'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
The Atlanta Hawks suspended top-scorer Josh Smith for Wednesday night's home game against the Brooklyn Nets for "conduct detrimental to the team" following an incident in practice the previous day.
The Hawks wanted there to be no doubt this time. When the Wizards came to visit back on Nov. 21, they took the Hawks to overtime, and came within a split second of a winning on Martell Webster's catch and shoot at the buzzer.
Not content to stand pat after a fifth-place finish and first-round playoff exit, the Atlanta Hawks went through a wholesale makeover in the offseason. Danny Ferry was hired as the new president and general manager in June, after spending five seasons as the general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers and last season as president of the San Antonio Spurs.
The Hawks have agreed to deal All-Star guard Joe Johnson to the Brooklyn Nets for five players and a draft pick, and Atlanta will send forward Marvin Williams to the Utah Jazz for guard Devin Harris.
Friday, Mike Brey coaches Notre Dame, a No. 2 seed, against Akron to open the NCAA tournament at Chicago's United Center. Despite an unheralded roster, Brey led Notre Dame to 26 wins and its seventh appearance in the tournament in his 11 seasons as coach. Last week, he was voted the Big East coach of the year.
Danny Ferry is returning to the San Antonio Spurs.
Mikhail Prokhorov got his King after all.
Ferry said he expects a positive response to the suspension from Smith.
"Josh and I discussed the issue and he understood and accepted this course of action," Ferry said. "We are confident that he will respond positively, learn from this experience and come back with a renewed sense of purpose to the team moving forward."
