Theus, GM's hired and 2 Trades
> On 6/19 the Sacramento Kings named Reggie Theus their new coach. Theus led New Mexico State to a 41-23 record the last two seasons, but really has no other head coaching experience, unless you count the ABA’s Las Vegas Slam. The rest of Reggie’s resume includes time as a volunteer assistant at Cal State LA, stints running summer league teams for the Sixers & Nuggets and two years as Rick Pitino’s assistant at Louisville.
So while I’m normally against college guys coming to the NBA, I’m not sure Theus falls into that category. Reggie has gone through great pains to say “I was an NBA guy coaching in college” any time the subject comes up, and I tend to agree with him. He was only coaching in college because he couldn’t get an NBA job and needed to prove he could lead a squad. And since he actually played in the Association for 13 seasons, he knows what the NBA grind entails. The travel, the egos, etc.
Theus’ hiring is a tough call for me. One on hand he did score the first basket in the Sacramento franchise’s history, so he has obvious ties to the organization. Not to mention his semi-connection to the Maloof family through Las Vegas (The Palms) and New Mexico (their home state). On the other hand he’s a rookie coach with limited pro experience coming into a very tough/uncertain situation.
At best this move is a gamble for the Kings because success won’t come easy with their current roster. And if president Geoff Petrie decides to rebuild, the track record of inexperienced coaches in rebuilding situations is not great to be kind.
At worst this is public relations appointment designed around bringing in a very popular former player to drum up support for a new arena. Weather this hire was for basketball related reasons, or over money concerns, Reggie and the Sacramento franchise face a very challenging road ahead that probably does not include the playoff for at least a few years.
> On 6/7 the Seattle SuperSonics named Sam Presti their new GM. At 30 years old Presti becomes the youngest personnel man in the league. The Wunderkind comes complete with a seven year San Antonio pedigree, which is very in vogue right about now. Sam’s claim to fame is that he convinced the Spurs to draft Tony Parker when the majority of their brain trust was against it.
Presti’s first move, after Lenny Wilkens was stripped of his decision making responsibilities, was to fire director of basketball operations Dave Pendergraft and director of college scouting Steve Rosenberry. Great move when you consider who Seattle has drafted the past couple of years. He replaced them with freshly minted assistant GM Scott Perry, formerly director of player personnel for Detroit.
I can’t say for sure what kind of job Presti will do, but he has to be better than the three stooges (Wally Walker, Rick Sund & Lenny Wilkens) that have been running this franchise into the ground for years. How Presti handles Rashard Lewis’ free agency should give us an early read on his ability.
> On 6/18 the Memphis Grizzlies hired former Boston GM Chris Wallace to replace Jerry West as vice president of basketball operations. This is an absolutely terrible move by a clueless owner and reminds me of when Portland hired John Nash to mismanage thier club for three seasons. I could run down a list of Chris' bad moves, but I’m feeling lazy so here’s what Bill Simmons (a Celtics fan) had to say…
“This was the guy [Wallace] who spent a lottery pick on Kedrick Brown, drafted Joe Forte over Tony Parker, raved about Jerome Moiso's upside potential and said publicly that Shammond Williams was the key to a trade that included Boston picking up an alcoholic forward with a max contract (Vin Baker).”
Anyway, you get the picture. For a franchise that is already losing fan support this ends badly, very badly. In fact, relocation is a definite possibility after Wallace gets finished making things worse than they already are there. But then again, maybe that’s exactly what owner Michael Heisley has in mind anyway.
> There were also two small trades that went down since my last post.
Minnesota Gets: Juwan Howard
Houston Gets: Mike James and Justin Reed
For the Timberwolves…
Minny unloads the three years and $18 million left on James’ deal and makes way for Randy Foye to be their new undisputed starting PG. Howard gives the Wolves another legit big body to play alongside (or replace) Kevin Garnett. Juwan is also a very good “locker room” guy that is known for his professionalism in any situation. This is also something KG apparently wanted.
For the Rockets…
James was brought to Houston in part because he lives there and badly wanted to play in his home town again. The main reason though is to give the Rockets another option at the point besides Rafer Alston. While Rafer might be the better defender/distributor, he can’t throw it the ocean. Enter James, who can really stroke it from deep and never met a shot he didn’t like. Think offense/defense if you will.
Reed would have been better suited to former coach Jeff Van Gundy’s defensive style than he is to new coach Rick Adelman’s free flowing offensive style. I’ve been a backer of Justin in the past, but I think he’s on his way out of the league now.
Winner - Rockets
Toronto Gets: Carlos Delfino
Detroit Gets: 2009 & 2011 second round picks
For the Raptors…
I like this pickup for Toronto, but I’m not sure Delfino is worth *two* second rounders. While there’s no doubt Carlos will feel more comfortable north of the border in their international atmosphere, he really has never displayed the ability to contribute consistently. He certainly has the physical tools to be an NBA player, but mentally he doesn’t seem to be in the game near enough. Another reason I don’t like this deal is because Luke Jackson just got pushed further down the depth chart. Anyway, this is the last stop café for Delfino, and he better make the most of it, or it’ll be welcome back to Europe time.
For the Pistons…
This move is about Detroit cutting salary as much as it is about dumping an unhappy and unproductive player. Piston president Joe Dumars is rumored to be trying to clear up enough salary cap space to sign Grant Hill. It might actually take a few more crafty trades to get there, so stayed tuned.
Winner - Pistons
So while I’m normally against college guys coming to the NBA, I’m not sure Theus falls into that category. Reggie has gone through great pains to say “I was an NBA guy coaching in college” any time the subject comes up, and I tend to agree with him. He was only coaching in college because he couldn’t get an NBA job and needed to prove he could lead a squad. And since he actually played in the Association for 13 seasons, he knows what the NBA grind entails. The travel, the egos, etc.
Theus’ hiring is a tough call for me. One on hand he did score the first basket in the Sacramento franchise’s history, so he has obvious ties to the organization. Not to mention his semi-connection to the Maloof family through Las Vegas (The Palms) and New Mexico (their home state). On the other hand he’s a rookie coach with limited pro experience coming into a very tough/uncertain situation.
At best this move is a gamble for the Kings because success won’t come easy with their current roster. And if president Geoff Petrie decides to rebuild, the track record of inexperienced coaches in rebuilding situations is not great to be kind.
At worst this is public relations appointment designed around bringing in a very popular former player to drum up support for a new arena. Weather this hire was for basketball related reasons, or over money concerns, Reggie and the Sacramento franchise face a very challenging road ahead that probably does not include the playoff for at least a few years.
> On 6/7 the Seattle SuperSonics named Sam Presti their new GM. At 30 years old Presti becomes the youngest personnel man in the league. The Wunderkind comes complete with a seven year San Antonio pedigree, which is very in vogue right about now. Sam’s claim to fame is that he convinced the Spurs to draft Tony Parker when the majority of their brain trust was against it.
Presti’s first move, after Lenny Wilkens was stripped of his decision making responsibilities, was to fire director of basketball operations Dave Pendergraft and director of college scouting Steve Rosenberry. Great move when you consider who Seattle has drafted the past couple of years. He replaced them with freshly minted assistant GM Scott Perry, formerly director of player personnel for Detroit.
I can’t say for sure what kind of job Presti will do, but he has to be better than the three stooges (Wally Walker, Rick Sund & Lenny Wilkens) that have been running this franchise into the ground for years. How Presti handles Rashard Lewis’ free agency should give us an early read on his ability.
> On 6/18 the Memphis Grizzlies hired former Boston GM Chris Wallace to replace Jerry West as vice president of basketball operations. This is an absolutely terrible move by a clueless owner and reminds me of when Portland hired John Nash to mismanage thier club for three seasons. I could run down a list of Chris' bad moves, but I’m feeling lazy so here’s what Bill Simmons (a Celtics fan) had to say…
“This was the guy [Wallace] who spent a lottery pick on Kedrick Brown, drafted Joe Forte over Tony Parker, raved about Jerome Moiso's upside potential and said publicly that Shammond Williams was the key to a trade that included Boston picking up an alcoholic forward with a max contract (Vin Baker).”
Anyway, you get the picture. For a franchise that is already losing fan support this ends badly, very badly. In fact, relocation is a definite possibility after Wallace gets finished making things worse than they already are there. But then again, maybe that’s exactly what owner Michael Heisley has in mind anyway.
> There were also two small trades that went down since my last post.
Minnesota Gets: Juwan Howard
Houston Gets: Mike James and Justin Reed
For the Timberwolves…
Minny unloads the three years and $18 million left on James’ deal and makes way for Randy Foye to be their new undisputed starting PG. Howard gives the Wolves another legit big body to play alongside (or replace) Kevin Garnett. Juwan is also a very good “locker room” guy that is known for his professionalism in any situation. This is also something KG apparently wanted.
For the Rockets…
James was brought to Houston in part because he lives there and badly wanted to play in his home town again. The main reason though is to give the Rockets another option at the point besides Rafer Alston. While Rafer might be the better defender/distributor, he can’t throw it the ocean. Enter James, who can really stroke it from deep and never met a shot he didn’t like. Think offense/defense if you will.
Reed would have been better suited to former coach Jeff Van Gundy’s defensive style than he is to new coach Rick Adelman’s free flowing offensive style. I’ve been a backer of Justin in the past, but I think he’s on his way out of the league now.
Winner - Rockets
Toronto Gets: Carlos Delfino
Detroit Gets: 2009 & 2011 second round picks
For the Raptors…
I like this pickup for Toronto, but I’m not sure Delfino is worth *two* second rounders. While there’s no doubt Carlos will feel more comfortable north of the border in their international atmosphere, he really has never displayed the ability to contribute consistently. He certainly has the physical tools to be an NBA player, but mentally he doesn’t seem to be in the game near enough. Another reason I don’t like this deal is because Luke Jackson just got pushed further down the depth chart. Anyway, this is the last stop café for Delfino, and he better make the most of it, or it’ll be welcome back to Europe time.
For the Pistons…
This move is about Detroit cutting salary as much as it is about dumping an unhappy and unproductive player. Piston president Joe Dumars is rumored to be trying to clear up enough salary cap space to sign Grant Hill. It might actually take a few more crafty trades to get there, so stayed tuned.
Winner - Pistons
posted by D$ at 12:25 PM
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