Zeke Freaks

Zeke, Zeke, Zeke… At this point in the season you’re probably sitting in your office with your head resting in the palms of your hands about as exasperated as a human can possibly be. You’ve managed to do what the Blazers GM joked about last season, assemble a team of 4’s and 1’s. Well, at least you had done it for the latter half of last season. Now you’ve got Q, Frye and Jerome James. Sometimes, my friend, I think you’re a genius, and other times I think you’re a mad man.
You really had me convinced that you knew what you were doing when traded for Steph, Penny and Tim Thomas. I’m serious. Two of those max’s are going to expire at the end of this year leaving the team with just two max-contract players in Steph and Alan Houston.

Even those moves for Malik Rose and Mo Taylor seemed like they might make sense. Sure, it’s always a good idea to bring in tough guys who can play 4 and 5, and with those two, that’s what you did. You figured you’d get your man in the draft and you have. So I understand where you’re coming from with that. It’s a solid, albeit undersized frontcourt.
The NBA has even given you a clause to get a player off your books. You can make Jimmy D buy out Houston’s contract so that you can, after this season, only have 1 max contract player on your team. It’s like the basketball gods are blessing you. Imagine that, cap flexibility. They really couldn’t have made this any easier for you. All you had to do was not do anything stupid. Just wait, buy out Houston and trade some of those expiring contracts in February. It was such a simple plan.

But… Then you go and sign Jerome James. I understand you’re desperate. You don’t have a coach and you don’t have a big man, but come on! Jerome James?!? Was that really a good plan? Would Joe Dumars have done that? Would any GM in the league have done that for 30 million over 5 years? That’s like paying 30 million dollars for a poor mans Greg Ostertag. The fat O had some big playoff games too, but that doesn’t really merit a thirty million dollar contract, does it? What kind of message is this sending to kids? Its like you’re telling them, “all you have to do is be a fat guy who’s 7’2’’ and you can make millions of dollars playing 12 minutes a game in the NBA.” Are six fouls really worth that much? That’s like paying $12,000 a foul!! I’ll do it for half that.

Well Zeke, even that move can’t cripple you. You’ve still got those two expiring contracts, assuming you don’t buy one of those out instead of Houston. Just wait, be patient. It’s going to be worth it. Even if you don’t get Larry Brown you might get Stan Van Gundy. If you can’t get Antoine Walker now wait until he breaks the shimmy out and Danny Ainge gets sick of him again. Just wait Zeke. This roster isn’t far from being competitive if you make the right moves. Just wait. Zeke, seriously, just wait and don’t do anything stupid and make me think you know what you’re doing for a little while longer.