Weekly poll: Did the Blues make the right move?
By Bob Whitsitt
So when youÆre in that championship window, you need to do anything possible to grab a title -- even if it involves a midseason trade like the one we saw last week in hockey, where St. Louis traded three prospects to the Los Angeles Kings for Wayne Gretzky.
Sometimes that means you have to give up a little bit more of your future than youÆd like to. But really, the future is about the same thing as the present -- youÆre trying to build to get into the championship window.
And sometimes, thatÆs making the big trade where you give up some young talent or draft picks to get what you hope will be the one final piece of the championship puzzle.
Making the big deal down the stretch is the hardest thing to do for a general manager, because if it doesnÆt work out, you take a couple of steps backward. But weÆre all in this to win. When you have a chance to win, you do what you feel you have to do -- even if it's pull the trigger on a major trade.
ItÆs not an exact science. You're not always sure even doing things that on paper look like they will make you better. Any time you make player changes, it has an effect on the team itself. When you make trades, you hope the players on your team understand youÆre doing it to help them win a championship. But players have different relationships with different teammates and families and all kinds of things like that. There are people involved.
The easy thing to look for are players who have been on a championship team before. You figure they know what it takes. That should be a positive in the locker room.
If the player youÆre trading for has not been on a championship team, you look for somebody whoÆs still a very good player and you think everybody will like him and get along with him.
But you never know if the chemistry will mesh, not only on the court but off it. ItÆs about a group of very talented people with a lot of skills coming together and wanting to be a part of a common goal. Normally when you do these kinds of deals, you have to be pretty sure itÆs enough of an improvement that if youÆve missed in any one of those areas, the overall net result is still a plus for the team.
Once the trade is completed, your team is never the same. But when youÆre looking at these kinds of trades, youÆre evaluating talent -- and that talent, hopefully, is the missing ingredient to get over the top.
All deals have their risks if they donÆt work out. The move to get a championship is a little more challenging because if youÆre on the other side of the equation, the general manager who is building for the future, no matter what you do thereÆs a lot of time ahead of you before the deal can be judged properly. When youÆve done the championship deal, like it or not, your window of judgment is pretty short.
If youÆre not in the championship cycle, you have to be realistic. You donÆt want to get stuck in the mid-level. You have to develop the young players. You have to put a plan together. You want to wake up in a few years and look at a very good team.
There are reasons to trade a player that have nothing to do with on-court performance. Maybe you canÆt re-sign that guy at the end of the year because of the salary cap or because heÆs too old, or if you spend all of your money on him you still wonÆt win it all or maybe he doesnÆt want to re-sign with you. Whenever you trade a player for that kind of a reason, the short-term impact is more in terms of a public-relations. Look at the Gretzky thing -- they traded an extremely popular player. But in terms of the deal itself, itÆs going to be quite a ways down the road before you can judge whether it was what the Kings hoped it would be.
Whether to get draft picks or young players depends on where you are in the cycle, what your salary cap situation is, what your needs are. Generally speaking, youÆd rather have a young player than a pick because itÆs a little more of a known commodity. If youÆre talking about a very high draft pick soon, you know youÆre not going to go wrong with that kind of a thing. But if youÆre talking about draft picks in the future, youÆre not sure exactly where that pick is going to fall.
How do you find a team to trade with? You look in the mirror. If youÆre trying to get younger, the team you're trading with is trying to get experience; if theyÆre in the championship window, youÆre rebuilding. If youÆre both in championship windows, youÆre probably not going to trade because youÆre competing for the same goal. If youÆre both absolutely rebuilding, neither of you is going to want to give up younger players.
The net result is the deal should make sense for both teams -- one might reap the benefits sooner, one might see it later. It all has to do with where you are on the cycle.
Everybody has situations where you kick yourself for not making a deal or pat yourself on the back for not making a deal. ThatÆs not the real point. The important thing is to be willing to make moves that you feel will help you ballclub.
You owe that to your organization.
And you owe that to your fans.
Bob Whitsitt is in his second year as president and general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers. Before joining the Blazers, Whitsitt spent eight seasons as president and general manager of the Seattle SuperSonics and three seasons in front-office positions with the Kansas City and Sacramento Kings.
