Yes, there really was going to be more than just that first post . . . sadly.
NBA General Managers really work in a way that is beyond the understand of empirical research. Few things make sense with them at the helm. We live to believe in internally consistent worlds, where there are rules. Conservation of energy. Thermodynamics. Conservation of mass. Some of you have hear of these things. NBA GMs have not. How else do you explain that, for instance, you can turn Spencer Haywood, a former Rookie of the Year, four time All-Star, and NBA Champion into, well, Felton Spencer? This is a question science cannot answer, yet one NBA Team did it in five trades.
Naturally, that team was the Utah Jazz. Behold the place where logic cries out in fear, and where two different players were traded away, traded for, and traded away again -- sometimes as part of the same trade, all for the same NBA franchise. (If you thought the Blue Edwards Algebra was hard . . . well . . . you may as well want to skip this one)
Honestly . . .
Honest, I just don't know what to say about all of this. In a way, trading Adrian Dantley set off a chain reaction where the Jazz eventually had the parts they needed to get both Jeff Hornacek and Andrei Kirilenko. Or that just could be besides the point, as that would be trying to view this GM work through the lens of reason and logic. Really, I'm not being mean here. Within this we see Blue Edwards getting traded twice - and that's not even the craziest part.
Why?
Because Adrian Dantley and Phil Henderson are both traded THREE times from and to and from the Utah Jazz. Yes, keep in mind that all these trades are from just our franchise. (Not following a player who was traded a lot to a number of teams -- this is just a guy we have and an arrow pointing to the guy we traded him for)
.
Just click on this baby to open into a new tab or window or something
and cry. Remember, every arrow is a trade the Jazz made.
Well, the good news is that I now have a reason to be happy Eric Leckner was on our team. The bad news is that now I'm even more crazy than before.
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Conclusion
The laws of thermodynamics leads me to believe that none of this is possible. But then again, maybe it's the system that's the problem. Yes, the same system that forced the Utah Jazz into trading away three consecutive first round picks (and then a 2nd rounder after) to another team as "compensation" for signing one of their veterans to a free agent contract. Who was that free agent? Gail Goodrich. Which team got 4 draft picks because someone signed their free agent? The Los Angeles Lakers. Any of those DPs turn into good player? Yes, one of the was Magic Johnson.
I guess I should just quit while I'm ahead, the whole NBA system does not follow the rules of Math and Science, not just the General Managers . . . .