As the Atlanta Hawks Turn

What does a city that hasn't had success in the sports realm have to look forward to in the near future?

In short it's one word, desperation.

I have seen too many instances where a team over-pays for an athlete, but this one may take the cake.

It may be because I'm a homer when it comes to the Atlanta Hawks.

Joe Johnson has been offered a ridiculous contract that will be paying him a reported $119 million over the next 6 years.

When the contract is up, he will be 35.

Here are some of the pros. He is in his prime (supposedly). He is a perennial all-star.

With him, the team has only gone up in the last 5 years when it comes to the record and status.

And you get to keep him.

And here are the cons. At 29, you may have seen the best of Joe already. He might have 1 or 2 more all-star appearances left in the tank.

He dominated the ball to put up the second tier all-star stats he put up last year: 21.3 ppg, 4.6 rebs, 4.9 ast, (thanks Iso-Joe). And then he flamed out by January, as seen in the last 3 years. In the playoffs, he has been a virtual no-show in the last couple of seasons.

The Hawks will be paying him top dollar (average of about $20 million a season) when the man is in his mid 30s.

The list goes on and on but those were just some of the things that a franchise, which may be on the chopping block, is going through right now. It's rumored that the franchise is up for sale.

The contract will not even be eligible to be signed until the 8th and he wasn't supposed to be signing a contract of any sort until after LeBron, Dwayne, and Chris Bosh (the upper echelon on the free agent class of 2010).

Apparently somebody forgot to tell Atlanta that Joe isn't the lead domino.

Atlanta is so desperate it's a shame and I, for one, find it ugly.

History tells us that we will be back in the lottery in about three years if the Hawks continue to perpetuate the stereotype of this franchise.

The only thing that you can see good coming from this is another trip to the 2nd round of the eastern conference and a few more ticket sells. Other than that, the last season was the ceiling.

The new Collective Bargaining Agreement has not even been determined yet nor has the salary cap and luxury tax been set yet and the Hawks have made it no secret that desperation has set in.

Tell Stephon Marbury, Jermaine O'Neal, Jerome James, and Co. to move over because when it comes to ridiculous contracts being signed, a new sheriff is in town, because this contract takes the cake.