Well, that's not entirely true. Bob didn't get impatient and blow it up.
Oh yes he did. I disagree vehemently. He totally panicked after that 4th quarter meltdown against the Lakers. We were the better team and just went cold at the worst possible time (yeah, the refs helped the Lakers, but if we could have just made a couple wide open shots, we win the title that year).
Those were just two of the panicked moves Whitsitt made, but since you mentioned them, I'll address them first.
Brian Grant wanted a massive contract. The Miami Heat were willing to give it to him. We were not. Bob orchestrated a trade that sent Grant to Miami and Shawn Kemp to Portland from Cleveland. He hoped that Kemp could regain his form. He did not.
There was SO much wrong with that trade. First, Kemp had an even more massive contract (and an equally massive waistline) than what Grant wanted. So, it's not like this was a cost cutting move by Whitsitt. Besides, it didn't matter. There was no luxury tax back then and we held Grant's Bird rights. We could have given him whatever he wanted, and I'm sure Paul Allen wouldn't have batted an eye at paying Grant, if that had been what Whitsitt wanted.
Second, remember my point, that continuity and chemistry go a long way to building a championship team. That trade was the first domino to fall in the destruction of chemistry and continuity for that team. Grant was the heart and soul of that team. Remember the epic playoff battles he had with Karl Malone? He was our warrior. Instead of letting that team gel and rally together after that disappointing loss to the Lakers, he never gave then a chance for revenge. He refused to pay their emotional leader fair market value and gave the money instead to an overweight, disinterested, coke addicted Kemp who had no dog in that fight. Can you imagine how focused that team would have been on beating the Lakers, if he'd only kept them together?
Finally, banking on a massively overweight, massively overpaid Kemp to return to his former glory is NOT a good strategy for winning a title. Even if no one knew of Kemp's coke addiction, he'd had a drinking problem going back to his days in Seattle. Grant for Kemp was a HORRIBLE move. Whitsitt was more enthralled with big names than fit and chemistry.
Jermaine demanded a trade. He was tired of sitting on the bench behind Sheed/Sabas/Grant. Bob sent him to Indy for Dale Davis, who was fresh off an All-Star appearance.
Did Jermaine DEMAND a trade? I don't remember that. I do remember he wanted more playing time. So, give it to him. By all accounts, he was beasting it in practice. They brought in Davis so they could rest Sabonis during the regular season and keep him fresh for the playoffs. Why not give those minutes to Jermaine, instead? And seriously, the whole Davis was an all star is a nonsensical argument. The Eastern Conference was so incredibly weak at the center position back then, Jamaal Magloire even made an all star team. And, if Davis was so much better than Jermaine, why was Indiana so eager to trade him? They weren't rebuilding. They'd just made it to the finals with Davis as their starting center. Why were they so willing to give him up for an unproven youngster? Obviously, they new Davis had peaked and was on his way down while Jermaine was busting with untapped potential.
This move further undermined continuity and chemistry, but if it had been the only move Whitsitt made, it wouldn't have been a disaster, at least not short term.
I don't think he made trades for the sake of making trades. I think he tried to get the most out of a couple of bad situations and they didn't work out.
He panicked. He could have EASILY addressed those so called bad situations: pay Grant, play Jermaine. See, both problems solved and you keep the championship caliber roster you'd built and continue to build on continuity and chemistry.
But, those weren't the only two moves Whitsitt made. If he would have stopped there, we still had a chance at a deep playoff run. But he continued to meddle with the roster and quite frankly totally fucked things up after the all start break and submarined any chance that team had at post season success.
We had an incredibly deep roster that was stacked with depth at all positions. There was already tension between the starters and back ups at some positions (Damon and Greg Anthony at PG, Bonzi and Steve Smith at SG), and Whitsitt just kept making it worse and worse. We had very few role players on that team. In fact Stacy Augmon might have been our only true role player - and even he was used to being a starter in his Atlanta and Detroit years.
When Pippen went down with an injury in January, Augmon as inserted into the starting line up and played incredibly well. The team didn't miss a beat. In fact, it was while Pippen was out that the Blazers overtook the 76ers for the best record in the entire league. Again we, STILL had a championship caliber team with the best record in the league and were only a little over a month away from securing HCA throughout the playoffs. We hadn't lost 3 in a row all season.
Then Pippen came back, but rather than just move Augmon back to his bench role, Whitsitt persuaded Detlef Schrempf to come out of retirement again. So, as a "reward" for his excellent play when Pippen was out, Augmon went from starter to 3rd string and almost zero PT the rest of the way. Plus, Whitsitt gave Schrempf special treatment. He didn't have to practice with the team during home stands. He was excused to join his family in Seattle between games at home. Of course, Augmon was resentful, so were several other players who saw Schrempf getting minutes without earning them. This further eroded team chemistry and continuity.
And, finally the straw that broke the camel's back: bringing back Rod Strickland. We already had a starting PG and a back up that were fighting for minutes. Damon was very fragile emotionally and paranoid about losing minutes to Anthony. It's not like Strickland played poorly, or did anything wrong, but his unnecessary presence completely destroyed team chemistry. Suddenly it was a dog fight for minutes with every man for himself.
The team immediately lost 5 in a row and 6 of 7. They went 8-14 after the Strickland signing and fell from #1 seed to #7 and were swept in the first round by the Lakers. Whitsitt's meddling completely destroyed that team. He'd assembled a championship roster, but panicked and destroyed it before they ever had a chance to win that champion. He acquired players willy nilly, players we didn't need, players that didn't fit, roles were muddled and it eroded the confidence of other players and destroyed team chemistry.
That team would have been so much better if he'd have just kept the roster in tact - something he could have EASILY done. But, he was Trader Bob and trading was his game. He said it best himself, he was no chemistry major, and in the end, that's his legacy.
BNM
