Post#291 » by montestewart » Mon Jun 19, 2023 3:44 pm
Lots of good takes on the trade, from all over the spectrum. The Consiglieri is really hitting and kicking this thread.
I’m not really feeling the Beal hate. He was far from my favorite Wizard, but he’s not the first player who took advantage of perceived management/ownership weakness to get the best deal he could for himself. Arenas and Wall, two players I liked much more than Beal, both did the same thing. That’s business, and really, Terd has much more power than any of those players, he’s a billionaire. Not being a billionaire myself, I’m usually inclined to side with labor over management. Get the best deal you can.
Loyalty in sports is largely a fiction. Players and management make the best deals they can for themselves, and then retrofit perceptions of loyalty. There are a lot of things I won’t miss about Beal, but mostly I won’t miss his lack of leadership at that price tag. But Terd didn’t keep him and and didn’t give him an NTC because of loyalty. He gave Beal what he wanted so the Wizards could market the team. Terd pays lip service to both winning and loyalty, but he seems more about marketing and profit margin. The only way to get him to connect winning with profit margin is to not give them any money for a losing team.
On its face, that doesn’t seem like much value in return for someone that was a 30 point a game scorer just a couple of seasons back. But from Beal’s perspective, why watch your career slip away with a team that is going nowhere with you as the number one option, when you can use whatever leverage the no trade clause gives you to get yourself on a team of stars that might compete for a championship, while your new team surrenders little in return? He might be wrong about that, and the Suns might suck, but if that’s what he really believes, that makes sense.
No hard feelings Beal, but I’m glad you’re gone. My ill will now is directed towards management, as is usually the case. So many years of buckling under to (not super) stars — MJ, Arenas, Wall, and now Beal — gives Wizards ownership and management a perception problem. No one ever wants to offer the Wizards the best deal, because history says they will settle for less. I don’t know whether this was the best deal the Wizards could’ve possibly gotten, but I think this deal has Terd’s sticky, bumbling fingers all over it, just as the NTC did.
One thing that puzzles me: I thought the league automatically investigated any trade involving Chris Paul.
Not as upset about this one as I am about some of the ones in the past (Webber trade, #5 pick trade, Vesely pick). I have a lot of sympathy for the people that are really upset, as this is the culmination of long festering general disappointment over Beal.
The Beal-Wizards relationship reminds me of a pulp novel or movie, where a wealthy, nebbish fellow is trying to hang onto a much younger and really hot girlfriend. Everyone knows she’s bad for him, everyone knows she will leave him crying, and she does. The question now is, will he turn into the real killer on an episode of Perry Mason, or will he enjoy his newfound freedom and move on?
That’s all I got for now, until I read Nivek’s take. Regardless, I’m ready to move on from the Beal era.
