Falk: MJ didn't want to draft Kwame

[Dat2U]

To me its all revionist history by Falk. Falk has trashed the Wizards for years. To suggest that Brand would sell less tickets than a 18 yr old from some small town in GA is ridiculous.

As for Kwame, we've argued it for years. But I think he was terribly mishandled. Looking back on it, Kwame would have never been a star but he could have been a more than serviceable big. However his confidence was destroyed by MJ & Collins and his game was taken apart. Kwame was never made to be a low post banger. He was made to be in the high post, where he could receive the ball in less traffic (thus limit the TOs) and use his skills to attack slower bigs off the dribble, hit the mid range J or pass to the cutters. Instead he was forced into the low post, fumbled passes in traffic, lost confidence, got waaay too big and lost what was a decent skillset for a young big man.

He would have never been Brand but under better leadership I think he could have been a 16 & 9 type with good defense.

[barelyawake]

The whole situation is utterly transparent, and downright petty and childish. MJ has made some good moves lately, and wants to remake this as day one on his GM resume. He wants to blame the past on others, so as to make it seem as though he had this great GM in him all along. It's ridiculous. Anyone who followed the situation knows full well how absurd it is and why it's being said.

That said, Abe can spoil a lot of these rumors by bucking up and building a championship team despite the cost. That means soberly evaluating what moves need to be made to create not a good team, but a championship team, and then doing it (with cost being about fifth on the list of concerns). Then, he'll be remembered for the bookend championships -- not the middle.

[wizards-fan]

I keep seeing accusations and insinuations about Abe Pollin being "cheap." I've been following the Bullets/Wizards since about 94/95 and I can't recall him doing anything that I would consider "cheap" (e.g. developing a young player and then refusing to sign him to a big contract once that player became a star). There have certainly been problems with overpaying certain players, making bad trades, bad draft picks and other problems related to player evaluation. But nothing having to do with not wanting to spend the money. Where does this come from???

[fishercob]

I'm certainly hypersensitive to the issue, but I think some of the "cheap Abe" BS comes from the same place that the "Jason Campbell, Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpeper etc aren't smart enough to play QB" comes from. It's thinly veiled prejudice.

[toucansma]

Jordan may not have be the greatest person alive, but Abe still pulled a bush league move on him. Jordan could have ripped him a ton and chose not to. Abe used him and threw him away like a bad Ford Pinto.

I would also argue that Kwame may not be smart enough basketball wise. What does that have to with prejudice? I would say the same thing about Big Country Reeves, Shawn Bradley, or Jason Williams (all that talent and he makes the stupidest mistakes in the world). That is from watching Kwame as a Wizard (granted he was young and in a bad situation), but also when he played my Suns as a Laker. He just didn't seem to have great instincts or bball iq. Not saying he isn't smart in everyday life, but on the basketball court, he constantly seemed out of position or unable to read the opponents play time after time.

Either way Wiz fans, hope you guys get healthy for next season, your team could be very dangerous!

[lupin]

I would also argue that Kwame may not be smart enough basketball wise. What does that have to with prejudice?

If you were referring to Fishercob's post, I believe he meant the disguised prejudice against Pollin since Pollin is Jewish.

I think the 'cheap' stuff mostly comes from where it has been documented that the organization, run by Pollin, used to skimp quite a bit on the 'amenities'. I think in the 80s and 90s the players had to pay to launder their uniforms. I believe that when they travelled to Portland, the Bullets used to stay far away from the arena at Pollin's cousin's place (at a discount). There's also the tale of re-using the #4 Wallace jersey (I think that's the one) for a different Wallace (Rasheed versus Big Ben?). You don't get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression.

And there's the original Howard contract. That may have been more of a tactical error than one of outright cheap-ness. I don't think there was a rookie cap/scale when Juwan Howard was drafted.

[toucansma]

Ok, sorry. Thanks for the clarification!

[TheSecretWeapon]

Abe's cheapness back in the day was a legitimate gripe. They DID charge the players for washing their uniforms (seriously). They were among the last teams to stop flying commercial (the Clippers stopped that last). They probably did attempt to reuse the Wallace jerseys they had on hand. Worse, they had a very small front office staff when Wes was the GM. One Western Conference GM told me that he called to talk trade, and Wes answered the phone. He said that for every other franchise, calls -- even to "direct dial" numbers (not the switchboard) -- would be answered by the GM's assistant first. Expanding the front office to include stuff like an assistant GM, a director of player development, a capologist, more than 2 scouts were significant contributions MJ made when he took charge.

[Ruzious]

And there's the original Howard contract. That may have been more of a tactical error than one of outright cheap-ness. I don't think there was a rookie cap/scale when Juwan Howard was drafted.

The Howard contract was the opposite of cheapness. They couldn't offer him much on his rookie contract because they needed a PG and signed Michael Adams - leaving only a certain amount left (This was before they had rookie slots - and the top picks were getting good money.). So, the rookie offer gave them the max team salaries allowable - and they extended the increases (I think it was a 4 year deal) to the max percent allowable. And his second contract was the richest in the NBA (or just behind Mourning's), so they way overpaid him.

[Ruzious]

Let's set aside for a moment that Falk has dropped this "story" 8 years after the fact. And that it contradicts everything that's been said publicly about the decision-making process, as well as everything I heard about how the pick was made in contemporaneous conversations and interviews with the actual people involved. According to this story Falk is telling, Jordan was so spineless that he could be forced into making basketball decisions that were against his better judgement and in violation of the deal he had with Pollin? And we're supposed to believe that after being bullied by Pollin and O'Malley, Jordan not only stayed with the team, he signed a minimum salary contract and played 2 more years for these bullies?

Yeah, I was never a big fan of Polin as an owner, and I hated the way he fired Michael Jordan, but it was clear to everyone that Jordan was running the operations and making all of the personnel decisions when he came on board. Nobody but Michael Jordan picked Kwame Brown.

I'd speculate - from hearing Falk's interviews over the years (the latest I heard was with a recent mutual suck-up fest with John Thompson - Oh you're great, no you're great, no you're great, well yes I am great, but so are you...), I think he sees himself as an vital figure in NBA history - maybe in sports history - and he wants to be recognized as such. And sucking up to Michael Jordan is likely part of the program.

[TheSecretWeapon]

And there's the original Howard contract. That may have been more of a tactical error than one of outright cheap-ness. I don't think there was a rookie cap/scale when Juwan Howard was drafted.

The Howard contract was the opposite of cheapness. They couldn't offer him much on his rookie contract because they needed a PG and signed Michael Adams - leaving only a certain amount left (This was before they had rookie slots - and the top picks were getting good money.). So, the rookie offer gave them the max team salaries allowable - and they extended the increases (I think it was a 4 year deal) to the max percent allowable. And his second contract was the richest in the NBA (or just behind Mourning's), so they way overpaid him.

Nah, Howard's rookie contract was either cheapness or Don Quixote-ness. There was no rookie salary scale, but rookie deals at that time were done by looking at what the guy in the same slot got the previous year and bumping it up 15-20%. For Howard, the contract would have been in the neighborhood of 6 years and $24 million -- which was a lot of money at the time. Abe and Wes decided that rookie salaries were getting out of hand, and offered Howard less. Howard ended up taking a 13-year deal with low salaries in the first couple years (about $1.3 million and $1.7 million instead of something around $3.5 million), but with an opt-out after the 2nd season. Howard had the best season of his career in year 2, and ended up getting 7 years and $105 million on that next contract.

I'm not sure what you're referring to with "max team salaries allowable." There have always been exceptions to the cap to sign rookies. The Bullets were permitted to sign both players without any kind of GM trickery. Especially since Adams was their free agent (he'd been with the team the preceding 3 years), and especially since Adams wasn't making a ton of money. He signed that offseason with Charlotte for $1.24 million, which was barely less than the $1.3 million he made the preceding year with the Bullets.