This post was written weeks ago, but due to the holidays and the death of Carl Pohlad, this kept getting pushed back. I hope the link still works and the information is still accurate.
There have been six coaching firings in the NBA so far this year, which seems an exorbitant amount. Head coach Kevin McHale blames bloggers:
“I think you’re going to see more and more shorter term stuff in our league,” he said. “Just because the access now, there’s so much media availability and everything else. There’s just so many bloggers; everybody’s got an opinion. There’s all kinds of stuff going on. Sometimes that starts forming the opinion of people in front offices, too, and owner. It’s been kind of a crazy year so far.”
As a blogger, and even one who does a weekly Timberwolves update on a sports-related blog, I guess I should apologize to all these head coaches.
Except McHale’s ranting right there really reminds me of the drunk homeless guy. Rambling all over, and blaming problems on random things. I’d be willing to bet (if I had been invited to Vegas for the Winter Meetings) there are more baseball bloggers than bloggers for any other sport. I don’t recall that many managers being fired. The most maligned Minnesota Twins player in 2007, without argument, was Nick Punto (and for good reason: he hit very poorly and injury wasn’t announced until too late for redemption), and the hatred carried through to 2008 (even though he played quite well). This didn’t stop him from getting an $8 million contract in the off-season, and multiple teams courting him (reportedly).
In short, I think that the problem isn’t the blogs in the NBA. If blogs truly are to blame, rather than, y’know, losing, then the problem is with peer pressure. If the general managers can be so influenced by blogs to not pay attention to what needs to be done, then they’re not really looking for what’s best for the team. On a certain level, the general managers (and owners) need to listen to the fans because fans are what the game is all about. On another level, fans shouldn’t make all the decisions. (For further argument on that, see the selections for the all-star games .) A general manager should be paying enough attention to know where the problems lie. If it’s with the head coach, then he needs a new head coach. (Incidentally, it doesn’t mean the head coach is bad. He may be very well, but he just might not be the best fit for his particular team.)
General managers should read blogs. They should pay attention to what the fans are saying. But they should only take that advice for what it’s worth: it’s free advice, and that’s cheap. They need to have the ability to analyze the information from all sources, including watching the games themselves.
Dear me, if the Twins were to suddenly start listening to my wild ranting about what should be done with the team, there would be something very wrong.
Timberwolves update: 11-26 (1-1 since last time, 7-11 since McHale). Their win percentage is nearly 30%, so it seems I can avoid a professional basketball game this year. There are five teams worse than the T-Wolves out there.
Marian Gaborik Injury Status: I don’t know who he is, so I’ll mention that Ron Gardenhire seems to believe that Scott Baker will be opening day starter. I sincerely hope so.
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