By Justin Taylor
The last couple years have brought on some of the oddest
hiring’s in recent memory for any team in any sport. Not to say that any of them are bad but sometimes things
just catch you off guard. The
trend started this time last year when Joe Lacob tabbed Mark Jackson right off
the set of an ESPN telecast even though he had no experience coaching at any
level. Next he brought in Bob
Myers; a former agent with no experience running a high school team let alone an
NBA franchise; as the heir apparent to General Manager Larry Riley.
This offseason the hits just keep coming. This week had already given us the news
that Lacob’s 25 year-old son, Kirk, will take over the Assistant General
Manager position previously held by Myers. Today there was a much lower profile move with its own twist
that has become the norm with anyone hired by the Joe Lacob. Our new General Counsel for the team is
none other than David Kelly. If
you Google the name you’re surely going to get the picture of the old guy from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or the
old guy from a Pixar animated short story but that isn’t our David Kelly. Our new chief lawyer is more commonly
known as Capital D of Capital D and the Molemen fame. No? How about
Capital D of All Natural fame?
Still nothing? Take my word
for it this guy is an awesome hip hop artist but I couldn’t tell you the
slightest thing about his legal resume. (In case you were wondering Elements of Style and Ill Advisory are Capital D/All Natural songs but I thought they applied. You can give them a listen below.)
Let’s take a look at the hiring trend over the last couple of seasons.
This is not the team's new General Counsel in case you Googled David Kelly
Mark Jackson, Head
Coach:
Jackson was the floor general for Hall of Fame coaches Lou
Carnesecca, Pat Riley, Larry Brown, Larry Bird, Lenny Wilkens and Jerry
Sloan; I’m too lazy to see if all of them are currently in the Hall but the
ones who aren’t will be soon enough.
There were also a couple of no names on the list too in Jeff Van Gundy
and Rick Pitino. Finally he
learned what not to do from legendary screw up at every possible level of NBA
basketball Stu Jackson. The jury
is still deliberating as to whether that basketball tutelage as a player will
equal success as an NBA coach.
What he may lack in X’s and O’s he makes up for with some of the
sharpest, well polished post game interviews in the business.
Mike Malone,
Assistant Coach:
Malone was a great hire by all accounts and is seen as a
more qualified coach than Jackson but he’ll most likely be gone in a couple of weeks. For that reason and the
fact that I already covered him in detail I’ll just move on.
Jerry West, Executive
Board Member:
I don’t know anyone who can complain about the hiring of the
Logo to advise on personnel and management decisions. He is undeniably one of the best players and executives
ever. For me the only scar on his
resume is that he accumulated 95% of his resume working for the Lakers. Have I mentioned I hate the damn
Lakers?
Bob Myers, General Manager:
It’s been known from the minute Myers was brought in that he
was hired to replace Larry Riley.
For most Warrior fans that day couldn’t come fast enough and we were all
pleasantly surprised two days before the end of the season when the timeline
was accelerated. I don’t know
what’s better, Myers coming or Riley going. Either way it was a double dose of good news.
The first of many pluses on Myers resume is that he grew up
a Warrior fan. He didn’t quite
come out and say he was a fan per se but he did say his first experiences at
NBA games were Warrior games. I
think it’s the first time I could ever relate to an NBA player or executive on
that level since we truly have something in common. We may have even been at some of the same games as kids.
As an agent at the Wasserman Media Group (where he studied
under NBA super agent Arn Tellum) his main duties were player evaluations and
negotiations. I’ve always wondered
why more agents don’t get hired to run teams. These guys are professional talent evaluators and
relationship builders. If he can
be effective in those roles here Mark Jackson’s technical ability as a coach
become less of a liability because he is very good with people and their
egos. Vinny Del Negro went from
being a terrible coach to a halfway decent coach the day the Chris Paul showed
up; the reality is that he is still a terrible coach because players just don’t
like him.
How often do NBA teams hire former players and live to
regret it? I love Chris Mullin and
he did do some great things when he ran the Warriors. He stole Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington for
a bunch of guys we didn’t want but he was also the guy who inked Derek Fisher,
Adonal Foyle, Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy to roughly $170 million worth of
contracts. Now that he is in the
Jerry West Apprenticeship Program (as opposed to the Larry Riley Good Ole Boy
Academy) I don’t think we need to worry about a repeat performance from Bob
Myers.
Kirk Lacob, Assistant
General Manager:
The refurbished Warriors brain trust
All I really know about Kirk Lacob I learned from his
LinkedIn page. It shows that while
he’s been in charge of the Warriors D league team he has been operating under
the title Director of Basketball Operations. I’m not sure what that means when you’ve got Joe Lacob,
Jerry West, Larry Riley and Bob Myers involved in basketball operations but I’m
sure his voice was heard equally among that group.
He also has a degree from Stanford, was an intern with the
Celtics (not sure how he landed that gig...oh yeah, Papa Joe owned 10% of that team too) and started a youth basketball camp
in Woodside in 2003, which by my calculation made him about 16 at the
time. He was also a coach at Matt
Lottich Life Skills, LLC in 2005-06 because who wouldn’t want to learn life
lessons from an 18 year old kid.
At the end of the day do I really need to know anything more than who
his father is?
If it sounds like I am criticizing this hire it’s only
because I’m insanely jealous and I have no problem admitting as much. I can promise that if my dad owned an
NBA franchise I would have one hell of a title whether I deserved it or
not. More than anything it seems
to me that Joe Lacob is working to build and secure his legacy with each
addition to the payroll. With this
selection he insures, at the very least, that he has a mole in the organization
when West retires and he decides to step away to spend his time finding other
ways to spend his billions. All I
can do is wish Kirk luck crunching numbers and carrying Bob Myers jock strap
for the next ten years.
Capital D, General
Counsel:
Capital D/All Natural: Ill Advisory
Capital D/All Natural: Elements of Style
So we’re clear, I will never reference David Kelly as
anything but Capital D. You have
no idea what it’s like to wake up one day to read that one of your favorite hip
hop artists is now the chief lawyer for your favorite sports team. You know how I know that? Because I’m pretty sure he’s the first
rapper turned big time lawyer. I
always knew that he was highly educated (Morehouse College and the
University of Illinois Law School) and the most intelligent guy on the
rap scene but what does that really mean?
I’m sure Kanye West and Common; a couple of other slightly more known
Chicago area hip hop stars; are super smart but I don’t see either one arguing
before the Supreme Court any time soon.
Based on what Matt
Steinmetz reported about the Capital D hiring he’s actually been putting
together sponsorship deals together for the Bulls and White Sox in recent
years. Apparently he was a doing that
work as a partner at the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. I wonder what it’s like to rock a club
at night and settle a sexual harassment suit in the morning. Cap D is probably going to find out
soon enough (since the Warriors seem to have no shortage of harassment suits
the last couple years) and it won’t be because he is accused of touching some
girl like most rock stars.
Calling Capital D a rock star is pretty off base but I
would stack his music and message up against any artist currently auto tuning
up the charts. His alias and
involvement with the team will have him regarded as an out of the box hire but
isn’t he more qualified to do his job then the coach, the GM or the assistant
GM? I hope to see him
collaborating with new sponsors during the day and with local hip hop legends;
like Heiroglyphics, Zion I or Blackalicious; at a local venue some night soon!
Cap D: All I Want off his newest solo album
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