From Good to Awful

"Greatness is not a function of circumstance; it is clearly a matter of conscious choice."
Jim Collins, From Good to Great

Earlier in this decade, the Wolves were good. They wanted to be great, and had a great player in Garnett, but never, as a team achieved greatness. Now, with KG gone and the team plummeting, fans are wondering: where did the Wolves go wrong? What can be done?

Mind you, I'm not the biggest fan of all these trendy business philosophy books. Given the Wolves 1-6 start however, it may be time to look past the stats and the on-court issues to the core organizational philosophies that have created this losing brand in the first place. I realize Glen Taylor is a successful, wealthy businessman. He doesn't need some full figured, five figure, anonymous figure to tell him how to be a successful sports executive. That would be presumptuous. But why not at least compare some core tenets of one of the more popular--and adopted--business tomes of our time to the current abyss known as the Wolves basketball organization:

1. Whether someone is the right person has more to do with character and innate capabilities than specific knowledge, skills or experience.

For years, we've been hearing folks like Kevin McHale and Jim Petersen tell everyone how knowledgeable they are about basketball. Petersen particularly during Wolves broadcasts has droned on about his own insider status, the fact he's played the game, the fact that McHale is one of the greatest players of our time. Okay, point taken. I would humbly reply that the list of great players who have mediocre to poor sports executives is long and deep. Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Wes Unseld, Willis Reed, Elgin Baylor...I could go on. The principle here is that superior basketball knowledge alone is not enough to be a great sports executive, there are many other skills a person needs to be successful once they step off the hardwood.

2. Every good-to-great company had “Level 5” leadership during pivotal transition years, where Level 1 is a Highly Capable Individual, Level 2 is a Contributing Team Member, Level 3 is the Competent Manager, Level 4 is an Effective Leader, and Level 5 is the Executive who builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.

Is Kevin McHale a Level 5 executive?

3. Level 5 leaders display a compelling modesty, are self-effacing and understated. In contrast, two thirds of the comparison companies had leaders with gargantuan personal egos that contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company.

Uh, I think the answer to the above question would be....no. Humble would not be a trait to describe the Iron Ranger. He's pretty folksy about his arrogance, but it's still arrogance.

4. The Level 5 discovery is an empirical, not ideological, finding.

Here again, at some point, the facts speak for themselves. After some early success, and Forbes Magazine notwithstanding, Glen Taylor should face the reality that McHale's track record--especially in the last few years--is not improving, but decaying. His judgment, especially in personnel matters, has been poor, and has diminished the Wolves brand.

5. Good-to-great companies focus on what Not to do and what they should stop doing.

One could certainly argue that the Wolves have tried to change their "blueprint" in the last two years. They jettisoned the strategy of finding KG's side kick, then acquired and re-signed young talent thought to be the new core of this team, at reasonable prices. The problem is, most of that talent has proven to be pretty mediocre, a clear failure of personnel evaluation. The latest move, acquiring Kevin Love for OJ Mayo, gave the Wolves much needed salary cap relief, a veteran personnel overhaul, and someone who had potential to be both a decent addition and a fan favorite. Love has shown signs of being serviceable to good, and has been described as already the second best player by some in the Wolves community, the first of course being Big Al. On a 1-6 team, who cares? It's becoming clearer that they essentially play the same position: power forward. Mayo, on the other hand, is meeting all expectations, and has become a core piece of the Memphis team. This storyline has a long way to go before it's finished, but when you consider the other significant draft picks--McCants, Foye, Smith, Brewer--it's clear that a primary failure of this club is picking talent, especially when players like Josh Howard, Danny Granger, Brandon Roy, and now Mayo were left on the table.

6. Good-to-great management teams consist of people who debate vigorously in search of the best answers, yet who unify behind decisions, regardless of parochial interests.

Here's another example of where the Wolves organization could be changing, at least in terms of bring more people to the table. I would suggest however, that if McHale--or Glen Taylor--is the Level 5 unifier, that's where the problem might be. Parochial interests might be described as the "one of us", or "country club" syndrome. Are the Wolves vigorously in search of the best answers? Who debated the Foye for Roy decision, or even the Mayo for Love deal on draft day?

Last night's game against the Warriors is another indication of the futility of this franchise. Last year, despite the lack of defensive acumen, we were told by McHale and Petersen that what the team primarily needed was outside shooting. In the off-season, they acquired Mike Miller and declared they were going to be able to spread the floor with shooters like McCants, Foye and Miller to provide relief for Big Al in the front court. Yet in the fourth quarter, against a zone defense, the Wolves spread the floor with those players, but couldn't hit a shot OR find Al underneath. Rashad McCants was primarily culpable last night, missing two shots in the last 28 seconds of regulation, then losing Stephen Jackson on defense for a dagger three pointer in overtime. It should be clear to everyone by now that Shaddy isn't a clutch scorer, and a poor defender. Randy Foye, thought to be the point guard of the future, can't run the team in pressure situations. What's the use of having shooters if they can't score or distribute?

I suggested in another blog that the Wolves go with the flow and, since they can't play defense consistently, simply find a coach like Flip Saunders who could refine their offense and make them entertaining. I was half-joking of course; if you can't play defense in this league, you're not going to win consistently. They played better defense last night, but lack any sort of closing confidence to finish games. From talent evaluation to coaching selection and execution, the Wolves have not been able to develop any winning strategies. One could say it's bad luck, but again if you find the "good to great" philosophy credible, organizations make their own luck. Through all the roster changes, coaching replacements and blueprints for the future, there have been two constants: Glen Taylor and Kevin McHale. Once they were good, but now they're awful. It's time to recognize that real change--and a path to greatness--starts at the top.