<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">A few days before the feud reached the courtroom and the front page, it began to boil with testy e-mails and a hasty teleconference among the Hawks' owners. While tensions between Steve Belkin and his Atlanta Spirit partners go back much further, their meltdown over the pending Joe Johnson trade began on the afternoon of Saturday, July 30. A volley of e-mails led to an early-evening conference call that culminated with Hawks general manager Billy Knight asking that his "intention not to speak to Steve under any circumstances going forward" be duly noted. Things went downhill from there. A rare glimpse into a fractious franchise emerges from documents --- affidavits, letters, copies of e-mails and minutes of meetings --- filed in the Boston court that last week issued, then lifted, an injunction blocking the Hawks' ownership group from removing Belkin as the team's NBA governor. The group plans to take that action within five days. The battle, now extraordinarily public, began privately at 1:45 p.m., July 30, when Belkin sent an e-mail to his partners about a trade Knight had in the works. Brimming with basketball insider vernacular, the message tipped off his partners that a showdown was brewing. "Phoenix is talking to Billy about a sign-and-trade for Joe Johnson," Belkin wrote. "Billy wants to give our LA/Boston '06 pick and Boris [Diaw] and our '06 first-round pick lottery-protected and then 1-3 protected in '07. I have told Billy not to include our '06 pick at all and this is our best offer." (Translations: "LA/Boston '06 pick" is a draft pick the Hawks acquired in a trade last season --- the lower of the Lakers' and Celtics' 2006 first-round picks. "Lottery-protected" means the Hawks keep the pick if it's in the top 14; "1-3 protected" means the Hawks keep the pick if it's in the top three.) The spark that lit the fire Belkin's e-mail roused his partners from whatever they were doing that last Saturday in July: > 3:01 p.m.: Bruce Levenson sent an e-mail to Belkin, outlining seven reasons the trade should be made. Among them: "Boris . . . asked to be traded and would not get minutes on our team this year anyway. . . . We would be making a mistake to risk losing JJ given our history of losing out on free agents and the expectations of our customers and sponsors." > 4:48 p.m.: Michael Gearon Jr. sent a detailed message to Belkin making his case for the deal. "I am shocked to hear that Phoenix is not asking for a lot more from us," Gearon wrote. "I expected them to also ask for [Josh Childress or Josh Smith]." > 5:20 p.m.: Belkin e-mailed Knight and Atlanta Spirit CEO Bernie Mullin "to make sure that you each understand the Hawks' decision-making structure." Belkin explained that, as governor, he "has the power and authority to manage the business and affairs of the team and to act for and bind the team without the consent of any other person." He acknowledged that he could be removed as governor if he made a trade or signed a player without the consent of his partners, but contended he could not be removed for blocking a trade. > 6:09 p.m.: Gearon sent an e-mail to Mullin, asking him to set up a 6:30 p.m. "trade call" for the Board of Managers, which is the ownership committee on which the Atlanta, Boston and Washington groups have one vote each. "Please have Billy available," Gearon wrote. > 6:30 p.m.: On the hastily arranged call, Knight got support for the deal from Gearon, representing Atlanta, and Levenson, representing Washington. "Steve said as governor he will not do the deal," according to the minutes of the call. "Bruce said that if [Belkin] vetoes this trade, Bruce will move to have Steve removed as the governor. . . . Steve left the call." The minutes conclude: "Billy requested that the notes of the call reflect his intention not to speak to Steve under any circumstances going forward." (About a week later, Knight told the Journal-Constitution that there was no reason for conversation with Belkin because he is "not telling the truth" about his motives for blocking the trade and is "not someone I can trust.") Neither side blinks Around midnight on July 31, Gearon e-mailed Belkin, telling him that "after you got off the call last night" the trade was approved, and Knight was instructed to "go forward with it." Gearon warned Belkin: "If you take any action as NBA governor to interfere with this trade, you will be removed." </div> Source Interesting to get a feel of how this all went down.
