Dominique Wilkins to Replace Steve Smith on FSN, SportsSouth

Per the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

FSN South and SportSouth has hired former Atlanta Hawks standout and NBA Hall-of-Famer Dominique Wilkins as the new Atlanta Hawks analyst.

Wilkins is replacing former analyst Steve Smith, who has taken a position at NBA TV, which has relocated to Atlanta from the NBA's New York-area offices and will be run by Turner Broadcasting System Inc. Wilkins will team up with play-by-play announcer Bob Rathbun for 75 Hawks telecasts on FSN South and SportSouth during the 2008-09 NBA season.

Steve Smith wasn't exactly a rabble-rouser in terms of criticizing the quality of play or coaching but he managed that more by being polite and fair than by not being critical. It seems to me that by installing the Vice President of Basketball in the analyst's chair the broadcast of the game risks being compromised by the extra-textual status of players and/or coaches within the organization.

I may be overreacting and I acknowledge that I might be a fool for worrying about the Atlanta Hawks front office successfully carrying out a campaign of propaganda. Also, I quite enjoyed the work of Bob Rathbun and Steve Smith and suspect will miss their teamwork this season.