Four Teams, Zero Direction

There are plenty of teams in the league that have a direction, know where they are headed, and perhaps even have a backup plan if things don't necessarily succeed.

Mitch Kupchak may regret the Ron Artest signing, but the Lakers are coming off a championship season and still have one of the premeir young big man in the league, Andrew Bynum. 

Led by Bynum, Gasol, and Kobe (sorry...I can't type his name first), LA should be a poised threat for plenty of seasons to come.

The Boston Celtics are coming off a somewhat dissappointing, injury-riddled season, but have bolstered their bench with the signings of Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels. 

They too have one of the more sought after young athletes in the league with Rajon Rondo. Boston can also look to extend their title contending window if they use Ray Allen's expiring deal wisley.

The Portland Trailblazers have one of the deepest and youngest attacks in the league. 

The franchise is surrounded with players who have an excess of untapped potential. 

Portland may not contend tomorrow, but expect this team to be seeking a chip sometime soon.

Not all teams need to be contending for a title to have an appropriate direction.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are a prime example.

OKC had bottomed out (then the Seattle Sonics), unloaded their previous franchise players (Allen and Lewis), and quietly assemebled one of the great young cores in the league centered around Kevin Durant.

Even the Knicks with no real franchise player to be heard of have some type of path they are venturing. 

Donnie Walsh has found a way to eradicate many of the previous mistakes made by the legendary GM himself (Tangent Note: How many years will it take casual NBA fans or even Knicks fans to forget how terrible a General Manager Isiah was? 10 years? 50 years? Could he be mentioned in the Atrocities chapter next to Rick Pitino in my grandson's College History Book in Sports Management class?)

Now the Knicks may not be competitive at all next season, but they at least have a plan to use their available cap space on a superior talent in the summer of 2010. 

The above teams all have some type of plan or direction headed into next season and beyond.

The following teams...not so much.

These teams leave you scratching your head. 

They leave you asking:

What are they doing? Do they even have a plan? Why did I pay for this ticket?

Now introducing the four teams that face the most questions heading into not only next season, but at least the next half-decade.

Philadelphia 76ers

Back in the summer of 2008 Philly brass seemed quite confident. Yes they lost in the first round of the playoffs, but that was to the royal Detroit Pistons. Who doesn't lose to the Pistons...right?

Rookie Thad Young had a stellar 1st round playoff series, Lou Williams looked like he could be an exceptional guard in this league, and Iggy was turning 25 (side note: Iggy was born in 1984?! I repeat that, 1984...Yes like the Orwell novel.  Probably the most underratedly young person in the league).

Philly featured a sexy up tempo attack led by veteran Andre Miller and gave the Playoff tested Pistons every scare imaginable.

Then GM Ed Stefanski made a bold move. Did I say Bold? I meant Bald (sorry Ed...cheap joke).

He believed the team was a big-man away from contending. 

He must have thought that. 

Why then would the team give a 30-year-old coming off an injury plagued season a five-year deal in the $80 million range? Did we not learn any lessons from Vin Baker?

Ed, you had something so sweet and pure, why tamper with it?

Philly now is stuck with Brand's albatross contract. 

Yes, Elton could be healthy, but it is doubtful he will even put up close to the same numbers he did earlier in his career. 

He will never be worth half the contract Mr. Stefanski signed him for. 

What about that young core? 

Thad Young didn't progress enough to wow you last season. Ditto for Lou Williams.

Iggy? Yes, he's a great complimentary player and is only 25 (wow 1984!...still can't believe it), but I did say complimentary.

Ed; however, handed Iggy a not so complimentary contract.

It was more like a thank you and run before he realizes that comma was suppose to be a decimal point deal. 

Andre's contract tops at just under $16 mil in the 13-14 season (13-14...sounds like Honus Wagner's rookie season) which is overpriced to say the least for just a compliment. 

It's okay Ed, it's not like we're going through an economical crisis here.

So what are the Sixers left with now?

Two extremely hefty contracts, no real franchise player in sight, and at least another half decade of late lotto or first round and bust seasons.  

Ummm...Let's Go Eagles? Hey, how about that Michael Vick.

Charlotte Bobcats

Michael Jordan

Larry Brown

What a great start! 

Too bad one isn't actually 30 and playing and the other is about 80 and still coaching.

Not trying to slight LB here, but when you have a young and rising team it is usually more sensible to hire a younger coach who could perhaps better reach his talents (See Doc in Boston in 2003 or Scottie Brooks in OKC).

True, Larry Brown was part of succssful rebuilding plans...18 years ago (literally...he took over the famed Clipper gig in 1991).

Since then Larry Brown would be better suited for a veteran team that needs that extra motiviation to get over the hump (see the 2004 Pistons). 

The Charlotte Bobcats?  Not so much.

Let's take the heat off Brown for a second and check out this young roster.

They just traded perhaps their most attractive asset, Emeka Okafor, for Tyson Chandler. 

Yes, the same Chandler that was suppose to go to OKC (could the Thunder recieve the most random mentions in an article that is not even about them? We may have a record soon.) for nothing more than Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox, or in lamens terms, expiring whatevers.

Charlotte could have had it all. 

They could have kept Okafor, orchestrated a three-team deal, and probably also have Tyson Chandler.  Or, they could have dealt Okafor to one of the 29 NBA teams who could use one of the best offense-defense centers in the league.

Now does this starting lineup strike fear in you: Chandler/Diaw/Wallace/Bell/Augustine?

Can we look at that starting lineup and play Where's Waldo, except in this version it would be Where's the Scorer? 

Charlotte is stuck in a very unappealing position now. 

They still have enough unattractive legthy deals (Diop, Muhammed, Vlad Rad, Diaw, Wallace that make it difficult for them to fully rebuild. 

They also lack several key components that translate into winning basketball: A scorer, a franchise player, a direction.

Now back to Larry Brown.

Here's what Brown can do for you. 

He will make sure you are not a cellar dweller, as a player you give 120 percent, and field  team that will compete for the playoffs.

All what the above accomplishes is make David Stern say "With the 13th pick the Charlotte Bobcats select...." for the next half decade or so. 

Welcome Charlotte fans to perrenial mediocrity.

Detroit Pistons

Joe Dumars is in deep regret. 

The old Piston bunch had ran their course and needed to make a bold move last season to shake up their franchise.

Enough people have ridiculed Joe Dumars for the Iverson trade, so this contributor won't need to.

In fact, how about the opposite.

I hereby commend Joe Dumars for dealing Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. 

Sure the Pistons fell to the playoff basement and conversley CB4 led the surprising Nuggets to the Western Conference finals last season.

How many GMs can you name; however, that are as realistic as Dumars was? 

If you count them on one hand you would have plenty of fingers left.

Dumars knew the Pistons were just getting older and would not continually be able to compete with the Cavs, Celtics, or even Magic in the East.

He also had a young point guard in Rodney Stuckey who would need starters' minutes to truly untap his potential.

Iverson is a sure-fire hall of famer and was coming off a career filled with high scoring averages and break through playoff performances (none more enticing than game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals @LA). 

Joe Dumars can not be discredited for believeing Iverson was going to be...well...Iverson.

Without going too much off-tangent, Iverson was not the CB4 replacement Joe D had hoped, but Dumars had a backup plan.

That's what the state of the Pistons is now about: Plan B

Plan B was using Iverson's expiring contract to reconstruct the Pistons franchise for the future....wasn't it?

I may be mistaken.

Scratch that...defintley mistaken.

Ben Gordon? Charlie Villaneuva? Not exactly players you feel comfortable calling the cornerstones of a franchise.

How about Richard Hamilton and TyShaun Prince?

They were nice veterans who worked beautifully with the Wallaces and Billups to help Detroit build that mini dynasty over the past decade.

(Side note: Don't you hate how everyone calls the Pistons a mini dynasty?  In the current decade they won one fluke title, lost in the finals to the Spurs, and just went deep into the playoffs year in and year out. 

The following teams over the past 20 years had more impressive runs considering the strength of the league and respective conference at the time and should be considered mega-mini dynasties if we are handing the Pistons the mini dynasty title: 

Drexler's Blazers of the late 80s and early 90s, the Malone-Stockton Jazz of the mid to late 90s, The Knicks of the 90s, and finally, Hakeem's Rockets who did win two titles and haven't sniffed the mini dynasy tag...just saying)

Problem.  Both Prince and Hamilton will be 30 and 31 respectivley next season and have extremely lengthy, expensive contracts.  Neither is a legit franchise cornerstone, can warrant extremely high trade value, or help the future scope of the current franchise.

What is Detroit really looking forward to?  Ah, well what about Rodney Stuckey.

Oh yes of course Rodney Stuckey, the combo guard who doesn't have the court vision or the necessary tools to be a premium point guard and lacks the height and strength to be a full time starting two guard.

Wait didn't Dumars just sign a guy to a long term contract who is also a combo guard and encompasses those same concerns? 

Joe Dumars also failed to realize the following point:  If an Iverson-Stuckey backcourt didn't work, why would a Gordon-Stuckey backcourt work?

Both players are combo guards...Check

Both guys have the score-first mentality...Check

Neither one has ever been thought of as being a legitimate starting PG...Check

Joe Dumars didn't stop there...Check

Our guards are redundant, said Dumars, how about we make our forwards redundant as well. 

Let's just make the whole franchise redundant and call them the Detroit Detroit Pistons Pistons.

Let us view the checklist for the Prince-Charlie V 3/4 combo:

Both players are combo forwards...Check

Both players are tall, lanky types who can easily be muscled around...Check

Neither one has ever been thought of as a legitimate starting PF...Check

This Franchise is in a heap of trouble and has no positive direction going forward...Checkmate!

Wow first three clubs mentioned were all from the East. 

No wonder the top three teams in the conference (Cleveland, Boston, Orando) combined for 187 wins.

Phoenix Suns

Don't want to delve too much into the Suns because I did write a full length article on the subject which can be found here on the bleacher report (got to love the self promotion).

Let me summarize briefly.

The team just dealt Shaq and is not near the supremacy in the West they once were. 

They should rebuild, but likely will not.  Nash has been extended and J-Rich/Barbosa have far less than favorable contracts to trade.

On top of all their worries, Robert Sarver, their owner, has basically stated he will not spend a penny over the luxury tax.

No worries, it's not like the other major competitors, Lakers, Mavs, and Spurs, have owners willing to spend...wait a minute.

Phoenix is in poor shape.

They could change all that and just deal Nash and STAT right now. It won't happen.

Knowing Kerr he will hang onto Nash and try to somehow muster a contender. 

Too bad it will mean contending for the eighth seed.

There is probably no other GM that seems less sure about the future scope of his franchise than Kerr does.

Phoenix fans...I'm sorry.

These teams could change some of their future telling fortunes.

Philadelphia can't deal Brand considering his injury status. 

Young or Lou Will still have relativley high trade value and could probably be packaged in a deal to get a proven up tempo floor general (Baron Davis). 

Did anybody notice how Philly supposedly has this up tempo offense, yet no real point guard to run it?

Charlotte should fall back into full rebuilding mode. 

Wallace/Diaw should be traded for picks and/or younger or more Brown approved players (Perhaps to Chicago...How about Diaw, Wallace, and Diop for Hinrich, Deng, and James? 

Chicago gets a solid starting who can play up tempo and an athletic finisher who can be a nice defensive wing.  

Meanwhile the Bobcats get a more appropriate PG for LB, they can let Felton walk, and get a younger, better 2-way SF in Deng. They also unload Diop's hefty contract). 

The Pistons need to find a way to deal both Hamilton and Prince. 

They probably didn't pay Gordon all that money to be a 6th man and hope that Austin Daye can overtake Prince as the future starting SF.

The sooner Detroit deals those vets the better off they'll be since their values will only decrease with age.

Finally, the Suns have to deal STAT and Nash...right now. 

It has been stated. Kerr needs to be realistic about the state of the franchise and just rebuild already...Gosh.

Most of these teams simply need to be just that: Realistic. 

If you stay true to yourself and your realistic about your goals and chances, you will succeed in the long haul.

If not, then I'll just mention you on the same list for a future follow up article.  No worries.  I won't mind.

Can't get enough of Eitan...or that Golden Crisp?

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