Del Full Monte Circle Gets the Square

June 10th, 2008 by Tuffy Posted in basketball, nba |

(What, you thought we’d go with a “My Cousin Vinnie” or an “African-American” joke?  We enjoy a higher degree of difficulty in our dick jokes.  Dick joke diving, if you will.)

Yeah.  So.  Let’s talk about this.

We were rather stridently against the Doug Collins near-selection because of what it represented: an utterly unoriginal mindset built to withstand failure but not to procure success.  This would rather be the opposite on a superficial level.  It shows bravery by John Paxson to take on an unknown quantity to lead his last charge up Eastern Conference Hill. 

Except, of course, it doesn’t.  If we had to guess at this early juncture, we’d take hubris and control for the block.  

One of our favorite rumors of the selection process (which received its 10-year plaque last week; congratulations and enjoy the new steak knives!) involved Reinsdorf forcing Collins down Paxson’s throat and Paxson refusing to accept direction from above, instead choosing to drag out the selection process until Collins or Reinsdorf caved.

We have no concrete reason to believe this was true other than it fits the story so far quite well.  Paxson has been deliberate to the point of gridlock in nearly every major decision affecting the franchise since his ascension to the general manager post.  We had previously associated this trait with the distinct scent of waffles that drifted from his office each morning.  Now we suspect he just really likes waffles and demands them each morning with exactly 8 oz. of syrup.  No more, no less.

Del Negro represents an unknown quantity completely beholden to Paxson.  If he succeeds, Paxson will be a genius (or, more accurately for him, revealed to be the genius he already knows himself to be).  If he doesn’t… what did you all expect from a no-name coach?  Besides, he won’t fail.

We sincerely wish Del Negro the best in his new position and will help out where we can.  (Where do the towels go, chief?)  However, we do not see this as bright new thinking in a bold new direction.  We see someone in power taking on a “character guy” lackey he can control completely in the face of an unruly mob in desperate need of strong guidance.  That’s not exactly a new tale.

In other words, we’ve gone from getting Scott Skiles twice in a row to the return of Tim Floyd.  Sam Smith’s blog posts for the next three seasons are already queued.

(One point that bothers us about our own admittedly facile analysis: Tim Floyd was much more the huckster than Del Negro seems to be.  We really do wish we could have seen that interview between Paxson and Del Negro.  Do you think they went fishing?)