Continuing with bonehead general managers who have made the average sports fan age faster than their daughter dating a tattooed, pants-sagging, luxury car driving, athlete (me on the weekends), here are some more clueless guys who have been handcuffing their respective franchises; for those of you who didn’t read the first segment of this article’s series, Kevin Pritchard and Joe Dumars landed the top two spots.
Courtesy: Debra Egan/NY Daily News
3. Billy King (Brooklyn Nets): If you’re an owner, why would you even consider this guy to run your franchise? Your deep pockets and checkbook in King’s hands equals DISASTER! First of all, hiring a coach, who even with Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, J-Kidd, and a complete roster of talent from top to bottom, couldn’t deliver Mark Cuban the NBA title (which Rick Carlisle accomplished two years ago)! And with his outrageous spending (Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries, C.J. Watson, Gerald Wallace, and Deron “It’s not my fault” Williams) you have all the ingredients for a very unsuccessful start for your franchise at its new home. Once the losses started to compile, King did the only thing he could to deflect criticism away from himself; he fired the man he selected to direct this band of misfits – typical Bill King. He looked like a genius in Philadelphia because Allen Iverson was so insanely talented that he could dominate the ball, generate wins, and have people not even remember that he was on the court with four other players in similar jerseys. Once injuries, wear and tear, and his overall skills started to decline, Iverson could no longer hide the mediocrity of the Sixers’ roster, and King was finally exposed for what he really was – an IMPOSTER!
While it may seem like I’m being extremely harsh with my assessment of these GMs, there’s really a simple answer behind my madness; as a native New Yorker and former ball player, I take pride in recognizing talent and what it takes to cultivate talent and chemistry in order to form a nucleus of competitiveness and overall success. I earn nowhere near what these GMs do, however, they are perceived to have this “special eye” for talent. Really? Where are the results?
I believe that a GM should be judged after four years at the helm – that’s right, four years; that’s a sufficient amount of time to put together a decent roster via trades, drafts, and free agency. If the general manager is such a great basketball mind, because that’s what it takes to really be successful in that particular position, then four years is more than enough time to make their mark in the league.
I know that I talk a big game, but I can back it up as well; there aren’t too many media members, former players, or current GMs that can challenge my expertise on this subject. I’m always willing to put-up or shut-up; I guess that’s the Brooklyn in me!
Stay tuned for Fools Gold Part 3: the finale.
