Characteristics of A Good NBA Organization

[Lipoli390]

There are a number of things that distinguish the really good NBA organizations from the mediocre or bad ones.

I just read a report that the Knicks are talking with the Blazers about a deal to acquire one or more of Porland's 3 1st round picks this June. That reminded me that the really good franchises nearly always tend to have lots of valuable yet expendable assets that they can use in different ways to improve their teams in the short run without harming their long run interests. The Blazers are one of those good organizations. Among other things, the Blazers drafted Lillard after a number of teams passed on him. They took McCollum after we passed on him. They've made a number of other shrewed moves that have kept them from completely bottoming out for an extended period and that have put them back in the playoff picture. And remembers when Neil Olshey had is way with David Kahn in the Batum fiasco?

Contrast Portland's situation with our own. Portland made the playoffs with a young, improving team. And yet they have 3 first round picks. In contrast, the Wolves had the 3rd worst record in the West, but have only one 1st round pick and no second round picks this year. Next year the Wolves won't have a 1st round pick if we make the playoffs thanks to the Payne deal, which I hated at the time.

So as much as I admired Flip and even though he was a marked improvement over Kahn and McHale as our top front office guy, he didn't take this organization to the level of other top organizations like the Spurs, Warriors, Thunder, Jazz and Blazers for example. I'd add the Bucks to that list. It remains to be seen where Thibs and Layden will take this organization. I was happy with their patience last summer. But this summer is when we'll start to see what sort of organization we have under their leadership. I'll ignore silly rumors and wait for concrete actions. The test for them will be whether they make decisions that improve the team in the short run while prudently managing our assets over the longer term. The really good front offices find talented players in both free agency and the draft that other teams overlook - Lillard, McCollum, Leonard, Manu, Parker, Westbrook, Greek Freak, etc. That way they don't have to mortgage the future of their organizations or take risks by trading away assets (picks or young talent) in risky deals that may not pay off over either the short or long term. I'm hoping that Thibs and Layden have the right stuff.

[Porckchop]

Good organizations don't draft a euro stash ( basically) with the fifth pick and pass on the Steph Currys of the world. That's all that needs to be said there. Lol

[TAFKASP]

They've made a number of other shrewed moves that have kept them from completely bottoming out for an extended period and that have put them back in the playoff picture.

Outside of Golden State, what was the last team to build a team from bottom feeder to the NBA finals without bottoming out? For all of Portland's shrewd moves they're not remotely close to contending for a championship. Even if GS didn't exist there are a number of teams well ahead of Portland in the West's hierarchy.

Consider recent champs I would say Dallas and San Antonio are the only ones to build up from nothing. San Antonio has been the shrewdest of the shrewd, but even they had to luck into Duncan via a Robinson injury, but once they did they never looked back. Dallas built their team without signing a superstar free agent, unlike Miami in which Lebron, Wade effectively built the team. The Cavs are a bit of both, they built up the assets that enabled them to build their three and a half headed monster.

What team not in a major warm climate city didn't require either lottery luck or complete collapse and the resulting high lottery picks to build a real contender?

Contrast Portland's situation with our own. Portland made the playoffs with a young, improving team. And yet they have 3 first round picks. In contrast, the Wolves had the 3rd worst record in the West, but have only one 1st round pick and no second round picks this year. Next year the Wolves won't have a 1st round pick if we make the playoffs thanks to the Payne deal, which I hated at the time.

So as much as I admired Flip and even though he was a marked improvement over Kahn and McHale as our top front office guy, he didn't take this organization to the level of other top organizations like the Spurs, Warriors, Thunder, Jazz and Blazers for example. I'd add the Bucks to that list. It remains to be seen where Thibs and Layden will take this organization. I was happy with their patience last summer. But this summer is when we'll start to see what sort of organization we have under their leadership. I'll ignore silly rumors and wait for concrete actions. The test for them will be whether they make decisions that improve the team in the short run while prudently managing our assets over the longer term. The really good front offices find talented players in both free agency and the draft that other teams overlook - Lillard, McCollum, Leonard, Manu, Parker, Westbrook, Greek Freak, etc. That way they don't have to mortgage the future of their organizations or take risks by trading away assets (picks or young talent) in risky deals that may not pay off over either the short or long term. I'm hoping that Thibs and Layden have the right stuff.

I'm not saying the Wolves haven't shot themselves in the foot on an annual basis, but I just don't think there is an honest path the contending for a team in Minneapolis without some good-bad luck. Or put another way, enough screw ups that they eventually luck their way into a young core that has that potential.

[TAFKASP]

Good organizations don't draft a euro stash ( basically) with the fifth pick and pass on the Steph Currys of the world. That's all that needs to be said there. Lol

I cannot completely disagree with you as that was unquestionably the wrong move. On the other hand Rubio was viewed by most as transformational player. Obviously he hasn't lived up to that reputation, but then nobody expected Steph to be a perennial MVP candidate either. I'm not saying Rubio was on the same level as Steph going into that draft, just that at the time the gap in opinion wasn't as Grand Canyonesque as it is now.

Setting Rubio aside for the moment, if you will, or can :LOL: taking Flynn over Curry is the real shocker.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

TheSP, I'd argue the 2004 Pistons did pretty well for themselves without massive lottery luck or some major free agent signing.

Speaking of luck, the Wall Street Journal today had an article about how luck has played into Cleveland and Golden State's hands. The year Cleveland won the lottery and drafted Andrew Wiggins they had only a 2 or 3% chance of getting the #1 pick. They may have not landed Kevin Love without getting that pick. And don't forget how lucky Golden State was in terms of signing Curry to that very cheap contract, right before he exploded into an MVP-caliber player. And of course then Durant decides to go chase a ring with them and they have the cap room to sign him thanks to Curry's bargain deal.

The bottom line is all a team can do is the best they can to develop a winning culture and then hope that luck helps take them to the promised land. Part of that is simply staying healthy.

[Lipoli390]

The Wolves were lucky not to slide down in the 2015 lottery, allowing them to pick KAT. The Wolves were also lucky that LeBron decided to return to Cleveland because he was the reason Cleveland changed its mind and agreed to trade Wiggins for Love. We were lucky to have Curry available at #6 after taking Rubio but we failed to take advantage of that good fortune and took Curry instead. But you can't count on luck.

Every franchise has opportunities, some more than others. It's about making the most of those opportunities. The Spurs had the luck of getting the first pick when Duncan came out. But it wasn't luck that landed them Manu and Parker so late in their respective drafts. Yes, even good franchises sometimes hit near bottom, but they come back in relatively short order. The Wolves have bottomed out for 13 years. That's what makes the Wolves organization over time historically bad compared to the better organizations in the League.

So I'll return to where I started. You can identify the best organizations by their assets. Portland was my initial example as a young rising playoff team with three first round picks. The Boston Celtics are an even better example. After building a championship team around Pierce, KG and Ray Allen, the team took its dip and reloaded. Look at them now and you see the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference that also happens to have the top pick in this year's NBA draft. They've assembled a talented group of players and hired a terrific head coach who fits well with their players.

[BloopOracle]

Portland is completely capped out why isn't this mentioned? They have a young core trio of two wings and big who don't play defense just like us except they have locked themselves into multiple bad contracts and look like a prime contender for being stuck in the yearly 8 seed with no money or high pick to push the team up a level.

[Monster]

Flip didn't nail every move but I think it's fair to say he was laying a foundation for this franchise to become better than average. We have the top end roster that he helped bring here he should get credit for at least bringing in Wiggins and drafting Lavine those aren't small moves. We also have the Mayo center that was his vision. There were aspects though that once he was gone didn't carry over like some of the vet players that he brought in and Arnie Kanter. Flip's vision wasn't fully realized. Would it have led to us being the next OKC level franchise even? Idk sadly we will never find out.

The good news is we have Thibs who is considered a very good coach and he is a basketball lifer. He has been around he isn't an idiot. As much as Thibs wants things done his way he seems plenty willing to bring in good people around him. Layden was well thought of and they brought in other basketball folks that you hear good things about from veryone that speaks about them. They seems to have beefed up the staff of the franchise at every possible turn. He had assistants that left good jobs for well regarded coaches to come work with him. Will Thibs Layden etc with Glen as the owner be the group along with the players to help get this team to be a top franchise? Time will tell. You can say this team has had some good luck but shit the last 5 or so years it's had some pretty bad luck (for one Flip passing is pretty terrible luck) so they are due for some good stuff.

[Lipoli390]

Portland is completely capped out why isn't this mentioned? They have a young core trio of two wings and big who don't play defense just like us except they have locked themselves into multiple bad contracts and look like a prime contender for being stuck in the yearly 8 seed with no money or high pick to push the team up a level.

I'll bet the Blazers extracate themselves from those bad contracts. And honestly, I think Crabbe's contract seems like the only really bad one, yet even he's a productive player with trade value. Just watch -- they'll parley their three first round picks and a player or two into significant net gains. I hope I'm wrong, since they're a major rival of ours. But I'm less concerned about what Portland does or doesn't do and I'm not too intersted in evaluating the Blazers. I'm interested in seeing our front office make some impressive decisions that materially improve the team over the short and long term. I'm looking for Thibs and Layden to shine so it won't matter what Portland or any other rival does.

[MikkeMan]

Portland is completely capped out why isn't this mentioned? They have a young core trio of two wings and big who don't play defense just like us except they have locked themselves into multiple bad contracts and look like a prime contender for being stuck in the yearly 8 seed with no money or high pick to push the team up a level.

I'll bet the Blazers extracate themselves from those bad contracts. And honestly, I think Crabbe's contract seems like the only really bad one, yet even he's a productive player with trade value. Just watch -- they'll parley their three first round picks and a player or two into significant net gains. I hope I'm wrong, since they're a major rival of ours. But I'm less concerned about what Portland does or doesn't do and I'm not too intersted in evaluating the Blazers. I'm interested in seeing our front office make some impressive decisions that materially improve the team over the short and long term. I'm looking for Thibs and Layden to shine so it won't matter what Portland or any other rival does.

Turner's and Leonard's contracts are far worse than Crabbe's. Crabbe is young and still improving player whom is a terrific outside shooter in era when outside shooting is more important than ever before for team's success. I'm pretty sure, Portland could trade easily Crabbe at least for late 1st round pick. Trading Turner would require adding 1st round pick before any team would consider it.