Public apologies, questionable hires, and restraining orders, if the Lakers have taught us anything over the past few months it is this: do not underestimate the importance of a quality owner.
In 2014, ESPN released a series where they ranked every NBA front office, owner, coach, and team using their ESPN Forecast, a 200-member panel consisting of experts in every aspect of the league. When asked how important an owner was to an NBA franchise, the general consensus was definitive.
"Asked to weigh the relative importance of ownership, front office and coach, panelists assigned only 26.5 percent to ownership (front office and coach came in at 40.3 and 33.2 percent, respectively).This finding fueled discussion among editors. Were panelists undervaluing the significance of a quality owner?"
Yes, yes they were.
This becomes an even more important topic considering all that has happened with the Lakers in the last month. From public apologies, questionable hires, and now restraining orders, the Lakers never really got over the loss of Dr. Jim Buss in 2013 and things have gone downhill more rapidly than anyone would have thought.
Think of an organization as a three-legged stool consisting of the ownership, front office, and coach; each leg has to do their part for the stool to function correctly. However, the ultimate responsibility falls to the owner because they are in charge of constructing the stool.
In December of 2016, First Take brought on former Colts Vice Chairman, and Buffalo Bills GM, Bill Polian to speak on the lack of African-American head coaches in the NFL. During that piece, Polian had some very interesting things to say about dealing with ownership.
"“You have agents out there that are pushing coaches and getting in league with people in the media, trying to push coaches that who may not even fit or even be qualified…you have all kind of speculation that takes place.”“It’s that kind of nonsense that floats around that owners and club presidents are susceptible to… In the end, it’s the owner and the people around them who make the decisions and oftentimes, the football people don’t have the loudest voice in the room.”"
It is certainly alarming to think that an owner can start to divert resources to chase after a certain player or coach based on what he or she has heard in the media while the “the football people” are left to pull in the reigns. You would think that would be just absurd but let me give you an example.
In Austin Murphy’s profile of the Dallas Cowboys CEO, director of player personnel, executive vice president, and son of Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, we were given insight on the war room during the 2014 NFL draft.
"“So there we were, staring at Johnny and Zack Martin,” Stephen says. Jerry went around the table trying to wrangle support for Manziel, but he came up empty…Jerry suggested his team trade out of the pick. “But no one was calling to trade,” explains Stephen. By this time the boss “was not happy,” says the son. Exasperated, Jerry finally asked, “So no one in this room wants to take Johnny Manziel?”“There wasn’t a peep,” says Stephen, who told his old man, “Dad, we need to take Zack.”“All right,” came the reply. “Turn it in.”“Son, I hope you’re happy,” Jerry said. “But let me tell you something: You don’t get to own the Cowboys, you don’t get to do special things in life, by making major decisions going right down the middle. And that“—taking an offensive lineman over Johnny Football—“was right down the middle.”"
As it turns out, the football people were right on this one, shocker. If Jerry Jones pulls the trigger on Manziel, the Cowboys lose a three-time Pro Bowler and are saddled with Johnny Manziel’s demons and erratic play.
The saving grace of Jerry Jones in that situation is that he relented to the “football people” who ended up making the right choice. What happens if that is not the case? Cue up a nightmare of a franchise, the Sacramento Kings.
In Ananth Pandian’s profile of Kings’ owner, Vivek Ranadive, sources close to the organization gave us this piece of insight.
"Kings partners are profoundly frustrated with his governance of the basketball side of the team, as has been reported, and amazed that he appears to have been emboldened, rather than humbled, by seeing so many of his decisions fail.“You would think that after making an ass of yourself, whether it’s 4-on-5 or one bad hire after another, that you’d become more collaborative and seek out help,” says a well-placed source. “Vivek has done just the opposite. Instead of putting together a brain trust, he’s his own brain trust — he and whoever the last person he talked to is.”"
Most owners out there do try to find the best of the best to make up their front office which is why they get little recognition for what they do. The best owners will often naturally fade to the background because they have a solid GM and coach at the helm.
The Chicago Blackhawks weren’t always the perennial contenders that they are today. The current owner, Rocky Wirtz, took over after his father’s death in 2007 with plenty of problems to fix. Wirtz’s father was rather frugal with the organization and refused to change with the times. When Rocky Wirtz took over, he poured money into the franchise, modernized the feel of the arena and brought in a new coach to get things moving in the right direction.
As a result, the Blackhawks were number one in attendance after a long drought in popularity and won it all the season after that. They haven’t shown any signs of slowing down anytime soon as they sit in the second spot in the Western Conference.
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Or take Houston Rockets owner, Leslie Alexander. Since Alexander took over the franchise in 1993, the Rockets have had the second-highest win percentage, behind the Spurs. In the recent era, he went out and hired a brilliant basketball mind in Daryl Morey who then brought in Mike D’Antoni, a match made in heaven. As a result, this team set a franchise record with 48 straight games with at least 100 points and are sitting as the third seed in the West.
It hasn’t always been easy, the Rockets have had their share of early outings in the postseason, but building a franchise requires patience from ownership.
If you do not have an owner that is willing to find the best materials, carefully cut, construct, sand, stain, maintain that stool, and be that third strong leg in the equation, the end product will creak, wobble, and the fans will feel the splinters.