Burns: Iffy on the agent to front office move
Jul 20, 2010, 3:50 PM | Updated: Jan 14, 2011, 4:23 pm
The logic seems pretty sound as I get popcorn butter all over my shirt. Follow me here:
The movie “Transformers” was awful. The sequel “Transformers 2” was equally as sucky. So I feel good…..rather, I feel ultra-confident in predicting that “Transformers 3” will be just as loud, just as obnoxious and just as unwatchable as it’s two predecessors. And Megan Fox isn’t going to be in “Transformers 3” making it exponentially more unwatchable.
So when you tell me a former agent is going to be the head honcho for the Phoenix Suns, my immediate reaction is that I’ve seen this movie before (not once but twice). Exit the theater immediately and demand a refund.
Today the Suns will reportedly introduce Lon Babby as their new President of Basketball Operations. We’ve been told that Babby will oversee the hiring of a GM. At this point anyone with even a shred of recent local sports history knows that history is not on Robert Sarver’s side.
Remember Jeff Moorad? Eric Byrnes sure does, every time he hits a beer league softball homer. I don’t know much about hockey but I know enough to know that Mike Barnett was a disaster as a GM. If I run a restaurant and I need a cook, I hire a cook. Why would Babby be any different?
Look at the pedigree. He’s represented some of the best basketball players in the league. Tim Duncan, Ray Allen, Grant Hill, etc, etc. He graduated from Yale law school. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Very well connected, very highly thought of. Everything about Lon Babby says he has the chops to get this done. And given that the two big pieces the Suns have added this offseason are (or, I guess, were) Babby clients, you would think he’s been helping out all along.
And besides, when Steve Kerr was hired to be the GM, what practical experience did he have in the role of front-office-decision-maker? Of course the answer is none, but recall it took him a while to get the hang of it. But that’s the rub; Kerr had gotten the hang of it. For a team that went to the Western Conference Finals and was painfully close to forcing a Game 7 against the Lakers, this is too much revolution to deal with. Out: Amar’e, LB and Kerr. In: Hedu, Childress and Babby. Simply put: I fail to understand why Steve Kerr isn’t the GM of this basketball team.
Until I see the agent-to-front-office transition work, I will doubt that it can. I will walk (be dragged) into “Transformers 3” assuming it’s going to be just as bad as the first two.
