Free agent forward Carmelo Anthony arrived in Houston on Tuesday morning and entered a Toyota Center adorned with his “Melo” logo and photos of him wearing a Houston Rockets No. 7 jersey.
The problem? The Rockets already have a No. 7 on their roster: point guard Jeremy Lin, who apparently knew nothing about the team’s plan to use his jersey number in its sales pitch.
Lin took to Twitter, posting a Bible verse about “turning the other cheek” in an apparent attempt to take the high road on the issue. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey was significantly less reserved in his comments.
“Bottom line, if Carmelo comes Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin have to be traded,” Morey told Houston’s FOX 26 Sports. “It’s not personal. My job is every day figure out how to win. Sometimes it creates challenging situations.” No word on how Morey intends to handle the “situation” if the Rockets fail to land Melo and Lin remains on the roster for next season.
While the Rockets were certainly under no obligation to inform Lin of their intentions, the whole thing felt a bit…ugly. After all, would it really have been that much trouble for someone to say to Lin, “Hey pal, nothing personal, but we’re gonna use your number to pitch Melo. Cool?”
However awkward the state of affairs in Houston, the questioning of the Rockets’ conduct during “Numbergate” doesn’t even register as a ripple when compared to the tsunami of bad press being heaped (rightfully so) upon the Milwaukee Bucks organization.
The Ugly side of the NBA Business
Bucks owners Marc Lasry and Wes Edens were the conductors of the public relations train wreck that was Milwaukee’s hiring of former Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd. The two rookie owners somehow managed to let word about their pursuit of Kidd leak to everyone in the western hemisphere, including now-former Bucks head coach Larry Drew, who had no idea that the team was searching to fill the position that he had yet to vacate.
Then there’s Bucks general manager Tom Hammond, who, it would appear, is also informed of ownership’s decisions on a “need-to-know” basis. Lasry and Edens apparently felt that he didn’t need to know that they were looking for a new head coach despite the fact that someone already held that position. And considering that the Nets jettisoned Kidd because he wanted more control over personnel moves (something that he’s unlikely to have a change of heart about since he just moved from a playoff team to the team with the worst record in basketball), good luck convincing Hammond that a knife in the back isn’t imminent for him as well.
Kidd is well aware of the controversy surrounding his pursuit of a position that technically wasn’t even available. “It’s business, and that’s what it comes down to,” he said during his introductory press conference. “When you’re a player, you’re gonna be criticized, and as a coach, you’re gonna be criticized even more because it’s about wins and losses. And so for me it’s being able to get better as a coach. I’m still a young coach and I’ve still got a lot to learn about coaching.”
Considering the methods he employed to land the Bucks job, it would appear as though Kidd has “a lot to learn” about more than just coaching.
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