| | Just for the record, let me say that I like Brian Grant.
|  | | Brian Grant wants to be on a winner, but he doesn't want Portland. |
He is a super nice guy with a good heart who does a hell of a lot of
charity work for children -- which always puts you at the top of the list in
my book.
But even nice guys can be foolish.
First, he opts out of his contract -- which would pay him more than $10
million a season over the next four seasons -- with the Blazers, supposedly
so he can get more money elsewhere.
Then, he gets the chance to procure more money elsewhere, getting a $93
million deal in a sign-and-trade with Cleveland that would have sent Shawn
Kemp back to the Pacific Northwest.
Nyet.
Then, he gets a $70 million contract offer from the Blazers.
Nyet.
All the while, Mark Bartelstein, his agent, sounds like a singing
pendulum, he is going back and forth so much and saying so many different
things.
When Grant rejected the deal with Cleveland, Bartelstein said it is not
about the money. It is about winning.
So let me get this straight: Grant wants the Cavs to pay him $93 million
over the next seven years, and he does not think he can make the Cavs a
winner?
Well, then, what in the hell would they be paying him $93 million for?
In my mind, if you are going to pay somebody $93 million, they had better
instantly make your team a winner. I don't care if you have Huey, Dewey and
Lewey, as well as the three chipmunks playing next to you, and Gomer Pyle as
your center, $93 million better make my team a winner if I'm writing the
checks.
There are many problems with the NBA, but here is a burgeoning one:
Earning a maximum salary has become more of a status symbol than it has a
sign and a responsibility that you are going to take your team to a
championship -- or even close.
Look around the league: In Seattle, the Sonics have given Vin Baker $87
million, and he can't even come to work without his stomach hanging over his
waistband.
The Cavs gave Kemp $105 million, and he can't get out of his LA-Z Boy
without the help of a crane.
Juwan Howard got $105 million, and his team hasn't been in the postseason
once since he put his name on the dotted line.
Antoine Walker got the maximum money, and his coach just ripped him for
not having the skill level of a decent player.
Well, I have one question for Rick Pitino, who recently was caught
lamenting his team's fate because of the constraining budget he has been
given: What did you give a guy $87 million for if he has no skills? Perhaps
that's the reason your budget is not working out.
I mean, the general managers are at fault just as much as the players. The
GMs go fawning over guys with all their money, tell the public he is a
maximum salary player, and then act surprised when the team turns out to be
lousy.
You watch what is going to happen in Chicago, when Ron Mercer will take
his $9 million per year and not even be the best player on his team. Jerry
Krause will twist it and turn it and say the Bulls' struggles are not his
fault, Mercer simply was not playing up to his capabilities. Well, Jerry, he
is playing up to his capabilities, his capabilities simply aren't those of a
player that deserves $9 million per year.
I think the Cavs should feel fortunate that they did not sign Grant.
Because if Grant thinks that Grant can't make the Cavs a winner, after taking
$93 million from them, well, that's pretty telling, isn't it.
So then Grant shuns the Trail Blazers, saying he wants to play on a winner.
Uh, Brian, you are on a winner. Your team came two minutes and a momentous
collapse from being the NBA champions.
| |  | | Grant |
No, no, no, Bartelstein is telling people, he wants to be on a winner, but
he wants to play.
Um, Brian, how about a little reflection.
Too close? I'll help.
You are on a winner, and you don't play as much as you would like. You can
play as much as you want in Cleveland, but they would be a loser.
The common denominator in winning and losing, Brian, would seem to be a
direct inverse correlation with your playing time.
Now I am going to help Bartelstein out with telling the truth. The next
time he takes a phone call from a reporter wondering what is going on,
Bartelstein needs to say:
"What does Brian want? Brian wants $93 million and no responsibility."
On the hot seat
Speaking of a guy with no responsibility, Lakers GM-to-be Mitch Kupchak
finally got the promotion he has been waiting for for so long.
I'll be interested to see how he does. He turned down so many offers from
other teams to take over their personnel decisions, and he waited patiently
until the day Jerry West retired.
It's not like Kupchak has a great deal to do, not with a team that has
Shaq and Kobe -- two guys who do take their salaries seriously -- locked up
for the foreseeable future.
But he eventually is going to have to make some big decisions, including
getting something in return for Glen Rice.
So Mitch, welcome to the Hot Spot. I wish you well.
Falk's bottom line
How beautiful is it that David Falk reportedly stepped in and nixed a deal
between the Toronto Raptors and Maurice Taylor?
| |  | | Taylor |
Falk was so smug last season, when he said matter-of-factly that Taylor
would accept nothing less than the maximum contract.
Come to think of it, Falk said the same thing about another one of his
clients, Glen Rice.
Now, he sits out there and has to broker deals in order for his clients to
soak every last cent out their prospective suitors.
I can tell you one thing: Falk nixed that deal with the Raptors in the
best interests of Falk, and his reputation, not of Maurice Taylor.
Frank Hughes covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. | |
ALSO SEE
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Hughes: No longer standing Pat
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