Not much of note happening in the Cleveland sports world right now, so I figured I’d just briefly touch on the continued stupidity of the Clippers’ organization. Consider it a kind of postscript to my Cap Reality series entry on them.
Yesterday, the Clippers suddenly decided to fire Mike Dunleavy from his reduced role of GM. As many people have speculated, this is supposedly a move aimed at allowing Bron to not only choose his coach, but also choose his GM. This is the “Godfather” offer they’re willing to make.
As usual, the Clippers are way off base.
Here’s the thing: if you’re a player, I can understand the appeal of having the opportunity to choose your coach. Coaches have known styles, known personalities, known records. However, the idea that the player should then go out and pick his GM is absurd. How many current NBA players are keeping tabs on front office personnel around the league? By no means am I trying to take shots at LeBron’s intelligence, since by all accounts the guy’s mind for not just the game, but for business, is incredible. But there’s an enormous difference between someone saying “I’d love to play for Phil Jackson” versus “I’d love to play on a team built by Daryl Morey.”
Even if we were comparing apples to apples here, let’s be honest: the GM market is very different from the coaching market. In 30 seconds, I managed to think of three different coaches who have been to the Finals but are not currently employed by an NBA team (Jeff Van Gundy, Byron Scott, and Avery Johnson). Aside from Jerry West—who has already publicly stated that he would not take the Clippers GM job because of their proximity to the Lakers—how many known, quality NBA personnel czars are out there without a job? The answer is none, because when an owner finds one of those guys, they don’t fire him.
This means that there are really only two categories of people available to take over the Clippers GM job: unproven assistant GMs (say, the Cavs’ Lance Blanks), or former GMs fired for incompetence (say, Isiah Thomas). So if Donald Sterling is thinking that he’s opened up an opportunity for LeBron to choose a “trustworthy GM,” in the words of this article, then he’s in for another rude awakening. Ironically, Dunleavy was the last guy ignorant or arrogant enough to believe that he could play the dual role well enough to justify occupying both jobs, so it’s not even as if LeBron could choose one guy to cover both posts.
(Sidebar: let’s also dispel this ridiculous notion that Phil Jackson is going to go coach the Clippers. As I’ve stated before, any rumors to this effect are being floated out there by Jackson’s camp as a means of amping up pressure on the Lakers to redo his deal. This is especially apparent when you consider that Phil just massacred Donald Sterling in the press less than 60 days ago, and that a guy who expects to be the highest-paid coach in the NBA is never going to gel with an owner renowned for hoarding cash.)
Now, if you’re a Clippers fan, your reaction to all of this would be, “Well, the Clippers had to do this. It’s the best pitch they can make. No one else is going to offer this opportunity.” And that would be correct. But the reason that no one else is going to offer this opportunity is that every other franchise in the league doesn’t want to portray themselves as completely and utterly directionless while they’re trying to land a major free agent. One common advantage held by the Knicks, Nets, and Heat is that their top execs have all built teams that have at least made it to the Finals, if not won them. The Clippers, on the other hand, have a vacuum in their decision-maker’s spot. This is the reason that the Knicks went out and got Donnie Walsh prior to last season: they wanted to be able to tell their 2010 free agent targets that not only was there a long-term plan, but that plan was already in motion. By contrast, the Clippers have no plan, unless you consider, “Just let LeBron figure out the personnel stuff” as a legitimate plan. I, for one, don’t.
The ultimate irony in the Dunleavy firing is that, as spotty as his coaching record has been, Dunleavy’s GM moves have gotten fairly high marks from many analysts—at least for the past couple of seasons. Think about it: pundits regularly point to the roster in place as being the best reason for LeBron to consider the Clippers. It was through Dunleavy’s dealings at the trade deadline that the Clippers even managed to get to the verge of being able to sign a max free agent at all this summer. As thanks for a job well done, Sterling unceremoniously canned him. Not only was the press release itself unnecessarily pointed, but the notification process left a lot to be desired, too. (Details on both here.)
In short, this entire episode is just a microcosm of how jacked up the Clippers are and will continue to be until the team is sold. If LeBron doesn’t see that, then he’s not the man I’ve been led to believe he is.
-T
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