05-24-2025, 09:01 PM
RBWS - while I agree wholeheartedly with your distaste for Nico and desire to see him fired before he does any more damage (and yesterday isn't really soon enough), I have to push back on your take (oft shared by others) that Nico sees himself as and intends to be a short-timer. as GM here. Many had that as their takeaway from his post-trade remarks, and it gets recited that way from time to time, but I don't think he really meant it in that vein.
And consider - why would a control freak who has finally gotten a chance to exert total control over 1 of only 30 NBA teams willingly walk away a few short years after getting the opportunity?
Instead, I think he was merely acknowledging, in an intended-to-be self-deprecating kind of way, that the job he's manning is one that is very demanding and offers no assurance of being around for decades; therefore, he's focused on doing whatever it takes to get things right now, and assuming nothing is a given for his future. It was his declaration that what he did in trading Luka was not done lightly, but instead with the full understanding that he'd better get it right, and if he didn't his neck is on the line.
That's not meant to absolve him of being a total dolt, of course, with such a colossally terrible ability to evaluate players and negotiate values for trades. But to the degree that it enters into anyone's thinking of the road ahead, imo it seems quite relevant and very important to understand that Nico does NOT have any intention of leaving this job as long as he can keep it. Our failure to pick up on what he was saying doesn't make it something that it was never intended to be.
And consider - why would a control freak who has finally gotten a chance to exert total control over 1 of only 30 NBA teams willingly walk away a few short years after getting the opportunity?
Instead, I think he was merely acknowledging, in an intended-to-be self-deprecating kind of way, that the job he's manning is one that is very demanding and offers no assurance of being around for decades; therefore, he's focused on doing whatever it takes to get things right now, and assuming nothing is a given for his future. It was his declaration that what he did in trading Luka was not done lightly, but instead with the full understanding that he'd better get it right, and if he didn't his neck is on the line.
That's not meant to absolve him of being a total dolt, of course, with such a colossally terrible ability to evaluate players and negotiate values for trades. But to the degree that it enters into anyone's thinking of the road ahead, imo it seems quite relevant and very important to understand that Nico does NOT have any intention of leaving this job as long as he can keep it. Our failure to pick up on what he was saying doesn't make it something that it was never intended to be.