NBA / Nov 13, 2009 / 10:00 am

Can I have a do-over? (Your team’s worst personnel moves)

Should Reggie have been a Knick?

Should Reggie have been a Knick?

During the obligatory, “Where will LeBron and D-Wade end up in 2010?” segment of last night’s Cavs/Heat game, Reggie Miller talked about his own experiences as a free agent.

The Indiana Pacers icon admitted there was a time when he seriously considered signing with the Knicks, but New York chose to spend their money on Allan Houston instead. That Reggie loved playing in NYC was no question, and if I recall correctly, this would’ve been a couple years after an arsonist burned down Reggie’s home in Indianapolis, so he was open to leaving the area. But the Knicks handed Houston that monster contract for $100 million. Hindsight is 20/20 and all, but damn.

Every franchise has moments like that, when they wish they had a do-over. As a Sonics fan, I can think of a few: Trading Scottie Pippen on Draft Night; giving Jim McIlvaine a contract that was not only atrocious in its own right, but also so ludicrous that it pissed off Shawn Kemp and led to the downfall of a potential championship team; and the biggest of the big regrets, Howard Schultz selling the team to a group from Oklahoma City. And as a new Pacers fan, I’m kind of not liking the idea of drafting Shawne Williams over Rajon Rondo in 2006.

You might not even recognize a horrible move as its happening — I’m sure no Seattle fan in 1987 thought much of us giving away some kid named Pippen from some tiny college nobody had ever heard of — but years later you can always look back and wish your team’s front office could’ve known.

What moves do you look back on now and wish your team had a do-over?

84 Responses to “Can I have a do-over? (Your team’s worst personnel moves)”

  1. karizmatic says:

    The Lakers trading Caron Butler for Kwame Brown still makes me wince. Yes I know I know they got Gasol for Kwame so it evened out, but still…the Lakers never should have traded Tough Juice.

  2. s.W.o. 4 Life says:

    Araujo drafted over Iguodala. Never draft for need

  3. JA says:

    1. Rafael Araujo.
    Over Iggy, Al Jeff, Josh Smith, or even Biedrins - who were all taken in the next handful of picks.

    2. VC for Alonzo.
    Raps should have gotten something.

  4. Boomhauer says:

    The Cavs thinking Carlos Boozer was an honest man. They should’ve made him play under his original contract and dealt with his restricted free agency after the season.

    Also, trading a No. 1 pick (that eventually became Rudy Fernandez) for Jiri Welsch.

  5. Mke Slim says:

    The bucks trading Ray Allen for Gary Payton and Desmond Mason. They thought Michael Redd was a franchise player. Payton was in the last year of his contract and hauled after the season so we had nothing to show for it.

  6. Abe504 says:

    Hmm alot, The wizards giving Arenas $111 million, Antawn Jamison $50 million, Trading Rip Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse, Drafting Kwame Brown, Letting Michael Jordan even in the building, sighh the wizards disappoint me sometimes.

  7. jryu says:

    wow this one is easy.

    marvin williams over chris paul/deron williams

    sheldon williams over brandon roy/rondo.

    speedy claxton- $25M over 4 years. played 44 games and 1068 min (from nba.com) that works out to $23,408 PER MINUTE. must be nice….

    go hawks. not.

  8. KnicksFan84 says:

    Any knick trade in last 15 years.

  9. Marques says:

    The Bulls drafting not one, but two high schoolers in Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler AND THEN trading them both!!!

  10. Sanssasin says:

    The Jazz drafting and trading Dominique Wilkins. It was to relieve them of a financial pinch but man, imagine if ‘Nique was teamed up with Stockton and Malone.

    @4 Boomhauer you can have him.

    And how about the Jazz NOT making a trade or an offseason move. That is burning me right now.

  11. Kobeef says:

    BREAKING

    LeBron to change jersey number to 6. Says that no NBA player should ever wear 23 again.

  12. Ben1en says:

    Getting Eddy Curry for two 1st round draft picks. The Bulls got Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah (NYC native). Also drafting Frederic Weis who never played in the NBA over Ron Artest (NYC native as well). Stupid Knicks.

  13. Mke Slim says:

    oh, I forgot drafting Dirk and then trading him to the mavs for Robert Traylor. I love Milwaukee!

  14. mules says:

    I’m not a fan but Detroit would probably take a d0-over on their ‘03 draft…taking Darko #2 in a loaded draft class (ahead of Carmelo, Bosh, Wade, Kaman, and about 25 other guys who have turned out to be better players) is right up there with giving away Pau for Kwame, Crittenton and McKie.

  15. Big V says:

    Too many Knick draft horror stories to name.

  16. i am a witness says:

    DAMN DETROIT!!!!!!!! DARKO???? over wade melo bosh howard MO WILLIAMS.barbosa, david west even brois diaw!!!!! damn my pistons damn!!!!!

  17. LoBezn0 says:

    Detroit Pistons picking Darko Milicic no. 2 in 2003 over almost everybody else except LeBron James.

  18. emory says:

    @9 marques you left out a few…..

    brad sellers over j dawkins

    trading oakley to keep grant, then letting grant leave for nothing

    not drafting the local kid mike finley

    running phil out of town for floyd

    trading for fizer when we already have brand

    30 mil for eddie ‘bad toe’ robinson

    check this out….
    http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/somecutup/dynasty2-2.jpg

  19. ejay says:

    roy for foye
    drafting rubio over brandan jennnings
    trading kevin love for oj
    drafting andrea barg over roy and alderidge
    trading vc for nobody by raps
    wizards trading their 2nd rd pick in 2009 over blair (COME ON THATS WHO WE NEED)
    drafting arujao and the other guy by raps i dont even renember his name anymore
    and worst draft ever?
    marvin over cp3 and deron williams
    if they had drafted cp3 they’d be champions already with that explosive team

  20. MoJo says:

    Sam Bowie over MJ. End of freakin’ story

  21. Celts Fan says:

    @sanssassin - you can’t say that if they’d drafted Nique that they’d have been in position to get either Stockton or Malone.

    @people hating on Detroit - Darko was clearly the #2 rated prospect in that draft and the ONLY guy anyone wouldn’t have gotten KIllED for taking over him at 2 is Melo. You can’t throw Bosh and Wade in later… But college fans like most of us thought Melo should go over Darko.

    @wizards fans - can’t hate on Kwame now. Guy was described as “the potential to be am evolutionary PF.”. Ummm not so much, but that IS what 99% of scouts thought back in 01.
    Save this for moves that seemed fishy at the time (like us taking Kedrick Brown - a super raw, uber-athletic 3 from Comm. College - over RJeff who only was an infinitely more polished/proven, almost as athletic version of the same player. That one killed me at the time.)

  22. kg fan says:

    that under the table deal with joe smith that cost the twolves several 1st round draft picks

  23. ab_40 says:

    cleveland siging larry hughes instead of someone convincing michael redd to sign with the cavs.

    The owner of the magic upsetting Tmac so much he demanded a trade instead of playing with dwight howard which would be a formidable combo in dwight’s second or third year.

    denver drafting nikoloz tschikisvili

    the clippers drafting marvin ely and chris wilcox

    the bulls trading eddy curry’s draft rights for elton brand

    Kwame Brown would’ve been an nba star if he would’ve been drafted 10th or lower.

    Indiana trading away their young solid nuclus O’neal, Rose, harrington. all those guys they were the blazers before the blazers and when it was time to capitalize the whole plan blew up in detroit.

    New jersey’s owner telling alonzo mourning that the big plan for the nets was to move to brooklyn and not win a championship which led to him demanding a trade.

    patrick ewing and hakeem olajuwan trying to play with the sonics, magic and the raptors.

    and many more

  24. Chicagorilla says:

    Chicago trading Jamal Crawford in favor of that bastard Jay(don’t call me Jayson) Williams.

    The Bulls drafting Eddy Curry, and essentially Tyson chandler, while passing over Pau Gasol and Gilbert Arenas…Gil was a 2nd round pick!!!!

    The Bulls dismantling the Dynasty after 98 because of Krumbs…. I hate you krumbs…

    The Bulls not bringing Scottie in to coach, instead they hire Scott Skiles and Vinny Del. Also not bringing MJ back to do SOMETHING or anything within the Bulls organization.

    and a shoutout to Portland fans who’s org drafted sam Bowie… over MJ. Thanks buddy

  25. J Yosef says:

    CHARLOTTE HORNETS

    … passed on a good trade to get stevee franchise after draft night… the reason being francis and baron davis would be to small a back court…

    only a year later they played bdiddy and david weasley…

    thanks hornets you suck

  26. Ric_Hardwood says:

    When the Celtics traded rookie Joe Johnson for Tony Delk (DAMN YOU, Chris Wallace!). Even as a Rookie Joe Cool was starting and had major potential. Tony Delk was, at best a decent guard off the bench.

  27. RobertGingerbreadman) says:

    96′Draft When The Dumb Ass Charlotte Hornets Traded KOBE BRYANT When They Drafted Him Good Job Charlotte NOT!!!! LOL

  28. Name (required) says:

    Stephon Marbury

  29. emory says:

    @Chicagorilla- yeah krumbs was the worst….

  30. emory says:

    i remember him wanting to draft yao and then play yao, curry, and chandler together in the frontcourt

  31. Kudabeen says:

    Philly letting Pat Croce walk…

    Holding on to AI too long even though they were dead set on not creating a team around him. They were waiting until the fanfare and sales took a hit, which had Iverson’s value drop and no great picks or franchise type player in return…

    Sharron Wright, Shawn Bradley, and Van Horn/Tim Thomas picks…

    Hiring Eddie Jordan…I just don’t like the guy with this team.

    Not having good vets in place when you drafted a player like AI that could have really protected his fragile sense of self and media backlash that pretty much put him on the path he is on now. He didn’t scoff at practice and being a team player at Georgetown I bet, that was a professionally developed attitude.

    Sixers killed their fan base over the years…

  32. GMaGoof says:

    Sactown is still crying rivers when the best center they ever had was traded, Joe Klein!

  33. Amar says:

    re: drafting nique and selling him to atlanta –

    that trade saved the “utah jazz”, which is pretty big if you are a guy living in utah. if not, it would have been stockton and malone in the las vegas jazz in the finals in 1997 and ‘98.

    if you are looking at do-overs and the jazz it has to be the draft pick for gail goodrich trade. why? lakers got the draft pick that would later on become magic johnson. jazz got an old gunslinger who was on his lanst contract in his career.

  34. Amar says:

    hornets had agreed to the trade with kobe’s agent before he was drafted. nets were not going to play ball, that’s why they drafted kittles instead of kobe.

  35. Robert Rowell says:

    I don’t know what all these people are complaining about. For my part, I still think giving Stephen Jackson a three-year, $28M contract extension is a great idea!

  36. Daddy Dollars says:

    The worst move the pistons ever made was changing their uniforms to theose teal, red, yellow things with a horse on them. That was retarded. Darko was bad, but the uniform was worse.

  37. Mark says:

    Other than Brandon Jennings this year, pretty much any bucks draft pick in the last 10 yrs!! Bogut over CP3 or Dwill, trading Dirk for Tractor Traylor, Haislip, Yi, Alexander….the list goes on and on!

  38. NC says:

    The Raps not getting Dr. J as a GM.

  39. heavy d says:

    1) Matching Detroit’s offer sheet to Jon Koncak in 89

    2) Trading for JR Rider in 99 (giving up Steve Smith)

    3) Drafting Shelden Williams over Brandon Roy in 2006

    4) Drafting Marvin Williams over Deron Williams or Chris Paul in 2005

    5) Signing Speedy Claxton 2006

    Those are just the ones off the top of my head.

  40. DanL says:

    Houston’s first contract with the Knicks wasn’t the $100 million contract. It was more like $55 million.

  41. james patterson Jr. says:

    the Buck origanally drafted julius Erving and sued him but eventually said fuck it. so the could of been a monster.
    And the Buck traded Sam cassell for shit.
    The Bulls traded Ron Artest and Elton brand and they did better elsewhere.

  42. Sweet English says:

    Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Larry Johnson and Patrick Ewing signing a media deal with the producers of Space Jam which meant they werent playable characters in NBA Hangtime.

    Fuckers.

  43. james patterson Jr. says:

    Golden State had larry hughes, antwan jamison, and gilbert arenas. And and lost all 3 to washington and those some 3 played really well.

    Stackhouse for hamilton.

  44. Sweet English says:

    oh, and Muggsy.

    I know Shawn Bradley did too but i couldnt give a shit about Shawn Bradley.

  45. BiG ShoT BoB says:

    The Warriors even being able to ever make a selection in the draft…

  46. QQ says:

    Drafting Fran FUCKING Vasquez as the No.11 pick. Never played a game for us.

  47. DJ Leon Smith says:

    The Knicks trading their lottery pick in the Oden/Durant sweepstakes for Eddy Curry is so awesome. Could you imagine what Knick fans would have done if that ended up being one of the top two picks? The LA riots would look like a walk in the park.

  48. RPXXXIV says:

    I’m surprised no one has mentioned Sam Bowie over Jordan in the Draft. Still stings, especially when the media Compares Oden to Sam I Am, every time he gets a ding.

    Yikes!

  49. Gunner J. Matthews says:

    Trading Rudy Gay for Battier

  50. rangerjohn says:

    nto a draft night deal but spurs trading scola to houston for spinulous (? sp?) for about 2 mil in cap space.

  51. Brown says:

    The Raptors drafting Charlie Villanueva and Joey Graham over Danny Granger and Jarret Jack. Villanueva was eventually turned into Hedo Turkoglu and Jack was signed eventually, but I’ll never understand why they took Graham over Granger.

    Also Bargnani over Roy, and Araujo over Iguodala.

    The Warriors trading C-Webb instead of firing Nellie and never letting him return, ever. Trading Hardaway for Rony freakin’ Seikaly. Essentially trading Baron Davis for Corey Maggette.

  52. PAPIWARDROBE says:

    THE PAU GASOL & K.G. TRADES WERE MORE LIKE FAVORS THAT RESULTED IN 2 CHIPS..SMH..I’D HAVE TO GO WITH ARENA’S FIANCE TRADE W/ SHAQ.

  53. KCL says:

    For my Blazers i have a few, such as giving Darius Miles and Zach Randolph their huge ass contracts when they hadn’t proved anything. Drafting a skinny Travis Outlaw over the proven Josh Howard, Taking Bassy over Al Jefferson and Jameer Nelson,not drafting Dejuan Blair when they had 5 chances to, trading Sheed for a broken down Abdul-rahim and Ratliff (couldve got so much more) and of course drafting Sam Bowie over Jordan and Oden over durant (although Oden will still turn out to be good but Durant I admit is a monster)also many forgot the Blazers originally had the 4th pick and could have picked up Deron Williams instead moving down and drafting Martell Webster

  54. Celts Fan says:

    @Ric Hardwood (#25) - I had season tickets back then. Joe had yet to prove anything by the time Pitino gave up on him (which, by the way, was only 50 freakin games in. It’s called patience. God Pitino sucked…) They had the option of throwing in either Kedrick Brown or Joe Johnson and chose to include Johnson. It’s funny how the last 3 years turned that from, “I may punch you if you bring that up,” to “haha Pitino’s really useless huh?” We could’ve walked away from that draft with a haul of Joe Johnson, Richard Jefferson, and Tony Parker/Jamaal Tinsley/Gilbert (and we supposedly promised Arenas we were taking him at 21, leading to that story being brought up every time Wash comes to Boston, just before healthy Gil would rain down 40 on us.) Instead we netted 50 games of Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown, and Joe Forte. Thank you Chris Wallace…

  55. isotope says:

    For Rockets fans #1 is easy; trading for a third of a championship team for an old Charles Barkley. Who knows how many more rings they would have got if they hadnt added Chuck’s ego and chemistry-killer and lost the role players that knew their place behind Hakeem and Clyde.

  56. Celts Fan says:

    Also, Delk was key to us getting to the Conf. Finals that year. We were never going to beat LA (or maybe SA that year, forget at this point) even if we upset NJ so it still seemed very short-sited, but in 11 years of season tickets before the KG/Ray Ray/Truth combo, that year was our deepest playoff run and that deal was directly responsible (don’t forget, it also brought in a motivated-in-a-contract-year Rodney Rogers to space the floor a bit at the 4 - you young’ns out there, think Ryan Anderson’s game and someone that looked like ZBo if he ate Khalid El-Amin.)

  57. George W Kush Sr says:

    I’m a Knicks fan. Nuff said.

  58. dwight coward says:

    Warriors not selecting Bird then trading Parrish and the McHale pick for Joe Friggin Barry Carroll…..yes Boston fans, thank “Golden” State for your 80s juggernaut.

    Warriors trading Webber instead of firing Nelson

    Warriors trading Mitch Richmond for Billy Owens

    Warriors drafting Todd Fuller over Kobe Bryant

    Warriors drafting Adonal Foyle one pick before Tracy McGrady

    Warriors breaking up We Believe

    Should I continue?

  59. QQ says:

    @ Celts describing Rodney Rogers to these kids:

    Damn. Are we THAT old,son? LOL. It sure seems like it.

  60. Zers says:

    Sam Bowie… enough said

  61. jeremy says:

    wizards trading chris webber for an old mitch richmond. signing juwan howard to a $100 million deal. basically anything wes unseld did as GM.

  62. johnsacrimoni says:

    Not that the Bucks are “my team”, but I live here (I don’t really have one team in the NBA) but the Bucks have taken the cake in the last 20 years, maybe they’ve finally gotten it right with Jennings. And let’s give credit where credit is due: trading Marbury for Ray Allen on draft night in ‘96. Big Dog was supposed to be a sure thing so I’ll excuse that since he did average 20+. Trading Ray Allen for the 3 month rental of Gary Payton was moronic. Joe Alexander is a bust. Taking Bogut over Deron Williams and Chris Paul because you’re “all set” at point guard with TJ Ford and Mo Williams. The one that takes the cake, however is trading Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity for Tractor Traylor. The funny thing is, Garrity had a better career than Traylor by himself.

  63. johnsacrimoni says:

    Yes, Mark, I almost forgot about “The Chairman” Yi.

  64. Bobby Money says:

    Timberwolves-Trading Ray Allen for Marbury. Trading Brandon Roy for Randy Foye, Trading OJ Mayo for Kevin Love. Trading Kevin Garnett for nothing (Al Jefferson’s garbage). Drafting Pooh Richardson over Tim Hardaway. Illegal signing of Joe Smith. Not keeping Mario Chalmers. Drafting Ricky Rubio. Drafting Corey Brewer over Joakim Noah. Drafting Rashad Mccants. I’m already crying, so I’ll stop here.

  65. Shah says:

    I second anything the Knicks have done under Scott Layden and Isaiah Thomas.

  66. Luigi says:

    how bout ma man. The Wizards….with a stud loaded class of 2003….theres LBJ. Wade. Bosh. Melo. n good 2nd tier plyers. Barbosa. Diaw. etc….we pick……..JARVIS HAYES!

    oh n a bunch of other Wizard moves…anybody that has come and played with washington then left for another team became somewhat of a decent-good player

  67. jditty says:

    Letting Arenas walk.
    Breaking up the We Believe team too soon.
    Giving Monta the big money instead of Baron
    Ike Diogu
    Patrick O’Bryant

  68. POPPI GEE says:

    Trading Rudy Gay for Battier has to be the one for me. Shane is cool and all and but err body know about the limited offense.

    Not trading Ron before he bounced to get a 5.

  69. Jonas says:

    That original Allan Houston 1996 contract was not 100 million. It was 7 years and 56 million.

    The mistake wasn’t signing Houston instead of Reggie Miller. The mistake was signing Houston and Childs to a combined 80 million when they could have had Gary Payton for 85 million.

    Payton
    Starks
    LJ
    Oakley
    Ewing

    That would be the greatest defensive team of all time.

  70. Celts Fan says:

    @QQ - sucks man, but yes, yes we are. I remember before your Magic even existed (and I’m “only” 27.) Remember when you drafted Shaq? That ish was 17 years ago! On that note, I’m gonna go light myself on fire…

  71. mavs all the way says:

    letting nash, finley go?

    i don’t know. i’m pretty alright with my mavs. we’ll win the chip this year anyway. and the next.

  72. robmo35 says:

    Trading Rasheed Wallace for Rod Strickland

    Trading Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond

    both of those rank over drafting Kwame Brown

  73. mcw88 says:

    wolves signing joe smith under the table, getting a 3.5 mil fine and losing 5 draft picks

    kwame for gasol

  74. dwight coward says:

    kawme for gasol doesn’t count that was a david stern special. other GMs didn’t even know gasol was going to be moved then.

    mitch richmond was traded by the warriors for billy owens. webber was traded for tom gugliotta and a ham sandwich…which is to say, a ham sandwich.

  75. Lee says:

    Hawks trading Dominique Wilkins when the had th best record in the East. Nique should have had a shot at the title.

  76. . says:

    Caron for Kwame ugh Mitch what were you thinking.

  77. Mack Brownee says:

    @ #41 DanL, get your misinforming ass off the comments if you don’t know wtf you’re talking about…a-ho got a $100M contract from the knicks; look it up next time before you comment

  78. Pet Society Help says:

    One man: Sam Bowie

  79. Charles Kirk says:

    One of the few Grizzlies fans on here:

    Bad Draft:
    Drafting Mike Conley over Jeff Green, Rodney Stuckey, Rudy Fernandez, and Aaron Brooks
    Drafting a guy who can’t play basketball at all (Hasheem Thabeet)
    Drafting Drew Gooden over Amare Stoudemire
    too many to remeber
    Bad Trade:
    Pau Gasol for Javaris Crittenton(gone), Kwame Brown(gone), and the rights to Marc Gasol(turned out to be good)
    Too many to remember
    Good Trades
    Kevin Love for OJ Mayo
    Shane Battier for Rudy Gay
    The only trades that actually seemed good. Even though it was clear that OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay had waaaay more potential than Kevin Love and Shane Battier.

  80. skd says:

    Trading Brandon Roy for Randy Foye
    Drafting Rubio(not a mistake), and not drafting Curry, or Tywon Lawson(big mistake)
    Trading KG for a bag of peanuts and Big Hurt Al

  81. chancepassenger says:

    Memphis Grizzlies giving away a 2003(WADE< BOSH<ANTHONY) 1st round draft pick (turned out to be pick #2) to Detroit for Otis Thorpe. I think this pick if the Grizzlies had it would have saved the franchise.

  82. Big B says:

    Toronto’s Bad Picks - First or Second Round
    08 - Nathan Jawaii
    06 - P.J. Tucker
    05 - Roko Ukic and Villanueva (better people available)
    04 - Rafael Araujo / Albert Miralles
    03 - Remon Van De Hare
    02 - Kareem Rush
    01 - Michael Bradley
    00 - Dee Andre Hulett
    99 - Alex Rodojevic
    98 - Trading Antawn Jamison / Tyson Wheeler
    95 - Jimmy King

    Good Picks
    Bargnani (maybe), Bosh, Morris Peterson (so so), Mcgrady, Camby, Soudamire

    6 Good picks over 14 years

  83. Leoni says:

    Nobody go with a old Richmond+Otis Thorpe for a Webber in his prime?

    Or Bimbo Coles+Willis for Tim Hardaway+Gatling?

  84. Dave says:

    No Brainer. Jazz trade rights to first round pick to acquire Gail forking Goodrich, the Lakers select Earvin.

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