Of Mice and Swingmen

Posted by Rob Mahoney on January 25, 2010 under Commentary |

Being a NBA player is not an easy job. Expectations are high, the hours are rigorous, and the travel schedule does a nice job of isolating players from whatever friends, family, or life constants they hold dear. They are, of course, compensated with annual salaries well into six, seven, or eight figures, but there’s certainly a give and take to the process, and the take doesn’t always go down easy.

There’s also an immense amount of visibility when it comes to performance. In-game action is made available to the adoring (or more often, scathing) public, and millions of people that are completely unqualified to evaluate the NBA game will make all kinds of judgments based on what they see or what they think they see. They all know best, and are more than willing to let said player know all about it.

Then, there are trades. 95% of players in the league have no say whatsoever in where they’re traded, with the clear exceptions being Kobe Bryant (he of the no-trade clause), those who would be forced to forfeit their early Bird rights, and any player with a franchise willing to do right by them. Trades do a multitude of things. They significantly alter careers; Courtney Lee, who went to the Finals last year with the Magic, is now playing for the historically awful Nets. They relocate families; Wives and children are forced to relocate on a whim, largely to cities they had no role in choosing. And often, they destroy confidence; A trade is, in many ways, the ultimate sign of rejection.

What’s odd is that often by the time a player is finally traded, the damage has already been done. Rumors flying through newspapers, blogs, and message boards have been on the player’s mind for months. Depending on the player, it could have just about any kind of impact imaginable in terms of performance, and what else would you expect? These guys pride themselves on being the best at what they do, and to have a team exec (either in actuality or in the wacky world of the Trade Machine) say that it’s not good enough can be disheartening to say the least.

Trade rumors aren’t something that, say, Dirk Nowitzki has had to deal with, but they’re all too familiar to Shawn Marion and now, Josh Howard. Marion’s name was constantly in the papers as trade bait towards the end of his tenure with the Suns, largely in part because his importance to the team wasn’t as obvious as Steve Nash’s or Amare Stoudemire’s. Nevermind the fact that the coaching staff, the front office, and Marion himself were all acutely aware of his importance. But external rumors nevertheless wore on Shawn’s psyche, which Jack McCallum describes wonderfully in his book Seven Seconds or Less. If you’re somehow not familiar, McCallum’s book chronicles his time following the 2005-2006 Phoenix Suns, during which he was essentially a pseudo staff member. Here’s his analysis of the trade rumor effect in reference to Marion(p. 208-209):

Trades are a touchy subject, and a franchise, obviously, desires to keep speculation out of the media; just as obviously, trades are always a juicy subject, even outlandish trades that will never be made. Relationships have been irreparably harmed when a player learns he is on the block. The Suns are by no means “shopping” Marion, the term referring to a team actively making calls to get rid of a player, and the subject of a Marion trade rarely comes up in conversation. But it does surface from time to time, and is more liable to now without Bryan Colangelo around.

Trade speculation is a no-win situation for the franchise. Tell the player he’s not being mentioned in trade rumors, and you could be exposed down the road as a liar. Tell the player he is being shopped, and, understandably, he gets pissed off and maybe stops giving his all. Earlier in the season Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich told Brent Barry that he was going to be traded, but the deal fell through and Barry remained. (Barry, one of the most down-to-earth guys in the league, played hard and well the rest of the year.) Marion was miffed that he had to come to D’Antoni to ask if there was any credibility to the trade rumors. D’Antoni told him no. But what if the Minnesota Timberwolves want to deal Kevin Garnett for Marion? The Suns would sure as hell take that call.

The current situation with Josh Howard could be entirely different. Maybe the Mavs are indeed “shopping” Howard to anyone with a solid piece to spare. But the rhetoric in Marc Stein’s report makes me think otherwise.

I’m not asking you to pity NBA players, nor am I asking you to pity Josh Howard. All I’m asking for is a little empathy.

Being the target of trade rumors isn’t easy, regardless of the potential return value. Some players lash out. Others don’t. Either way, it’s the team’s responsibility to respond in the appropriate way given the player’s personality type. This isn’t “babying” or “coddling,” but an employer knowing the best way to approach and treat an employee. It’s not a bad thing or a good thing, but just a thing. Not everyone can be a journeyman, a consummate professional, or a mercenary. There are far more complicated emotions at work here to assume otherwise.

Feel free to toss around trade ideas, just as you’re free to pick apart the minutiae of Howard’s game. Criticize him or his play whenever you feel necessary. But keep in mind that every player deals with trade rumors differently, and I’m not sure that any of them are “wrong.”

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