Let's start with what David McDavid shouldn't do as owner of the Hawks and the Thrashers, and that is stay away. Fans need to see him, touch him, laugh with him and cry with him. They need to know that he won't yawn over winning or losing when he's shuffling between Atlanta and Dallas, where he keeps his family, his heart and most of his millions from car dealerships.

This gets tricky, though, because an omnipresent owner is often a meddling owner. That turns your franchise into a mess wrapped inside a soap opera along the way to oblivion.