Bullets Journal 1996-97 Headlines 1996-97 Columns 1996-97 Roster 1996-97 Statistics

Just What Went Wrong? What's Going To Happen Now?

Here's some of the things that I will be assessing in this situation (coming soon):

1. What went wrong?
2. Who's to blame?
3. What does the future hold?
4. Abe should sell the team (yes, I truly believe this)

This hurts the franchise in the worst way. There is no excuse for letting one of the long-term cornerstones of the team leave over money. And that's what this came down to.

Is Juwan Howard worth $14M? No, there are very few players in the league that are worth that much. But Howard was worth more to this team than just what he left on the court. He was a marketable symbol. He was high-profile. And if the market is valuing him at that level, well, gosh-darnit (I'd use something stronger here, but not for you readers), then you better pay it.

Personally, I thought $12.5M to $13M should do it. I don't believe he's worth it, but for all of the numbers I quote above, I believe he should have been payed it. Our beloved GM Wes Unseld was quoted as saying after this became a done deal: "I don't know whether you'd call it a blow. It's disappointing. Again, that's the way the market is set up. We'll go about doing business." Get a clue, Wes.

The Bullets were plain outfoxed. Pat Riley met with Falk and Howard before Wes even met on Thursday. That's fine. But Wes reportedly only met with them for an hour (just how much negotiating can be done in one hour? how serious do you look?). Then Riley was in there for an all-night negotiating session with Falk/Howard. This is where the Bullets blew it.

So, now the Bullets must regroup. Can they recover in the near-term, or is it going to take longer? I have my ideas. Please, let me know what you think. You deserve to be heard, and I may consider putting together a collection of your thoughts (edited, of course).

wtf 14 July 1996
Return to the top...

There are a variety of people to blame, and plenty to go around. Let me try to assess the various players in this matter. But it should be readily apparent that one person in particular is to blame: Abe Pollin.

Juwan Howard. Juwan does bear part of the responsibility in this debacle, because I'm trying to reconcile his past statements with the actuality. But it seems to be that he took a look at the offers and the quality of the organizations and decided that the Heat offer was the best one. And, to be honest, if I looked at it, I could come to that conclusion. Not over the money, but the facilities: the Heat have a new practice facility (versus Bowie State's gym), a new charter plane (versus a Bullets plane that has broken down in the past), and other good signs.

But his public personna doesn't measure up, IMO. He let it be known that he wouldn't need an equal offer from the Bullets to remain here. But it didn't seem to come down this way. He allowed himself to become the Bullets personified, then supposedly leaves over $9M over the course of a contract. It doesn't jive in my mind. The Bullets blew it plain and simple, but what is Juwan's reason? I'm going to wait for his response in that news conference, once he signs that deal.

I will boo Juwan when he returns to play the Bullets, mostly because he is now the enemy. I don't begrudge him getting the money where he can. But, ohhh, does this hurt. You're killing me, Juwan.

David Falk. He bears no blame in this matter. He fully represented his client in this matter, and that's all you can expect from him. By all accounts, he gave the Bullets a chance to match the Heat offer and the Bullets refused. End of story. Don't blame Falk, he did his job and maybe even more. (Yes, he's arrogant, but he's good at what he does and he knows it.) At least, until news to the contrary comes out.

The Fans. I don't think we can blame the fans too much, except maybe that we expected too much. But was that too much to ask? I don't believe so, and I feel betrayed. Betrayed by Juwan, in small part, but mostly by the Bullets organization. Ugh.

Chris Webber. And the rest of the team and coaches. What was their responsibility? Well, we know that Alonzo Mourning has been working on Juwan for a while to convince him to come to Miami. Was Chris putting this courting on Juwan? Or the rest of the team? Yes, I'm sure Juwan realized what was here and was being built, but it doesn't hurt to work him over just a little more.

Does Chris now want to remain with the Bullets? An interesting question. We've seen what Chris has done in the past. But he's now the main man here. He won't have to share the spotlight with Juwan. I think Chris will stay, unless the Bullets start losing badly (again). If the Bullets aren't on the upswing within two years, don't be surprised to see him asking to be traded. And a team will step up for him. But not for know--he needs to rebuild his whiner reputation and show that he does have it on the court.

John Nash. Some will try to blame him for getting us in this situation in the first place, but remember who a GM is always getting his marching orders from--the owner. It was that way in the first negotiation, just like it was this time around. Yeah, he was the GM in charge of things when they tried to low-ball Juwan's first contract, single-handedly restructuring the rookie salary market. (Do you see some possible parallels in this most recent situation?) So, in that way, he is to blame. And his comments over the years didn't endear him to Juwan, either. But he really doesn't deserve too much of the blame. Don't believe the hype--he may not have been the most honest negotiator in the past, but he was solid GM who got the job done.

Wes Unseld. It turns out that he was clearly outclassed in the negotiations. You spend only one hour negotiating the initial contract to get a cornerstone re-signed? Kinda makes you wonder what the Bullets were really expecting. The basic conclusion that I'm hearing is that Wes was over his head as a GM, having never negotiated a significant contract (other than his own) in his life. This was too much for him. Of course, how difficult is it to just up the offer to make sure that Mr. Bullet (as Juwan's essentially viewed) is payed what he's worth on the market? Just drop a few more million dollars on the table, and he's yours.

Susan O'Malley. There's a certain amount of arrogance in the way she currently runs things. She is the president of the Washington Bullets and is responsible for the day-to-day operations. She ran John Nash out of town, because she wanted people that she can trust in the organization. But what does the organization consist of? Essentially, two people (Wes and Susan) trying to do everything. As Michael Wilbon (columnist for the Washington Post) recently pointed out, the NY Knick and Miami Heat, two organizations that have shown recently they knew what they were doing in preparing for this off-season, have 6 or more people doing the work that the Bullets currently try to do with 2 people.

If Pollin is going to hold onto the team, there needs to be a complete restructuring of the organization. They need some serious BPR--business process reengineering. The organization is not efficient. Susan O'Malley is responsible for the day-to-day and how she delegates responsibility, but Abe Pollin also makes all of the final decisions--whether he approves them or trusts Susan O'Malley to make the decision.

Abe Pollin. Ultimately, he bears complete responsibility in this matter. It was his decision not to pay Juwan $95M to $100M, when given the opportunity to match. They said they would do everything they could to re-sign Juwan. They said money would not be an objection. But, in the end, money was an objection and the Bullets didn't do everything in their power to re-sign him.

Who made that ultimate decision? Abe. It has to be. If they say otherwise, they are lying. Abe is trying to run this team as a business, and that may have been the way it was done in the past but I'm not sure that pro franchises can be run that way now. Pro sports are entertainment, plain and simple, and you lock up the best people possible. If you have an inside track in signing someone (the Bullets weren't limited by the salary cap to sign Juwan), you use it as much as possible.

What this says is that the Bullets are more intertested in the bottom line than in putting a marketable team on the court. It's actually probably too early to assess this, because the Bullets may put together a good team next year. But this one is hard to swallow, and Abe made the final decision not to match. So, it's on his head that this decision rests. Does he have what it takes as a pro owner in the current market? I don't think so any more.

wtf 14 July 1996
Return to the top...

How can the Bullets recover from this debacle? They need another top flight player to complement Webber, and we know Cheaney is not it. I've briefly covered this in the past, but now this becomes a more urgent matter.

Payton is off the market, Allan Houston and Chris Childs are supposedly signing with the Knicks. Reggie Miller will probably return to Indiana, and wouldn't consider the Bullets. The Bullets are going to have a hard time convincing free agents to play here, now that Howard is gone. Would you want to come here if you were a free agent?

The Bullets need to be creative in filling in the gap. What would I do? Cheaney becomes the small forward, where I think he's better suited. Okay, it's a poor man substitute, but it's a start. Hopefully, he's more intense playing SF. But you can't trade him now, he'll be a very solid small forward for this team. But now, the backcourt is empty.

Rasheed Wallace becomes EXTREMELY important now. He must grow up, NOW! Wallace must get on the court and contribute. Not on the perimeter, not with his fadeaway turn-around jumpers. He must get tough under the basket. Back down opponents on offense, rebound with an intensity that we would love to see. Don't back down. You are critical to replacing what Juwan brought, and you're going to have to grow up a lot sooner than you thought. Because you're going to be playing major minutes next year, whether it's in an up-tempo game coming from behind or possibly protecting a lead (hey, I can still be optimistic). And Wallace must be traded for nothing, and also must be re-signed in two years when his current contract is up.

But what about that backcourt, and a backup small forward? Well, first off, Wes had better be talking to Latrell Sprewell's agent. He's the man that could come closest to filling the gap. He's got an all around game (except for his shooting percentages), he's an iron man, and he plays great defense. Get him here, he's friends with Chris Webber and might consider playing here. He'd be the #2 man here, I could see him coming here. Let's hope this comes off, because after Sprewell, the quality of shooting guards go down.

And there are no small forwards to speak of; Walt Williams is one of the best options, and that's not that great. So we're better off seeking a FA shooting guard and finding a backup SF somewhere. And if we get Sprewell, he can play some backup SF, if necessary. We'll see what happens.

What about PG? Well, Chris Childs is moving on, the Bullets aren't going to be able to trade for a PG (Cheaney and Wallace are critical to remaining with the team). I think the Bullets need to get Pack back, to get a solid defensive backcourt. I'm not sure Brent Price is the right guy, although he shoots well; plus, he's rumored to possibly go to Houston. This team will have to go up-tempo, with Cheaney at 3 and not as good depth in the front court. What other FA PGs are out there? Not many. Very interesting situation.

This is going to be a bad situation, no matter what. Wes shouldn't get the blame for the ultimate failure of the Howard situation, but it's now in his court about how creative he gets minimizing the damage. My scenario above is a start. We'll see; cross your fingers.

wtf 14 July 1996
Return to the top...

Dan Miller, studio host on WTEM-AM the local sports radio station, put it best at the beginning of his Sunday shift. Robert Johnson, the local DC entrepreneur who has an interest in buying the Bullets (and Capitals), should step up now and try to buy this team. Because I do not believe that Abe is ready to play in the market that the NBA is becoming.

This team, including the owner, claimed that they would spend what it takes to re-sign Juwan. But they did not. It looks like $90M was the top of the limit of what the Bullets were going to spend. But if you want to compete for a championship, you have to pay for the players. And there are teams that ARE willing to spend upwards of $100M for a single player, and if you don't want to spend that money to be competitive, then you should reconsider whether you belong in that market. This is also a key concept in business--you don't put up with mediocrity in a product, whether you're the seller or the buyer.

Tell me, what are the Bullets now? As they currently stand, they are not as competitive, they do not have the seeming upside that they had just three days ago. And it was a conscious decision on the part of the Bullets not to spend the money to maintain the quality of their product. In the last two off-seasons, my season tickets have gone from $35 to $38 to $50 per seat per game. Yet the quality of the team has taken a massive step back.

Can this team play in the free agent market. In the past few years, they have not--whether it was Horace Grant, Brian Shaw, or others. They all went elsewhere. Now, so does Juwan. Is there something that we're not clueing in on here? I am starting to see a pattern. The Bullets seem to be a second-rate organization, for whatever reasons. And that must change, because I'm a fan who doesn't want to put up with it.

Abe, PLEASE sell the team. You may have been an owner in the league for over 30 years, longer than any other team. But this was a critical moment in the franchise's history, and you failed it. Big time. Did you get a single question right? Sure doesn't seem like it. Now comes the make up exam. Stop living in the past on past glories. You have to live for the now and the future, so that the future will be as bright as that brief past was. And I don't think you're prepared for it.

wtf 14 July 1996

Member of the Internet Link Exchange