by Fresh8 on Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:24 am
Chapter 2
Sit’s days of working with the Hawks were great at first; thus explaining why days went past so fast. However, soon enough his tenure as the General Manager became increasingly strenuous and often frustrating for many reasons. His plans for team development were rejected by Rob Wilson and the board day after day. Most of the Hawks’ games were easily won by opponents, often with the team giving up before halftime. The dull atmosphere of the Hawks organisation provided Sit with a bad day at work nearly everyday. Work always seemed like a mission but he was lucky to be encouraged and urged not to quit by John O’Shea, the ‘albino’ barrister. His encounters with Rob Wilson and the board hadn’t ended as violently as the first meeting he had with the board. Media had dubbed first meeting as the ‘Marbury Meeting’ when Sit had thrown water in the face of Wilson. Wilson wanted to sue Sit for assault but luckily, the team owner Barry Johnston had stepped in to calm things down. Sit remembered the meeting very clearly when he and Rob stood in the room Sit had had his interview.
“The NBA season hasn’t ever begun and you’re fighting already,” Barry clearly said, “I can’t accept or tolerate this type of unprofessional behaviour. All I ask of both of you is to put everything aside and work together in the future. I want to move along peacefully and I expect no further unwanted attention.”
Sit and Wilson nodded, understanding where the boss was coming from. Sit offered to shake Wilson’s hand but the other man just sneered and walked out of the room. Sit shrugged and sighed at the same time. He smiled for the first time since the Marbury Meeting and thought, I won this time.
“Thanks Mr Johnston for sticking up for me.”
“I wasn’t sticking up for anybody,” Johnston replied, “I do what I think is right and I don’t think that the two of you grown men should act like five year olds in the workplace. Just work hard and do your best from now on.”
Sit’s efforts in proving he could be a key in bringing success back to Atlanta were hindered by the board. After Wilson had decided not to sue him, he proposed other trades, stadium development plans and advertising schemes. All were knocked back within days of proposal. The reason was always the same as Wilson maintained that Sit was too young and inexperienced to make any decisions, no matter how big or small his plans were.
Not only did he have problems with the front office but he and the head coach started to have issues too. After attending a few of the closed door team practises, Sit didn’t support Mike Woodson’s coaching style and the two of them often argued about that topic. The Atlanta Hawks moved atop of the media’s priority list to write about as news of Sit and Woodson arguing started to leak out to the major news agencies and journalists started to publish the story out of context.
The Hawks’ preseason came to an end and the season looked like it would be a tough 29 game run. After the struggles of the team’s play during the exhibition season, Sit’s predictions of a playoff appearance couldn’t seem anymore far off than before. Sit was unimpressed with the team as a whole but never lost faith in the Hawks and praised the team in the media.
“It’s a slow start, plus preseason games don’t mean that much to us you know,” Sit had said in an interview.
“Tonight is going to be something special,” Sit told O’Shea as he drove towards the Phillips Arena.
“Its opening night,” O’Shea’s voice sounded in Sit’s earpiece, “I’ll be there later.”
Sit smiled and said, “Good stuff, I hope you got the tickers I sent you. It took me ages to get those seats reserved. Bringing the missus?”
“Sure am,” O’Shea replied, “It will be good, no worries! It’s a sell-out crowd remember.”
The Hawks had sold out all of their seats for the first time in a long time thanks to Sit’s new advertising strategy. It was the board approved plan and it was an instant hit. The new slogan was ‘Soaring for Success’ and the main endorsers Joe Johnson and Al Harrington applied in print and film to advertise for the Hawks.
“Hey, I’m, glad you can make it but I got to go now,” Sit said.
He hung up and pulled his earpiece out, switching his attention back to driving into the parking lot ahead. Sit spotted a space and reversed into it and hopped out of the car.
“Got my script ready?” He asked one of the team’s marketing directors as he entered the lobby.
The lady nodded and handed him a red manila folder. Sit walked past the court as the arena staff were putting in the finishing touches of polishing the court. He looked at his watch, noticing there was three hours left before tip off. Excitement rushed through his veins before it was quickly set aside. He turned to notice a new banner in the rafters; the one honouring former player Jason Collier. Sit retreated to find a quiet room to learn his speech after being reminded that the pre-game service was only going to remain a sombre one.
“Welcome to the season opener for the Atlanta Hawks,” A booming voice over the public announcement system stated, “Let’s hear it for the visitors and please stand in memory of the victims of Hurricane Katrina… the Oklahoma City, New Orleans Hornets!”
The crowd clapped and stood as the visiting side waved in appreciation. Rookie Chris Paul led the other Hornets’ starters onto the court amid a mixture of cheers and boos before the real cheering began to echo around the stadium.
“And now,” The low voice began, “Put your hands together for your Atlanta Hawks!”
Within a few seconds, the crowd seemed to erupt as everyone stayed out of their seats to applaud the home team onto the hardwood. One by one, the Hawks’ starting five filed onto the court and the bench followed to form a huddle. Sit moved out of his seat to join the players’ huddle.
“All right boys; let’s win this one for Jason. We’re going to decimate the Hornets tonight- I can feel it!” Sit shouted amid the noise of the crowd.
Everybody put their hand into the centre of the circle except for Al Harrington who was looking around the court aimlessly.
“What’s up Al, something wrong?” Sit asked out of uncertainty.
“Stop posing. You didn’t even know him.”
“Know who?”
“Jason,” Harrington screamed before leaving the circle.
Sit heard him grumble, “Poser,” as Harrington walked towards the middle of the court.
He smiled and told the group, “I guess it’s a really touchy subject. I respect what Al has to say. Anyway boys, just play your best out there. On three: one, two, three!”
The players shouted, “Hawks!” and the bench moved quickly back to the bench. Sit joined John O’Shea and his wife who were sitting courtside.
“What was wrong with Harrington,” O’Shea questioned, “I saw him leave your little prep talk.”
Sit looked blank and just replied, “I have no clue.”
The atmosphere suddenly reached new heights as the orange ball was lofted into the air by the ref. Zaza Pachulia beat PJ Brown to the tap and the ball sailed towards Joe Johnson. The game was on.
The Hawks held the early advantage thanks to having the full home crowd behind them. Joe Johnson and Al Harrington showed the crowd how good they were as a duo after guiding the team to a 20-2 run to start off the game. Johnson played well at the point guard, distributing the ball to his team mates and hitting his open shots. Harrington seemed to gather in the rebounds with ease and finished well inside.
“Al Harrington,” The man shouted out on the PA system.
The crowd jumped onto their feet as Harrington ran back on defence after a ferocious dunk. Johnson; the facilitator, pointed at Harrington and the big man returned the gesture. Chris Paul dribbled the ball up quickly and the Hornets tried to break down the Hawks’ zone with very sharp, quick passes. Paul passed to JR Smith and cut into the key. Josh Smith was caught by the Hornets’ constant cutting and found himself on the opposite side of the court from his match up. With no one to stop the pass, Smith passed quickly to Desmond Mason who whipped the ball to a cutting Chris Paul. Paul seemed to catch the rock in surprise and hesitated before putting it on the floor to drive to the hoop. Suddenly Al Harrington appeared out of nowhere to reject Paul’s lay up attempt. Paul hit the ground hard and he looked up, expecting a foul to be called. Before Chris Paul could protest, Joe Johnson had al\ready finished scoring with a dunk on the fast break. The buzzer sounded with the first quarter finished and the Hornets losing 26 to 38.
The second and third quarters were much more evenly contested by the visitors. The Hornets matched every Hawks’ basket with one of their own and it seemed to start to get to the Hawks’ heads as Johnson and Harrington started to cool down despite the two of them combining for 43 of the Hawks’ 59 first half points. The two Josh’s found their rhythm for the third quarter but by the end of it they started to lose their sync. After having scored 20 of the Hawks’ 25 third period points together, the duo seemed to become useless in the final three minutes of the quarter. Chris Paul and JR Smith fuelled the Hornets’ quick third quarter finish with a combined 8-0 run. As the players retreated from the court for the intermission, Woodson threw his whiteboard against the scorers’ table earning himself a warning from a match official.
“What do you call this?” he shouted at the players, “We should be killing these guys.”
The Hornets bench looked over at the Hawks to see what the fuss was all about. The Hawks sat in silence.
“I’m not impressed at all. Now let’s turn this around and keep our lead safe!”
New Orleans started the fourth just like how they finished the third. The crowd booed as Desmond Mason soared to the rim to add two points to the scoreboard. A PJ Brown jumper capped the scoring run and the Hornets were on top of the home side. The Hornets were back in the game and Woodson paced the sideline not looking very impressed. With the two teams tied, Woodson called a time out. He let his players have a small break on the bench before frowning in their direction. Woodson called a hasty substitution as the two sides returned to the floor.
“Stoudamire, you’re in!”
Salim Stoudamire quickly stripped off his track suit and entered the game. The crowd grew awfully silent as the rookie replaced Josh Smith. It wasn’t long before the rookie got the crowd buzzing again as he scored on the very next play. Stoudamire went on to score the Hawks’ following 8 points, matching the other team basket for basket. Thanks to Stoudamire, the Hawks were tied with the Hornets 94-94 with just under a minute to play. Time winded down and with the game in the balance, Stoudamire caught the ball and passed to Joe Johnson who was hot all night long. Johnson let the ball fly towards the hoop and the crowd buzzed with excitement. The ball hit the left side of the backboard.
“Brick!” A man sitting behind Sit shouted.
The ball fell into the hands of Speedy Claxton who turned almost immediately to get the ball up to the other end. Claxton was halfway before the crowd belted out a giant cheer and he looked down. Claxton was in shock to see that the ball wasn’t in his hands anymore. Stoudamire had the ball and was going the opposite way. The rookie point guard lifted off the ground and shot the long range jumper at the buzzer with Chris Paul running into him, knocking him to the ground.
“He won the game!” The man behind Sit screamed as Stoudamire lifted his fist in the air and the ref called for the extra free throw.
Stoudamire knocked down the free shot to complete the game winning four point play and the Hawks bench engulfed him on the court, lifting him up in celebration. The Hawks had won 98 to 94 after Stoudamire had scored 12 of his 15 points in the final minutes of the game.
Sit walked into the locker room to congratulate the players.
“Nice game mate,” He said in his Australian accent to Stoudamire.
The super sub looked up and smiled, “Thanks boss. One for the team and Jason. I didn’t know him either but I played my heart to him”
Sit moved on to give the other players a high five. As he approached Harrington, the Hawks forward turned away abruptly. Sit got the idea that he wasn’t welcome by the big man.
“Brilliant season opener,” One of the assistant coaches told Sit, “Maybe we are ready for the play offs?”
Sit laughed at the comment, “I hope so too!”
Sit.
But... you don't have a CF, D-Weaver formatted his PC and The X didn't answer my PM yet.
haha
