Terence Moore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes: At first, Dikembe Mutombo didn't wish to discuss the mess that is his former Hawks team of nearly five seasons and mostly goodness. "I really can't get into that," he said Wednesday, bursting into a smile across his wide face.

Then he chuckled enough for the mighty bass in his voice to shake Philips Arena. "The situation involving that organization is above me," Mutombo said. "It's above the sky."

And Mutombo is 7-foot-2. He's also the owner of an automatic tongue. As a result, it didn't take long for the New Jersey Nets center to dissect an NBA franchise with so many issues.

There is the uncertainty about the Hawks' ownership. They are finishing another year of lost revenue from an epidemic of empty blue seats at home games. They'll lose even more revenue from $500,000 in refunds they'll give season-ticket holders for that silly guarantee about reaching the postseason. Their group of dysfunctional players was called "overpaid" by the team's president. They lack a full-time general manager after the last one was fired about three seasons too late.

This isn't what Mutombo experienced with the Hawks, when he joined veterans such as Steve Smith and Mookie Blaylock and coach Lenny Wilkens to stay at least competitive. They finished second twice in a fairly rough division. Another season, they were fourth despite 50 victories. They never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs, but these Hawks are in the lottery for a fourth straight year.

Mutombo recalled how management "panicked" when he and his strikingly slow and old teammates were run out of the 1999 playoffs by the New York Knicks. After a purge of seasoned players, only Mutombo remained. Then came the Hawks' ongoing slide to oblivion, and Wilkens was ousted. Then Mutombo was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in February of 2001.

What should Hawks management have done?

"Learn the lessons of history," said Mutombo, ever the philosopher. "They made the same mistake as Chicago did. One day, the Bulls had Michael Jordan, and the next, [Bulls general manager] Jerry Krause woke up and said he wanted to start over. If you have talented, veteran players, and you want to change, you need to add only a couple of young guys along the way to make the transition.

"The Bulls didn't do it, and the Hawks didn't do it, and they both ended with a big vacuum."