Uh oh, now Paul is going to testy!

["Odegaard, Greg M." <GMOdegaa@rmc.com>]

This list of so called mistakes in the shortened acquisition has a most
interesting item at the top.  Food for thought or fodder for the grist mill;
you decide.

Ode
Bad Moves 
 <<...>> January 27, 1999, MattnSteve <mailto:mattnSteve@onhoops.com>. 
	Chuck's Note: 
We know it's been frantic, but just because everybody else is making free
agent moves and the transaction wire is zinging in your ears, it doesn't
mean you have to pull the trigger without thinking. Unless you're the Bulls
or the Nuggets (never thought we'd put them in the same sentence), it's
oftentimes better to make one or 2 savvy free agent pickups rather than
gambling it all and coming up with a handful of radishes. Here are some of
the most questionable transactions we've seen thus far this trading period.
Pitino or ML Carr?
When Rick Pitino let Travis Knight jump back to the Lakers, he effectively
confirmed all those rumors which had him eyeing up shot-blocking sensation
Michael Stewart from the Kings. But instead, Pitino spent his last remaining
cap space on a 3 year deal for tubby rebounder Popeye Jones, leaving him
only the $1 mill exemption available for Stewart. Did he take it? No, he
went to Toronto, where nobody ever goes out of choice, which shows you just
how much Pitino under-estimated things. In tonight's game against the
Celtics, Stewart blocked 2 shots and lead the Raptors in rebounding - plus
the C's play Toronto again in the exhibitions and open their season by
hosting Toronto on Feb 5th. This could be a costly miss. So, desperately in
need of a center, Boston had to go after, get this, Dwayne Schintzius
instead. Along with Pervis Ellison, the undersized Jones and the underbulked
Andrew Declercq, this has gotto be the dead worst pivot rotation we've seen
in a long time. This is a team which could have Acie Earl as their starting
center, and they'd actually be better!
Son Chyenne
Phoenix were going to be the one team which kicked butt in this free agent
fest. They had their eyes on Pippen, they were going to re-sign McDyess, and
they were finally going to get the athletically dominating center they
haven't had since before the Larry Nance era. All of a sudden, boom, none
out of three. Phoenix renounced the rights to all their players except Jason
Kidd and Danny Manning, and then proceeded to sign... uh, ... yeah, right
... no-one. Pip went to Houston, McDyess tragically spurned them for the
Nuggs, and they had to package 3 players to the Bulls in order to prize Luc
Longley away from Jerry Krause's deceased estate clearance. Longley's not
bad, and Gugliotta has game, but you know your free agent wishlist hasn't
come off when you're forced to re-sign Clifford Robinson, Horacio Llamas,
Marko Milic and George McCloud.
Free Money!
You thought that huge popping sound you heard was the champagne corks in
Philly after Allen Iverson decided to stick around? Wrong, it was the roof
blowing off of the 76ers' Salary Cap. Already this offseason the Sixers have
shelled out the mega-bucks on Matt Geiger (with whom Philly were staging
their "I-can-sign-your-chump-for-more-than-you-can-sign-mine" contest with
the Hornets), Theo Ratliff (proven wise in knocking back a 5 year, $18
million offer last summer from Doug Collins), and now Iverson (the only one
of the three who deserves to get paid like it). Add Harvey Grant, George
Lynch and rookie Nzar Mohammed to the mix, and the Sixers have got one of
the most expensive, marginally talented frontlines in the game. Talk about
inflation, but you don't get much value for money nowadays... Theo has huge
skills, and between them, Geiger and Nzar could develop into a passable 5,
but in a division where everyone is getting measurably better (save the
still Strickland-less Wizards), the only team Philly are going to look
competent in the paint against is Boston.
Bring Mac Back
And to think Gary Payton was lobbying Jayson Williams to come to town all
summer long? The Sonics only traded Shawn Kemp because of Jim MacIlvaine's
contract, so what do they do just one offseason after losing Shawn? They
send MacIlvaine and his exhorbitant, even by today's standards, contract to
New Jersey. No, not for Jayson, who dutifully re-upped with the team that
made him welcome (hello Antonio), but for Don MacLean and Michael Cage.
Well, that should make Shaq quake in his Reeboks. O'Neal punished Vin Baker
in last year's playoffs, and now the Sonics don't even have Cage to push him
around, as they waived him as soon as the deal was achieved. Seattle were
making an all-out push in the Vlade Divac sweepstakes, of course, and maybe
it'd all look OK if Divac and his silly head were in Sonic country. But
Vlade went to Sacramento, preferring to play with Webber over Baker, and
Seattle were left with Sacto's offcuts to fill out their roster instead. Out
goes MacIlvaine and Sam Perkins, in comes noted coach-killer Olden Polynice.
Out goes Jerome Kersey and Nate MacMillan, in comes soft, positionless Billy
Owens. Out goes Greg Anthony and David Wingate, in comes 2½ points on 33%
shooting Reggie Geary, late of the Spurs. Welcome back, Paul.
Oh, Come In!
Most of the teams we're talking about here have made bad moves because they
were taking too much for granted and took their eyes of the ball. But in the
case of the missing basketball team, the Toronto Raptors, it's not that
simple. The Rap trap didn't have half a dozen irons in the fire, they only
had one, and it was a shoehorn. And to think Isiah Thomas would never get
more than a couple votes for Executive of the Year - what he did with this
team has never been so clear until we see it's dreary state without him. The
Raptors gave up Chauncey Billups, for whom they gave up Kenny Anderson, for
whom they gave up Damon Stoudamire, for Micheal Williams just the other day.
No wonder Charles Oakley is sitting at home with Jerry West's number
speed-dialed into his phone. The Raptors are bigger and stronger than ever
before, even with the retirement of Sharone Wright, but that doesn't make
them any less crap. Sure, the Raptors pulled a few deals before this whole
labor dispute even started, but when you're major free agency deal is the
re-signing of Alvin Williams, you know you're in trouble.
To Spite My Face
Can you believe Jerry Krause? While all of the less-than-satisfactory events
outlined here took place by accident, Krause's scuttling of the Bulls seems
to be by masochistic design. Giving away Steve Kerr and Luc Longley we can
understand, and nobody in their right mind wants Rodman around for any
longer than absolutely necessary, but why on earth didn't he try and get
something for Pippen? By giving up Pip for Roy Rogers, who not only isn't
that good, he's also in such poor shape he flunked his physical (which
Krause waived in order to complete the deal), he gave away a great talent
and deliberately mortally wounded his own team in return. Krause was out not
only to screw the Bulls, but the Lakers and the TWolves as well: he turned
down Eddie Jones and 2 first rounders, God knows why, for Pip in a
sign-and-trade, and then torpedoes a three way deal that would have sent
Googs to LA, EJ and Elden to Minnesota, and the Bulls would have had to take
Corie Blount for cap room. We understand that it's against his nature to go
out of his way to benefit other team's chances of success, but isn't Krause
doing that in the Pip for Rogers swap? What's he on, a "well, if people are
going to hate me anyway, may as well give them something to really complain
about" ego-trip? When the Bulls suck up the tail of the Eastern Conference
this season, don't blame Jordan for retiring or Pippen for fleeing a sinking
ship. Blame Krause. Bulls fans, as you watch Kornel David run around this
year, shut your eyes and imagine Eddie Jones in red and black...