Ex-players bring competitive drive to front offices

After playing together in the Detroit Pistons backcourt for nine seasons, Joe Dumars knows a thing or two about Isiah Thomas. So much so that he urged Thomas to relish his new job as president of basketball operations and leave those coaching aspirations behind.

Not that it would be easy for the fiery Thomas, who obviously wanted another shot on the bench after getting fired by Larry Bird in Indiana just three seasons into his tenure. But as Dumars -- the president of basketball operations in Detroit -- reiterated, this job is just as competitive ... just from a different angle.

"I know he liked being in the action," Dumars said. "But as players, we always talked about vision -- about seeing the game and its players. Nothing is better than sitting in this office as the architect to piece a team together, and Isiah is already attacking it that way."

Now just a couple of weeks into his job replacing Scott Layden with the Knicks, Thomas became the 18th former player to be in charge of an NBA team's basketball operation this season. And yet, it wasn't that long ago when former players were in the vast minority in NBA front offices.

Now they're dominating.

Isiah Thomas is settling into his Knicks role, completing his first blockbuster deal this week.(AP)

John Nash raised eyebrows when he became general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers this summer after two years out of the league. He was bred as a general manager in Philadelphia when Pat Williams and Billy Cunningham were running the show and has his own style. But he also understands the trend.

"Those guys bring with them name recognition and a positive reaction from the community because of that," Nash said. "Jerry West set the standard for players as well as non-players. Kevin McHale has done a good job in Minnesota and what Geoff Petrie has done in Sacramento is as good as it gets. But on the other hand, I guess Michael Jordan played to mixed reviews in Washington, didn't he?"

The fact is, at one time or another, they all play to mixed reviews. Perhaps the difference is the players are used to it and exude the competitive spirit it requires to build a championship caliber team.

At least that's what drove Thomas back to the front office ... a position he held in Toronto with the expansion Raptors as a minority owner and vice president of basketball operations for three seasons.

"I make no bone about it, I love coaching," Thomas said. "I fell in love with coaching. But I'm also in love with basketball and there is a bigger responsibility and a bigger opportunity here for me. We all want the Knicks to do well. Right now, we have to do what the day calls for, and the day calls for me to be the president of basketball operations and to help Don (Chaney) succeed. My job is to coach the coach, so to speak.

"When you talk about winning a championship, there is no yearly limit on commitment. We are committed to winning a championship, and that is however long it takes. I think it's important that our players and coaches and we as managers have one single goal ... and that is to win an NBA championship. That is the only reason to play."

There is little doubt they're all in it to win it. Of course there are other reasons too, particularly compared to the days when Bob Ferry, Wayne Embry, Willis Reed and Al Attles went the front-office route after retirement. Lenny Wilkens, Rod Thorn, Dave DeBusschere and West were others in the earlier years, followed by Elgin Baylor in the 1980s. Seattle SuperSonics general manager Rick Sund, who began his career working as a scout for Embry in Milwaukee, has also been in the front office in Dallas and Detroit before coming to work for Sonics president and CEO Wally Walker, also a former player.

Sund says the new salaries that often start at about the $1 million he makes and go up to the $7 million that West is being paid by the Memphis Grizzlies have drawn a larger crowd of applicants.

"Some of it has to do with the money has just gotten a lot better," Sund said. "Years ago with Wayne and those guys, they were getting $25,000-$40,000 a year to be general manager. Now, since the money has gotten so much higher, the interest level has too.

"But if you look at the guys who are doing it, there were all students of the game and real smart players. They understand the nuances of the game and can spot the players that have those nuances, so it makes the transition into the front office without a lot of experience that much easier."

The new breed includes not only the former Pistons backcourt, but four former Boston Celtics of the 1980s ... McHale, Larry Bird (Indiana), Danny Ainge (Boston) and Jim Paxson (Cleveland). Paxson's brother, John, who played for the world champion Chicago Bulls, became general manager of the Bulls this season. Mitch Kupchak, a member of the 1978 champion Washington Bullets, assisted West for years with the Los Angeles Lakers before taking over a few years ago.

There are other reasons why some former players get back into it. Kiki Vandeweghe, a 13-year player, went into business for himself before getting back into the game as an assistant and director of player development for the Dallas Mavericks two years. Then Denver Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke lured him away in summer 2001 to clean up the mess Dan Issel created. A two-time All-Star in his four seasons as a player with the Nuggets, he still had an affection for the city and welcomed the challenge to run the entire organization, from the basketball operation to ticket sales and marketing.

"In my case what probably helped me more than anything else is having an economics degree and running two of my own businesses," Vandeweghe said. "When I came in here, there were serious salary cap issues with a lot of players who didn't want to be here. It's interesting when you're running your own business and you're responsible for everything how you learn to pay attention to details you wouldn't normally notice. That's imperative if you want to succeed.

"That skill set is more important than having played the game. Everybody wants to have the best talent, but you had better have a grasp of the economics of the game and how to maximize your position. I had to gut the team and start over. Then, you hope to get lucky."

Some of it was luck, most of it was that rare combination of basketbiz acumen. Vandeweghe's Nuggets are one of the better stories of the season. Reaping the benefits of trading injured Antonio McDyess to New York, they received starting power players Marcus Camby and Nene. They drew the third lottery pick last season and added Syracuse superstar Carmelo Anthony. Then they signed free agent guards Andre Miller and Earl Boykins, and they'll have better than $10 million in salary cap space this summer as well.

The challenge for these former athletes to turn things over is what it's all about. In some respects, it's like a rotisserie game for them. Former teammates Ainge and Jim Paxson talk all the time, and have already made two deals together this season.

"I just think it's fun," Ainge said. "When I got done playing, I got right into television and never thought about the front office or coaching. But then I got three coaching offers, coached (the Phoenix Suns) for three years and realized I couldn't do that anymore and went back to television.

"I turned these guys down twice in Boston before I was comfortable enough with the four main owners and what we could accomplish. It's complicated, but you can only be as effective as your owners allow you. It starts at the top. But I don't feel as if I'm competing against Paxson, Bird and Isiah. I'm competing against the salary cap, luxury tax and trying to make my team fit together better."

Then again, not all of it is fun and games; Ainge had to suspend forward Vin Baker for three games this week for violating his agreement for alcohol rehabilitation. Nonetheless, the one prevailing quality of the former players is unerring confidence. Within two weeks, Thomas has pulled off two trades for the Knicks -- one a small one with Houston that brought back point guard Moochie Norris, and the other, an eight-player blockbuster that brought Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway from Phoenix.

With the addition of those two players, along with Allan Houston and Keith Van Horn, the Knicks have four maximum players -- some $56 million on this guys alone. Obviously, ownership -- James Dolan representing Continental Cablevision -- told him to go do what he has to do and not be concerned about money.

"The only one with carte blanche is Mr. Dolan. Everyone is working for someone else, so I will be following directions," Thomas said. "You have to be conscious of the market you're in and the product you're supplying to the market. This is a market with an insatiable desire for winning. We just want to satisfy our customer base and give them the product that they want and deserve. We have players and coaches that want to win."

That's the key. They all want to win the game. Although Ainge's thought process goes more along the lines of what he has to do for his team and he doesn’t look at it as being competitive with the other guys. "I don't think anyone is trying to snooker anyone else," he said. "Everybody has different needs and that can work for both teams. Those are the best deals."

Dumars sees it totally differently, however. That desire to outfox other teams for talent drives them.

"One thing I do know is all these guys bring a competitive edge," Dumars said. "The players on your team have to know you're in the foxhole with them. It's imperative they know you will do what it takes to win. But one of the main things I was talking to Isiah about was you can't be averse to risk. I was glad to see him go get Marbury. You don't want to be reckless, but you have to be willing to take a risk to be successful."

There are plenty who believe the rewards you reap directly correlate to the risks you take. McHale went out and got Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell and Michael Olowokandi this summer to join Kevin Garnett in Minnesota. All three of those guys tote heavy baggage, and yet they have been exceptional the past month and are in a dogfight with San Antonio for first place in the Midwest Division.

Dumars has won back-to-back Central Division titles with the Pistons but had to succumb to ownership's desire to fire his hand-picked coach, Rick Carlisle.

And Paxson, by virtue of winning the lottery in Cleveland, added teenage phenom LeBron James and is still making deals to take the Cavs back to competing for the conference title as they did more than a decade ago.

Any way you look at the situation, it's about winning. And as long as some of these former players find success, others will follow, such as Sonics guard Ray Allen, the All-Star and Olympian, who already does his own contract with the help of an attorney to help him deal with the language. From Allen's vantage point, players tend to leave the game, only to wander back if they really love the challenge. Just last year, Chris Mullin joined the front office the Golden State Warriors, saying, "Basketball is what I do."

"We all compete in a lot of different ways with our egos," Allen said. "It doesn't just stop. When your body doesn't compete anymore, your mind still does. A lot of us will retire, forget this game and never come back to it. Others will want to just get away from the game -- travel the world or whatever -- just to do something else because you can afford to do it.

"But if basketball is bred in you and you've done your year or two of whatever it is you want to do, you'll start to feel that jones again ... that need to be in the arena again. You see bad basketball and you think you can help. That will always be part of our professional life."