Somebody get the tissues out. The NBA’s royalty is upset. Blood was boiling yesterday as Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson and Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers bellyached to the media over the recently completed trade which allowed the Cleveland Cavaliers to obtain forward Antawn Jamison.
Competitiveness can bring out the worst in people.
Antawn Jamison Trade Draws Ire
The Cleveland Cavaliers parted ways with center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the rights to Emir Preldzic and 2010 first-round draft pick to Washington for Antawn Jamison. To work within salary cap requirements, the Los Angeles Clippers packaged in guard Sebastian Telfair to Cleveland in return for Washington F Drew Gooden.
So what’s their beef?
The focus of their complaint centers on the construct of the deal. While Washington accepted Ilgauskas, he is expected to be waived from the Wizards rosters. Ilgauskas will then get a mini vacation and re-sign with the Cavaliers for the final stretch run and playoffs.
Speaking with ESPN, Jackson shared, “They’re going to get Ilgauskas back and it’s going to be one of those scenarios that we see in the NBA where you ship a player out, you get another player, then your player retires or they pay him off and then he comes back in 30 days. I don’t know what that does for the league. I think that’s kind of a weird situation.”
While the criticism is justified given the loopholes within the NBA’s operating policies, it kind of falls on deaf ears when the complaint comes from Jackson and the Lakers. Jackson must have forgot about that one-sided trade that delivered him the missing link All-Star named Pau Gasol back in 2008.
To refresh Jackson’s memory, here’s a recount of what the Lakers gave up for Pau Gasol:
- Kwame Brown (a phenomenal NBA bust that played 15 games with Memphis)
- Javaris Crittenton (yes, the same guy that drew pistol with Gilbert Arenas)
- Aaron McKie (who the Lakers signed earlier in that day and never played a game with the Lakers)
- The draft rights to Marc Gasol
- First round picks in 2008 and 2010.
Needless to say, it was the most one-sided trade in recent NBA history that catapulted the Lakers back to prominence. Making things more suspicious, the NBA increased revenue sharing by 63% shortly after the deal, helping line the pockets of the smaller market teams. One of the leaders of that push…Memphis Grizzlies’ owner Michael Heisley.
Now let’s look at Boston’s gripes. Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers shared with ESPN, “I have a problem with that. I loved it three years ago when we did it with Gary Payton if you remember, but now I think it sucks. I think it’s a terrible deal.”
How interesting that it was okay when it benefited Boston, but when the shoe is on the other foot they cry foul. Let’s take a moment and reflect on what Boston gave Atlanta in the deal for Antoine Walker:
- Gary Payton (who was subsequently released and re-signed with Boston as their starting point guard)
- Tom Gugliotta (who was averaging 1.3 PPG and retired at the end of the season)
- Michael Stewart (who hadn’t played a game all season for Boston)
- First round draft pick
By having the Hawks release Payton, the Celtics ended up giving away two players that couldn’t contribute in the NBA any longer for a perennial All-Star in Walker that immediately became a starter on the Celtics. As for Payton, he missed a handful of games and was soon back starting at the point with the Celtics.
It is hilarious to hear these teams complain that this trade is unfair when their past actions were significantly more egregious. The Cavaliers didn’t do anything but play by the rules set forward for them that were exploited previously to the benefit of Lakers and Celtics.
Some advice to Jackson and Rivers…stop being crybabies and get back to playing ball.
Tags: antawn jamison, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, doc rivers, Los Angeles Lakers, nba trade rumors, phil jackson
Thank you Tim Daly for calling out the hypocrisy of these two overrated coaches. Doc Rivers not so much, but Phil Jackson was part of THE MOST RIDICULOUS TRADE in NBA history! He has no reason to talk about weird things or trades when that Gasol/David Stern/Grizzlies GM trade wouldn’t have been allowed even in pro wrestling these days. Pro wrestling fans aren’t even that dumb!
Is this article a joke? Did you bother to carefully read the quotes you copied and pasted? Looks like another journalist trying to build a mountain out of a molehill.
Phil: “I don’t know what that does for the league. I think that’s kind of a weird situation.”
Doc: “I have a problem with that. I loved it three years ago when we did it with Gary Payton if you remember, but now I think it sucks. I think it’s a terrible deal.”
If anything, Doc’s quote is said in jest, sort of a “obviously I don’t like that my eastern rival got better” kind of thing. And Phil’s quote looks like a boilerplate response. Who doesn’t think that NBA rule is a bit sketchy? Definitely a far-cry from a full-fledged complaint as you allege.
How about you spend less time insinuating, and more time reporting? Irresponsible reporters these days, just looking for attention.
Joe, this was initially reported by ESPN, its news. The fact that Rivers and Jackson made negative comments about the trade is hypocrisy and made it become news. The Lakers signed Aaron McKie to make a deal happen. He wasn’t even in the NBA anymore. The Celtics pre-arranged Payton’s release to make a deal happen. These guyd have nothing to say because they set the precedent. They simply should have responded with the formal “no comment” response. The fact they answered the questions in the manner they did showed them to be hypocrites.
Daly, my point still stands. This is selective “news” reporting by ESPN as usual. I know the background to the LA and Boston trades, but I think ESPN was really stretching to create an article about hypocrisy. Honestly, let’s remember what a hypocrite actually is:
hypocrite: a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess,esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
You can’t call Doc a hypocrite if he was being sarcastic (and a reasonable person would probably find that selected quote sarcastic), because his sarcasm pretty much negates everything he says.
And calling Phil a hypocrite is a bit of stretch. In order to make the connection, ESPN had to generalize to “sketchy trades” as opposed to focusing on the specifics of his comments, simply a statement about the rule allowing players to return after 30 days. The real question is: have the Lakers in recent memory benefited from a trade and resign type of situation?
Now, if you had an article about Phil complaining about the refs after the Lakers benefited from calls in one game, then you could call him a “hypocrite.”
This is my main point, everything being taken out of context just to produce the daily sensationalist reporting.
It’s difficult to respond “no comment” when the media folks are constantly harping for an answer. Usually better to give em a trite response to get them off your back. Unfortunately, those responses often lead to fantasy articles like these.
Phil Jackson has never had a problem saying no comment to the media. He choose to make a negative comment about Cleveland’s actions. There is no debating that point. He could have congratulated them on a nice move, he choose to take the low road. The Lakers trade for Gasol was considered by many to be the most unbalanced, inappropriate trade in NBA history. They utilized the same loopholes as Cleveland when they signed a retired assistant coach that hadn’t played for them all season. That’s lower than trade and resign, that’s thumbing your nose at the rule book. To express negativity towards another club when you gone down a similar path makes you a hypocrite. I didn’t make the rules on hypocrisy, I just call them how I see them.
Lakers are going to win this final! Game 1 has been won and Gasol has surely proven himself. Go Lakers!
D.
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Lakers are going to win this final! Game 1 has been won and Gasol has surely proven himself. Gooo Lakers!
D.
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Gasol doesn’t need to prove himself any longer. He is the highest paid big man in the world right now and has game to prove it on all stages!
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Razib, in addition to your utter rudeness and lack of class in your response, you fail to read your own essay thoroughly. Your set-up paragraphs establish, based on your charts, that the vast majority of anthropologist and liberal arts graduates are left of center, politically. You proceed to spend the next several paragraphs skewering anthropologists and liberal arts graduates as petty, intolerant of divergent points of view, and particularly in your points #3 and 4 of being either dumb and narrow minded “your mind can’t be broadened if you barely use it” or intelligent and narrow minded “…keener upon signalling their ideological purity and intellectual superiority than actually understanding anything”. I don’t see anything in your essay that references conservatives or moderates in the same light. There’s no mind reading here it’s all on the page.
I thought that I was dealing with someone who was open minded and interested in a dialog, but I can see you are just another blogger in love with his own simplistic world view.