Bucks ownership: Lowe/Windhorst ESPN piece pg 5

[crkone]

With the search bogged down and complicated, NBA commissioner Adam Silver advised the Bucks, according to sources, to consider former Cavs and Hawks GM Danny Ferry, who is currently a consultant for the Pelicans. The Bucks reached out to Ferry, and he was open to discussing the job, but a formal interview was never scheduled, sources said.

Da fuq????

[MickeyDavis]

Scheduling the presser without talking to Horst is very LED like. But the article just says what we all know already. Edens is the Governor for the first 5 years and then Lasry takes over. A 2-1 vote is all that is needed for decisions but they try to come to a consensus. Sure Edens could play his "trump card" but it sounds like he didn't. That's why Horst was chosen, all 3 were happy with that choice.

the article also says...

Despite going through the entire process, Edens still didn't think Zanik was the right man for the job, sources say. Still, majority rule within Milwaukee's ownership group would have dictated Zanik get the job by a 2-1 vote. Despite whatever prior arrangement was made, owner majority didn't rule the day.

so what happened?

The article also says they try to come to a consensus. So while 2-1 could have ruled they decided to work it out and find someone they were all satisfied with. Hence Horst. Obviously L and D wanted Zanik.

The pitfalls of having 3 owners. Something we've all been concerned about since day 1.

While a 2-1 majority could rule, the group wanted all decisions to be unanimous, and they worked together to make sure that was the case. This was the framework the owners explained to candidates for front office positions recently, sources say.

[skones]

I guess I was under the impression that Lasry was the one with governor power. It seemed like he was spearheading a lot of what was going on.

[M-C-G]

Scheduling the presser without talking to Horst is very LED like. But the article just says what we all know already. Edens is the Governor for the first 5 years and then Lasry takes over. A 2-1 vote is all that is needed for decisions but they try to come to a consensus. That's why Horst was chosen, all 3 were happy with that choice.

Yup. No new information. Just a loud, national article in case others weren't aware. I still contend that Jason Kidd is calling all the shots. Again, we'll sink or swim with him.

I think he WAS, but I think the whole point of Edens rejecting Zanik the job was because they had already stripped Kidd of some of his personnel power and Edens felt like that would almost be giving it back to him, if he was that close with Zanik.

I think Lasry sold Edens and maybe Dinan a bill of goods with KIdd, they bought in initial, but for sure Edens saw the light with regard to the moves that Kidd had made and I feel certain, Kidd was actually stripped of power. Though I still think he has a voice for sure, I just don't think he is the final say on anything off the court.

[Matches Malone]

I guess I was under the impression that Lasry was the one with governor power. It seemed like he was spearheading a lot of what was going on.

That's what I thought too. Everyone kept saying this is all Lasry's doing and Edens was the smart one that will get us back on the right path when he takes his turn. Guess Edens sucks? ...

[JimmyTheKid]

Scheduling the presser without talking to Horst is very LED like. But the article just says what we all know already. Edens is the Governor for the first 5 years and then Lasry takes over. A 2-1 vote is all that is needed for decisions but they try to come to a consensus. That's why Horst was chosen, all 3 were happy with that choice.

Yup. No new information. Just a loud, national article in case others weren't aware. I still contend that Jason Kidd is calling all the shots. Again, we'll sink or swim with him.

I think he WAS, but I think the whole point of Edens rejecting Zanik the job was because they had already stripped Kidd of some of his personnel power and Edens felt like that would almost be giving it back to him, if he was that close with Zanik.

I think Lasry sold Edens and maybe Dinan a bill of goods with KIdd, they bought in initial, but for sure Edens saw the light with regard to the moves that Kidd had made and I feel certain, Kidd was actually stripped of power. Though I still think he has a voice for sure, I just don't think he is the final say on anything off the court.

So Horst has the final say?

[MickeyDavis]

As Governor Edens has the Bucks vote on all league matters. And yes he would have the final say on ownership issues and could override what the other 2 wanted. But as outlined in the article when there is a disagreement they try to work it out. Horst was a consensus candidate. Hell they picked him without even talking to him. While Lasry brought in Kidd he also brought in Zanik, who most of us preferred over Horst.

For better or worse I wish one of these guys would buy out the other 2. Not going to happen though.

[sidney lanier]

Scheduling the presser without talking to Horst is very LED like. But the article just says what we all know already. Edens is the Governor for the first 5 years and then Lasry takes over. A 2-1 vote is all that is needed for decisions but they try to come to a consensus. Sure Edens could play his "trump card" but it sounds like he didn't. That's why Horst was chosen, all 3 were happy with that choice.

Agree. No one is ever going to mistake Brian Windhorst for Bob Woodward. The tendentious way this article is written is just a reflection of his and Zach Lowe's junior journalist skill set. Lowe's journalism experience is essentially as the crime writer for the Stamford Advocate (if you never heard of it, Stamford is in that crime hotbed, Connecticut). Windhorst went to LeBron's high school.

As to the substance, cutting bait with Zanik is the story here, and it would be interesting to learn more about that, but this article doesn't provide it.

[MadBlueEdwards]

Really hoping that this national attention is the wake-up call they need in order to get their sh*t together.

[Pachinko_]

Ok so lets see some facts that we know, please correct me if I'm wrong:

Being a team owner is an investment, it's about making money. Making money from an NBA team is not about winning. If it was about winning then by definition nobody would want to invest in half the teams in the NBA. That would be bad business. Bad teams must also make money to be an attractive investment.

NBA teams are private corporations that do not disclose their profits. There are some Forbes articles and the likes based on their calculations, but these are articles, there are no published financial statements to cross check, no details. And the NBA has often responded that they are BS. Therefore we don't know which teams are profitable and how much, and exactly what it is that drives their profits. Surely wins would help some, ticket sales would go up etc, but when the Hornets for example leaked some actual audited financial statements it showed that 60% of their revenue was not even direct team profit like tickets & advertising, it was shared NBA revenue, share in TV rights and shared revenue with the arena businesses.

- Therefore it is probably more important for an owner that the NBA as a whole goes well, not necessarily that his own team goes well. it's important that the NBA gets popular in places like China, attracts more international players to get people in other countries more interested, gets bigger TV and other deals.

- it's important to have an arena with many shops where people can spend money. The newer and bigger the arena the more shops it has, and more shops means people spend more. The Seattle Supersonics arena was a great building for actual basketball and a strong home court, but they made such a big fuss to tear it down because it didnt have enough room for shops. When you go to the new Bucks arena next year check how much money you actually spend compared to the BC.

- NBA has many ways to sell a team to the consumers apart from wins. You have a **** team with a couple of rookies? You make your marketing all about the "Youth movement", You "Own the future", you "Believe", you are "All in it together". You have one good player? You make it all about him, the clash with the visiting team's best player etc. Never ever make it about winning, that's bad business. The NBA is designed to be a merry go round, eventually everybody will take their turn at winning. So don't make it about that because even if you win now you will regret it in 2 years. Even when the Warriors were kicking everyone's butt the slogan was not about winning, it was "Strength in numbers". Smart people.

TL/DR: you can very well be a super successful owner without winning. You have to pretend you're trying of course, but you don't actually have to try. Don't confuse an owner's goals with the actual wins of his team, the NBA has designed these two things to be only very loosely related. The quality of the team is basically our problem, not the owner's.

[ackypoo]

Really hoping that this national attention is the wake-up call they need in order to get their sh*t together.

its going to get worse before it gets better.

[MickeyDavis]

The logical solution to all this is to hire a POBO and let him run things. That's not happening anytime soon. Instead we have Thorn "advising".

[crkone]

As Governor Edens has the Bucks vote on all league matters. And yes he would have the final say on ownership issues and could override what the other 2 wanted. But as outlined in the article when there is a disagreement they try to work it out. Horst was a consensus candidate. Hell they picked him without even talking to him. While Lasry brought in Kidd he also brought in Zanik, who most of us preferred over Horst.

For better or worse I wish one of these guys would buy out the other 2. Not going to happen though.

He wasn't so much a consensus candidate as he was an "ah fuq it do whatever" candidate. Like it says in the article, only one owner was there when the others could have easily made time to be at the presser.

[skones]

I guess I was under the impression that Lasry was the one with governor power. It seemed like he was spearheading a lot of what was going on.

That's what I thought too. Everyone kept saying this is all Lasry's doing and Edens was the smart one that will get us back on the right path when he takes his turn. Guess Edens sucks? ...

Wonder if it was a 3 year thing to start and then switched to 5? For whatever reason, I had 3 years stuck in my head prior to this article.

[SkilesTheLimit]

Hire a POBO and GTFO of his way. Give him complete power to clean house including hiring his own GM/coach. Until that happens, it's going to continue to be a cluster F.

[MickeyDavis]

Kidd was a Lasry pick no doubt. I think Edens was ok with it because Kidd was replacing Larry Drew not Pops.

[JimmyTheKid]

As Governor Edens has the Bucks vote on all league matters. And yes he would have the final say on ownership issues and could override what the other 2 wanted. But as outlined in the article when there is a disagreement they try to work it out. Horst was a consensus candidate. Hell they picked him without even talking to him. While Lasry brought in Kidd he also brought in Zanik, who most of us preferred over Horst.

For better or worse I wish one of these guys would buy out the other 2. Not going to happen though.

He wasn't so much a consensus candidate as he was an "ah fuq it do whatever" candidate. Like it says in the article, only one owner was there when the others could have easily made time to be at the presser.

Yup. Which we already knew. Thats why I continue to contend that Horst is a puppet who occasionally gives cap input on potential transactions. But I doubt very much he's the guy wheeling and dealing on the phone with other GM's. So who is that guy? Kidd? Thorn? Someone else?

[M-C-G]

Yup. No new information. Just a loud, national article in case others weren't aware. I still contend that Jason Kidd is calling all the shots. Again, we'll sink or swim with him.

I think he WAS, but I think the whole point of Edens rejecting Zanik the job was because they had already stripped Kidd of some of his personnel power and Edens felt like that would almost be giving it back to him, if he was that close with Zanik.

I think Lasry sold Edens and maybe Dinan a bill of goods with KIdd, they bought in initial, but for sure Edens saw the light with regard to the moves that Kidd had made and I feel certain, Kidd was actually stripped of power. Though I still think he has a voice for sure, I just don't think he is the final say on anything off the court.

So Horst has the final say?

No, I don't think that either. I think Horst has some decision making power, but really doubt he can pull the trigger on anything without running it through the owners. I also think Kidds input is definitely heard, I just don't think his voice carries the weight it did pre MCW, pre Vasques, etc.

[tski1972]

Kidd was a Lasry pick no doubt. I think Edens was ok with it because Kidd was replacing Larry Drew not Pops.

I'm guessing Edens was okay with it because he probably knew who Jason Kidd was, just like any other casual NBA fan and trusted his friend it was a good choice.

[M-C-G]

Really hoping that this national attention is the wake-up call they need in order to get their sh*t together.

its going to get worse before it gets better.

I think so, but each national black eye, is a bruise to their egos as well.