-George Santayana, Reason in Common Sense
In 1999, the NY Knicks made it to the NBA Finals in the strike-shortened season. The were an exciting bunch, lead by Marcus Camby, Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell. That summer interim GM Ed Tapscott made one of the biggest blunders in franchise history, drafting Frederic Weis over local favorite Ron Artest. He was replaced with Scott Layden prior to the beginning of the 1999 season. Since then, the franchise has floundered, and has now had seven straight losing seasons. Let's compare the work of Scott Layden, and his predecessor Isiah Thomas, and see what lessons can be learned. And if you want more in-depth insight into the history of the Isiah Thomas regime, check out Cosellout's excellent and detailed Book of Isiah Series.
Scott Layden vs. Isiah Thomas:
Free Agents:
Scott Layden made only two free agent signings of note: he signed Dikembe Mutumbo with a mid-level in 2003 to a two-year, $8.5 million deal. And he used the mid-level exemption to sign Clarence Weatherspoon to a ridiculous 5 year, $27.2 million contract in 2001. So yes, Weatherspoon would still on the books until 2006, had he not been traded by Isiah Thomas (for Moochie Norris).
Isiah Thomas made two big free agent signings, both midlevel deals. Thomas signed Jerome James to a 5 year, 30 million deal in 2005, one of the worst free agent signings in franchise history (though, it should be noted, almost a perfect mirror of Layden's Weatherspoon signing). He also signed Jared Jeffries in 2006 to a 5-year deal worth about $33 million.
Lesson to be learned: Don't use the midlevel excemption to sign players to long-term contracts. The problem, of course, is that to "lure" or "pry" a free agent from their current franchise, you often have to offer the full exemption, meaning a five-year deal. So unless you are absolutely sure you will need that player's specific skill set, it may not be a good move. The midlevel exemption has rarely proven to be an effective tool for rebuilding a team. The one exception from the past 10 years: Chauncey Billups and the Detroit Pistons.
Note: We did not include the Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford signings here, as they fall under "trades"; still, if you want to treat them as free agent signings, they were both slightly overpaid, but that's the standard fee for "luring" free agents. Both are really worth about $6-8 million a year, and are getting paid $2-3 million more than that. Similarly, Rashard Lewis was recently signed to a contract that overpays him by at least $2-3 million a year. At SML we call that the Free Agent Signing Tax. We'll have more on this phenomena next week in a post entitled "Building the Perfect Salary Cap".
Trades:
Layden traded John Wallace and the 22nd pick in 2000 Draft for Erick Strickland and Pete Mickael (who was later waived 1/5/01).
9/20/00: Layden traded Patrick Ewing (an expiring contract) + Chris Dudley for Glen Rice, Vernon Maxwell (waived 10/5/00), Lazaro Borrell (waived 10/26/00), Luc Longley (retired on 9/25/01, but his contract went on for another two seasons, until 2004), Travis Knight, Vladimir Stephania (waived 10/20/00), two 2001 1st rounders, two 2001 2nd rounders.
So for Ewing's huge expiring contract, Layden got back six players and four picks. Three of the players were waived within a month of the deal. One was waived/retired one year after the trade, though his big contract would stay on the books for two more seasons before the NBA would finally alway the Knicks to clear it for health reasons. Travis Knight and Glen Rice also had big long contracts. Travis Knight would end up getting waived on 10/27/03, as Layden's last GM transaction. As for Rice and the picks, read on.
1/20/01: Layden trades Erick Strickland and 2001 1st and 2nd rounders for Othella Harrington.
2/22/01: Chris Childs and a 2001 1st rounder for Mark Jackson + Muggsy Bogues.
If you are keeping score: John Wallace + 1st round pick in 2000 + 1st round pick in 2001 + 2nd round pick in 2001 = Othella Harrington. Wow. And if you think those picks are worthless because they were late in the first round... wait until you get to the draft portion of this analysis.
And yes, that Muggsy Bogues trade cost the Knicks their other first round pick in 2001, leaving them with none.
8/10/01: Glen Rice + Muggsy Bogues for Howard Eisley and Shannon Anderson.
After trading Ewing's expiring contract for a Rice's longer contract, Layden now trades Rice's contract for even longer contracts - both Howard Eisley and Shannon Anderson would stay on the Knicks books until the end of the 2005-2006 season.
Draft 2002: Traded 7th pick + Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson for Antonio McDyess, Frank Williams and a 2003 2nd rounder.
Marcus Camby and the 7th pick (Nene) are still in the NBA. Camby is an All-Star, and All-Defense. McDyess is still in the NBA, though for the past six season his presence is barely noticeable.
7/23/03: Latrell Sprewell for Keith Van Horn, whose contract was longer than Sprewell's, and just as big.
Isiah's Trades:
Again, well documented. He took Layden's approach of trading big expiring contracts for longer contracts, although he add the wrinkle of actually trying to pry draft picks out of the deals. So Weatherspoon's expiring contract in 2005 got traded for a Moochie Norris's 2006 expiring contract, who then got shipped a year later (when it was expiring) for Maurice Taylor and a #1 pick (one that would turn into David Lee, I believe).
The worst trade Isiah made was probably Steve Francis contract, which would expire after next season, for Zach Randolph's huge contract which runs until 2011. While at the time getting a big man who is good for 20/10 a game seemed like a good deal for getting rid of a malcontent Francis, Randolph's contract put the Knicks on a timetable that had them in decent salary cap shape at the end of the 2009 season into a franchise that is now looking at 2010 or 2011 has the year they get under the cap.
The Eddy Curry trade is also generally considered a failure, because Isiah Thomas traded away two high first-rounders for two lower first-rounders. The Othella Harrington trade is rarely mentioned, despite costing the Knicks two first-rounders, too.
Lessons To Be Learned: Don't trade picks away. Especially don't trade away multiple number one picks, particularly for a big man someone else doesn't want anymore, because you will never really know where those picks will end up. It's easy to project where a first rounder next year might be (for example, I would say next year's first round pick for the Knicks will be between #7-15). But you can't tell where the team might be further down the road (2010? I say it could be anywhere from #4-24).
It's okay to trade for picks, even late first-rounders. It's okay to trade away expiring contracts for longer contracts. But make sure those contracts you acquire aren't too much longer than the ones you just traded (the Zach Randolph and Eisley/Anderson deals). Trading an expiring contract for one that expires in a year + a draft pick = good. Trading an expiring contract for a player with 4 years left on his deal, even an All-Star = very risky.
Extensions:
Layden signed three Knicks to contract extensions: Latrell Sprewell to a 5-year deal (11/11/99), $61.9 million deal. Because he overpaid to resign Sprewell, Layden wouldn't be able to move Sprewell, despite trying really hard, until Sprewell's contract was almost expired (2003, for Keith Van Horn). Kurt Thomas was signed (8/1/00) to a 4 year, $30 million contract (which was used in 2004 to acquire Quentin Richardson, another example from the above section of not trading expiring contracts for long term deals). And Allan Houston was signed (7/23/01) to a franchise crippling 6 year, $100 million contract. That contract would stay on the books until 2007.
I believe Isiah Thomas has, to date, not signed any Knicks to extensions. That's because he got rid of everyone on the roster that he inherited, and none of the rookies or free agents he's signed (or traded for) have had to resign yet.
Lessons To Be Learned: Don't sign players to franchise-crippling long-term contract extensions. There is no need to overpay a potential free agent to stay home in NYC. I'm looking at you, Donnie Walsh, and what you plan on doing with David Lee next season. How about a reasonable 4-year, $30 million contract for Lee? Anything more than that, and maybe you can see what you can get if you trade him?
Draft Picks:
Layden:
2000 Draft: Lavor Postell (39th pick). Traded the 22nd pick.
2001 Draft: Michael Wright (39th pick) and Eric Chenowith (43rd pick). Late first round picks/2nd round picks from this draft include Gilbert Arenas, Samuel Dalembert, Gerald Wallace, Tony Parker, Jamaal Tinsley, Mehmet Okur, Earl Watson, Bobby Simmons. In fact, the first five players mentioned there went from #25-30 in the draft.
2002 Draft: Frank Williams (#25 )and Milos Vujanic (36th). The #7 pick was traded with Camby for McDyess, remember?
2003 Draft: Mike Sweetney (9th pick) and Maciej Lampe (30th pick), Slavko Vranes (39th). Is should be noted that Sweetney was one of three players mentioned as being possibilities for the size-starved Knicks at the time: Sweetney, Nick Collison, and Chris Kaman.
This season, they're in a worse drafting position. They'll probably have a chance to get Mike Sweetney, Nick Collison or Chris Kaman
Isiah's draft picks have been well documented on this site - we think he's done a pretty good job. He's taken Channing Frye (#8), Nate Robinson (#21) and David Lee (#30) in 2005; Renaldo Balkman in 2006 (#21), and Wilson Chandler (#20) in 2007.
Lesson To Be Learned: Scott Layden, perhaps knowing what a terrible drafter he was, actively sought to trade the Knicks' picks as much as possible. Because he left the Knicks without #1's in 2000, 2001 and 2002, they missed out on a chance to add good young players.
Isiah sought to actively add picks, even late first-rounders, and picked up good end of rotation guys that way. However, he has traded away high picks (knowingly or unknowingly), and that has cost him a chance to pick guys who might be more than rotation guys - he's missed a chance to acquire guys who might be real building blocks. This season might be the best shot the Knicks will have for a while to acquire a top-3 pick, the kind you can build a team around.
Inherited Team:
Scott Layden inherited the following team: Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, Marcus Camby, Latrell Sprewell, Kurt Thomas, Chris Childs, Chris Dudley Charlie Ward, John Wallace.
He left the following team for Isiah:
Shannon Anderson, Michael Doleac, Howard Eisley, Othella Harrington (he of the three draft picks), Allan Houston, Maciej Lampe, Antonio McDyess, Dikembe Mutumbo, Mike Sweetney, Kurt Thomas, Keith Van Horn, Slavko Vranes, Charlie Ward, Clarence Weatherspoon, Frank Williams.
Payroll : $89.1 million. Won't be under the cap until 2006-2007 (or four years into the Thomas Era).
It's always fun to go back in the time machine and remind people of what Isiah Thomas stepped into when he took the Knicks' job:
Anybody who looked at the cap situation," Thomas said, "the first thing they'd say is, 'You can't fix this.'
Good luck. The Knicks' payroll is $89 million. They're committed to $69 million in contracts next year(about $23 million over the projected cap). In 2006-07, the Knicks will owe nearly $38 million to graybeards Eisley, Anderson and Allan Houston.
The only player I'd make a trade for on that roster is Kurt Thomas," said one Western Conference GM. "They're in a bad, bad state.
"I think Isiah will be great with the Knicks," Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't have fired him. But Larry didn't think it would work. ... Isiah knows what I think of him. He made good picks in Toronto before the ownership change, and he did a great coaching job here by getting a young team to the playoffs.
"A lot of things happened last year that weren't Isiah's fault. Jermaine O'Neal's stepfather shot himself, Jamaal Tinsley's mother died, Ron Artest had his problems ... and Brad Miller got hurt in a two-week period, and it all fell apart. But Isiah is a very creative guy. It's a good choice."
Leave a comment
|
12 Comments
Comments
Tom, you make some excellent points. Okay, to your conclusion: I don't think Isiah taking over for an even more inept GM "excuses" him from being a poor GM. I've never had a problem with calling him a so-so GM, or even calling him a poor GM. I think my problems have come with the over the top depiction of Isiah Thomas as being so inept you have to wonder if he can even sign his name without his pen exploding.
But yeah, I can accept calling him a poor GM. The point of this post wasn't to excuse him, or blame Layden (though I did want to bring him into the equation since he's very responsible for the first four or even five losing seasons of this current 7 season losing streak) - the goal was to see what mistakes the two of them made, and learn from them.
At the end I wanted to reiterate what writers wrote about Isiah when he took over the team for a reason: reading those two linked articles you'll see some very familiar items - Mitch Lawrence (now a Daily News writer) ripping a Knicks GM, and talking about what a terrible ordeal the new GM (Isiah) has in store for him; fans that were chanting "Fire Layden" for months; a hopeless cap situation, and little written about what to do to fix it or the team. Just lots of "holy sh*t, the next guy is gonna have to dig his way out of this hole!" kinda stuff.
So my goal here was to examine the two regimes in some detail, and see what lessons can be learned. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll come up with a blueprint of sorts on how this team can be fixed. See, that's the one thing the media won't do - they'll blast the GM of the team to shrewds, but they won't ever offer up their "plan to fix the Knicks".
As for some of the other details in your thoughtful comment: yes, I agree that there was always a bit of too much of trying to rebuild while trying to cut corners aspect to Isiah's tenure. Some of the decisions, especially the Francis for Randolph trade, seem to be shortcuts into the playoffs without regard for the rebuilding aspects of the team (Curry as a foundation, getting under the cap in 2009).
But the biggest thing to me is this about the Curry trade is this: he didn't trade those two picks for Curry... he traded the option to switch spots with the Bulls. He guess wrong on the direction of both teams, which was an honest mistake in my opinion, but not necessarily a change in the chosen course of direction. I feel that he must have looked at the Bulls, who had just had their first non-lottery season since Jordan left, and seen them trying to trade their big man Curry, and figured they would probably be lottery bound again. Meanwhile, he thought the Knicks, with Curry and Marbury and Crawford, and new coach Larry Brown, would have enough to be a playoff team. He guess wrong... badly. But that doesn't mean to me that he necessarily forsaked the long-term gameplan, either. Not at that time, anyway. Once the pressure got on him, he started taking shortcuts.
I do agree that the PR fiascos contributed to why he's mocked so much by the media - the sexual harrassment suit, the unnecessary beef with people... Larry Brown, but also David Falk (which is why you might be reading about Mutumbo's complaining against Isiah this week... and the general unwillingness that Dolan and Thomas have to play nice with the local media have all contributed heavily to his perceived incompetence.
In my opinion, your post was a very fair and reasonable assessment of both regimes (Isiah and Layden). Isiah has made some good moves that deserve credit. His drafting has generally been solid, for instance. However, I think you and I both agree that his overall body of work has been subpar.
By comparison, as you noted, most of Layden's moves failed miserably.
I thought that the "Book of Isiah" on the Cosellout blog gave Isiah a little too much slack for the terrible roster he inherited. Yes, Layden left the team in shambles, but I think a good GM could have picked up the pieces and built a better team with the amount of time Isiah has been given.
Also, I think we need to mention the man overseeing this mess: James Dolan. His mismanagement of the organization has reflected not only on the quality of the team, but on the public perception of the team. His "freezing out" of the media, and his attempts to hide the struggles of the team demonstrate the fact that he's in over his head. Good business managers don't ignore their problems, they address them and try to correct them. Bad businessmen like Dolan try to sweep them under the rug
Good write ups.
I also have to stick up for the Stephon trade because what GM sees Stephon Marbury (who just carried Phoenix with a young Marion and Stoudemire) on the trading block for a few picks and EURO-busts...and doesn't take him.
Problems and all, the Knicks roster was awful. Yes, in hindsight, its easy to say he should have kept the draft picks (which I think turned out to be Kirk Snyder or something like that) but it's no guarantee that you'll get a lottery pick.
Knowing you are going to trade away everyone of Layden's guys on the roster...and knowing that you are going to trade for picks (which he did often)...you can assume he felt confident that he could get talent later in the first round using the draft picks he traded for.
For me, what it boils down to, the guys on this roster can't handle playing here. Stephon for all his "its my dream to play in the Garden" spiel...has let down all of his fans. All of the starbury fans are embarassed.
To top it off, the ZBO trade threw the balance of the team off its last year center. So instead of adding someone who complements and adds on to the roster you have...Zeke actually acquired a player who established another core group of players.
Instead of Curry and Marbury being able to exert their control over the game...by adding ZBo, you actually re-constituted your leadership to ZBo and JCraw. So instead of continuing on last year's efforts...this year turned into a transition season. The reigns have been passed...or dropped and picked up...from Marbury and Curry to ZBO and JCraw.
I'm not out of hope because of the bench and youngsters. I like them a lot. I just want to see some new leadership on the roster.
If not by next year, then fine, blow it up. I just can't see myself watching another 5 years of re-rebuilding.
@Tom: We agree on most everything. The only thing I will add is that I honestly think the media pressure messed things up too much for Isiah, which I know is a point Cosellout was trying to make.
Basically it is like this: Even Mitch Lawrence (one of Isiah's most vocal critics right now) wrote in 2003 that it would take 2-3 years to dig out from the mess that Layden left. That's the same thing he's writing now about Walsh, and digging out from Isiah's mess. It's what everyone said in 2003. It really is history repeating itself.
Anyway, 2 years go by, and Isiah is doing a decent job. He's traded the entire roster. He has added Marbury, Curry, Crawford, all under 30. He's drafted David Lee, Nate Robinson, and Channing Frye. Not great, but it's significantly better than two years ago.
Then comes hiring Larry Brown, and the downhill cycle that came from that. Larry Brown didn't work; Isiah gets tremendous heat, and the ridiculous reputation of being incompetent begins. Mind you that he's only been GM for less than three years at this point (2.5 years, to be precise), yet the full pressure is on. It started before the naming of Isiah as coach, before the sexual harassment case. Remember draft day 2006, when he took Renaldo Balkman and got ripped apart?
http://video/.aol.com/video-detail/the-new-york-knicks-select-renaldo-balkman/2152880053
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/29/sports/basketball/29knicks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Point being that despite the original "2-3 years to dig out of this mess" projection, within 2.5 years you had: "Fire Isiah" and heavy criticism from the press. The lack of patience from the local media and fans makes me think that we will never, ever be able to properly and patiently rebuild.
Saying the media didn't treat Isiah fairly is one thing, and I think you're right about that. But using media criticism as an excuse for bad moves he's made is just b.s. If you're letting the media guide, rush, or make your decisions you are not an effective GM. In fact, you're really an incompetent idiot.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the press says. Dolan couldn't care less about the press, obviously, so I doubt he was running into Isiah's office with the latest edition of the Post saying you have to trade for Zach Randolph. This is Isiah's mess, and it's the worst mess in the league right now. He made it, Walsh is going to try to clean it up, and fail. If the Nets arena ever gets built in Brooklyn the Knicks will eventually be the #2 team in the city, even if they play in the world's most famous arena.
By the way, I'm loving every second of this. I only hope Isiah stays on as coach and Walsh can find some way to trade for O'Neal, Dunleavy and Murphy once he takes over.
Worst mess in the league? Have you seen the Heat play this year? Sure Wade hasn't been 100%, but who does he have as running mates? Chris Quinn ain't getting it done. Ricky Buckets ain't getting it done. The Knicks are pretty horrible right now, but I can't say they're unequivocally the biggest mess in the league.
Agree, Brian. I never said Isiah was effective. He wasn't, very much so. I'll stop at "incompetent", because I define that has messing up a good thing, i.e. Kevin McHale and Billy King failing with MVP players in their prime. That's incompetence! Isiah simply failed to turn around a talentless team with no salary cap flexibility. That would have been difficult for any GM, even Donnie Walsh (which, ironically, is coming into the franchise at almost the same point Isiah came in).
We can debate about whether its "the worst mess in the league" or not (I think not - I can think of a few other teams in worse situations - the Pacers, for one). But yes, the media pressure shouldn't be an excuse.
It is, however, a reality of NYC sports that really undermines a lot of rebuilding efforts. The Yankees spend all of Don Mattingly's career rebuilding, and failing, because of similar reasons that the Knicks are no failing - meddling owners, GMs lacking long-term patience because they know they are under lots of scrutiny, and an angry fanbase that wants to see an immediate return to the glory days of the franchise (not all fans are like this - certainly on this site and others, like KnicksDefense, you find the more patient, intelligent fans who know what needs to be done. But listening to talk radio, reading the newspapers... there are also a lot of the other types, the type that after two and a half years is chanting for Isiah's head because the newspapers told them to).
Speaking of the Nets, I wouldn't laugh too much if I was you, Brian. Your favorite basketball team is about to throw away all its progress and pay franchise player money for a slightly above average SF in Iguodala. I hope Iggy makes the leap, but chances are you are looking at the next Richard Jefferson...
Re-signing Iguodala, even to a max deal, isn't what I'm worried about. They have to keep him, he's already better than Jefferson ever was, and he's also not an injury-prone guy, like Jefferson. He's been playing like a guy who deserves a max deal, especially in the biggest games against the toughest teams.
Take a look at his numbers vs. other team's SF's here.
As for squandering Iverson, King had the wrong approach, but they were only in the lottery twice with Iverson, one year he only played 47 games and the other year was his last full year in Philly. King's probably was always trying to find the other "superstar" to play alongside him, instead of surrounding him with defensive guys like they did in 2001.
Of course, you do have to give him some credit for getting out from under the worst of those contracts and putting them in a position to rebuild in about a year and a half after cutting the cord with Iverson in 2006. Buying out Webber instead of trying to trade him for a worse contract is one example. Getting Andre Miller, Joe Smith's expiring deal and two picks may have been 50 cents on the dollar, but it's also taken $20M off the cap number over two seasons and given them a rotation big man in Jason Smith. I don't think any of Isiah's "rebuilding" moves have accomplished nearly as much.
This isn't about Iggy, or Billy King. But since you brought it up:
I agree that Billy King, at the end, did a good job of blowing up the team and rebuilding quickly. He was straight forward with his plan, which was:
a) Trade Iverson for a mix of young players and cap relief
b) Cut Webber and wait for the cap to clear.
The second lesson might be a good way for the Knicks to go, too.
This is preposterous, though: They have to keep him, he's already better than Jefferson ever was, and he's also not an injury-prone guy, like Jefferson
Where to start: On the second half of that sentence - Jefferson missed a total of 5 games his first four seasons, until he was undercut by Billups, and broke his wrist. Yes, he's been injury-prone since, but when he was on his rookie contract, Jefferson was out there every single game. Point being: let's wait until Iggy has his max deal, and see how "injury-prone" he is.
On the first point: Iggy has not touched Jefferson's best year yet. First off, here is Iggy's top two years (last year and this year):
07-08: 19.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.6 apg, 2.0 spg, 0.7 bpg 45% FG, 32% 3PT, 73% FT.
06-07: 18.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 5.7 apg, 44.7% FG, 31% 3PT, 82% FT.
Setting aside the negative trend in his rebounds and assist numbers, Iggy's barely increased in his shooting %.
Jefferson has scored 20 ppg before in his career. He's averaging 23.0 ppg this season.
In his best all around season (04-05), Jefferson averaged 22.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 4.0 apg. RJ was never the defensive player Iggy is (I love Iggy's defense), but those are all-around better numbers.
That year - 04-05 - was the year Kidd was injured, so Jefferson had to play point forward. He averaged 4 turnovers a game that year; he's never topped 2.4 a game in a full season otherwise in his career. Iggy has averaged over 3 turnovers a game the last two seasons combined.
RJ shot 42% that year, a career low. Otherwise, his lowest FG% in a season is 45.6, or higher than Iggy's best.
Aside from his first year as a starter, RJ has shot over 31.9% from deep, including almost 40% this year. Iggy hasn't topped 32%, which is his number this season.
Point being: I heard 76ers fans complain for years about how poorly Iverson shot, and how much he turned the ball over. Now they ignore that same tendency in Iggy, because he's young, full of potential, and cheap.
Once he's got a max deal, and the fans realize that he doesn't have a T-Mac level in him, and that this is what he is... they'll turn on him like they turned on Iverson. Funny thing is that Iverson would have been loved anywhere else - he played hard, every game, and never missed games with injuries. So what are you guys going to do when your new franchise player, Iggy, signs a $15 million a year contract, can't lead the Sixers out of the first round, you can't sign anyone to help him out because the team is capped out, and he starts missing games because of a sore back?!?
My gut feeling is you'll be complaining about the deal by the third season. The Nets at least had two players that could carry the team already aboard when they re-signed Jefferson... you guys are going to find it a bit hard to build around a second banana, without the first banana in place.
First of all, in Jefferson's best season '04-'05, he played a whopping 33 games. Which was kind of my point going in. I assume he signed his big extension prior to that season, but the final year of his rookie contract was cut short by injury.
Second, he never had to be the guy before he signed his deal, Iguodala has, and he's proven he can handle it in big situations. We'll see how he does in the playoffs.
Third, he's increased both his FG% and 3pt% since last year, even while attempting 3 more FG/game and 1.5 more 3pt/game.
Fourth, he's reduced his turnovers by .7 since last year.
Most importantly, he's leading this team to the playoffs. Remember when Jordan was in his prime and you could say, "Just keep the game close through three and Jordan will win it in the fourth?" Well the Sixers haven't lost a close game in over two months because Iguodala takes over in money time, on both ends of the floor. That's something Jefferson's never done.
Finally, no Sixers fan that I know ever really turned on Iverson. The press may have, but the day he got traded was a very dark day for most Sixers fans.
SML, I just caught this. Great work, great breakdown, great comments.... There is really very little analysis between Layden and Thomas. Layden took over a team with many trade chips which makes all the difference in the world.
I never knew that the Harrington trade cost TWO 1st rounders. Unbelievable!
About the Curry trade, I'm glad you mention that the second one was a swap. Mainstream media always forgets that little tidbit. Isiah had hired Larry Brown and never dreamed that he would tank that season with the 2nd worst record.Isiah though that he was trading a 16-20th pick for Curry. Now Isiah's fault was to not protect it from a top-3 pick. Now Paxson says that he wouldn't budge on this, but who knows.
I remember reading Cosellout's "Book of Isiah", and starting to write an e-mail to him about how wrong I thought he was, but then I was having trouble keeping my thoughts straight...
I think the summary of what I wanted to say was this:
Isiah inherited possibly the worst team in the history of professional sports. I can live with that. But his first instinct was to make a "win now" move (the Marbury trade) instead of blowing things up and starting over, which is what a team THAT bad and THAT inflexible needed.
Seeing that his "win now" strategy wasn't working, he made a few "win later" moves, such as trading Nazr Mohammad for a draft pick, and he claimed that he was building for the future. However, he didnt fully commit to the "win later" mantra, especially when considering the Steve Francis, Jalen Rose, Eddy Curry, and Zach Randolph trades, which could all be considered "win now" moves. At this point, he wasnt committed to either approach: winning now or winning later. As a result, we're stuck with another 25-win team 5 years after he took the helm
The easiest way to rebuild a struggling team is to acquire an absolute stud at the very top of the draft. Examples of this include the Cavs (LeBron), Nuggets (Carmelo), Suns (Marion and Stoudamire), Magic (Dwight Howard). Thus, when you're a struggling franchise, you shouldnt trade away draft picks!!! But that's exactly what Isiah did, trading away two first rounders that we could have used to draft a stud that can help turn the team around.
To give credit where it's due, Isiah did make good late-first-round picks, but those are all complementary players (Lee, Balkman, etc.) But the team won't be successful unless they have that early-first-round stud.
And lastly, I disagreed with his assessment of the league-wide lack of quality free-agent signings. I think this is a result of too many poor GMs making poor decisions. Not only does this ruin their own cap space, but it floods the market with overpriced players, which ties up the cap space of teams with responsible spending habits.
And let's not even consider some of the P.R. fiascos, such as the Anucha Browne Sanders mess, him yelling for people to "break Bruce Bowen's neck", the brawl with the Nuggets that he seemed to have exacerbated, etc.
Overall, my opinion is that Isiah has been a poor GM, plain and simple. The fact that he took over for an even more inept GM does not excuse him from this.