A Dark Time for the Hawks

You won't find it in the AJC, but you can find it on the Washington Post: The Hawks are screwed. The judge in Belkin's appeal case over the Hawks' ownership rights just added a twist: the Hawks can't sign any free agents to deals longer than ONE year. This doesn't apply to draft picks or ongoing negotiations (Speedy), but obviously this is terrible news. Does it apply to sign and trades? The article doesn't link to the full ruling, and doesn't discuss the finer details- is it just free agency that is affected, or are contract extensions in the mix?

Our team doesn't need this. We've got enough to worry about.

Update: The AJC has a better account of the ruling. Sadly, tragically:

...during an appeal that could take at least a year, the Hawks and Thrashers are not to sign free agents to multi-year contracts or to make trades for players who have multi-year contracts.

David Stern, please step into this situation. Something must be done to protect our team from Belkin. Under the guise of protecting the value of the franchise, he is going to kill it off. So Harrington in a sign-and-trade? Busted. At any rate, Belkin is no longer going to be welcomed here by any Hawks or Thrashers executives- they were all in court on the other side, and will likely all be fired if he gains control of the team.