Bucks Diary

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Larry Harris: Dynamic or Inconstant?


Here's a topic for comment. This weekend I got into an argument with a friend who said he was fed up with Larry Harris and his constant overhauling of the Bucks lineup. He said the Bucks would never be successful until they developed some year-to-year continuity.

I disagreed. I said what I like most about Harris is the very fact that he is humble enough to admit a mistake and smart enough to try to immediately correct it. I said nothing frustrates me more than a general manager who locks himself into a failing player, coach, or scheme simply because he doesn't want to admit error.

I used the example of Ron Wolf. He made many errors. But he was a great general manager because of his ability to recognize those errors and adjust course. He might have lost some face in the process but he spared the organization needless suffering and ultimately kept them on a championship path.

What do you guys think? Is it better for a GM to stick with a plan and ride it out, or adjust course as he sees fit?

8 Comments:

At July 6, 2006 at 3:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

yes!! even though we made the playoffs last year harris said that is not good enough. we were pathetic first round ousters so harris is saying we need to find what combination works for a WINNING record and i believe that when he finds that combination he will quit tinkering with the lineup and we will win more and more games until we have a division title, then a championship. trust me ull see. look at the packers. they stopped trading and signing people long ago and look what it has left them with a 4-12 record. i dont know about u but thats got to be disappointing.

My Opinion: DYNAMINC

 
At July 6, 2006 at 8:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If we would have waited it out to see what would have happened we would have a lineup of Stephon Marbury at pg Michael Redd at sg Ray Allen at sf Dirk Nowitzki at pf and Dan Gadzuric at center. Now someone tell me that lineup is not gonna win u championships.

My Opinion: Inconstant

 
At July 7, 2006 at 12:36 PM, Blogger Cheesehead Craig said...

Anon - Marbury never would have stayed in Milwaukee. Hell, he thought Minneapolis was too small a place for him. Plus, we traded him for Ray Allen, so we could not have had them both. The "we could have had" Nowitzki myth is another fallacous part of your argument. Dallas was going to draft him anyway, but they wanted to give him lower draft pick $, and the Bucks obliged to help them.

I like that Harris is not afraid to admit to a mistake. All of his moves are more magnified given the limited size of the roster. The Ron Wolf analogy loses some of it's comparative value due to the roster size issue. It's far less damaging in the NFL to have 1 player bust out versus the NFL. So long as Harris does not do a stupid long-term deal to a guy who has 1 good season (Troy Hudson anyone?) then he can make these moves and look for a contending team combo.

 
At July 7, 2006 at 2:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i love what harris is doing with the Bucks. i think that charlie and bogut will complement each other nicely, but we still need to get rid of the sloth magloire. if we can get an athletic small forward who can play D to compete with bobby at the 3 we will be in good shape. if there was some concieveable way we could get josh smith from the hawks i would be delighted, because he is a crazy defender.

id say harris is dynamic, but he's got one more deal to get done.

 
At July 7, 2006 at 9:36 PM, Blogger Ty Will said...

Sorry it took me so long to respond. Had a pressing issue to settle.

Excellent commentary. Obviously, there's a persuasive argument to be made on both sides.

I will say this, though. I have a feeling this is Harris' last kick at the cat, so he better get it right.

Off Topic Comment to Anonymous One:

How much do you want to bet the Pack sticks with Aaron Rodgers way after its obvious he stinks?

 
At July 8, 2006 at 11:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like Harris and these moves. One unique and new thing that is occuring with Harris is that he is operating under a very different standard as it relates to player contracts than the previous regime.

It is clear to me that Herb Kohl has set forth the following rules:

1. We will not trade for players with more than say $15 to $20 million owed to them on future contracts, unless that player is a clear cut all-star. That means we aren't acquiring Steve Francis, Troy Muphy, or even Kenny Thomas types-- period.

2. We will not re-sign any of our own players or sign Free Agents from other teams to big contracts, unless said player is age 26 or younger. We don't want to sign 28, 29 or 30 year old guys to big money deals. We will take our chances with Redd and Simmons because they were both 25. We will probably extend Mo Williams, because he's young also. But we won't blow the whole MLE or more on older guys like Peja, Bonzi Wells, Lorenzen Wright, etc. Guys who might contribute, but the decline will be coming fast given their age.

3. We will attempt to get guys on their rookie contracts, since those people still have upside, but are very, very affordable.

You can see how Herb has learned his lessons the hard way the last ten years in order to come up with these rules. By working within those constraints, Harris has given the Bucks great salary flexibility and upside. I'm not sure there is a better GM out there who can make creative deals like TJ Ford and also find cheap guys like Charlie Bell. Harris probably should be making $5mm a year for what he saves Kohl....and I'm confident the product will be good next year.

 
At July 21, 2006 at 9:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

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