Undelightful Dysfunction

     When a team is so bad for so long, what usually hits the press? How bad the team is playing? Yes. Could the team be developing players better? Yes.  The most important concept is the function(or the lack of) of the team. There are so many losing teams(even some winning teams, 1977-78 Yankees) that have so much dysfunction, that issue is the number one issue. If no one is on the same page, the team won’t work together. Teams like the Knicks, Jets, Mets and Browns are so dysfunctional it does not even matter how good their teams may be, they won’t perform well if their front office and coaches are not on the same team.

    The worst we have seen as of late is the New York Knicks(of which I am a fan, unfortunately). Phil Jackson had his head so far up his ass, he makes New Jersey Transit look good.  First and foremost, when your dysfunctional owner says he is moving out of the way so that you can have complete control, that should be a blessing. With the looks of it, James Dolan has actually stayed out of it, just like he promised. Phil Jackson came into town and completely screwed up from the first day. First of all, he was hired to be an Executive, not a coach, so stop trying to run the triangle. Brian Cashman and Jerry Reese give their coaches complete control to manage their style. Phil Jackson fired Mike Woodson, a defensive minded coach, who took the team to the 2^nd round of the playoffs for Derek Fisher, a rookie coach. I hate to break it you Phil, Derek Fisher is not Jason Kidd here. Jason Kidd was a coach when he was actually playing the game, Fisher was nothing close to him.

    Once he hired Fisher, he also brought in the wrong players, except for Porzingis. Carmelo Anthony is a great scorer, but you should have given him shorter amount of time and not included a No Trade Clause. The “P” in Phil certainly does not stand for patient. Look how many players he has let go instead of letting develop into good players. After being fired, he will not be doing that Willy Hernengomez and Kristaps Porzingis. Development of young players playing together is key to any team. Phil’s desire to trade Carmelo was right one at this point, but his approach was all wrong. Social media is great for certain things, it is also bad for certain things. In Phil Jackson’s case, it was a bad thing. His tirades against Melo were just plain bad. Everyone has the right to rejoice over Phil’s firing.

   The same way social media didn’t help Phil Jackson and the Knicks, it does not help the New  York Mets. Do you think Yoenis Cespedes playing golf while hurt during the season helps him? He certainly is not the smart one in this case. The Mets are certainly dysfunctional in ways we could not imagine. First of all, who in their right minds let’s their players dictate whether or not they have to go for MRI’s or other medical tests. Regardless of what language is in the players contract, they work for the team, not the other way around. With the right legal loop holes, they can terminate their  contrac4t whenever they want too. The Mets show no desire to actually do well in a season.

    Besides for trying to fix the injured players, when they have they healthy players they do not play the right players. It looked like Michael Conforto  should be playing everyday, but what do they do? They put him in the minor leagues to start the season. They did not know what to expect from Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson is in his decline and Yoenis Cespedis is 110 million dollar golf player. The Mets also appear to have no control over what appears to be a “Star Studded” rotation.

     Harvey got suspended for a game this season after not showing up due to a “headache.” Obviously there is a lot more to the issue than just a “headache,” but what the hell kind of excuse is that to not show up to game. After getting suspended, he was going to appeal it but realized how stupid it would be to have an appeal. Outside of hiring Sandy Alderson(who hasn’t been great), the Mets have not shown much interest working together as a functional group and taking everything to the next level.

     As we all know, they have been some instances of dysfunction in which the teams would end up winning. The 1977-78 Yankees are the perfect example. They were famously known as the Bronx Zoo. The difference was they actually had both personnel on both sides of the spectrum that actually  showed they cared about winning. It is very rare we see teams win with this type of dysfunction. If any of the teams mentioned above actually came to work together, as a team(ironic), then maybe things would go differently for them. Before we route for any of their players, lets pray that their front offices come together and get on the same page.