...and my retort

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

-----Original Message-----
From: OzerskyJA 
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 6:56 PM
To: 'Thiel, Art'; OzerskyJA
Subject: RE: with all due respect...


Art:

I don't know what GMs you're talking to, but every one I've heard has been
popping corks and blowing noisemakers
since the new CBA was hammered out.  These guys are wired
in for four or even five years at salaries which are in
many cases less than the middle class exception.  It's
because of the very luxury tax you mention that the draft
has become the best and only way to build a franchise.

How "high risk" is it to draft a guy in the lottery and
be stuck paying him $2 million a year?  Especially when
the BYC rules allow you to trade him for a player making
$1 million dollars -- if money is all you're worried about.  The bottom line
is that personnel decisions
in the draft have always been a nightmare for GMs, since
every high pick has Sam Bowie/Joe Barry Carroll/Marvin
Barnes potential hardwired into it.  GMs lose their jobs
that way; but since there's so much more talent around
today, what with the increased level of international 
play and the professionalization of AAU / Nike ball on
the high-school level, the difficulty of scouting is more
than made up for by the amount of talent out there.  
Patience and good coaching are what are in short supply.

And even if none of that is true, the draft is still the
only way for most teams to get top-flight talent, and the
fans know it, even if the sportswriters don't.

and by the way, I'm not a lightweight fan.  I'm willing
to bet that I watch, read about, and think about 
professional basketball more than 80% of the sportswriters out there, not
that that's saying much.

yrs,
Josh Ozersky
unpaid basketball writer

-----Original Message-----
From: Thiel, Art [mailto:ArtThiel@seattlepi.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 6:40 PM
To: 'OzerskyJA'
Subject: RE: with all due respect...


Josh:

   You make the lightweight fan's typical mistake. You don't follow the
money.
   Because of the introduction of luxury and payroll taxes new next fall,
teams recognize that the pressure to avoid personnel mistakes has grown
exponentially. The influx of younger but more unproven players at the top of
the talent list increases the risk. Every coach and GM I talked to hates the
set-up. Anybody can draft an O'Neal or a Payton; but finding the right
mystery guy in an era of more limited finances is a high-risk maneuver.
   Of course, teams will continue to draft, but money issues complicate more
than ever, prompting many teams to consider taking only sure things in the
draft, then waiting three or four years to pick off once-riskier players in
free agency who've proven themselves on someone else's nickel.
    But congrats on use of the word platitudinous. It wasn't accurate, but
you spelled it perfectly.

Art Thiel



     

-----Original Message-----
From: OzerskyJA [mailto:OzerskyJA@cmog.org]
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 12:57 PM
To: 'artthiel@seattlepi.com'
Subject: with all due respect...


that was one of the dumbest column's I've ever read,
a heady brew of ignorance, sanctimoniousness, and 
tortured logic.  The NBA draft will always be of paramount
importance in the league, and the higher the pick, the more
fascinating it will be.  No sport is as  dominated by individual
superstars as professional basketball; and the chance to 
acquire the next Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, or Gary Payton
will always be genuinely akin to winning a lottery.  Where do 
you think the Sonics got Payton from?  Do you think there will
never be a player of his caliber again?  If there is, where do you
think he will be drafted?  The upper echelon of the draft is not nearly
as cloudly or uncertain as you may think.  Nor is Dave Cowens being
very farsighted in his praise for a player who, whatever his merits,
will almost surely never be a star.  Here's the news:  NBA teams
need superstar talent to truly succeed.  Maybe you know about a
superstar talent in recent years who wasn't drafted in the top five, 
but if you can please let me know.  The only example is Kobe 
Bryant, and guys like you have been decrying the folly of drafting
high-schoolers for years.  Meanwhile, I'm sure Sonics fans would
mortage everything from the Space Needle to their own mothers
to get a Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, or Kevin Garnett signed on
for five years at a manageable sum.

The draft is plenty relevant; what isn't relevant are platitudinous 
sportswriters, whose dislike of the league they cover is palpable,
and not disguised in the least by pseudo-cyncism or empty put-downs.

Yours,
Josh Ozersky