Friday, May 25, 2007

Why teams are made up of more than players

http://blog.kir.com/archives/2007/05/a_rare_nba_post.asp
http://blog.kir.com/archives/2007/05/and_you_think_t.asp

Houstonian Tom Kirkendall is the son of a physician and a well respected lawyer (yes, it can happen). He is also a sports nut like me. The 2 posts I linked to are about the NBA and my Texas Rangers ("We're Punctual!"). Watch me masterfully link the topics of why the NBA has only had 14 teams win a title and why the Rangers have won one playoff game. And why the NY Times article about a shortage of tall people has nothing to do with who wins championships.

Team titles are won by organizations. The Spurs, Yankees, and Patriots have all had good ownership who realize that team sports are not won by All-Star teams. You have to have a GM who understands team dynamics and salary caps, not just who has the best stats. You need a coaching staff who can integrate young talent with the accompanying lack of experience, veteran talent with the accompanying slower reflexes, and mix it with long term strategies to deal with long regular seasons and short term strategies for playoff series and game planning with adjustments at halftime and good creative play-calling for last second plays. You need scouting departments who can help you pick good talent in the draft, free agent market and in trades while supplying useful information to help win games. You need a good marketing department to keep fans coming to the games and buying apparel and paying everyone's salary.

My Rangers have consistently switched managers and players like they're a fantasy league team. The once great Latin American scouting department has been disbanded for financial reasons (note- this is an unsubstantiated rumor). We paid A-Rod $&) million more than the Mets offered, and we still pay him $10-12 million a year to play for the team I hate from New York.

So LeBron James and Tracy McGrady will be relegated to making cool commercials and never winning a title as long as management keeps letting the Carlos Boozers go to Utah and interviews head coaches before the head coach is fired. The Detroit Lions can draft Jesus himself and sign the Heavenly Hosts to a long term deal and still go 3-13 as long as Matt Millen and the Ford family are in charge. The supply of tall people has nothing to do with the NBA's lack of Championship teams. Rangers' owner Tom Hick's poor management is the reason my team is so bad the announcers complain ON AIR about having to watch this team play the Devil Rays. It's the lack of a Championship level ORGANIZATION.

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