East Rombo: The Blog with Balls

The other day, I read an article by Steve Kerr regarding the dilemma the Portland Trailblazers front office is currently in. Apparently, management is losing money and if worse comes to worst, it even might take them to sell the whole team just to save it. According to the article, the Portland Trailblazers’ problem started when team owner, Paul Allen gave then-general manager Bob Whitsitt a seemingly unlimited budget to create a team that would lead them to the Promised Land. With such budget, he acquired the services of highly paid veterans such as Scottie Pippen and Shawn Kemp despite already having highly paid players in Rasheed Wallace and Damon Stoudamire. The 2002-03 payroll vaulted to $105 million, meaning the Blazers had to pay upwards of $50 million in luxury tax fees to the league. However, the team that was assembled never met the franchise’s high expectations. Players such as Rasheed Wallace, Bonzi Wells, Rod Strickland had their share of distractions on and off the court. They were even given the monicker “The Jailblazers”, as they had their respective run-ins with the law. With such a team, the community of Portland, including local businesses, slowly withdrew their support from the team. Adding to that, Allen and Whitsitt – both of whom lived in Seattle – would fly to and from Portland from time to time, forging little or no bond with the community.

The New York Knicks, a franchise with a rich tradition, is currently having a similar situation to the Portland Trailblazers then. Isiah Thomas was given the liberty to use its bottomless budget to assemble a team that would push them further in the playoffs. During the off-season, he acquired veteran coach Larry Brown and talented players such as Jamal Crawford, Eddy Curry, Jerome James, Quentin Richardson. They also traded Antonio Davis for Jalen Rose during the mid-season. With these players’ performances during last season, one would expect a team that would at least reach the Conference Semi-Finals during the playoffs, but then the plan backfired. The New York Knicks currently hold one of the worst records (if not the worst) in the league and conflicts have arisen between players and personnel.

Both of these franchises had a dream of building a team that would go all the way. However, these two franchises thought that their money would be the key to success. They failed to see the difference between a good team and a group of talented individuals. The Trailblazers and Knicks franchises both built a group of talented individuals. But then they lacked the chemistry that brought success to championship teams of the past. Phil Jackson, who coached the Bulls’ championship teams during the 90’s and Lakers’ championship teams that ruled during the early in the decade, always emphasized the team game. He always reminded and encouraged the players to sacrifice a bit of the “I” in order to attain the goals of the “We”, which in their situation is the NBA Championship. As Bill Cartwright would put it, “Everyone wants to win, but not everyone is willing to do what it takes to win”. Even Michael needed REAL teammates to win the big one.