Carmelo Anthony knows a thing or two about free agency.
After exploring the open market himself for the first time this past summer, Melo has a better understanding of how available players think and what goes into their decision-making process. And after general manager Danny Ferry and controlling owner Bruce Levenson were caught with their hands in the racially charged cookie jar, the All-Star forward believes the free-agent process will now include spurning the Atlanta Hawks.
From ESPN New York’s Ian Begley:
“[There] ain’t nobody [who] would want to go there,” Anthony said Saturday at the Citi Carmelo Anthony Basketball camp in Manhattan. “At the end of the day, Atlanta, I think it puts Atlanta back even further now, from that standpoint.
“Atlanta is a great city, a great market, great people, great atmosphere. But as far as the comments [that] were made, I think it was uncalled for. From an owner, from a GM, those are not things you play with.”
Yowsa. Those are some harsh words.
And he wasn’t done either:
“As a player, as an athlete, we’re looking for a job, we’re trying to find a place where we can move our family, we can make our family comfortable, where we can be comfortable in a comfortable environment,” Anthony said. “But those comments right there, we would never look at [playing there].
“I’m speaking on behalf of all athletes. We would never look at a situation like that, I don’t care what it is.”
Everything Anthony says is completely justifiable, though he may be painting this situation with a broad brush.
Players—many of them, anyway—are going to follow the money. If the Hawks happen to be dangling more money than anyone else, than they can still be in play for the financially focused crowd.
But this entire ordeal undoubtedly hurts them. They’re not a top destination as it is, and the latest certainly hasn’t helped. It doesn’t matter that Levenson may have self-reported his comments, or that Ferry was reading a scouting report. The Hawks now have issues by association.
Being mentioned in the same breath as Donald Sterling—however right or wrong–stains them. It creates a lasting memory. When fans and players and pundits are discussing the Hawks, they’ll think about this scandal, no matter the outcome and final punishments that are handed out. If Ferry remains in power, things could be even worse.
In a way, this stands to be worse for the Hawks than the Los Angeles Clippers’ saga was for the team itself. Atlanta isn’t Los Angeles. The Hawks don’t have Doc Rivers. They don’t have two superstars in Chris Paul and Blake Griffin setting the bar of continued loyalty.
All the Hawks have is their previous reputation—one overrun with mediocrity and intermittent irrelevance. That alone put them at a severe disadvantage when recruiting free agents before.
Finding themselves at the center of another race-related controversy now—specifically with regards to free agency—hurts them further, in a way that can neither be immediately remedied nor soon forgotten.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
