Michael Lee of the AJC writes that when a Sept. 13 car accident left Hawks guard DerMarr Johnson with four cracked vertebrae in his neck, some thought he would never walk again.

Four months later, he is running and dunking effortlessly on the Hawks' practice court.

Johnson was told he might never play professional basketball again. How does he respond? By saying this season isn't completely out of the question.

Michael Lee of the AJC writes that Hawks general manager Pete Babcock says he is "100 percent" responsible for the team's failures this season. But unless president Stan Kasten decides to fire him, Babcock says, he wants to try once again to rebuild a team that has won 35 percent of its games since 1999.

Going into this season, Babcock assembled what he thought would be the Hawks' first playoff team in four years. Instead, the team is 17-29 and appears headed again for a lottery pick.

"We stuck with our plan, and I was wrong -- across the board," Babcock said.

For the first time in two years, Theo Ratliff walked into this city's First Union Arena to play a basketball game.

The Hawks center was here last season while he was mending with a broken hip socket, and late in the previous season when his wrist was in a cast. On those occasions, he was greeted warmly by fans who appreciated his work on behalf of the 76ers. But Tuesday he was the enemy, wearing a bright red uniform.

Nonetheless, Ratliff said it was nice to be back in Philadelphia.

"I'm sure everybody is looking forward to me coming back there, and I've got a lot of love when I've come back here in civilian clothes," Ratliff said.

As the Sixers continue the ups-and downs of an inconsistent season, Larry Brown may be contemplating getting off the ride. Bernard Fernandez of the Philadelphia Daily News reports that Brown talked about finding a replacement to lead his team after a disappointing 97-83 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in front of the home fans.

One night after blowing out the Bucks in Milwaukee, they were dominated by the Hawks in Philly. Brown doesn?t understand the inconsistency.

"I hope some of the guys we've gotten will improve," Brown said. "If not...I don't know where we are. Maybe we get somebody in here at my position that can do a better job. I don't know. I think the way this league is, that's the way it goes."

Brown is a well-documented wanderer, but his six years in Philadelphia is the longest of his NBA coaching career. His players have heard him talk about stepping down before, but it might be more serious this time.

Allen Iverson, who scored a game-high 37 points, said he hoped Brown was just venting after one of the team's tougher, more unfathomable losses. "I just hope it's coach being coach," he said. "I can't tell you what he's thinking. I can't say what's going on in his head."

Eric Snow, who tied a career high with 15 assists, is also frustrated with the Sixers? woes. "Everything we did against Milwaukee, we didn't do tonight," Snow said. "That's why you get beat the way we got beat. We've talked about this I don't know how long. We know what we have to do, and we're obviously not doing it. The organization has to decide if this team is good enough to win. If not, they have to make changes."

Brown clearly misses character guys like George Lynch and Tyrone Hill, who willed themselves to give their best for every minute of every game during the more halcyon days of the Brown regime. "We got a lot of new guys who are different than we had before," Brown said. "I think their mentality's different. George Lynch, Tyrone...people like that wouldn't let this happen. Maybe we'd have lost, but it wouldn't be this way."

Asked whether the Sixers were "schizophrenic," Brown said: "Maybe. I watched 'A Beautiful Mind' before the game. I wanted to see Marilyn Monroe, and Phyllis Diller was out there."

In a related story, Stephen A. Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Brown is unhappy with the makeup of his team and is looking to make changes.

The prevailing rumor has them sending Derrick Coleman and his ending contract to Atlanta for ex-sixers/defensive stopper Theo Ratliff. Brown misses the hustle and defense of his 2001 Finals team and bringing Ratliff back would improve their interior defense immensely.

Before the Atlanta trade talks, they talked to the Knicks about trading Keith Van Horn for Latrell Sprewell. Before that, it was Van Horn to Orlando for injured Grant Hill, months after vowing that Van Horn was the answer to their prayers.

According to the AJC's Jeff Denberg, even with the recent improvement in the Hawks' performance, general manager Pete Babcock continues to pursue deals in advance of the Feb. 20 trade deadline.

Babcock is looking for defensive toughness and point guard help, but he defends incumbent Jason Terry as a player "who has improved and is doing a good job."

There apparently is a place for Terry in the Hawks' future, provided the team and the player can agree on a suitable contract when he becomes a free agent at the end of the season.

Terry went into Tuesday's game ranked sixth in the NBA in assists (7.4) and free throw shooting (.872). He was 17th in steals (1.68) and 36th in scoring (18.7).

Babcock noted that Terry's numbers have consistently improved this season. "We're a team that has committed a lot of turnovers, but those turnovers have come from our forwards, not our point guard. Jason has kept his turnovers at [3.2] a game," Babcock noted, which gives him an acceptable margin of better than 2-to-1.

The Hawks are talking and find an increasing number of teams that are leery of the luxury tax and want to take back less money than they give out in a trade. This makes dealing difficult, especially for a team like the Hawks, since their most attractive players carry high salaries.

When is an injured player who may never play again a valuable trade asset? In the luxury tax era of the NBA. Robbi Pickeral of the Pioneer Press reports that the Timberwolves are looking to deal injured point guard Terrell Brandon even though his knee may force him to retire.

Officially, the Wolves say that they are not shopping Brandon. Owner Glen Taylor said that trading the 32-year old point guard is "not part of our plans at the current time. Right now, he's either going to play next year or he's not going to play next year.''

But Pickeral writes that team sources said that there are teams interested in Brandon and his contract. The reason? If he retires because of the injury, the team that holds his contract will save money against the cap. While the Wolves would love to lower their team salary, they would also welcome the chance to trade Brandon for a player or players that could help them win now.

If Brandon retires and is deemed physically unable to perform by an independent NBA doctor, his team could apply for and receive salary cap relief two years after the injury, which in this case was February 2002.

Players mentioned as possible trade targets: Atlanta?s Theo Ratliff and Heat starters Eddie Jones or Brian Grant.

"I do believe there's trade value, and you could probably get a fairly good player, a player that could contribute, but a player that's overpaid,'' said TNT analyst Danny Ainge, a former NBA player and coach.

Don't expect to see the same Atlanta Hawks this time next month.

Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune reports that the Hawks are a team in turmoil, with everyone from interim coach Terry Stotts, who is 3-10 since taking over, to GM Pete Babcock feeling the heat from owners AOL Time Warner over the team's lack of performance and lack of interest from the community.

Smith writes that just about any Hawk could be had as this year's trade deadline looms, with Atlanta - who is in luxury tax waters - preferring ending contracts in an effort to get under the cap to allow them to start over.

"I can't accept it," said longtime president Stan Kasten. "If this keeps up, there will be more changes. I can tell you we're actively looking at everything."

One move that Smith writes could occur involves the Hawks and the Heat, with Miami acquiring Shareef Abdur-Rahim for the disabled Alonzo Mourning.  The logic behind the move is Abdur-Rahim would be better than anyone the Heat could get in free agency with their $7 million in expected cap space, and that isn't expected to increase unless the team can dump the contracts of either/both Brian Grant and Eddie Jones.  Thus far their have been no bites, but the Bulls continue to show interest in Jones.

Another option for the Hawks could be the Trailblazers, with Scottie Pippen and his expiring $19 million contract the drawing card.

In what is fast becoming the most disheartening season of their miserable four years in beautiful Philips Arena, the Hawks reached another low point Monday.

The team blew a nine-point advantage going into the fourth quarter of the 115-102 loss to Chicago, and the Hawks couldn't argue if any of the 9,961 in attendance on MLK Day charged them with quitting after getting the lead or having the audacity to start coasting.

That would be an awful condemnation of a team that stands 13th in a 15-team conference, but there wasn't much the Hawks could offer in defense of such charges after they were run over by the Bulls, a team that had been road kill for 19 straight games.

No explanation, no remedy "except for hard work," guard Jason Terry said.

But this was the 41st game of the season. If they haven't learned a lesson with a 14-27 record at the halfway mark of the season, when does it sink in?

"I don't know," the Hawks' Ira Newble said.

"It's got to start with practice tomorrow," Terry said.

And so on and so on.

WARNING! The following contains frank discussion about the Atlanta Hawks. Anyone who has a weak stomach or still harbors apologies or excuses for the Hawks this season must beware. The opinions of this column do not necessarily match those of RealGM......or maybe they might.

No more.

At the beginning of the season, there was every reason to believe that this team could have been one of the Hawks best ever.

No more.

They have been given a free pass, hoping a coaching change could shake some of the bad habits that have dogged this team throughout the first half of the season.

No more.

This writer has given every ounce of his emotion to the Atlanta Hawks, sacrificing voice, time, and heart to a team that he truly has believed to be a good team.

No more.

This writer has steadfastly held to the fact that this Hawks team was talented enough to win, and win often enough to challenge for a home court in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

No more.

This writer has had enough.

Forty-nine seconds.

For three quarters, the Hawks were within striking distance with the San Antonio Spurs. But with a swift 49 second kick the rear, the Spurs scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to take a 16-point lead "and we were fighting uphill after that," Hawks backup center Nazr Mohammed said.

The Hawks lost their 13th straight road game 106-93 Friday night against a red-hot Spurs team that has been nearly unbeatable in the brand new SBC Center.