Jack’s Blog

Please read my ideas about the “one-and-dones” in intercollegiate athletics (along with my ideas on aiding the apparent problem).  This post will not be a rehashing of that one but, rather, will tie some of the points I made in it into a bet made by a couple of local athletes. 

Fresno State fans were fortunate for the past couple years (something they might just now be realizing) to have had the opportunity to watch two extremely talented athletes, a football player (Ryan Mathews) and a basketball player (Paul George) play at a non-BCS institution.  Seldom do schools at that level have such gifted athletes, much less at the same time.  Note: Since I was working at Fresno State at the time, I am aware that David Carr, Melvin Ely, Stephen Abas, Nick Watney and Jamie Southern all played for the Bulldogs the same year, so this phenomenon is not a first for the school.

This current fact, though, was validated after this past year’s NFL and NBA drafts.  Both stars were selected in the first round, Mathews picked 12th by the San Diego Chargers, George 10th by the Indiana Pacers.  In an interview with George in yesterday’s Fresno Bee, it was reported that, prior to the NBA selection process that he and Mathews had a $5,000 bet as to which player would be drafted higher.

I have said numerous times before, both in this space and in conversation with others that one of the easiest things to do in life is to spend other people’s money.  So, let me preface my remarks by saying this is not an indictment on either or both of these young guys (neither of whom I know).  Possibly, my reading of this wager (of minute proportions considering what their contracts will be) coincided a little too soon after my reading the cover story on the recent Time magazine (2/28/10).  That issue has on its cover the license plate BNKRPT and the story is about the miserable economic plight of nearly every state in this nation.

Far be it from me to lay guilt on two student-athletes in their early 20s.  It’s just that, after reading the article, it occurred to me that, had these guys - who must have entered college fairly certain that a professional career in their sport was not only a goal, but a distinct possibility - been able to study a course which would have made them aware of the economic condition in this country (as well as others), possibly the bet would have been $5K to the charity of the winner’s choice.  Then again, maybe they were taught that and maybe the winner’s take did wind up as a charitable donation, but the tone of the article didn’t seem as though the bet was made with that purpose in mind.

Hey, I know it’s their money and they earned it (although some may say that remains to be determined).  It’s just that if guys are going to leave school early - or even if they’re not - part of a college education ought to be enlightening the student on national and global issues.  The question can also be asked of me, “What am you doing for others?”  Quite pertinent and while I won’t list my charitable deductions, I can only say I act and agree (admittedly, on an infinitely lesser level) with the feelings of Bill Gates who said:

“Is the rich world aware of how four billion of the six billion live?  If we were aware, we’d want to help out, and we’d want to get involved.”

     �

The NFL didn’t need another controversy but that’s exactly what it got when Miami Dolphins’ General manager Jeff Ireland conducted what was thought to be a personnel interview with wideout Dez Bryant.

Granted, Bryant’s had a checkered past and due diligence needed to be done, especially if the club’s going to shell out major cash.  Possibly because Ireland wanted to find out the root cause of Bryant’s behavioral issues, possibly because he was trying to elicit a reaction from the receiver to a highly personal question, or possibly because he’s simply an insensitive pig, he decided to ask Bryant if his mother was a prostitute.

A little background: Bryant’s mother was 15 when she had him.  His father was in his 40s at the time of his birth.  Bryant’s mother, who had three kids by the time she was 18, was a cocaine, marijuana and PCP user, as well as someone who served a year-and-a-half for distributing crack.  And Bryant himself has never been accused of being a choir boy.

But, hey, if you don’t want to sign the guy, don’t sign him.  No matter what his upbringing or past has been, she’s still his mother - and anyone with an ounce of common sense or an iota of sensitivity would understand that’s an inappropriate question!  Besides, would it have mattered what his answer was?  What, exactly, was Ireland, or the Dolphins’ brass expecting, or better yet, hoping to discover?  Whether he would lash out or if he’d show extreme poise in responding in a calm, yet firm tone.

When Bill Parcells interviewed with the Dolphins, did they ask him, “When you were a young boy, was your mother an obese blimp?”  Same type of probing, reaction-seeking and completely senseless query. 

Provocative or introspective questions aimed to gauge a potential employee’s reaction - as long as they are tasteful - are fair game and serve a purpose.  What Ireland asked (or was directed to ask) was totally out of line and deserves more than just an apology.  “Genius” is a word that’s long been used in football.  As the old saying goes:

“The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”�

One of the first blogs I ever did (4/28/07) was on the NFL draft.  After hearing the hype about this year’s crop, I went back into the archives (you need to click on Aug, ‘07 to get to any blog pre-Sept, ‘08 due to technical incompetence) and re-read what I wrote.  If you don’t think everything still applies, let me know.  

OK, It’s Not a Science. What Is It? Home Ec?
Forever, we’ve heard that draft day is so difficult for professional teams. No one’s sure which list is longer - first rounders who became busts or low draft picks (or even free agents) who became All-Stars.

Each year, greater technology is used but it never ceases to amaze us how wrong certain picks can be. This has to be due to the human element. Way back when, guys were selected though what decision makers, e.g. owners, general managers, coaches, player personnel directors heard about the players from friends, other coaches, confidants and, who knows, maybe even fans or sportswriters. Now, we have combines (I thought that’s how wheat was harvested, not players) and tests, both psychological and written.

It would seem that watching a player play would be a better indicator than how fast someone runs a 40 (if a guy has a great 40 time, you’ll want to play him in case the other team has someone real fast who breaks away and you need to catch him, except when that happens, it’s too late to sub), how many times he can bench press 220 lbs. (”Boy, he looks awful on video but how can we pass on some so strong?), how high he can jump (jumping doesn’t seem to be in the top 5 talents needed to play football) or how well he scored on a test (remember, many of these guys haven’t taken a test without the help of a tutor in years).

Coaches always say, “The film doesn’t lie,” yet film be damned when it comes to evaluating talent (”Just let me see him at the combine or in an individual workout) - where the are no fans screaming, there’s no “team” scoreboard on and the competition are stop watches, free weights and sticks coming out of a pole.

Call me old-fashioned (because I probably am), but watching a player in person - on film if being there’s not possible - of course, taking into account who the opponent is and calling on people you can trust (relationships made throughout a long career) has to be more reliable. Some guys are magnificent performers “until the lights go on” - and with the money and future (your job!) being invested, you’d want to be as certain as possible.

Naturally, one-on-one interviews are a must, but, again, some people can fool you. Using all the modern methods of information gathering isn’t a waste, but the greater variety of these tools used, the greater number of egos become involved. You may tell me he’s fast, but I want to time him (or have one of my people do it). A psychologist has mounds of empirical data from a test (s)he’s developed, along with accuracy of prediction of success. Having things you can trust (a pair of eyes which have watch thousands of hours of video) and an experienced mind (who’s he compare to from years past?) and the opinions of people you would select to be in a bunker with you if it came to it ought to make you more comfortable than a new breed of “experts.”

When it comes to technology, I agree with Dale Carnegie:

“As technical skills have gotten better, communication skills have gotten worse.”

In this era of the me-first, selfish, stubborn athlete, Tim Tebow is a beacon of hope to everyone who dreams of famous people being role models and standing for all that’s right. 

Many were of the feeling, “he has everything I wish I did” (National Championship, Heisman Trophy, POY awards, love and respect that went well beyond Gator Nation, good looks, intelligence, personality, supportive family - wow, no wonder people are jealous), “let’s see how we can tear him down.”  Yet, Tebow, hearing criticism heaped upon him (isn’t “piling on” still a penalty?) - some of it valid, some petty - listened, and rather than striking out at his critics, as many of today’s athletes do, decided to make what he considered necessary changes.

And there were many changes to accomplish in a short period of time.  At first he said all he wanted was for a team to give him a chance at playing quarterback in the NFL.  The “experts” did him a favor and broke down what they considered his flaws.  One was he always operated out of the gun, so he worked on 3- and 5-step drops.  He reached out and asked for help with his footwork.

Next up on the “change” docket was his holding the ball too low and “winding up” to throw, taking entirely too long to deliver a pass.  Video clips show him working on keeping the ball up and releasing it from the top, sans wind up. 

He explains he still just wants a shot but, instead of attacking his critics (which his stats would back up) or complaining about his coaches at Florida never having corrected it while he was matriculating at UF (a valid point), he acknowledges what needs to be changed and speaks of succeeding because of his work ethic - something that no one, even his harshest critics, ever questioned.

As a father of two sons, one a junior in college (a year younger than Tebow) and the other who’s showing rare talent for someone as young as he is (a high school soph), I anticipate the boys asking me about someone who’d serve as a good role model.  Tim Tebow is certainly one of the top two people on the list - and, right now, I’m not sure who the other one is.

Tim Tebow must have attended the Richard Bach school of attitude.  Bach’s quote:

“You are never given a wish without also being given the power of making it come true.  You may have to work for it, however.”    �

Buchanan won the Palma HS basketball tournament by beating the hosts, giving the Bears its second tournament championship in a week - and a lifetime (or at least since the school was built 19 years ago).

Our younger son, Alex, again made the all-tournament team and, once again, his buddy and senior backcourt mate, Jackson Carbajal, was named the MVP of the tourney.  How can it get any better for our family? 

Number one son, Andy, came home last night (fresh off of a quarter of all A’s at the University of California-Irvine, not exactly a slouch school), going directly to Buchanan to pick up his little bro, before the Fertig boys showed up, in unison, asking, “What’s for dinner?”  Luckily, mom had the foresight to prepare the favorite staple around these parts: spaghetti and meat sauce.

Basketball’s great, winning is really nice, being named to the top 5 of an eight-team tournament is special, but nothing beats having the family together for the holidays.  After having read all these “success” stories about kids leaving college early for the NFL and instant riches, but not before the youngster having to overcome the classic dead beat dad, i.e. impregnate the girl (usually a teenager), then bolt, never to pay a drop of child support and then, show up (or not), once your “son” makes good, or kids who make it big in college, while the dad proudly, and religiously, watches his boy - from his jail cell, and knowing that for every one of those stories, there are hundreds (thousands?) of similar ones without “happy” endings, makes a parent so thankful that, at least so far, the offspring have lived normal lives. 

It’s getting to be in this country that our family feels the need to apologize for what ought to be a common theme.  It’s corny, yet unfortunately true, to quote Ann Widdecombe:

“I think we have lost sight of  something of importance, something which has always been at the heart of Conservatism which is the family - functioning as a family unit with legal rights and responsibilities and being able to make its choices and let its children grow strong.” �

The overwhelming majority of people in and out of football - from those who know just a little something about the game to the “experts” claim that quarterback is the most important position on the team.

If that’s so (and who out there says it’s not?), then using a draft pick - especially a high one, e.g. the first three rounds - must take considerable thought and planning.  Yet, a number one overall pick like Peyton Manning threatens to break every record for that position in the history of football, while a number two overall pick (the same year) like Ryan Leaf threatens seemingly everything (and everyone) else.  Tom Brady gets drafted late and several other QB’s go before him.  I’d imagine there was considerable reevaluating the draft decisions that year. 

Bill Parcells, legendary coach and now president of the Miami Dolphins, seems to have found the “Rules to Draft by” when it comes to picking future signal callers.  These were announced during last night’s Dolphins-Jets Monday Night Football game and, while they may seem rather restrictive, Parcells (and his track record in the game) are not to be scoffed at, lest the “scoffer” be ready for battle, as Parcells has be known to threaten a time or two.

Whatever the case, here are the Tuna’s rules for drafting a quarterback:

1) He must be a senior.  (Bill’s not known for his patience and, usually, the younger the QB, the more time he takes to properly master the job).

2) He must be a graduate.  (Hey, if you’re paying your guy a lot of money and he’s going to handle the ball on every offensive play, he’d better not be a quitter.  Rather, you want someone who takes his responsibilities seriously, e.g. no blowing off the spring semester to get ready for the combines).

3) He must be a three-year starter.  (Once again, a lot of dough, as well as a good portion of the game plan, goes to this guy and it would be awful to get stuck with a “flash-in-the-pan,” someone who waited, got his opportunity but what was overlooked, was that he took over a veteran team that only needed someone to keep a ship from sinking, not one to direct it to the shore).

4) He must have at least 23 wins.  (It’s too easy to put up big numbers with a losing team who chucks it 50 times a game). 

Very stringent demands and not every year will they be met.  That must be exactly what’s behind the big guy’s thinking.  And if no one meets the standards, there’s always a trade, or easier yet, free agency.

After watching the show Chad Henne put on last night - in a game that Steve Young called the best duel he’d ever seen between two young QB’s (and Steve’s someone with the creds to judge quarterbacks), the Dolphins seem to have found their quarterback of the future - and maybe, the present.  Then, again, one-year-starter Mark Sanchez (whom even his own college coach, Pete Carroll - also no stranger to success - said he needed another year of college) looked mighty promising.

Yet, one of the qualities a leader must have is decisiveness and Parcells certainly qualifies in that category.

I have no idea who Eric Langmuir is, but, when his quote is put in the context of drafting a quarterback, it becomes one of the greatest understatements of all time:

“A decision without the pressure of consequence is hardly a decision at all.”

Without stereotyping anyone, Michael Crabtree was put on this earth to be a wide receiver in the game of football.  That’s not an insult, as in “That’s all he’s good for - or at” - it’s a compliment.  It’s saying that, of all the people in this world, there are only a handful in the class of Michael Crabtree when it comes to catching footballs.

In fact, that was the feeling of the experts - those in the NFL - who get to select players based on their ability.  Of the hundreds of players drafted in the past year’s NFL draft, Michael Crabtree was the tenth (10th) player chosen.  Yet, he’s not doing the job he is meant to do.

Why not?  Because he’s taking a stand, drawing a line in the sand, saying, that he’s not being offered what he thinks he’s worth (and how, exactly, would he know what that is, except for other people telling him)?  This is all because a guy named B.J. Raji, who happens to be a defensive tackle, was selected ninth (9th) and signed - and by all indications, was elated to do so - for five years and a total of $28.5 million, with $18M of that guaranteed.  Party time!

That’s not the feeling in the Crabtree camp.  Granted, going into the draft, Crabtree was projected to go higher, but the demand he’s making (actually, no player ever demands anything, it’s their agent or advisor or consigliore or take your pick of what you want to call the kid’s mouthpiece) is that he needs, deserves and will refuse to play unless he gets, more than Raji.  What, did they have a bet - and Crabtree’s a sore loser?  If he were drafted 9th and Raji 10th, do you think Raji would be holding out?  And if he did, do you think Crabtree would be behind him - or consider him a chump?

It was reported the San Francisco 49ers, the team who drafted the wideout (and by now, undoubtedly, is wondering how they missed this character flaw in the personal interview they had with the wideout) offered to pay him as much as one dollar less than the Packers were paying Raji.  And (someone other than) Crabtree turned them down!  I’m not sure what he’s paying agent Eugene Parker or “marketer” Mike Ornstein, but this is some really, really bad, expensive advice.  Each of those guys are representing other players.  Crabtree’s not only not getting paid, he’s not doing what he does best - and, worse yet, not doing what he loves to do!  This situation is sadder than sad.     

Mike Ornstein made the quote that Crabtree doesn’t really need to play this year because he (Ornstein) got him $750,000 in endorsements.  Wait, Crabtree is financially OK because he has 3/4 of a mil.  I’m sure Subway execs, one of his endorsements, are absolutely gloating about the coup they scored by signing a guy whose reputation is that of a selfish bastard who, in a time of 10%+ and rising national unemployment spurned an offer of upwards of $5+million per year!  Nothing like seeing a greedy SOB that makes you want to go out and buy a $5 footlong.

But, let’s also get something straight.  Ornstein says Crabtree is doing fine because $750,000 is plenty of money to live on, but $28 million isn’t enough?  My guess is Crabtree didn’t major in logic at Texas Tech - or finance - or common sense!  Ornstein also made the quote, “We are not able to do much marketing for him right now because he is not playing.”  Wow, that sage counsel is certainly worth whatever percent Crabtree is paying him.  It’s amazing that somebody who thinks like that is being paid at all - by a kid who, if he was like any other youngster in the country, grew up dreaming of making great, game winning catches playing on TV for a pro football franchise.  And now he is refusing to do it.

He has been fed the line he is being undervalued.  The guy who’s really being undervalued is the one who has a set of skills, albeit a different type, but isn’t being given the chance to display them because the economy is such that he just got laid off or, as the 21st century term that’s become so popular, downsized.

How about signing, playing, and then, proving how much you’re worth?  Take the mere pittance the Niners are offering and help them win some games!  It’s not like anybody expects you to become the greatest receiver in the team’s history.  Do that and there won’t be enough money to pay you.  As of now, all you’re doing is upsetting your coach, Mike Singletary - and, here’s some good, free and unsolicited advice.  That’s a bad idea. 

Michael Crabtree, you’re doing possible (probable) irreparable harm to your legacy (which, as of now, is non-existent).  I mean, what are you going to do - take a year off and do whatever it is you do next best to catching footballs?  Which is . . . ?

As Mark Twain once said:

“Good judgment comes from experience, which comes from, . . . bad judgment.”

The cynics have already been popping off about how foolish both Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow are for not turning pro after last season.  “Look,” they said, injecting their personal paradigms into the lives of two guys they don’t know from Adam’s house cat.  “They each won a Heisman, the sport’s highest individual honor, and Tebow has been part of two National Championship teams.  Now was the time for them to look out for themselves and their families.  Football is a game where they could easily get hurt - and, sure enough -they did!  Now they may wind up throwing away millions of dollars and lifetime financial security just because they decided to return to play college football.”

I’m not sure either Bradford nor Tebow knew the people making these statements, but my guess is, even if they did, they wouldn’t have been swayed by those arguments.  Do these people really believe the guys haven’t taken all that into consideration?  That they don’t have advisors - from the coaches (who’ve been through things like this many times over) to family members they trust to (certainly in Tebow’s case) clergy to others in their lives whose opinions they admire?

Sure, by not entering last year’s NFL draft, they left millions on the table - although with the not-so-forward-thinking NFL “leaders” - I’m sure there were doubts that what Tebow brought to the table just wouldn’t work in their league.  Kinda like the guys who said there was no way a sprinter like Bob Hayes could ever play professional football, that being a receiver was more than just being fast.  Or Doug Flutie could never play in the NFL at his size. 

Bottom line” the guys knew the risk of injury if they decided to return to college.  But, maybe they didn’t feel they were ready to play professional football and another year in college would help them get better prepared.  Or maybe they just liked college - and everything that went with it - and didn’t want to leave yet.  Maybe they didn’t feel comfortable leaving just yet.  No one knows unless they occupied the body of each.

Something is to be said for their loyalty - especially if it turns out they lost out on NFL riches.  In Tebow’s case, there are many other variables that have to be considered.  His faith, his world’s work (to this point) in service to others might be more important to him than megabucks (and megapressure and megatemptations).  No doubt, if they don’t make it in the League, there will be deep regrets - but mostly by others beside Tebow and Bradford.

English author Brittany Renee has a quote that captures this situation better than any other:

“I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to and wondering what life had been like if  I’d just been myself.” 

In the 9/7/09 issue of ESPN Magazine, there is a list of the NCAA’s top 10 revenue producing institutions.  Texas was at #1, hauling in $120,288,370, Ohio State next at $117,953,712, all the way down to another OSU, Oklahoma State, which brought in $88,554,438 (allegedly half of that total coming from T. Boone Pickens).  The source for this list is the Sports Business Journal and the subtitle is “Yet still not enough to pay the players,” proving what we knew all along: one of the easiest things to do in life is spend someone else’s money.  Let’s take a look at the logistics of paying college players.

1) I wonder what the revenue of the 100th school on that list was?  And in Division I basketball, there are nearly 350 colleges “competing.”  March Madness is still the number one watched intercollegiate sporting event, as far as total viewers. 

2) This list was just that, a list of ten schools and their revenue.  Not even an article, so it’s not like we could dissect it, but, as with our own personal budgets, expenses play a major role in deciding to spend even a little more, and these expense numbers for the universities aren’t factored into what certainly does seem to be exorbitant income figures.

3) If players, i.e. student-athletes were to be paid (over and above their scholarship money), the field of colleges would definitely dwindle.  To, maybe, 100.  Or even 50.  Possibly, this is what the country truly desires.  The top 50-100 schools battling it out on the gridiron throughout an entire season - one mega-conference, . . . culminating, naturally, with a playoff!

4) Obviously, if student-athletes were going to be paid, it certainly wouldn’t be feasible to pay all of them (not even Texas could afford to do that).  So, a line would have to be drawn somewhere.  Sort of like a guest list at an exclusive party - who makes the cut, and who doesn’t?  First decision: both men and women?  Since football brings in the vast majority of the revenue, it only makes sense that football players get paid (which is, for all intents and purposes, what this debate is all about anyway).  It could be argued that is the fairest way.  Very sound, logical reasoning.  However, where it falls a little short is on the legal side.

Say, though, that this was the case, i.e. that all, as a close friend of mine calls the female zealots, the “Femi-Nazis” were drugged by his version of their male counterparts, the “Helmet-Heads” and fell unconscious - only until the first checks were issued.  Now the Neanderthal-thinking HH’s could claim a precedence had been set.  Doesn’t make much sense, but let’s say the trial was held in California, where not only does God have no place in the classroom, but sense has no place in the courtroom.  The number one virtue a person going to trial needs in this proud, newly bankrupt state is . . . a better lawyer than the opponent.

So now the schools are paying the football players.  But this is limited to only those institutions whose programs are money makers, not money drainers (on the overall budget).  After all, the student-athletes at the colleges that don’t make the cut ought to be grateful they are getting their room, board, books tuition and fees paid for - with a little travel meal money thrown in.  Uh oh, if one university is paying its guys but another institution (possibly from the same conference) isn’t, how could any prospect - and his parents - even consider the lesser (in terms of straight green) college?  True, the well-to-do family could opt for any school of their choice (keep in mind, the kid’s still going to school for free, i.e. on scholarship), but in my experiences in recruiting, how much, e.g. scholarship school vs. Ivy League, junior gets becomes a matter of ego.  This would only widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots.   

Moving along, do subs get the same pay that starters do?  How about starters vs. superstars?  Any book store manager can tell you the hottest selling item and, I’m sure it will not shock you that the returning Heisman Trophy winner’s jersey brings in far more than the school’s all-time leading rusher (even though the running back returned to good ol’ State U, instead of going pro, claiming sheer loyalty - plus the fact the NFL scouts felt his 40 time was too slow, thus dropping him to a second day draft pick).  Everyone else on the squad falls in line after those two (with the possible exception of the good, but not great DB whose father was an All-American alum twenty years ago, during the “Glory Years”).

In other words, pay those who bring in the most cash more than the guys who aren’t so popular.  Wait, we already have that system.  It’s called professional athletics.

If you want to read a microcosm of this theory, get the 8/31/09 edition of SI, which has an excerpted story from Joe Posnanski’s new book, The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series - The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds.  In it, manager Sparky Anderson’s speech prior to training camp went as follows (paraphrased): “There are two kinds of players on this team - the four superstars (Bench, Rose, Morgan and Perez) and the rest of you guys.  The superstars get special treatment, play by their own rules.”  Then he said, speaking about the remainder of the team, exactly what a pay (football players)-to-play system in college would make athletes who were not getting paid feel like:

“The rest of you are turds.”       �

The NBA draft has been cut to two rounds for some time.  As one general manager told me several years ago (when his title was Director of Player Personnel), “I have the easiest job in the world.  I fly around the country, on a really nice expense account, looking at players.  I get paid extremely well, that is, more than I ever thought I’d be making - and a lot more than I was making when I was an assistant coach in college - and when it comes down to it, here’s what happens when we draft.  

“We select with our first round pick whomever the decision-maker wants.  That could be the owner, if he thinks he knows the game (and so many of these guys have made so much dough, they look at the basketball team as their hobby - and figure, “C’mon, how hard can this be?”)  If the owner has a “first lieutenant,” that is, someone he implicitly trusts, (usually the general manager), then the selection will be the GM’s.  If the head coach has the power (and fewer and fewer even want that kind of power), the first rounder will be the pick of the head coach.

“I have some say in who we pick in the second round.  And he gets cut.  So, I feel like I’m stealing money!”

Now, before the reader start judging, let me explain.  The guy who told me this story (many years ago) is one of the hardest working and brightest guys I’ve met.  I also remember asking then-New York Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy, who few people remember started out in college coaching, how in the world he could coach a bunch of guys he didn’t ever see.  This was at one of our self-improvement clinics, during a lunch break when we had some time together.  He explained to me, “No way would I want to be both head coach and director of player personnel or GM.  It’s way too much work.  I don’t even have enough time to watch our next opponent, much less do a thorough job of scouting college and foreign players.  It’s a totally different game from college where you’re recruiting guys you feel are good fits for your head coach.”

All that taken into consideration, it’s amazing how many mistakes - or near mistakes - teams make - with as many people as they have employed to make sure they get it right when their team’s name is on the clock.

Sure the Colts (to briefly switch to football) got it right taking Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf, but there are an awful lot of professional people -and fans alike - who remember that Peyton was by no means the overwhelming choice.  And think about how far apart those two are in ability - physical, mental and emotional.

How about the greatest basketball player of all time going third in his draft?  Most people give the Rockets a pass when they decided against taking Michael Jordan and selected Hakeem Olajuwon first - one, because they desperately needed a center, two, the Dream had a Hall-of-Fame career and 3) he did lead his team to the ultimate prize.  But the grief the Portland Trailblazers have had to put up with has been merciless, when they took Sam Bowie - for the same reason.  They needed a center and had a great two guard in Clyde Drexler.

I was at Tennessee when Big Sam played at UK and everybody knew of the fragile nature of Bowie’s legs/knees/feet.  Maybe they felt they won a championship with another center who had lower extremities problems in Bill Walton, so history would repeat.  The classic line regarding the Blazers’ selection at number two was delivered by Bob Knight, who had coached MJ in the Olympic Games and had witnessed up close his skill, work ethic, and competitiveness.  As well as anyone, Bob Knight knew Michael Jordan was destined for superstardom.  So when Portland GM Stu Inman, a close friend of Knight’s, told him they really needed a center, Knight simply said to Inman, “Then draft Jordan - and play him at center.” 

Although taking really young guys is a gamble (e.g. Kwame Brown), taking a foreign player has to be more of a risk than a college guy.  Naturally, having spent 30 years in the college game, I’m biased toward the kids who play in the U.S., in front of rabid crowds and are raised on the NBA much more so than players from overseas.  It does seem like the gap is narrowing and there are some sensational players who weren’t born in this country.

However, one disappointment has been Darko Milicic.  In a previous blog, I mentioned unless a player is a surefire super, like LeBron or Shaq, the team drafting the player usually determines his chances for immediate success.  Milicic was not head coach Larry Brown’s top choice, especially with Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade all available and poor Darko spent the entire year riding the pine.  Brown could get away with it because he’s one of the top notch coaches and the Pistons won - B-I-G.

The latest foreign fiasco is Ricky Rubio.  When your team is as bad as Minnesota was last year, and you’re sitting there with three “firsts,” including number four overall, you’d better be more than absolutely sure if you pick Rubio - who, on video, looks like un ultra-talented, pass first (& defend later) big guard who could help win games - and sell tickets.

Timberwolves president David Kahn dealt directly with Rubio and his agent or rep and, I’d bet felt certain, he could work a deal out to have the “European Pistol” in a T-Wolves jersey for this year.  Now, Kahn finds out Rubio decides he wants to play two more years in Spain.  Maybe it will all work out.  Maybe in two years, he’ll be thrilling NBA crowds and Kahn will look like a genius.  I’ll wager now that, even if that is the case, he won’t be playing for the same coach.

Sometimes the decision comes down to:

“The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.”      �