Wilkins: Statue commemoration comes at 'perfect' time

ATLANTA -- On the right side of Dominique Wilkins's statue, there is a poem titled "Don't Quit" by Edgar A. Guest. His Washington High School team, a two-time state champion juggernaut that lost only one game in three years, recited those 24 lines before every game and Wilkins thought it important enough to place alongside his accomplishments.

There's a sense of history with the city's newest sports landmark, Wilkins's personalized nod to the past.

The events unfolding over the course of the city's week-long dedication to the NBA Hall of Famer could have been past tense as well, though. The idea of the Atlanta Hawks commemorating their greatest player with a statue -- much like contemporaries Michael Jordan soaring in front of the United Center or Magic Johnson directing traffic outside Staples -- had been talked about behind the scenes for years. Wilkins first discussed the idea with sculptor Brian Hanlon nine long years ago.

But if this week had come during another season, any other year since Dominique played his final game in May 1999, the question has to be asked: Would it have been as memorable?

Wilkins's broadcast partner Bob Rathbun broached this subject during the statue's private unveiling on Thursday afternoon: "This day has been a long time coming, but the timing of this day could not be more perfect."

Entering Friday's game against the Vegas favorites in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers, when the statue made its first public appearance, the Hawks held a 10-game lead in the conference. They have become an NBA surprise, a revelation even, galvanizing the city's NBA fandom in the process. Barring a massive collapse down the stretch, coach Mike Budenholzer's balanced group will capture a No. 1 seed and hold a golden opportunity to reach the franchise's first conference finals in a long, long time.

"The timing is perfect because of the team ... and to piggyback off of that (success) with the statue coming, I mean, it's like the stars were aligned for great things to happen," said Wilkins, who averaged 24.8 points per game in 16 NBA seasons. "It's been a whirlwind year for me. It's something that I've been waiting for for a long time.

"And I feel like this: It's not anything that somebody gave me. This city let me know time and time again that I earned it. I've never been a guy to care about people giving me anything, because I've always been a man who liked to stand on his own two feet and earn his own way. And I think I did that throughout my career. I think I didn't get the credit that I deserved, but I never talked about it because my peers knew at the end of the day."

Much has changed in the past decade-plus around Philips Arena.

Since Wilkins's jersey was retired in 2001, the Hawks have not even captured a division title. After suffering consecutive losing seasons from 1999 to 2008, the team settled into a lane of playoff-bound basketball with a finite ceiling. Coaches Mike Woodson and Larry Drew led the team to playoff appearance after playoff appearance, but it wasn't until the franchise tore things down to a core of Al Horford and Jeff Teague -- adding significant free-agent pieces like Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll, trading for and locking up sharpshooter Kyle Korver and hitting on draft picks like Mike Scott and Dennis Schroder -- and built around Budenholzer's Spurs-esque foundation that things clicked.

The Hawks sit atop the NBA standings. There's not a single Eastern Conference team within shouting distance. The time was right.

For a franchise that has so rarely kept company in the league's upper echelon, these are special times. In that context, the Wilkins statue serves as an exclamation point.

"I think this statue represents change and represents embracing that history now and that we can build on that history," Wilkins said. " ... I'm a pretty strong guy, but everybody has weak spots. This week has been a weak spot for me. There's been some times where I've kinda broke down to myself. And I told my wife tonight, I said, 'You know, I'd love to ride back on the bus, but I need a moment for me.' So I'm going to drive home by myself. I might take a ride down I-285 and just kinda soak it all in."

After addressing the fans during a halftime ceremony -- highlighted by the line, "I'm not from Atlanta, but I'm from Atlanta," that sent the crowd into a frenzy -- Wilkins walked off the court and into the tunnel. There he found Al Horford, the team's longest-tenured player, and the two embraced. Horford was on his way to put away the Cavaliers, another pivotal win in an historic season. Wilkins was on his way to talk about his own niche in history, but one that he insists belongs to the organization as a whole. 

The two narratives go hand in hand.

So the Dominique Wilkins statue is finally in the ground, on display for generations of basketball fans to come. It took a while. Better yet, it took just the right amount of time -- and it means just as much to the 6-foot-7 high-flyer now as ever.

"I'm just mentally and emotionally drained," Wilkins said of his week. "So what I did I put a lawn chair in the back of my car and I'm gonna sit out in front of the statue tonight. ... I know I'm going to spend a lot of time just driving by the statue at night. My wife might get a little upset, but maybe I'm running to the grocery store, you know? A little white lie."