Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Isaiah Thomas Signs Talented, Troubled Underachiever

Jamal CrawfordJerome JamesEddy CurryQyntel Woods signed with the Knicks today. For those not familiar:
A 2002 first-round draft pick of the Portland Trail Blazers, Woods has experienced off-the-court problems throughout his rocky professional career.

Woods was on Portland's suspended list last season for allegations of animal abuse before being waived in January. He was released by the team the same day he pleaded guilty in an Oregon court for abusing his pit bull.

Last October, Woods was suspended five games for violating the league's substance-abuse policy.
But, at least he can play:
Woods has career averages of 3.1 points and 1.7 rebounds in 118 games.
This is one of those mystifying things - the key long-term difference between sports franchises, especially in leagues with salary caps is the performance of General Managers - yet when they perform poorly, the coach or the players get the axe and the GM keeps on keeping on.

The Sawx finally won the WS when they got a GM who both understood that a lineup of slow, strike-out prone, Monstah-aiming beer-league softball types (with very thin pitching) wouldn't get it done, and didn't do everything possible to alienate, well, everyone (looking at you, Dan Duquette). The Spurs and Pistons are the best teams in the NBA, have been for the past few years, and likely will be for the next few because they draft well, sign players to reasonable contracts, and leave themselves flexibility for the off-season.

Meanwhile, despite clear indications that they should not remain employed, Isaiah and Matt Millen keep their jobs. Not only are they ruining their teams current chances, but (especially in Isaiah's case) they are mortgaging the future to do so. Of course, I hope Zeke keeps his job long enough to trade us Trevor Ariza for OliwoSkippy.

4 comments:

Kierkegaard Lives said...

Great post pooh. I'm curious what you think about Larry Brown's job performance there so far. I guess I understand the lure of coaching the Knicks, but it seems to me that he runs a terrible risk of really tarnishing what has become a stellar resume, especially at what may well be his last stop. Management there is certainly not making his job any easier.

Pooh said...

He's got a roster with which he can't possibly win. His best player is an all-time Rotisi-great who is a notorious non-winner. Not quite Shareef Abdur-Rahim level of non-winningness, but close. I suspect his best lineup would be Curry, Frye, Ariza, Marbury and Robinson. Does that scare anybody? Could they stop anybody, ever? Incidentally, what the hell happened to Q-Richardson's game? He used to a be a scrapper who would board, play d and hit the occasional three. Maybe Brandy made him soft...

Thanks for stopping by, BTW.

Pooh said...

Ok, now I feel like and ass.

Kierkegaard Lives said...

I heard about that shooting. That doesn't explain where he's been all year, though. I was never a believer in "Q" myself.

As to your speculation about his best lineup, I bet you could poll a thousand people on the street and be lucky to find 2 that would have any idea who Trevor Ariza even is. Funny that you would make him part of the best lineup available in NY!

Malik Rose use to be a pretty solid role player, but you have to have something else to work with for role players to really be effective contributors.