SHEEEDDD!

Today I received some great news.  I saw a headline on a basketball news website that said that Rasheed Wallace was thinking about coming out of retirement to sign with the New York Knicks.  This can mean only one thing...  SHEEEDDDD! Arenas used to sound off when his name was called during spotlight introductions.

Sheedddddd!

In his prime, Rasheed Wallace was an excellent NBA player.  He was a top two power forward in the league.  He was a great on and off-ball defender, an athletic freak, and one of the best shooting big men of all time.  If he wasn't dunking on your head, he was reigning a trey in your eye.

Sheed for three

Growing up a Lakers fan, I should have hated Sheed.  He was doing his thing for the Portland Trailblazers, the thorn in the Lakers side in the early 2000's.  But there was something about Sheed that made you love him and hate him at the same time.  He had that swag that you just couldn't deny.  On top of this, he must have talked more trash than anyone else in the history of basketball.  It wasn't enough that Sheed was dominating you physically.  He had to be in your ear the whole game too.  

I love this from a sentimental standpoint.  Sheed is the man, and the NBA is more entertaining with him playing rather than sitting on a couch at home.   Now, let's look at this from a management standpoint.  This is a very interesting move by the Knicks assuming that they go through with it.  Tyson Chandler, the Knicks starting Center, who Sheed would back-up, has already talked positively about the move (Chandler's Quote).  Rasheed Wallace wasn't exactly "Sheed" in his last tour of NBA duty with the Boston Celtics.  He was often disinterested at times, and mainly ran three-point line to three-point line.  He was what we call a Jacker, putting up any open shot, good or bad, and not playing much of any defense.  

Despite all this, the Celtics were able to squeeze enough out of him to get back to the NBA finals that year with Rasheed as one of their first two big men off the bench.  

The Knicks already signed another aging big man this offseason in Marcus Camby, who should still be a defensive force off the bench.  With Wallace they are probably looking to add some offense and efficient 1-on-1 post defense and veteran leadership.  Both Camby and Wallace should be able to provide a lot of useful advice (the two have 35 combined seasons in the league!) for a team trying to get over the hump.  If the Knicks get wallace at the bargain price of the veteran's minimum around ($1.2 million/year), as I assume they will, I can't disagree with the signing.  If the Knicks get off to a hot start and Sheed buys in, he still has a lot he can bring to the table.  

The Knicks are already set up front, and Sheed will only add to their versatility.  Tyson Chandler is fresh off his first Defensive Player of the Year Award.  Amar'e Stoudemire, when healthy is a versatile and explosive scorer.  As I already said, Marcus Camby is a savvy veteran and former Defensive Player of the Year.  Andddd, I just looked up the Knicks roster and it turns out they also have the ageless Kurt Thomas on their roster.  Add his 19 seasons to MC and Sheed's 35 and that's a whopping 54 years of NBA experience coming off the bench.    This is a great combination of experience and skill in the front court. With the addition of Sheed, the Knicks improve their chances of competing with the likes of the Miami Heat in the East.  

All in all, I approve this move by the Knicks.  In fact, its one of the first smart things they've done in a long time now.  After many bad signings and horrible trades, the Knicks have gotten themselves back to a point where they are close to contending for  a championship.  The signing of SHEED will only help them get closer to achieving that goal.  

Thrown into the Fire

As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, it is my true belief that the majority of NBA general managers are not good at their jobs.  This is a huge reason why the NBA has become a collection of super teams with no parity.  If all GMs were as good at what they do as a Mitch Kupchak or Sam Presti, then lopsided trades and horrible free agent signings that keep teams in the NBA cellar for years on end would never happen.  But unfortunately this isn't the way it is.

Today I'd like to take a look at Rob Hennigan.  At the age of 30, he became the youngest GM in the history of the league when the Magic hired him this past summer.  Immediately after hiring, the rookie GM was asked to undertake the easy task of running the team's draft, hiring a new head coach, and then trading Dwight Howard, the best player in franchise history, who had become disgruntled with the organization.

"This shouldn't be too hard..."

Orlando had the 19th and 49th picks in this years draft.  Middle round picks are a place where a team should hope to draft solid role players and that is exactly what the magic did.  Great start rookie!  In Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O'Quinn, the Magic got two young and versatile forwards, two nice pieces to rebuild their team into the future.  After that, all hell broke loose.

Hennigan's next task was to select a new head coach for the franchise.  After much deliberation, he picked former Magic point guard Jacque Vaughn. I can understand the perceived benefits that come with selecting a rookie coach.  In fact Avery Johnson exploded onto the scene with the Dallas Mavericks a few years ago guiding his team to the best record in the NBA and an NBA finals berth (today Johnson coaches the Brooklyn Nets).  The similarities between Avery and Vaughn are easy to see.  Both were savvy, undersized point guards in their playing days.  Great floor generals who could potentially be excellent head coaches.  But the Magic's situation is different from many other teams.  They are about to start from scratch, and a rookie head coach, combined with a rookie general manager, may not be the best option for a team in need of strong guidance for the next few years.  

From Player to Coach

Next up was the toughest job Hennigan will likely ever have to face.  Trade the organization's franchise player and arguably the second best player in the NBA, Dwight Howard, and try to get equal value in return.  This is a nearly impossible task.  Whenever a team gives away the best player in a trade, it is tough to get comparable talent back, especially when the player being moved is a transcendent one like Howard.  

Over the summer, the Magic had three main trade partners; the Nets, Rockets, and Lakers.  On paper, all three deals seemed good.  The Nets offered draft picks, a young budding wing player in Marshon Brooks, a scrappy forward in Kris Humphries, and arguably the NBA's 3rd best center in Brook Lopez.  This deal eventually fell through because the Magic refused to pull the trigger, but in retrospect would have been the best deal for the Magic.  They would get young and proven talent as well as good draft picks because the Nets would not have been a dominant team right away.  The Rockets deal was not as sweet as originally thought, only including a couple picks and not as much young talent from the Rockets as the Magic wanted.  The eventual trade that ended up happening was with the Lakers.  In this trade, the Magic decided that they did not want to receive the second best center in the trade, Andrew Bynum, because of the fact that he only had one year left on his contract.  They also didn't get the third best player in the trade, Andre Iguodala.  What they did get, was two decent, young prospects in Maurice Harkless and Nicola Vucevic and shooting guard Aaron Afflalo.  A serviceable NBA started but by no means the best player a team should receive when giving away the likes of a Dwight Howard.  The Magic also got a bunch of draft picks, but none that will be anywhere near the top 10.  The trade the Magic made will keep them locked as a lottery team for many years, and the prospects for immediate improvement look bleak.  

You lose win some, You lose some

If Rob had made the Nets trade happen, he would have had young prospects, high draft picks, and wouldn't have helped the Lakers build yet another super team in Los Angeles.  The Magic's future would look much brighter than it does today.  It's hard to blame a rookie GM for his efforts on this.  It was a no win situation.  But, had Rob made the right move, his franchise would have been ready to rebuild, not trying to stay afloat.  

Rare Opportunity

This year's Chicago Bulls have a rare opportunity.  The last two seasons, the Bulls have finished the regular season with the best record in the NBA.  Unfortunately, that regular season success has not translated into the post-season.

Two years ago the Bulls exited the playoffs after a lopsided Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Miami Heat.  This past season, bad luck struck, and the Bulls best player (and possibly the best lead guard in the NBA), Derrick Rose, was injured during game 1 of the playoffs. The Bulls then became only the second 1-seed to lose to an 8-seed since the first round of the playoffs expanded to a 7 game series.

I guess that's why they play the games.

But enough statistics.  The point of the above introduction is this.  The Bulls have a rare chance this season to join the upper echelon of super teams that is currently exclusive to the Thunder, Lakers, and Heat.  How can they do this you ask?  Well simply put, by losing as many games as possible.

Now, you may be asking yourself how that makes any sense?  How are the Bulls going to become one of the best teams in the league by losing a ton of games?  Well, I'll tell you how.  In the mid 1990's the San Antonio Spurs had a great player named David Robinson.  The Admiral (as he was nicknamed) attended the Naval Academy and was therefore forced to serve his term of duty with the Navy after his NBA career had already started.  With David Robinson, the Spurs were a middle tier playoff team, incapable of drafting another star, and incapable of getting over the hump to win a championship.  But during the 96-97 season, the Admiral was off doing his tour of duty for his country, and the spurs were busy being the worst team in the league and earning the number one draft pick.  With that pick they selected one Tim Duncan, the greatest Power Forward in the history of basketball.  And four championships later, that one year of mediocrity seems to have worked out very well for them.

Well, this worked out nicely.

So back to the bulls.  Derrick Rose is expected to be out until at least February.  I've never been one to believe in tanking.  I love competition and to lose games on purpose I believe is very detrimental to the sport.  But that being said, the Bulls seem to be taking the approach where if they put a bad enough team on the court, they wont have to try to lose.  It will just come naturally.  The Bulls let many of their key contributors from the last two seasons walk in free agency, and signed many players that have never been anything more than bit contributors.  It looks like they plan on letting second year wing Jimmy Butler and rookie point guard Marquise Teague lose together grow together while D-Rose heals up.  By doing this, the Bulls, in a season where they know they have no chance to win a championship, may end up with a very high draft pick or possibly the number one overall selection.  Pairing a player such as Indiana's stud PF Cody Zeller or UCLA standout freshman wing Shabazz Muhammad with a healthy Derrick Rose and Scrappy Joakim Noah at center is the makings of a contender. 

Pick Me!

 Some would argue that losing on purpose is never acceptable, and I would agree with them. But you can't deny the Bulls strategy.  If they stay the course and try to win while their franchise player is sidelined, they wil; end up probably missing the playoffs, getting a middle of the road draft pick, and being  a perennial loser to the Miami CHeat for many seasons to come.  With the opposite strategy, they can possibly have a one-two punch to rival any the league currently has, and a legitimate shot to win multiple titles. 

If you ain't cheating...

It seems the Bulls have made their choice, but is it the right one?

This Place is a Mess

The Bobcats. Oh the Charlotte Bobcats. The epitome of bad management in the NBA. The bobcats are quite frankly, for lack of a better word, a mess. Bad draft picks and free agent signings since their introduction to the league as an expansion team in 2004 have placed them into dead last in the league. In fact, last year they finished with the worst record (by percentage) in NBA history.

The man making all the final basketball decisions for the Bobcats is the one and only Michael Jordan. As the team's president of basketball operations, Jordan has final say on all the moves and transactions his home town team makes (Jordan is originally from North Carolina). Unfortunately for the franchise, Jordan's success as a player has not translated to his career as a manager. Not. At. All.

The Bobcat's young history is a long list of bad contracts to underachieving players on top of misguided draft picks. Their best finish was getting swept out of the first round of the playoffs three years ago, other than that, zero playoff appearances. As I said in my last post, I believe that if I were to take over the "Cats" I would have them as a consistent playoff team in three to four seasons.

It has been a very long time since the Bobcats made a smart signing. For this reason, a headline I recently saw on the basketball news website "RealGM" was very discouraging. The Bobcats were considering signing Tracy McGrady. McGrady was a great player in his heyday in the early 2000's but is currently what people in basketball like to say nicely as past his prime. He had abysmal averages for the Atlanta Hawks last year and besides bringing veteran leadership, I can see no reason why the Bobcats would ever sign him. Much like the other moves the bobcats have made, It makes no sense. This summer the team traded the expiring contract of one aging player, which would have given them free salary cap space to sign free agents after this season, for a larger and longer contract of an equally aging veteran. Why?! Why not let the player play out the season and get the contract off the books. Why not use McGrady's roster spot on a young player who has the potential to be a star? You know what you're getting with McGrady. He won't improve your team. A young player with a breakout season could be beneficial now and into the future.

Many of the Bobcats moves lack common sense. When I say I truly think I could turn them around, I am not trying to be arrogant. I truly believe that a general manager with common sense and solid basketball knowledge would do wonders for the Bobcats. Its inexcusable how consistently bad they have been with high draft selections every year. The only good basketball decision the Bobcats have made in recent years was the drafting of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a promising rookie from the University of Kentucky that could blossom into a star. No one will know if this was a good pick for several years, and that's the best the Bobcats have done in almost a decade. If I were in charge, young, promising players would be signed and drafted. They would be allowed to grow together with low paid veteran players mixed in to guide them. The goal would be to build a championship contender, and with smart and savvy basketball moves, that goal could definitely be accomplished.

Put me in charge of the Bobcats and watch the results. After all, the only way to go is up.

The Realest GM

Ever since I was a young boy I have followed the sport of basketball. I love all athletics but something about basketball made me fall in love with the sport. I've been a player, coach, fan, employee, manager of fantasy teams. I've been involved with basketball on so many different levels, and I can't imagine my life without it.

As I've grown older, and begun to think about a career I am heavily considering pursuing one in basketball. The general manager of a National Basketball Association (NBA) team is responsible for all player and personnel management. He is the one who decides to sign free agents, trade players, hire coaching staff, and makes sure the team stays within the financial contract restrictions of the NBA so that his team can continue to build towards a successful future. The general manager (GM) is the architect of a team and deserves just as much credit for its success (or failure) as the players and coach. This is by no means an easy job, but it is one I believe I want to pursue. There are many responsibilities and professional sports is a high pressure business. Everyone is expected to win and only one team can each year. Its up to the GM to make his team the one that comes out on top.

There are a few NBA GM's who are very good at their jobs. Mitch Kupchak of the Los Angeles Lakers, Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Masai Ujiri of the Denver Nuggets, to name a few. That being said. It is my honest opinion that right around 75 percent of general managers in the NBA are completely incompetent and horrible at their jobs. Why do I believe this? The NBA is different from a lot of major sports currently in one huge way. There are only three teams that experts consider legitimate threats to win the championship of the league at the beginning of the season. Those teams are the Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Miami Heat (all have great general managers). In many other professional sports leagues there is a sense of parity. Eighty percent of teams and their fan bases believe they have a real shot at a championship at the beginning of every season. This is not the case in the NBA. It is the three elite teams and everyone else. The reasons for this are many, but all of them lead back to piss poor management by mediocre teams. The league has become filled with super teams such as Miami, Los Angeles, and Oklahoma CIty. This is the result of good general managers taking advantage of mediocre ones in lopsided trades. The best management make great draft picks. The unskilled managers make the wrong draft picks and give bad players too much money, perpetually keeping their teams in the cellar of the league. If the bottom tier teams had better management, it would help them greatly achieve the level of success of the top franchises in the NBA. But, the mistakes continue to happen.

It is my honest opinion that if I took over the Charlotte Bobcats today (the worst team in the league for the past two seasons), I could make them into a playoff team in the next 3 seasons. Their management, which is ironically run by arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, has not achieved anything since the franchise was created less than ten years ago. They continue to make head scratching decisions as do other teams in the league. The examples are many. The Lebron James free agency debacle a few years back, the Chris Paul trade drama last season, and most recently a lopsided Dwight Howard trade that made one of the leagues top teams, the Lakers, much better and possibly ruined the future of the Orlando Magic, a team that people believe will be in the bottom of the league for years to come.

In this blog I will vent my frustrations and the frustrations of many NBA fans with the majority of NBA management. I will review trades, free agent signings, and other NBA happenings. I love basketball and believe myself to be very knowledgeable on the topic. Feel free to comment on my posts and give your opinions of the topics I bring up. this should be an open forum for all people who believe themselves to be knowledgeable at basketball to give their "expert" opinions.