[TorontoStar] Almost as many Raptor bosses …
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Jun. 6, 2004. 01:00 AM
Almost as many Raptor bosses as losses
Beware, new GM, of your 'surroundings'
DAVE FESCHUK
Congratulations, Rob Babcock. You've just landed your
first gig as an NBA general manager. Best wishes as you
begin your attempt to run the Raptors.
We use "attempt" not because your qualifications suggest
incompetence. It's hard to blame you for the sins of your
bosses in Minnesota and Denver, where success has been
recent and mediocrity the general rule. Bringing mediocrity
to Hogtown will earn you a hero's welcome. But be prepared
to take the rap for both your bosses' sins and your own,
because chief among your bosses' sins is a shameless habit
for shifting blame in the name of preserving names.
In short, beware your superiors N湶f, that is, you can
keep them all straight.
Beware Richard Peddie, the CEO who hired you more than nine
weeks after his oft-mocked GM search began. He thinks you've
got a second-round playoff team on your hands. It's about
time someone tells him you don't. So enjoy that conversation.
Then again, working for Peddie could be easy. Peddie wants
quiet subservience, something your predecessor Glen Grunwald
personified. But here's what Grunwald got for staying mum. He
got Kevin O'Neill, Peddie's choice for coach, with whom he
shared a mutual dislike. Then he got fired.
Alas, even if you succeed in placating Peddie, keep your head
up for Larry Tanenbaum. Tanenbaum, the minority owner and
chairman of the board, is widely perceived as the rare board
member who actually cares about winning. But it was clear
Tanenbaum didn't care for you when he sat in on your interview
back in early May. From that moment on, the GM search stalled
and a desperate search for something better ensued. Nothing
better surfaced, so don't blame the media for calling you a
consolation hire.
On the upside, Tanenbaum has the right idea about the place of
upper management in hoop-wise chatter. "Guys like Peddie and I,
we should be in the background," Tanenbaum was saying the other
day.
So hold him to it and the team is yours. Except, of course,
when you're talking to the financial gurus at the teachers'
pension fund that owns the majority of the club. Don't expect
those guys to emulate a Minnesota club that went to the Western
final this year by spending $74 million (all figures U.S.) on
salaries, fourth highest in the league. The pension boys, who
saw the eighth-highest payroll in the league ($64 million)
yield the seventh-worst record, aren't convinced spending wins.
Not that it matters; Grunwald has left you capped out and
undermanned. Things are grim. So here's hoping you clean house.
You're inheriting a roster with holes at the most important
positions, with no viable point guard, with one credible big man
in Chris Bosh. You're also inheriting a scouting staff that has
performed woefully. You should rebuild this team from the bird
dogs up.
Jack McCloskey, the guy who hired you in Minnesota and
recommended you for this job, did you a favour. Don't do
McCloskey a half-dozen favours by keeping his buddies from the
Grunwald era employed. Start fresh or stagnate. Be ruthless or
be sorry.
Doubtless, you're facing many big decisions. You've got to decide
whether to re-sign Morris Peterson, who admitted last week that
he lost 10 pounds after his dismal season, effectively sprinting
down the pier after missing the boat. You've got to expose a
player to the expansion draft. You've got the eighth pick in a
needle-in-a-haystack entry draft. You need to add value to your
eight-player roster with about $6 million at your cap-mandated
disposal.
And you've got to answer the phone that's been ringing since
you've been hired. That's probably Michelle Carter, Vince's
mother, on the line. She and her all-star son wish Julius (Dr. J)
Erving was in your chair.
So enjoy that conversation, too.
Enjoy getting to know yet another of your many bosses.
--
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