroff, who made the personnel moves that put this team in a position to fail. Many people have heard of Presidential approval ratings. I believe if you asked Atlanta fans what Thomas Dimitroff’s approval rating was, it would be in the single digits.
If I’m looking at the Falcons organization as a whole, I see a team with no clear direction from top to bottom. I see an owner making excuses for some of his top staff, blaming other staff, and accusing the media of manufacturing stories that he doesn’t agree with. I see a coach that made obvious mistakes during the year fired with solid cause, but the man who perpetuated the defensive nightmare on the field is safe. I see a slew of former GMs, executives, and front office people continually failing upwards instead of being held accountable for the product on the field.
The Falcons organization has an extremely unique opportunity to fix what’s wrong with the team. They have a franchise quarterback, a young pro-bowl wide receiver, one of the best kickers in the league, and an up-and-coming secondary player. They will have a slew of cap space to play with when it comes to signing current talent and free agents. They have the number eight overall pick in the 2015 draft, which they can hopefully use to fix some of the defensive problems on the team. They can pick their direction by hiring a new head coach and his staff. This is absolutely the perfect place to bring in a new GM who can quickly steer the direction of the team to the right place.
My major problem so far is that the Atlanta Falcons aren’t taking advantage of that opportunity. They are keeping the same GM that created a defensive problem with his “explosive player” drafts, that couldn’t make any good free agent moves in the last two years with the playoff window slamming shut, and that has been lambasted by the press and fans for his approach of trading away draft picks instead of stockpiling them like the organization he came from. Any other GM would be happy to walk into this situation with the resources the Falcons have at their disposal. However, if the Falcons waste this opportunity with another bad draft, and another chunk of bad money on the books against the cap? The field of candidates that would be willing to take on this mess gets a lot narrower.
Atlanta has a bad history of not seeing the writing on the wall, and in this case, I think the Falcons are completely delusional about their team structure. The team is a complete rebuild at most starting positions not to mention the depth, but the looming shadow of a new stadium and trying to sell PSL’s completely skewed the Falcons’ focus into “winning now” instead of realizing the team was in disarray after 2013. The 2014 year could have been used to trade back picks, stockpile resources, and get some depth at a lot of positions. Instead, we’re left with a left tackle that the team hopes will improve quickly out of last year’s draft. That’s about it for the impact.
In my opinion, unless the Falcons completely overhaul their front office staff, they are going to have a very hard time righting this ship. There aren’t many coaches that I believe will work for an owner as involved with the team day-to-day as Jerry Jones. Even worse, I’ve heard that the Falcons have Josh McDaniels on their list of possible coaching candidates, which would be very fitting for this organization. He’s a Patriot guy that’s continually failed everywhere except right under Belichick’s wing, so if the Falcons hire him you expect a complete disaster of united the golden boys McDaniels and Dimitroff. Remember, McDaniels is the guy who thought drafting Tim Tebow in the first round was a great idea. Never forget.
Short answer, the state of the Falcons right now is extremely shaky, and it’s almost entirely because they are pushing this stadium on the fans. If the new stadium was in the ground, I fully believe this team would have already tried to rebuild rather than ham-fistedly try to make this team work. This year will be a very clear defining point for the organization as they commit to players. One can only hope that the current staff does a complete 180 from their prior years and returns to 2008 form.
The Atlanta Braves:
If you believe what you read on Twitter, the Atlanta Braves likely won’t win 60 games next year. We’ve traded away all our major talent, the team is rebuilding, and nobody knows what John Hart is doing other than trying to shed payroll like a fat guy tries to shed pounds the week after New Years Eve. Oh, and there is an albatross on the team in the form of B.J. Upton. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon. I fully believe you could package BJ’s contract along with Craig Kimbrel, Evan Gattis, and another prospect, and other GM’s would still tell you to pound sand. He’s the immovable object at that price. The only way we’re getting rid of BJ is at a supremely reduced rate, and I don’t think the Braves are willing to stoop so low.
But it’s not all doom and gloom as many fans would have you believe. Are the Braves rebuilding? Absolutely they are, and to say otherwise at this point is just silly. However, a rebuild of this team isn’t exactly a bad thing. Think for a second about what the Braves would be holding onto if they just stood pat during this off-season. The second worst offense in the league, ahead of the historically awful San Diego? I’m not really losing any sleep over replacing that. While Jason Heyward was one of the best defenders in the league, the Braves need runs scored. While Justin Upton could carry the team with the long ball, he could also go ice cold at exactly the wrong time and slug in .355 in June and .325 in September.
Whenever a team is at a crossroads, or nearing one, I always ask other fans, “What are you holding onto?” Yes, it’s true the Braves won a division somehow in 2013. Also consider that it comes off as an anomaly surrounding Washington winning the division two of the last three years. If I’m ranking teams, Washington’s staff and hitters are way ahead of Atlanta right now. I don’t think the Braves should be holding on to anything about that 2013 team, because I frankly believe it was a fluke that got exposed in the playoffs. It’s harsh to say that, but it’s true. The roster as constructed wasn’t going to get the Braves back into serious playoff contention if teams like Washington were playing remotely well. They just went cold at the plate way too often.
What makes matters even more interesting/depressing is that Miami is improving rapidly. They are adding pieces and spending money on their big named players. They have a pitching staff that’s one of the more fearsome in the league when it’s healthy. The Braves are going to have to compete tooth and nail with both Washington and Miami in 2015, and that’s why they had to make some moves to make the team and the farm system more solid. Because really, the problem for the Braves is similar to the Falcons. They also have a stadium looming in 2017, and they want to make sure the team looks good when they take that field.
Still, the Braves are different than the Falcons in their approach to that impending stadium. I can tell that the Braves are committed to making sure the team gets turned over, retooled, and that the front office gets a new look. They made all of that evident with the ouster of Frank Wren in 2014. That’s something I put some stock in, even if I don’t fully understand the trading or free agency plan of the Braves as it stands. I do believe they are heading the right direction, and that putting players on the field with more experience and better contact will likely lead to a more interesting season. I don’t know if I could take another year of boom or bust, homers and strikeouts, all or nothing offense.
The end result for the Braves is going to be better than most people think, which isn’t really hard since I think most people believe this team is going to be a disaster. I know the Atlanta Braves still have great pitching, they still have one of the better short-stops and first baseman in the league, and they have an amazing closer currently. Whether or not Kimbrel is still around at spring training is up for grabs in my mind. But while I’m fairly sure the Braves won’t win a division in 2015, I’m leaning towards them as a legitimate wild card candidate with a rag-tag group that very few people really sees coming.
The Atlanta Hawks:
The NBA season is underway, and if you haven’t noticed (and judging by ESPN’s coverage of the team, you haven’t), the Atlanta Hawks are tied for second place in the Eastern Conference. Normally, I’d never get excited about an NBA team in December, but the Hawks have slowly churned away at my better sense and made me want to jump on the bandwagon. As a team, they’ve bested some of the elite teams in the NBA on their way to winning 13 out of 15 on the month. Nobody really expected this out of the Hawks team, but it’s how they are winning those games that makes it even more intriguing.
Moving the ball is a big part of the Hawks offense under Mike Budenholzer. It’s a system that he’s brought over from San Antonio into Atlanta, and while it’s taken a while to get it up and running with healthy players it’s certainly been winning games this year. The Hawks don’t really have star players. Sure they have guys like Al Horford, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, and Jeff Teague that you may have heard of locally if you’re a fan or a basketball nerd. But do you know DeMarre Carroll? Do you know Elton Brand, Pero Antic, Dennis Schroder, Mike Scott, Shelvin Mack, or Thabo Sefolosha? Those are some of the guys making a difference on a night to night basis.
For the Hawks, it’s all hands on deck when they enter a game. Some nights, Kyle Korver is draining threes. Other nights, it’s DeMarre Carroll lighting it up from outside. But you can also have Mike Scott come in off the bench as a sparkplug, Elton Brand get in there and command the middle, or Dennis Schroder take over for Teague when he’s out with an injury. All that happened during the month of December alone. Under Budenholzer’s system, whoever is open and hot is getting the shot. The offense doesn’t flow through any one star, and that’s a big advantage for the Hawks as it puts a ton of pressure opposing defenses.
Now is everything right with the Hawks? Of course not. The ownership is still a gigantic problem that’s yet to be addressed. The primary partner was caught sending racist emails, and he’s going to sell his stake in the team. The other owners of the Atlanta Spirit are probably just as popular as Thomas Dimitroff right now. They bicker and conspire against each other while there should be a united front with this team. Then, you have the GM Danny Ferry busted for making racist comments on a phone call with other owners, and that started a firestorm which caused him to take an indefinite absence from his job. I’m still not 100% clear on what has even happened to Ferry. Is he in witness protection? Is he crying alone in a dark room under CIA surveillance? Nobody knows. But one thing is true. He’s been the architect of this team that’s currently winning on the floor, and I don’t think it’s out of the question to bring him back or fire him outright. Just make a real decision.
A bright spot for the Hawks is that all the controversy brought Steve Koonin, the new CEO of the Hawks out into the public eye. Steve’s frankly one of the better spoken, more energetic and hilarious personalities I’ve heard in basketball. His verve for the team is infectious, and he’s exactly the kind of front-man this organization of barely-tolerated owners needs. If you haven’t heard the man speak, just listen to one of his interviews on local radio, or in a stadium presentation, and then tell me it didn’t bring a little smile to your face. He gets it, and I like his direction, as well as the overall direction of the team.
If the Hawks can stay healthy, and they can smooth over the front office issues, I believe this team is capable of playing for a championship. Yeah, I said it. There’s no reason to believe this team can’t compete with the best of the best, because they already have and won. They beat Lebron by 29 points in Cleveland. They beat Dallas in Dallas. They got past Houston in Houston. They also took down Chicago and the Clippers. The team is dominate at home and way better than average on the road. It’s a recipe for success, and I hope fans will start jumping on board in the new year.
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All in all, I think Atlanta has one franchise in deep trouble, one struggling to get out of trouble, and one that’s a real contender. Time will tell in 2015 if any of that holds true, as sports has a way of making fools of us all, but as I look at Atlanta sports currently and in the coming year, I think there’s plenty of big opportunities out there for these teams to succeed. It’s up to them to stand up and finally seize the moment.