khandor’s sports blog

This is what was written in this same space on May 25, 2011, concerning the future plight of the Los Angeles Lakers:

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Lakers going in WRONG direction, if Mike Brown is their next head coach

Mike Brown has already demonstrated that he is nothing like his one-time mentor, Gregg Popovich … or, Doc Rivers … or, Rick Adelman … or, Rick Carlisle … or, the as yet, untested Brian Shaw.

Mike Brown is most definitely nothing like the ZenMaster, Phil Jackson.

Mike Brown is someone who has been incapable of exercising the required “level of control” over a superstar player – like LeBron James [in Cleveland] or Kobe Bryant [in LA] – and lacks the type of “wholly integrated system of play” which is necessary to achieve major success in the NBA.

Mike Brown is a good defensive coach. Period.

Mike Brown is not someone who will improve the Lakers’ chances of the winning the NBA title next season, or anytime soon.

The Lakers’ major problems this year had nothing to do with their defensive systems of play … and everything to do with:

i. Their overall lack of talent, in comparison with previous editions of their team;

ii. The poor play of Derek Fisher and Steve Blake;

iii. Their lack of Team Cohesion;

and,

iv. Their overall lack of offensive discipline.

Mike Brown is not the right man to effectively address the Lakers’ specific needs.

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This is what the current standings look like in the NBA.

These are the lowlights of last night’s game between the Lakers and the Wizards:

The following is one example of what is being said elsewhere in the blogosphere today about the Lakers’ current plight with Mike Brown at the helm of their listing ship:

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With Kobe Bryant firing away, Pau Gasol addresses Lakers’ ‘selfishness’

We hold the Lakers up for a more strident brand of criticism because, frankly, they’re smarter than most teams. And they lost on Wednesday to perhaps the least-cerebral NBA team we’ve seen in decades of watching the game. Kobe Bryant watches more tape than any player in this league. Pau Gasol knows this game (literally and figuratively) inside and out. Mike Brown is absolutely obsessed with going over film and finding statistical quirks to take advantage of.

Actually, there are several reasons. And though we can point to Kobe firing away on Twitter all night, this comes down to coach Mike Brown actually attempting to stand up to his star player. Something he was clearly incapable of doing in Cleveland with LeBron James, and something he’s failing miserably at in Los Angeles.

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When trying to understand properly what exactly is going on with the Lakers, so far this season, it’s important to place both Mike Brown and the players on their roster in the proper perspective.

1. The Lakers still have more than enough talent on their roster to win the Pacific Division this season:

Anticipated Lakers’ demise, simple case of ‘wishful thinking’

2. Mike Brown is far from being properly described as a terrible basketball coach.

What Mike Brown is … is a terrific defensive coach who, at this point in his career, is wholly incapable of coaching a star player like Kobe Bryant the way he actually needs to be coached … i.e. with the highest degree of personal discipline and responsibility possible … on a daily basis – in conjunction with other far less-talented but, nevertheless, still elite level players like Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Metta World Peace, Troy Murphy, Josh McRoberts, Matt Barnes, Steve Blake, Derek Fisher, Luke Walton, Devin Ebanks, Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock – in order to win a NBA Championship.

The first-year of Jim Buss’ organizational leadership for the Lakers continues to unfold in a most fascinating way.

Pay close attention Lakers fans:

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The Lakers lose perspective

The mistake we made with the Lakers all season long was granting them allowances based on what they’ve done in the past. We ignored warning signs and excused slumps because we had seen them turn it around when it mattered before. We all saw how that turned out in the playoffs.

It’s time to apply that lesson to the franchise.

It’s clear now that we can no longer give the organization the benefit of the doubt going forward, even though they have been the most successful team in pro sports in the three decades-plus that Jerry Buss has owned the team. If the Lakers don’t want to assign any value to their past, why should anyone else?

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The gigantic flashing sign says,

“Unpaved road ahead. At present, littered with Hubris. Travel at your own peril.”

This is all you really need to know about the current situation with the LA Lakers:

1. What Jerry Buss didn’t say [Dec 21, 2009]

If Jim and Jerry Buss want my advice – and I’m pretty sure they don’t – they can save themselves a lot of grief and messy embarrassment if they’ll just sit back and chill, and let Phil and Jeanie take over. – Roland Lazenby

2. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Mike Brown, Phil Jackson, Chris Bosh, The Redeem Team, and the Handling of NBA Superstars

3. Phil Jackson’s Final Interview with the LA media [May 11, 2011]

- Especially what Jackson says about his “connection” to those in management positions with the team today, at @ the 19:00 mark of the video clip

4. Lakers issue statement on Mike Brown [May 25, 2011]

5. Lakers should’ve consulted Kobe on Brown hire [May 26, 2011] 

For Bryant, there was never time to consider Brown’s candidacy as Lakers coach because sources close to him say that he was never asked about the candidates to replace Phil Jackson. The Buss family promised they would proceed this way, without the consultation of the most important person in the franchise.

These are partnerships in the NBA, and Bryant, with five championships, should’ve been part of the process. Bryant didn’t deserve the chance to choose the next coach, nor did he have the inclination. In the end, such an arrangement makes for an impossible dynamic between an indebted coach and a star player.

Still, Bryant happens to be one of the sharpest basketball minds in the NBA, an ability to see the game in its most overt and subtle ways. So why wouldn’t you want Bryant’s input? Why wouldn’t you want to lay out to him the plan and vision of returning Bryant and these Lakers to championship basketball?

Mostly, Lakers vice president Jim Buss had a habit of exacerbating Jackson, and he’ll regret it should that be the basis of his relationship with Bryant now.

The San Antonio Spurs wouldn’t hire a coach without discussing names with Tim Duncan. Steve Nash gets immense input – probably too much – with the Phoenix Suns. Those two aren’t twentysomething’s at the apex, but they should still be afforded the chance to have names pushed past them. Bryant? The Lakers can still win titles with him. He’s no ceremonial franchise player. All they had to do was say, “Hey, what’s our feeling on Rick Adelman? Mike Brown? We’re balancing these strengths and weaknesses. What do you think?”

Jim Buss is running the Lakers now, and this is a frightening proposition for everyone.

If you happen to be a die-hard fan of the LA Lakers, and would like to see the team return to the NBA Finals, asap, then, the latest news from Hollywood, re: the search for a new head coach, is the worst possible:

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Sources: Brown, Lakers in serious talks

The Lakers are focused on talks with Brown, who was fired in 2010 after five seasons in Cleveland, where he went 272-138.

Los Angeles had considered longtime assistant Brian Shaw, but the focus is now on Brown, who is currently an NBA analyst for ESPN. There could be an agreement in place within the next 24-48 hours, sources say, but nothing has been finalized. Brown expects to reach a resolution one way or another with Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The two sides are working out issues that could be dealbreakers and cause the Lakers to go to another candidate, sources said, but there’s clearly momentum toward Brown becoming the next head coach.

The Lakers and Brown’s representation were discussing salary and length of contract on Tuesday, with the Lakers trying to hold the line on terms, sources said. Those talks will continue Wednesday, with the Lakers playing hard ball.

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Mike Brown?

Really?

This must be a joke, right?

Unless, of course, Dr. Jerry Buss has completely lost his mind?

Mike Brown has already demonstrated that he is nothing like his one-time mentor, Gregg Popovich … or, Doc Rivers … or, Rick Adelman … or, Rick Carlisle … or, the as yet, untested Brian Shaw.

Mike Brown is most definitely nothing like the ZenMaster, Phil Jackson. 

Mike Brown is someone who has been incapable of exercising the required “level of control” over a superstar player – like LeBron James [in Cleveland] or Kobe Bryant [in LA] – and lacks the type of “wholly integrated system of play” which is necessary to achieve major success in the NBA.

Mike Brown is a good defensive coach. Period.

Mike Brown is not someone who will improve the Lakers’ chances of the winning the NBA title next season, or anytime soon.  

The Lakers’ major problems this year had nothing to do with their defensive systems of play … and everything to do with:

i. Their overall lack of talent, in comparison with previous editions of their team;

ii. The poor play of Derek Fisher and Steve Blake;

iii. Their lack of Team Cohesion;

and,

iv. Their overall lack of offensive discipline.

Mike Brown is not the right man to effectively address the Lakers’ specific needs.

If the Lakers do eventually go in this direction, and hire Mike Brown, what it will mean is that something FUNDAMENTAL has now changed with the day-to-day operation of this team, and that Dr. Jerry Buss [owner] and Mitch Kupchak [GM] are no longer in control of this franchise.

When you get right down to brass tacks …

For any NBA team:

1. The players are an extension of the head coach.

2. The head coach is an extension of the General Manager.

3. The General Manager is an extension of the CEO/President.

4. The CEO/President is an extension of the Owner.

5. The Owner is … precisely where ‘The Buck [starts and] Stops‘.

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The owners: a free agency scorecard

… perhaps the most important person in a free agent supertar’s future is their next owner. Coaches have an average tenure of a few years. Teammates change year in and year out.

But if you’re LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or another top free agent, whoever owns your next team is going to make hundreds of decisions, year after year, with the potential to affect whether or not you win a title.

Hiring a coach, getting a new point guard, changing the defense … almost everything on an NBA team is malleable. But when under contract, even the most powerful superstars in the league have little-to-no influence over ownership. Which means as they shop for new teams, at the top of the list is finding the right owner.

Based on conversations with people familiar with the thinking of top free agents, including team personnel, agents, and insiders, here’s a list of owners who are best positioned to appeal to free agent superstars:

1. Dr. Jerry Buss
2. Mark Cuban
3. Mikhail Prokhorov
4. Micky Arison
5. Wyc Grousbeck
6. etc.

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Where do you suppose Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Limited [MLSE] is ranked, according to TrueHoop?

3 weeks ago …

You were told in this space that the proper way for the Los Angeles Lakers to solve their problems this season would be to use Kobe Bean Bryant in a specific role:

Solving the Lakers’ problems with the Spurs, Apr 6 2010

Last week …

You were told in this space that the outcome of a playoff series can sometimes be determined by the ability of a team to make the correct game-to-game … and, THEN, in-game … adjustments, based on what its opponent’s specific strengths and weaknesses are and the best possible use of its own personnel:

Making the correct game-to-game adjustments can be THE difference between Winning and Losing in the Playoffs, Apr 23 2010

So much of what can be found on-line today concerning supposedly sound “basketball analysis” is little more than gobbledygook put forth by statistical gurus without a proper understanding of, 

“How the NBA game actually works.”

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Oklahoma City Thunder 87
LOS ANGELES LAKERS 111
Complete Series Info

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The fact is …

1. Sample sizes are rendered virtually meaningless;

2. League-wide averages are rendered virtually meaningless; and,

3. Creating and minimizing individual mis-matches against the best teams in the league – and a particular opponent of high calibre – are absolutely crucial;

 … when it comes to determining accurately which teams, coaches and, therefore, players will advance in the playoffs, or not.

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During the pre-season …

You were told in this space that the 2009-2010 NBA championship would, in all likelihood, be won by 1 of the following 5 teams:

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Orlando Magic
Cleveland Cavaliers
Boston Celtics [i.e. depending upon the recovery of Kevin Garnett from injury]

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Los Angeles Lakers
San Antonio Spurs

Nothing which has happened since that time has fundamentally changed that perception. 

Right now …

The 4 best teams in the Eastern Conference are the Cleveland Cavaliers [4-1], Orlando Magic [4-0], Boston Celtics [4-1] and Atlanta Hawks [2-2].

The 4 best teams in the Western Conference are the Los Angeles Lakers [3-2], San Antonio Spurs [3-2], Utah Jazz [3-1] and Phoenix Suns [3-2].

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Barring any further major injuries …

This year’s NBA champions will, in all likelihood, be 1 of the following 3 teams:

Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson [and Mitch Kupchak and Dr. Jerry Buss]
Orlando Magic, Stan Van Gundy [and Otis Smith and Richard DeVos]
San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich [and RC Buford and Peter Holt]

… none of which happens to be the Cleveland Cavaliers with Mike Brown [and Danny Ferry and Daniel Gilbert].

Basketball is the ultimate TEAM Sport … with each player on the court having to be able to function adequately on Offense, on Defense, and in terms of Rebounding, in conjunction with the sound strategic and tactical decision-making skills of an elite level head coach, general manager and owner.

Those who think that basketball can be properly understood by examining the statistical norms, averages, outliers, etc., associated with representative “sample sizes”, “numerical formulas”, and all manner of “efficiency ratings,” are simply wasting their [and your] time.

Basketball is a game of:

I. Acumen;

and,

II. Inches;

… the most important of which are the “approximately 6″ located between the ears of a team’s owner, general manager, head coach and 8-9 regular rotation players.

Related:

Kobe Bryant, Closer to the ground

Every Move Must Have A Purpose

… it says here, is still this one:

Unfortunately …

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What’s ailing the Lakers and Celtics? Offense

You might think me full of mess, but the results don’t lie. There is no reason this team should be the 10th-best offensive team in the NBA (down from third in 2008-09), and the reason behind that downturn lies in the way this team has gone away from the triangle offense. It mostly has to do with what I started warning the Lakers and Kobe about back in Behind the Box Scores from early December: Kobe, you’re taking too much on.

It’s not about too many shots (though he takes too many shots). It’s about developing a five-man rhythm rather than looking to play fourth-quarter hero through the first three quarters. Hell, the main reason Kobe has had to play fourth-quarter hero so many times this year (and it bears repeating – nobody has played fourth-quarter hero this well since Jordan’s prime) is because of the pound-foolish ways they’ve played. Kobe dominates the ball too much. Simple as that. It’s the reason they’re not pulling away from teams in the second and third quarters.

The amount of shots he takes? That’s not the problem. He could get 30 shots a game while touching the ball for three seconds in every possession. It’s not about shots. It’s about ball movement and keeping the defense on its heels. And the Lakers haven’t kept anyone on their heels this year. All they’ve had is a Kobe-centric offense that teams know is coming, but are sometimes powerless to stop.

Some of the time.

The other times? It leaves them needlessly 10th in offense and with 21 losses already. With too many close wins and a post All-Star break swoon that has seen their play on both ends of the court rank among some of the more mediocre teams in this league.

This team had 70-win potential and has done just enough to win on most nights. But on 21 nights, that hasn’t been enough. Should the Lakers still be the favorites heading into the postseason? I think so. The team’s play, at its best, is still probably better than that of the Cavaliers or Magic at their best.

But that doesn’t mean the Lakers don’t need a major attitude adjustment.

And with the defense falling off the way it has (second in the NBA a few weeks ago, below average in the weeks since), they better get the offense together quickly. Very quickly.

And it starts with the smartest guy in the room. Kobe Bryant.

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as long as Phil Jackson continues to:

1. Believe that Derek Fisher’s veteran leadership justifies his inclusion in the Lakers’ Group-Of-5-Best-Players …

i.e. selected from amongst this specific set of 6 players:

Fisher/PG + Bryant/OG + Artest/SF + Odom/PF + Gasol/PF-C + Bynum/C 

… despite the fact that he can no longer defend [primarily] or rebound [secondarily] adequately at the Point Guard position, and has been reduced to being little more than an erratic spot-up shooter, at the Off Guard position, for the bulk of the season;

2. Use Kobe Bryant, as the Lakers’ de facto Point Guard … operating beside Derek Fisher, in their Group-Of-5-Best-Players … in a way which requires that he starts their half-court offense with the ball in his hands, far too many times, coming off the dribble up, and then holds it for copious amounts of time, per possession, while his teammates are establishing their positions:

A. In the Triangle Offense, or
B. Within the alignment for a specific quick-hitting set play, or
C. While he isolates at-length against his own individual defender;

all of which STAGNATES their otherwise exceptional offensive flow; 

3. Leave Sasha Vujacic in the proverbial dog-house, as their best perimeter shooting guard, who has seen his overall PT dramatically reduced since the 2007-2008 campaign …

when he:

i. Took 482 3PT shots;
ii. Made 219 3PT shots;
iii. At a rate of 43.7%;

and functioned effectively as one of most dynamic “catch & shoot/hustle play” artists, with good size and decent quickness, at the Off Guard position, in the entire NBA; 

and, 

4. Stifle the development of Jordan Farmer and Shannon Brown [i.e. the 2 best back-ups on the Lakers' roster, at the PG position], who are solid defenders and rebounders, in arrears of Kobe Bryant;

Los Angeles will remain vulnerable to a 1st, or 2nd, or 3rd, Round upset in the playoffs, and may no longer be an absolutely sure thing to win their 2nd consecutive NBA title.

On the other hand …

If the Lakers are able to get, both, Andrew Bynum/C and Luke Walton/SF back in their line-up prior to the end of the regular season schedule and, then, have The ZenMaster come to his senses … sooner rather than later … about items #1-4 [listed above], there is still a high probability that the Larry O’Brien Trophy will, once again, be spending this summer in the hands of Dr. Jerry Buss.

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With only 3 weeks left before the start of the NBA playoffs …

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1/Cleveland vs 8/Toronto
4/Boston vs 5/Milwaukee
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2/Orlando vs 7/Charlotte
3/Atlanta vs 6/Miami

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1/LA Lakers vs 8/Portland
4/Phoenix vs 5/Denver
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2/Utah vs 7/San Antonio
3/Dallas vs 6/Oklahoma City

it is shaping up to be a wild and wooly post-season, with a number of solid teams in the hunt for the championship, if the Lakers should happen to falter.

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Related:

BREAKING NEWS: Kobe [FINALLY] Agrees to a Contract Extension

If you have but 1 article to read today, make it this one.

Bill Plaschke’s take, on the background to why, exactly …

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Lakers Coach Phil Jackson is liked but not beloved

He may have mastered Zen, but he has not mastered Los Angeles.

There will be no statue of him outside Staples Center. There might not ever be a night honoring his achievements. There will be very little fanfare when he retires, just as there was very little outcry when he left the team several years ago.

He is not Tom Lasorda. He is not Pete Carroll. He is not Mike Scioscia. He is not the sort of folksy personality that this town expects of its high-profile coaches.

More than anything else, he is not Pat Riley.

When longtime Lakers fans think of coaches, they still will think of Riley, even though he coached one fewer season here. Riley looked like Los Angeles. He acted like Los Angeles.

“Pat Riley is the L.A. story,” admitted Jeanie Buss, Lakers executive vice president and Jackson’s longtime girlfriend. “This was the birthplace of him as a coach and a leader, we watched it all happen, it’s like a mother and a child, any success that Pat has, we feel we have part of.”

And Phil?

“Before Phil came here, all I knew about him was that he was a freaky dude who left his job in Chicago on a motorcycle,” said Buss. “I thought that was strange. A freaky dude.”

That is still the way much of Los Angeles looks at Jackson, and that is too bad, because that freaky dude may be the greatest sports leader in this town’s history. That we haven’t completely embraced him is as much about the city as it is about the man.

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At the end of the day, it really is all about being able to say with the utmost conviction …

Kudos … all around.

What can the good folks who run Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. [MLSE] possibly have to learn from an individual owner like Jerry Buss?

Buss has put up some numbers by Roland Lazenby [January 17, 2010]

This season marks the 30^th anniversary of the self-made Buss acquiring the Lakers and the Great Western Forum from Jack Kent Cooke in a deal so stunning that Sports Illustrated hired accountants to investigate how Buss arranged the financing. After scratching their heads for weeks, the accountants conceded defeat. They never did figure out his fancy tricks.

Buss immediately recognized that he better listen to then-Lakers GM Bill Sharman, who advised that Cooke’s organization draft an unorthodox guard named Magic Johnson.

Magic propelled the Lakers to the league championship in the first season of ownership by Buss, who promptly told the television audience that he had worked so long and hard to win the championship. It sounded ludicrous, but Buss was talking about his years amassing the wealth and know-how to acquire the team.

He always said he bought the club just because he couldn’t get the tickets he wanted. Buss immediately understood that he should listen to Sharman, a Hall of Famer as both a player and a coach.

To this day, the low-key Sharman’s influence within the Lakers remains a key factor, despite the fact that he’s well into his 80s. Each season he writes a report on the team and its personnel that is to be read only by Buss.

“Sharman has always had considerable influence,” team consultant Tex Winter confided last year.

That may help explain the numbers that Buss has put up in three decades of ownership. His Lakers teams have won nine titles and appeared in the league championship series another six occasions, In his 30 years of ownership his teams have played for the big cheese 15 times, numbers not even close to being matched in the modern NBA, or any other modern pro sport.

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Lesson #1.

Find a highly respected former player and coach, who is a member of the Basketball Hall Of Fame, and retain his services as a ”special consultant”, answerable to no one else but you.

Lesson #2.

Listen closely to what this special consultant actually has to say about the game, itself, and the people who happen to play, and coach, and GM, it.

Lesson #3.

Prioritize ‘championship success’ above all else.

Lesson #4.

Do exactly what your “special consultant” tells you to do.

Lesson #5.

Stay the heck out of the way …

by occupying yourself with whatever sort of distraction might be necessary to keep your fingerprints off the day-to-day operations of the team, even if this means embarassing yourself by spending ‘quality time’ with a bevy of bouncing beauties less-than 1/4 of your own chronological age …

except, of course, when the REALLY BIG decisions MUST get made, usually involving OBSCENE amounts of $$$, in which case you become a “tough as nails” ruthless barracuda who …

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Lakers’ Buss knows when to hold’em [March 2, 2008]

has done whatever it takes to bring this city [Los Angeles] a championship.

“What’s kept me going is my competitiveness,” he says. “I really, really do want to win.”

We forget this because, as he walks through the Staples Center tunnel with a colorful shirt and a laughing date and a pleasant handshake for everyone, he seems like just another L.A. dude.

We forget that he had the smarts to help engineer the NBA’s deal of the season by getting rid of Kwame Brown . . . because, well, you see that seemingly empty house across the narrow street from his house?

“Kwame Brown lives here,” Buss says, shrugging. “Seriously. We used to hang out. We’re friends.”

When is the last time an owner admitted that his team makes him cry?

Jerry Buss says that when the Lakers are playing well and Staples Center is rocking and the city is embracing his baby, he is moved beyond words.

“It’s a tearful experience sometimes,” he says.

His team can also make him so mad, he will storm out of his box in silence.

“I’ll say, ‘I’m sorry, I’m just so angry now, I can’t talk,’ ” he says.

Jerry Buss doesn’t own the Lakers, he lives them, from filling the front office with his family to filling some of his players with unabashed love. Maybe this is one of his secrets? The team isn’t run by him, it is him?

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Presto!

PS. The Los Angeles Lakers [32-9] pay their only visit to The Big Smoke this season on Sunday, January 24 [i.e. later on this week]. Raptors fans should mark the date down on their calendars as, unfortunately, Showtime, doesn’t happen in these parts with the degree of frequency that befits a world-class city like Toronto. 

Winning is still the currency that drives Mavericks’ Cuban
Mavericks president Terdema Ussery flipped to his newspaper sports section last Tuesday and chuckled.

There in the cover photo was his boss, Mark Cuban, rejoicing after Jason Terry’s game-winning shot against Minnesota. Arms raised, jumping, screaming, the frozen moment is vintage Cuban – suspended in time, if not exactly midair.

“I told my wife, ‘That picture couldhave been taken 10 years ago,’ ” Ussery said. “No difference at all. There’s your owner, with his 6-inch vertical leap.”

Cuban’s youthful appearance, drive and exuberance have changed little since, at age 41, he signed a letter of intent to purchase the Mavericks on Jan. 3, 2000.

In reality, he is now 50, a married father of two girls, has an artificial left hip and according to Forbes, is at least $137 million lighter in the wallet where the Mavericks are concerned.

“I’m not going to comment on our P&L [profit and loss] specifics,” Cuban said. “But I have always said I’m in this to win, not make money.”

For most pro sports owners, such a bottom line would be cause for alarm. In Cuban’s case, the subject evokes a sweat-dripping shrug from atop the StairMaster outside the Mavericks’ locker room, where he churns before most home games.

Tonight, his Mavericks host San Antonio in Game 3 of a best-of-seven, first-round NBA playoff series that is tied, 1-1. For some teams, extended playoff runs make the difference between loss and profit, or between profit and prosperity.

Not so the Mavericks. Even though this is their ninth straight playoff appearance, Cuban recalls finishing in the black only twice during his tenure, although according to Forbes’ figures it happened only once.

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Until your favourite NBA team has an owner with a similar raison d’etre as Mark Cuban, and the other individuals whose team’s names are on this list, you can simply forget about ever winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Leadership in a pro sports organization starts at the very top, with an unwavering Commitment to WINNING the League Championship, not to being in ‘the black’ each and every year.

[PS. Which teams in the NBA today do NOT have a sole owner who is in a similar well-healed state like Mark Cuban? or, Wyc Grousbeck? or, Dr. Jerry Buss? or, Peter Holt? or, Mickey Arison? or, Jerry Reinsdorf?, or Paul Allen? or, etc.]