misterearl wrote:hate, despair and videotape highlightsjrodmc - sometimes you gotta cry to keep from laughing. We have witnessed Hall of Fame coaches, a Hall of Fame General Manager and a handful of players (who are playing significant rotational minutes) spin through the revolving door at The Garden of Good and Terrible on Seventh Avenue. Of course, our first round selection could be an exact replica of Kareem Abdul Jabbar and the free agents step in ready to enforce their will in the locker room from day one. Langston Galloway develops a "fall back baby" jumper and reminds old school followers of Dick Barnett.
It could happen.
Please do not confuse an unflinching critique for hate. Far from it. We desperately want Uncle Phil to get it right. Unfortunately, as Splat eloquently has explained, there is a reason why Lenny Wilkens, Larry Brown, Donnie Walsh and Glen Grunwald are no longer here. There is a reason why we have no front office continuity, and as a result we have more players wearing other uniforms than any NBA franchise.
It's not about starting over or big egos. They all have outsized egos. The issue is whether any self-respecting executive can work under James Dolan. Period. If $60M is not enough loot to hold Uncle Phil's attention in New York for five years, what happens next?
We all live in an Orange and Blue Submarine.
Earl, as you say, it is not that Phil was totally the wrong choice that is the whole problem here. The re-set button on poor managerial practices does not get activated every time a new GM or coach is hired. The institutional deficit Phil inherited was bad enough, but he brought his own baggage which has not helped one bit.
Big egos are not the issue. Everyone would love a superstar veteran in his prime and would not care if their outsized ego made them a despicable person on a personal level if that resulted in driving the team to achieve championship level results.
The reason focusing on character traits and personality defects matters so much is that when they override your strengths they pull you down. Frankly, I wouldn't have cared so much that Melo is a self-absorbed douchebag if he actually was a leader who got results. But he's merely a volume scorer and otherwise a crap basketball player.
All the gerbils running around yelling hater! can't deal with the psychological profiling, yet they still fail to correlate the results to the person.
Phil's baggage is hubris. I identified early on and I was spot on. He overestimates his influence on the coach and players. He thinks his "system" trumps good GM personnel skills. Phil is totally out of his league when it comes to cutting deals. He's truly a newb with an inflated sense of himself.
He brought this hubris and sold it to Dolan who loves spending on big splashes. No metrics, no analytics drive this organization, but ad hoc band-aid deals meant to appease the gullible public.
Phil's ego unto itself is not the issue. But his vanity negates the value of a powerful will. Vanity clouds personal self-evaluation and leads one to believe their abilities are greater than they actually are.
Phil drank his own kool-aid. His belief he would zen the organization into shape made him arrogant. He actually thought he could compromise himself with Dolan, collect the big check and still keep his integrity. He does not look good at this point.
When you do business with hustlers you either get hustled or become a hustler. Phil joined forces with Dolan because he was willing to turn a blind eye to the reality of the situation. He deluded himself into thinking he was a force that would reform this dysfunctional institution. That's hubris. And it is appallingly short-sighted for such a smart man.
It is why I say he sold out. He's too smart not to know it could turn into a complete clusterfuk getting into bed with Dolan, but he did it anyway. His vanity and greed overruled his better judgment. Phil should have never gotten involved. He is ill-equipped for the job and totally compromised himself.
