As the regular season gets hotter, Franchises are battling it out to gain a playoff entry and to clutch onto their likelihood of winning the NBA Trophy. As the clubs fight it out on court a number of the Franchises have a struggle away from the court, with the current market as it is, and the players demands ever growing some of the Franchises are finding it difficult to continue in the current climate. In this case we will look at the Atlanta Hawks, a franchise with a long history and a huge fan base. Many of the current Franchises are produce of massive investment when the Franchise For Sale selections were available to prospective backers. This is becoming more strange in the current climate as Franchise For Sale selections are progressively difficult to find especially in the sporting market. A lot of backers are holding onto their investments in this period and hoping for a turn in the market. During this period backers will be dealing with their Franchises as a Home Based Franchise, which means that they are reducing their spending and only spending the stark minimum. A Home Based Franchise prides itself on not having much outgoings and so developing the Franchises potential of making a profit. The current Franchises of the sport are taking this approach, as they don’t want a Franchise For Sale sign outside. During a number of the Franchises history there has been major turning moments in ownership and financial restructuring as the Atlanta Hawks account will tell you.
When it comes to the Atlanta Hawks, the franchise isn’t exactly rich with NBA beliefs. The Atlanta Hawks begun as the Tri-City Blackhawks, hailing from the cities of Moline and Rock Island Ill., as well as Davenport, IA., beside the Mississippi River. Right through the years the franchise had stints in Milwaukee and St. Louis, winning its only team championship in 1958. The Tri-Cities Blackhawks joined the National Basketball League in the 1946-47 season.
In 1968 new owners moved the franchise to Atlanta. Through the off-season of 1972, the Hawks underwent two important adjustments. After having shared Alexander Memorial Hall with the Georgia Tech basketball team for five years, the Atlanta Hawks moved into the newly built 16,500-seat Omni.
On September 3, 1982, the Atlanta Hawks completed a move that would shape their identity for the whole decade. The team sent John Drew and Freeman Williams to the Utah Jazz for rookie Dominique Wilkins.
The Atlanta Hawks dipped into the free agent market during the 1996 off-season and came away with one of its biggest catches, both literally and figuratively. Dikembe Mutombo, the 7-2 centre from Zaire, instantly changed Atlanta into one of the finest defensive teams in the NBA. Mutombo, one of eight new Hawks, led the Hawks to a 56-26 record and a place in the Eastern Conference semi-finals for the third time in four years under Coach Lenny Wilkens. Mutombo concluded second in the league in blocked shots (3.3 bpg) and in rebounding (11.6 rpg) on his way to earning the NBA Defensive Player of the Year prize for the second time in his career.
The new millennium has left the Atlanta Hawks and their supporters disappointed to say the least. Late in the 2004 season they found reason to believe in the future however a rush of trades has appeared to free up cap room to catch some big name free agents or draft picks in the off-season.
