We mostly talk about the players and sometimes the coach. But, most of us would agree it is good management that makes the difference in any business. So, I decided to look at the current management structure and came up with a few factors that might be worthy of discussion.
I am not saying the Celtics are poorly run. I like most of the decisions Danny has made and love the Celtic’s owners.
The structure of the Celtic organization is listed in the link below:
http://www.nba.com/celtics/contact/front-office.htmlStep 1 Top management - Ownership
As I look at the list of the names and info on the ‘Managing Partners’ section, I see very little basketball experience. Stephen Pagliuca played some college ball and I don’t know if Wendy Cooper has any hoop experience.
Should this matter? If it were a normal business corporation I would think so. Can you imagine IBM having its top executive board devoid of computer specialists? Or, Nabisco not including food industry leaders on their Board of Directors?
My question is, “why is the top tier of Celtics management devoid of basketball experts?” Surely, this ownership group, with their vast business knowledge are experts in marketing and finance. And, if you look at the number of specialists in Corporate Sales and Marketing you can see these positions vastly outnumber the Operations department. Might an insider question this and ask why don't we invest more in Operations?
I’m sure the owners are up to speed on the various players in the league, etc. But, that isn't their full time job. They have family, businesses to run, etc.
Conclusion #1 – There is limited basketball savvy at the very top of the executive chain of command. I’m not saying Wyc and crew don’t know basketball. I just question why they don’t have people with more expertise advising them at the top level. Seems like they are mostly dependent on Danny and what he says and does for basketball advice.
Step 2
Next step in management we find Austin Ainge is in charge of Player Personnel while Danny is President of Operations. My understanding is Player Personnel generally covers such things as; scouting, recruiting and working with coaches among other duties.
Is there the potential for a conflict of interest here? I think it’s possible.
Let’s say the scouting staff members are all in favor of player x, while Danny favors player y. Will Austin stand up to his Dad and say….”no, drafting this player is a total mistake!” And, even he did say something, would Danny listen? What if Austin had to report his findings to the executive board… would he do it differently knowing his father would disagree?
In a real life example, we know Danny is fond of both injury prone 7 footers and non-talented 7 footers such as; Raef LaFrentz, Robert Swift, Fab Melo and possibly injury prone Olynyk. Isn’t it likely Danny is going to make the same mistake again? Shouldn't there be someone there to contain him? (FWIW: This 7 footer infatuation isn't limited to the Celtics. The 76’s sought out Andrew Bynum and have since gone for two other 7 footers with possible chronic injuries.)
What if there was someone who had some input/authority to make Danny’s choices subject to outside scrutiny. Then, possibly he might have made better choices.
Conclusion #2 Danny’s decisions aren't cogently challenged and/or scrutinized by upper management. For example, he whiffs on Melo and tries to make up for it with Kelly. My guess is there were the scouts that were higher on Giannis. But, because Kelly is a 7 footer… you get the picture.
I only concentrated on the top management areas. But it leads me to believe there may be problems throughout the Celtic’s management system that are being over-looked or under-scrutinized. So, while we focus on the players, maybe someone should be checking in on the management structure. Is it the best management team/system possible?
Topic: Are there holes in Management? (Read 2587 times)