Knicks93 wrote:Isiah Thomas would have traded all our picks for some over rated guy leaving us with no future while tanking. Phil tried to win around Melo since we didn't have our picks 2 of the past 3 years because of the prior GM's, didn't work. No big deal. He'll focus on rebuilding around KP now and we will be fine. Tank the next couple years, get top picks, Noah contract will expire, and we'll be set.
It is almost insulting to compare Phil to Isiah also btw. What did you expect Phil to do? We had a crap team and no picks, not like we could focus on tanking the past 3 seasons when we had no picks. He took risks and it didn't work out. Not like any top free agents wanted to sign here into this mess when Phil took over the job. And you expected him to build a contender in those circumstances? Just because he is Phil? You expected too much
I like how you used the word, "almost" because in a way, you're stating there's a case that Phil messed up. It would be insulting if I compared Masai Ujiri to Isiah. Very insulting if I compared Morey to Isiah. But you know what? It would be insulting if I compared Morey to Phil or Ujiri to Phil, too.
Where did I say he needed to build a contender? I said Jim Buss wanted to build a contender in 3 years, and the Lakers judged him for it. By year 3, the Lakers could judge that he failed: Jim had failed to do what he set out to do. We can judge Phil by his plan. He wanted to build a playoff contender...let us judge him by the standard he set for himself. Has he done it? Have we given him multiple opportunities to do that? Has he succeeded? Has he set the damn franchise back multiple times in pursuit of that goal?
GMs are allowed to make mistakes, but they better not keep making mistakes for 3 years. What, in his body of work, gives you confidence he knows how to rebuild around KP?
I guess it's very easy to talk about firing Phil. Let's talk about the alternatives (which I admit, won't happen, but hell, I'm pissed off). After firing Phil:
1) Get someone from the Spurs tree.
2) Set mandate to rebuild around KP.
3) Fix culture of organization, but remove who we need to, in order to set the youth movement going.
That's it. I'm sure that you want to do #2. I'm sure everyone wants to do #3 as well. #1 is the issue for me. Let Phil become a teacher at Stuyvesant or something and teach triangles at geometry class...he ain't cut out for this.
As for me, if you wanna change my mind, give me a defense of all the moves that he made, that he didn't ultimately screw up. Any scrubby/Joe Shmoe can eff up a franchise and get a lotto pick. See: Vivek. We all know the Kings are gonna be in the lotto for years to come. Where are the good moves?