fwk00 wrote:I think its easy to criticize what you don't understand and so many Phil critics and pundits think rebuilding is a linear process - one good thing follows another - no matter what. Its not like that. Its a lot more complex.
I won't disagree that any pro sports rebuild is not going to be easy, however in the modern NBA, the aspects of an initial rebuild almost forces itself upon a team.
There is a scarcity of talent, there are just about no market inefficiencies in the system, there is a massive tier gap between the elite players and everyone else. There are not enough elite players to go around to sustain every team in the league with a franchise core.
The Nets signing Crabbe to an offer sheet might have blown up in their face. However he's a young player, he can shoot, he can play the wing, there was risk, but the upside was at least potentially there.
There is just no upside in the Noah/Rose decisions. And unlike the NFL, these contracts are guaranteed, you make moves, you can hurt yourself for half a decade for a decision you make in one preseason.
There are very few avenues to get better, there are a very few opportunities to improve your roster, there are only so many minutes to give around in a game. In MLB, the Royals won with speed, defense and betting early on the move towards using an elite bullpen. But MLB has enough of a talent base and opportunity to move/change talent that they could go in one direction versus another. In the modern NBA, if you are in the middle, it's basically slow death.
Yes, once you start accumulating assets and stockpiling young players, sure, you have to start making some very rough decisions ( i.e. OKC with Harden, Houston making a move for Howard, etc) but in the early stages, when you are a bottom dwelling team, with little NBA talent, then it's not so complex. Sell everything and tank. Don't lock into aging guys in decline who burn out your hopeful timeline. Focus on smaller signings who can help you now, in the future, or as trade bits.
A rebuild at a certain stage in the NBA gets rough ( The Celtics are facing it right now, they have a lot of young guys, a lot of assets, but they need to get over the hump, this is where a lot could go wrong, but the early part, dumping Pierce and Garnett and tanking, that wasn't hard at all. ) but the Knicks are not at that point.
The problem I see with Jackson discussion is it always goes either he's great or he's horrible, instead of he's just mediocre, and that mediocre is enough to want to move on from him.
The margin for error in an NBA rebuild, if the goal is to eventually win a ring, is close to none. That's just the way the current system operates. Every move should be heavily scrutinized accordingly.
If Jackson makes mistakes that the Knicks will pay for, for the next three years after this one, and he gets heat for it, that's not hate in my book. You want to be "The Man", you get the power to run it your way, you have to eat the blame in the same way you get to hog the credit if you win. It works both ways.
4/1/2017 2:31 AM
