Or maybe it’s an acknowledgement that the system is flawed,
and no team lives on drafting alone. In fact, if you want a championship
parade, history says you do what Grant just did and peddle future assets for
established talent.
In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, as Cleveland shivered
in the clutches of the coldest night in two decades, Grant shipped Andrew Bynum
– or more accurately, Bynum’s non-guaranteed contract -- and three draft picks
of lesser importance to Chicago for Deng. Chicago made the deal for future
flexibility, as they prepare to retool their team around the currently-injured
Derrick Rose. The Cavs made the deal because they simply need more talent.
So why Deng? He’ll be 29 in April. He’s a high-mileage
player who led the Bulls in minutes per game each of the past two seasons, and
led the entire league in minutes played two seasons ago.
He’s a good player, not a great player, and common wisdom
says you need a great player at Deng’s position of small forward in order to
contend for a title in today’s NBA. Deng is averaging a career high in points
per game (19) and nearly a career high in rebounds per game (6.9), but he’s
really the definition of “good at everything, master of nothing.”
There is definitely a place in the league for players like
Deng, but nobody is going to confuse him with a franchise-caliber talent.
Contrast that with the 2014 draft, which is supposedly to be loaded with
franchise talent and difference-makers. Thanks to Deng, the Cavs will be too
good to garner a high lottery pick.
Grant punted away a shot at a stud prospect like Andrew
Wiggins, Jabari Parker or Marcus Smart for four guaranteed months of Luol Deng.
How insane and/or stupid can an NBA GM be?
Or maybe Grant is out-foxing the fox.
History says that the draft can do a lot for you, but it’s
probably not going to win you championships if that’s your primary means of
laying a foundation. Veteran teams win championships, not young teams. And
thanks to the restrictions of the salary cap, young teams don’t stay intact
long enough to mature into veteran teams.
No team has done a better job of building through the draft
than the Oklahoma City Thunder. At the start of last season, finances forced
their hand into trading James Harden to Houston. Harden quickly became an elite
player for the Rockets, and the Thunder felt the sting of his absence when
Russell Westbrook went down with an injury right before the playoffs last
spring. Instead of getting over the hump, the Thunder were set back a season.
The Indiana Pacers have done a great job of building through
the draft – all through mid-to-low first-rounders, no less. They still have yet
to make the Finals with this group, thanks to the Miami Heat, who were
store-bought.
It’s a recurring theme over the past decade-plus. The Lakers
have won five titles dating to 2000. Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher were the two
key players who arrived in L.A. as rookies. Everyone else arrived via a trade
or free agency. The Heat have won three titles with acquired players such as
Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. The Mavs won their 2011 title
with home-grown Dirk Nowitzki supported by an army of ringers including Shawn
Marion, Jason Kidd and Tyson Chandler.
The Celtics drafted Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo. The other
half of their 2008 championship core – Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen -- arrived
via trades.
In 2004, the Pistons started one of their own draft picks –
Tayshaun Prince. Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton and Chauncey
Billups were all traded for, or signed as free agents.
In the wake of all those teams? Teams that tried to scale
the draft mountain.
In the 21st Century, only the Spurs have won
championships with a completely home-grown backbone. And much like the Patriots
with Bill Belichick, the Spurs exist in their own mad-scientist laboratory,
concocting potions that only they can produce. If you, as a mere mortal, try to
replicate their ways and means, it’s a recipe for failure.
So, should Chris Grant have waited on the 2014 draft? After
three years of tanking? Needing to show the best of his draft picks, Kyrie
Irving, some sign that the team is committed to winning? Knowing that Irving is due an extension offer
this summer, and if he tables it or turns it down, it will make for a very
nervous 2014-15 season?
Any more, it’s not about drafting the best players. It’s
about acquiring the best players that other teams have drafted – that other
teams have done the dirty work of developing into quality veterans.
Go for Wiggins and his greenhorn brethren, and you’re stuck
waiting for him to develop into a veteran star – if it ever happens. By then,
Irving and Tristan Thompson will have been due extensions, Dion Waiters will
have been due an extension and you’ll have likely needed to make a call on
whether to invest more money and years in Anderson Varejao. You can’t keep the
whole house of cards standing that long.
Trade for an established veteran like Deng, and while you
might have shortened your possible window of contention, at least you’ve
started to define the window. Add another quality veteran before the February
trade deadline, and – if you re-sign Deng this summer – you can possibly jump right
into the May/June basketball conversation next year. Especially considering the
low overall quality of the Eastern Conference.
The draft has value, but perhaps not the value we think it
does. The current NBA system positions successful-drafting teams as banks to be
robbed. If I’m running an NBA team, I’d rather be wearing the mask than
guarding the safe.
