In his most recent post, Jedboy danced on the subject of Andrei Kirilenko.
Nice going, Jedboy. Your skirting around the subject has worked me into a lathery foam which I must now rid myself through html composition. Reader, prepare thyself as if you were in the splash zone at Sea World -- this foam is a spewing.
Andrei Kirlenko enjoys the traditional Euro-League Championship Trophy -- a decent supper and free passage through the Iron Curtain.
Kirilenko will be hard to trade -- not because of his, as Jedboy calls it, "whining." He's hard to trade because he's a maximum contract player on a team that doesn't need a maximum contract in return. The Jazz have two future max contract players in DeRon Williams and Carlos Boozer. The Jazz need parts to sustain and lift Williams and Boozer. Shawn Marion of Phoenix isn't going to do that because he's a key player in the Phoenix system.
Somebody like Ray Allen or Cory Maggette is what the Jazz need -- a proven money shooter at the small forward/shooting guard position. That is best attained through free agency, as a team doesn't have to worry about matching contracts and trade value. A team signs who it wants to sign.
Finally, let us not believe that Kirilenko is "whining" because he is a professional athlete. Don't hold athletes to a higher standard then you would yourself. For example, I'm not particularly fond of my current workplace, my co-workers, or my supervisor.
The difference is as a person in a common workplace I have the agency to move at-will. Professional athletes are literally property of their team. If you're an athlete, they own you. Whereas I can simply turn in a notice to quit and apply somewhere else, if Kirilenko wants a better NBA situation, he has to demand a trade.
4 comments:
I would argue that AK can quit any day and go back home to play. If I was him, I would quit on Oct 25th in memory of the communist father’s belief that AK is not property of a team, but of the state.
ASmith: Yowza! I love it when I can work you up into a ‘lathery foam’ because you tend to write with a noticeably increased creative punch. However, I must respond to your ‘html composition’ to further explain my ‘skirting’ of this subject. First of all, when it comes to sports I must confess that your brain is a virtual sponge of sport info—something like a wikipedia of sports trivia—for which I can’t compete with. Still, I feel like I need to explain myself a little here:
(1) I did ‘dance’ around on this subject because (a) I’m lazy to write, and (b) I knew if I left a lot to be discussed that I would elicit a better response from the avid readers and contributors et al to ‘JedBoy.’ Check.
(2) I still think that Andrei (I spelled that wrong before) would be difficult to trade because of his ‘wining.’ First of all, however, since I also spelled this word wrong before I could’ve meant that it would be difficult to trade him because of his ‘winning’—because he’s currently winning a lot of games in Europe. But you decided to choose that I meant ‘whining,’ which is fine and the correct assumption, but since you ‘lathered’ up with such fervor for your response I had to point that out. Furthermore, I still think that whining too much or asking to be traded can lower a player’s value as someone has pointed out:
The good news is that Andrei did increase his trade value at EuroBasket. The bad news is that his value has become much less relevant now that he has definitely asked for a trade, because every other NBA team now knows that we have to unload him, and will low-ball their offers accordingly. Couple that with his massive contract, and we'll be lucky to get 30 cents on the dollar for him.
Thus, if we did have to trade him we might not get an equivalent-in-value-and-skillz-type of player that could fit into the Jazz’s offense—someone like a Ray Allen or a Cory Maggette.
(3) I think we can hold NBA or any other professional athletes to higher standards since they are essentially millionaires that little kids look up to as sports heroes. It’s hard for me to feel sad for these guys when they’re spending benjamins like John Edwards at a beauty shop. Geez, Aaron you make it sound like these guys are indentured servants or something.
(4) Lastly, I think that Kirilenko, in his present situation, should demand a trade because it’s obvious he’s uphappy and he really doesn’t fit into the Jazz’s offense. He’s a former all-star who used to get the near impossible five-by-fives, and has now been relegated to a virtual roll player on a team where’s he’s the fourth or fifth option on the offense—I would be miserable as well.
P.S. Duane, have you ever even watched an NBA game?
I once participated in the Flag Ceremony at a Clippers game, but I think I spent most of the game itself admiring the back-up backboard in the hallway. They are made of glass, you know.
Jed, your comment has forced the continuation of my lathery-foam laced tirade.
I don't think athletes should be held up to a higher standard because they are millionaires. Money does not bestow virtue upon someone -- what think ye of Hollywood and its money?. The small time I have spent around professional or even collegiate athletes has given me a small glimpse into that world.
In truth, they are regular people who are blessed with professional atheltic ability. They want to play their sport like you want to be able to do your job, regardless of money. Kirilenko doesn't play basketball to make money. He plays ball because he's good at it and enjoys it.
Much like anyone that ever went into law or accounting to make money, athletes that make it to the professional level without actually enjoying the sport flame out of the league.
Kirilenko, as a regular guy, would like to play ball. Whether or not he makes millions or plays basketball shouldn't make him a role model or hold him to a higher standard.
And whining hasn't stopped players from being traded in the past. Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, Stephon Marbury, and a looooonnnngggg list of others have been traded after whining (and winning).
A point I failed to mention is that AK won't get traded because he plays for the Jazz. Have the Jazz ever made a big trade. Ever?? Seriously, ever?
No. As emotional as Larry Miller is in interviews, he is as conservative a team manager.
The ultimate 5x5'er was Hakeem. That guy owned the Jazz.
Post a Comment