I often-times wonder if running an organization more democratically (with people that know anything) is a better way to approach decision-making. It is hard for me to believe that the Bogey or THT things shake out the same way because those only make much sense through the lens of one guy subjectively overvaluing the return.
Then again, maybe sending the Lakers a player that is precisely what they need and relieving them of THT's contract was a fruit basket more than a down-payment. IDK, the end result makes no ****ing sense to me.
I think everything will have the appearance of having been done "democratically." We have our own little thing here in Utah where we've been fairly insulated and had very little turnover. When there had been turnover, it was usually planned well in advance (sans Sloan). We've kept ourselves more aloof from the changing tides throughout the league and didn't feel a need or pressure to do things anyone else's way. This afforded guys like DL to be the "smartest guy in the room." When you're lower on the rungs of a franchise like the Jazz, you certainly may be doing some good resume building, but you're not the sexy starlet that everyone is talking about. You need to go along to get along. So DL did things his particular way, the most obvious example being the 2020 draft, where all we got was puff about how high the analytics favored his choices and it was only after a changing of the guard did people come out with the criticisms, almost in a gaslighting fashion.
Fast forward to now where you're under new ownership, everything in the franchise is changing, long-time guys behind the scenes are being jettisoned, and now you bring in one of those "big names" that's probably one of the top 3 names of executives in terms of "know-ability," to borrow a Bolerism. This is the guy who's been a part of championship teams, built championship teams, and has been in the league at every level. As humans, we always want to have some level of belief in a higher power -- someone who can see the end from the beginning. If something that a high-power individual does doesn't make any sense, it's because they're operating on a much higher intellectual plane than the rest of us and can see things that we couldn't even comprehend. If the emperor appears naked but insists he's clothed, the problem must be with us, because people arising to the level of emperor don't get there by exposing themselves. So, if it doesn't make a lot of sense to send Beverley for THT, well... you can trust that THE GUY WHO BUILDS CHAMPIONSHIP ROSTER!!!! knows what he's doing and sees something you can't. If you don't like getting Olynyk for Bojan... well, lol, then there just wasn't a market for Bojan and if we didn't make the trade then Thanos would have gotten the infinity stone or something. So the guys in the front office will try to look at the positive, maybe provide some reassuring statements that don't mean anything, like, "oh he's athletic," or "oh, he's young," or something stupid. It's like when my companion in the MTC showed me a picture of his girlfriend and asked me "don't you think she's so cute?" to which I responded, "oh, she looks like someone I know!"
I know there's some level of independent thought, but a big part of keeping the job and getting yourself to new heights is to periodically tickle his *******. When you're in the position of having to believe in your work, the decisions that appear out of your control can be temporarily rationalized. When your situation changes, you can pretend you don't have much ownership of someone else's sins.
