I once asked if "what do NBA players dream of at night", but I didn't think about the coaches. We now know what LA Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy worries about when he lays his head down at night:
"I would only make deals to help our future - anything else is suicide," Dunleavy told the Los Angeles Times. "Anything else and you become the New York Knicks. Now if you want to do that and take on big contracts and long-term deals to potentially hit a home run or get some kind of turnaround, that's not the direction I would go as a businessman or if I owned the team."
That was found via The Daily News, who will leave no stone unturned in their quest to find reasons, and people, for bashing the Knicks.I could go on a rant on how misinformed Dunleavy's comments were, but the truth is, yeah, he's right. Isiah Thomas did take on big contracts and long-term deal, for two reasons: One, to get some talent on the team (and potential hit a home run), and two, to get some draft picks back to get the young role players to build around the centerpieces. In the latter regard I'll have to say Isiah did a good job - David Lee, Renaldo Balkman and Nate Robinson were all late-round picks (2 were acquired via trades) that were not attempts at hitting home runs, but the opposite: he took low-ceiling guys (not a single one of those players were a "steal" at the time of the draft; quite the opposite, in fact) who would be great coming off the bench. And all three would be top bench guys on almost every team in the league; in some cases, they could even be starters.
Where Isiah messed up was with his centerpieces, the starters. In order to get starters onto the roster, he had to swing for the fences, like his former teammate Joe Dumars did in Detroit. Dumars rolled the dice, and struck gold with a midlevel free agent signing (Chauncey Billups), a risky trade (Rasheed Wallace), and another risky trade (Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace). When you look at Isiah's big moves, you see where his inspiration comes from - Jamal Crawford is suppose to be his Rip; Zach Randolph was suppose to be his Rasheed Wallace, and Stephon Marbury was suppose to be his Billups. I have to guess that Isiah pictured Eddy Curry as the one-dimension center that Ben Wallace is, but inversed. Whatever.
It hasn't worked. That's well known.
Still, as bad as the Knicks are, I'm glad I'm not a Clippers fan, okay? Because the Clippers will always suck, as long as they have the cheapest (and racist, too) owner in the NBA in Donald Sterling. In fact, Mike Dunleavy's criticism of the Knicks came in an article detailing his dissatisfaction with Donald Sterling. So yeah, life as a Knick fan sucks right now. That's because we're still paying off the debt of those dominant teams from the 90's. The Bulls had to pay their debt post MJ for about 7 years. The Heat are paying their debt for the 2006 title right now. The Celtics will pay for their two-season window (07-09) down the road, too. That's the way of the NBA (the Spurs being the exception to prove the rule).
The Clippers, on the other hand, will never be more than an occasional playoff team. I'll rather strive for more, even if it means sometimes failing greatly.
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That's because we're still paying off the debt of those dominant teams from the 90's.
The use of "dominant" and Knicks in the same sentence doesn't seem accurate to me. They haven't won the Atlantic since 93-94 and they haven't won a title in my lifetime.
I like Dunleavy better than Isiah, he's scrappy and Isiah is a showboat. :)
Thanks Marc. You're right, all three picks were acquired via trades, via those same trades that Dunleavy and his ilk referred to as "short-sighted" and "not helping the future". Honestly, my opinion has always been the same on that topic - trading for draft picks is a better way to rebuild than to wait for three or four years for cap space to clear. You know, so you can blow it all on overpaying for the best available free agent, like the Magic did this past season?
Brian: Well, yes, that's because the Heat won the division title from 96-99. Never the less, the Knicks had more wins in the 90's than any other franchise other the Bulls. They made it to the Finals twice. They topped 50 wins 6 times that decade, with one year being a strike-shortened season, one year winning only 47 games, and one year being the Don Nelson fiasco (result: 43 wins). They made it past the first round in the playoffs every season.
Again, only the Bulls had a better decade than the Knicks in the 90's. The Knicks weren't a NBA title winner, or a dynasty, but they were certainly one of the dominant teams of that decade, much like the same can be said of the Mavs or Suns right now.
These are my thoughts on the matter, as I posted on another blog:
"Boy, have times changed when the Clippers are dogging on the Knicks. I was not too long ago when THEY were the laughing stock of the NBA, and they were for a LONG time. The good thing about all of this is that eventually, it will pass. Even though Dunleavy has a point, is it really professional for him to hate on the Knicks like that? I believe he’s part of the Larry Brown North Carolina crew along with Carl and Popovich. Those guys will NEVER pass on a chance to 'hate on the Knicks. Didn’t hear a word about the crappy excuse for a coaching job Brown did while he was here stealing the Knicks’ money. That only added to the team’s problems, but you won’t hear about that from those NC guys.
True MJ... the NC crew (which also includes Michael Jordan) hates Isiah Thomas. And they love taking cheap shots at him. No other coach or team would be subject to a cheap shot from a fellow coach.
All good points, SML.
One thing though. All three of Robinson, Lee and Balkman were acquired with draft picks received from other teams via trade.