i was sad when he left, i always liked the fact he brought in all those great players those teams had like 12 starters
That, IMHO, not the Jailblazers image, was Whitsitt's downfall. He just never knew when to stop. He had assembled a championships caliber team, and then, thanks to one fourth quarter meltdown, destroyed it. That team was extremely talented, with great depth and a good mix of hungry young players and veterans. He should have let it bake.
Even after he traded Jermaine O'Neal for Dale Davis and Brian Grant for the fat, coke addicted Shawn Kemp, the Blazers had the best record in the league on March 5, 2001. The signing of Rod Strickland was the straw that broke the camel's back. There were already PT issues and disgruntled players. Scottie Pippen had been out with an injury, with Stacy Augmon starting at SF. The team played well, Augmon played well and the team kept winning. While Pippen was out, Whitsitt convinced Detlef Schrempf to come back out of retirement (again) and granted him special privileges (did not need to practice with the team, could spend off days in Seattle with his family and only fly down to Portland for the games). That caused resentment by the other players, and when Pippen came back from his injury, the team was suddenly 3 players, who all expected significant minutes, deep at SF. Augmon was pissed that, after playing well, he went from starter to third on the depth chart.
Going back to the previous post season, there were already PT issues at the PG spot, with Damon complaining that Greg Anthony was getting all the 4th quarter minutes. Damon was smoking a lot of pot at the time, and was extremely paranoid and insecure. Signing Rod Strickland made a bad situation worse. Now, the Blazers were also 3 players, all who expected significant minutes, deep at PG as well.
The team, that hadn't lost more than 2 games in a row all season, immediately lost 5 in a row and 14 of their last 22 games. In less than a month and a half, they fell from the best record in the league to 8th seed in the West and were swept by the Lakers in the 1st round. The team hasn't won a playoff series since.
In a desperate attempt to "win now", Whitsitt assembled TOO much veteran "talent", much of that talent was past its prime, but still expected starter’s minutes. When you have two guys who expect to start at every position, and three guys who are used to starting at two positions, it creates huge PT issues and players start to focus more on what's best for them and not what's best for the team. In assembling all this veteran talent, Whitsitt also mortgaged the team's future, in both talent and salary cap implications. We ended up with a roster full of severely overpaid, past their prime, malcontents.
If he would have just stopped, and stuck with that team that was so close to winning a title the year before, I'm convinced the Blazers would have won at least one championship in the 2001 - 2004 time frame. That team had the right mix of youth an experience, stars and role players . Unfortunately, he just couldn't stop meddling. It was like he was addicted to the rush of making a trade, or signing a veteran free agent. He seemed completely oblivious to the impact these moves made on the other players, and also oblivious to the fact that the players he was acquiring were well past their primes.
So during his time in Portland, Whitsitt proved, that given enough leeway and an open checkbook, he could assemble a team capable of winning a championship. Unfortunately, he also proved he could destroy that team before it had a chance to reach its full potential. That, to me, and not the Jailblazers image, is Whitsitt's legacy in Portland. Although, I do understand those who were more offended by the embarrassment the Jailblazers caused our fair city and our beloved franchise.
I’d much rather have Geoff Petrie back than Bob Whitsitt. Petrie has also proven he’s capable of assembling a championship caliber team. And, he did it in Sacramento with tightwad owners and less to start with. And, he did it without assembling a team that was an embarrassment off the court. And he has recent/current experience. Whitsitt has been out of the league for eight years. In that time, the rules have changed, as has is owner’s willingness to freely spend money on players of questionable character.
BNM
