Glenn
Hall of Famer
I don't believe it's a coincidence that Malone erupted during a postgame interview, his far and away most heated post game interview, minutes after Reke got done tearing this team a new one and leading NO to a win.
Malone wants defense and commitment on that end. He spoke highly of Reke before we declined to match. I think he was pretty aggravated after watching what Reke did and that he would have been the player best suited to accomplish what Malone asks/requires his guards to do and our FO thought otherwise, handicapping Malone, his defensive philosophy and ability to do his job. I'd have been pissed too if I wanted much better defense from my guards and my GM let the one guy on the roster who can play above average defense walk over 3M and I had the opportunity to work with him if all we did was commit another 3M to him, while we end up get slaughtered on the perimeter night after night. IMO part of Malone's reason for exploding was the though that, "hey, I could easily have had that guy on my roster and now look at the guards I'm left with".
As an aside, this is a tough position for Cuz. He's got the max contract which comes along with the idea you'll carry us to wins. He's got Shaq in his ear telling him to get 24/10 every night and be the best center in the league. He's got Malone wanting to win now and focus's everything around Cuz. Then our FO frankly surrounds him with talent which has little chance of winning or defending. It's mixed messages. His coach wanting and expecting to win games and Cuz leading us to victories while the FO preaches patience and gives Malone/Cuz little to work with outside of Rudy. And that's where the disconnect likely comes from. Cuz wants to win now, is expected to win now and is ready to win now after improving across the board, yet this team isn't nearly built well enough to have a chance. It's tough to put the pressure on Cuz to win now while at the same time throwing this season away as we trade away/move all our defenders and gut the roster. If our biggest issue is defense, which it is, and Cuz wants to win now and his coach keeps talking about us not being able to defend(rightly so), then naturally Cuz is going to have problems with those who aren't defending well enough as that's what is preventing him and us from winning. I maintain that if we had the same roster we did at the end of last year, with Reke/Douglas/Aldrich, we'd have a better record than we do now. I want Rudy here and am happy we have him, but Malone likely would have had more to work with and a few players who can actually execute what he demands.
Nobody in the FO has said that there was an expectation of winning this year.