The state of Georgia was certainly in the national news last week with Joe Johnson and Damon Evans causing most of the headlines. Stephen A. Smith, who hosts a national morning show for Fox Sports Radio which can be heard on The Fan3, appeared on both 680 The Fan’s Buck & Kincade as well as Pollack & Bell of 790 The Zone to discuss the NBA free agent situation. Smith or “Screamin’ A” as he was called while he worked at ESPN, stuck to his guns in regards to a “superteam” coming together in Miami, despite the appearance that Miami may end up losing Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh to other teams. But his strongest argument was made on both shows in regards to Hawks free agent Joe Johnson. Smith on 680 The Fan said that Johnson “is a stud, an all-star. But he’s not a super-star.” On 790 The Zone, Smith point-blank stated that Johnson was not a max-deal player. And it doesn’t seem like Smith is alone in these thoughts. Several of the ESPN Radio personalities shared Smith’s thoughts over the weekend, as did “Bob” from one of the Sporting News Radio shows. Last week when the Hawks floated the max deal Johnson’s way, and before Johnson even accepted the deal, Yahoo! sports went ahead and labeled the deal, “the worst (deal) in NBA history.” The columnist said that NBA fans could actually label this the worst, not retroactively, not in the middle of the deal due to injury, but before the deal was even signed. Argued Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo!’s NBA blog Ball Don’t Lie, Johnson is regarded as the second option “at best” on a great team, certainly not worthy of a six-year/$119M deal. “It's just an astonishing deal, on so many levels. A good part of me thinks that — because his stats are so inflated by his ball dominance and big minutes — that Johnson will be worth about half of his yearly salary next year (next year!), so imagine how far he'll taper off by 2016? Johnson isn't the most athletic player we've seen, he isn't tricky enough with the ball to get to the line much (a shocking 3.5 free-throw attempts per game, criminal for someone who has the ball so much, and for so long), and this isn't someone who will age well.
On top of that, didn't we watch him age quite considerably in the playoffs last season? Johnson averaged 11.8 points per game in the second round, shooting a terrifying 29.5 percent along the way. He seemed nonplussed as ever as his Hawks fell out of the second round again, and for the second time in five years, he's chosen big offseason money over a chance at a championship.”
Dwyer has one more shot in regards to Johnson and his “absurd” contract. “There’s just no way around it. Joe is a nice player who might get to shoot himself into yet another All-Star berth next season. If he's lucky, the year after that, even. Give it to him. Let the Hawks roll to the second round again, earning the ownership a few more gate receipts as they take yet another first-round series to seven games.”
The other big news story was clearly the Damon Evans arrest. The University of Georgia Athletics Director was stopped by a Georgia State trooper just four minutes before his contract extension was set to roll over with a $110,000 annual raise. The officer smelled alcohol and saw a pair of red panties in Evans’ lap and soon Evans was arrested for DUI, among other charges. I won’t get into the specifics because Stephen Black and Rachel Bowers did a magnificent job covering the story from the jump on www.scoreatl.com throughout the holiday long weekend. Black even broke down potential replacements after Evans was ousted from the position, digging deep and finding candidates that Mark Bradley of the AJC didn’t feel like suggesting when he threw two names into the ring on one of his AJC blogs.
But the real story is NOT the DUI but the potential bargaining that was revealed to have happened in the police report offered online by the AJC. Before anybody gets into a foul mood over the AJC linking the police report in its sports section, realize that anyone in the news-gathering field can get copies of police reports from sheriff’s offices or police departments across the state. It is the freedom of information act (and $5, sometimes as a processing fee) that allows those to be released to the media. And in Evans’ case, that police report was a case where the paper had every right, in seeking information, to obtain a copy. The bargaining and the playing of the “Do you know who I am?” card is what likely did Evans in at Georgia. You cannot represent your alma mater and place of employment by trying to bribe and bargain your way out. The DUI maybe could have been overlooked and moved past by Georgia, despite the fact that he did the “Don’t Drink and Drive” PSA before each football game. But the attempt to throw his weight around in an unwinnable situation was it. The red panties in his lap didn’t help his case. Our esteemed boss IJ Rosenberg was giving me a bit of grief over it as I am a University of Georgia alum, but I agree with him that Georgia couldn’t have continued with him in charge. Rosenberg hypothesized that it was the female in the vehicle that would lead to his dismissal but I think it was the entire situation, especially the potential “not bribe” that cost him his job. How can you be a leader of young men and women and act in that way? You simply cannot. You also cannot do what you did and have your picture end up on Rome is Burning, Deadspin, AJC, Yahoo!, ESPN, CNNSI, and PTI, among other places and expect to keep your job.
Can you believe he said that?
“It smells like alcohol in here. Quick, give me your panties.” That was 680 The Fan’s Christopher Rude’s theory of how former a 28-year-old female’s panties ended up in the lap of Damon Evans. It was nice to hear him try and break Perry’s “serious voice,” but I must say that this attempt was simply unsuccessful. He could have attacked it in a funnier way; there are PLENTY of jokes to be had. That one just fell flat. At least he was funnier than Michael Bradley, a “sports comedian” that appeared on SNR who tried to mock Evans as well. That guy was definitely not funny. I hope that guy doesn’t seriously try to make a living as a “sports comedian.” Even his LeBron jokes were terrible. many of us are just grateful that someone has
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