Loyalty vs Winning

Loyalty and winning are two sports discussion topics that will always be around. Whether it pertains to players or coaches, and if it is professional sports or college sports, these two things can often times be seen as polar opposites. The subject has come up multiple times recently in both the NFL and the NBA, and it is a subject that is always interesting. The three people the discussion has centered around recently are DeMarcus Cousins, Joe Thomas, and Anthony Davis, but it is something that we could really discuss almost constantly.

Trace it back to LeBron James going to Miami if you want (although in my opinion you would be totally wrong in doing so), and more recently to Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors, but it seems as though loyalty and winning are usually at odds, even when the two things hardly have anything to do with one another.

When it came to James, his decision to sign with the Miami Heat years ago was met with an unparalleled amount of criticism. Those who prioritized loyalty said that he should have stayed in Cleveland because that was the team that drafted him. They said that he owed it to the team and the city to stay there and win a title because "that's how the guys in the past always did it." They made it seem like he was in some way breaking the laws of sports by leaving Cleveland for what he thought was a better situation for himself in Miami. As a free agent, the only person who could make that choice was him, and he chose to sign with the Heat. That is what the term "free agent" means. He can choose to play wherever he wants and for whatever reason he wants.

This past offseason when Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City to join the Golden State Warriors, Durant was widely criticized as well. Not only was he leaving the team that drafted him, but he was going to the team that beat him in the Western Conference Finals. But he was a free agent also, so he should not care one bit about where other people want him to play, because the only decision that matters is the one he makes.

At the Pro Bowl just under a month ago, some of the same questions arose about Joe Thomas. Thomas is a ten year veteran who has played his entire career with the Cleveland Browns. Over the course of those ten years, the Browns have had a winning record a grand total of one time. The overall record of the team in that span of ten years is 48-112. He could have left multiple times, but he has been a Brown for his entire career thus far. He says he wants to remain in Cleveland to be able to help turn the team around and therefore gets praised for his loyalty. I hate to break it to Thomas and Browns fans everywhere, but I find it very hard to believe that the team will be any good any time soon, especially in a very tough AFC North division. Any sensible person has to believe that for however long Thomas is able to play, he is not going to get anywhere close to winning a Super Bowl. At this point, I find it very hard to believe that he will ever even get close to playing in a playoff game. I hear so many former athletes that never won a championship say that their biggest disappointment was never being able to reach the top of the mountain. Is Joe Thomas going into the Hall of Fame whenever he decides to retire? Yes. However, 20 years from now he is most likely going to be remembered as a great player on a bad team. I cannot fault him for showing loyalty to the Browns, but if he were to leave to try to win a Super Bowl, I would not fault him at all for making that choice.

Next up is DeMarcus Cousins. He is due to be a free agent at the conclusion of this season, and could sign a deal worth over $200 million if he were to stay in Sacramento. He says that he is happy with the Kings and at this point seems like he will remain with the team. However, Cousins has also hinted at times that he would like to get the chance to play with some of his former college teammates like either John Wall or Eric Bledsoe. As of today, the Kings are only a game and a half out of the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoff picture, but if they were to qualify for the postseason, they would most likely end up playing a far superior team like the Warriors or Spurs. Are they going to beat either of those teams in a seven game series? Barring multiple catastrophic injuries, a miracle of biblical proportions, and hell freezing over, no they are not going to.

The prospect of Cousins signing with the Washington Wizards to play with John Wall is actually a very intriguing one because that seems to be a team on the rise in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards are healthy and hitting on all cylinders at the moment, and while they still are not the best team in the Eastern Conference, if they were able to sign Cousins they could certainly challenge the Cavaliers going forward. Cousins has thus far not given any sort of indication that he wants to leave Sacramento, but when the offseason comes, you never know what will happen until he actually signs on the dotted line somewhere. If he stays in Sacramento, half of the NBA world will praise him for being loyal. If he chooses to go elsewhere, the other half will praise him for putting winning ahead of the money.

Recent rumors have also sprung up about Anthony Davis. While he still has multiple years left on his contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, it has already been said that he could possibly team up with Russell Westbrook in Los Angeles to try to resurrect the Lakers some time in the future. Once again, if he decides to resign in New Orleans, some people will praise him for being loyal. If he chooses to go to another team where he has a better chance to win a title, those same people will crush him for giving up on the Pelicans. You can never please everyone, and in the cases of Joe Thomas, DeMarcus Cousins, and Anthony Davis, that is going to be true once their careers end.

My real opinion on this is that why are these guys going to be criticized no matter what they do? Sometimes the best part of a successful life is timing. All three of these guys are playing for the teams that drafted them. Yet, no matter how good they are and no matter what sport you play, a team needs more than one great player to win a championship. There is a reason that the Browns, Kings, and Pelicans are constantly picking at or near the top of the draft, and it has nothing to do with Thomas, Cousins, or Davis. Don't blame those guys.

Winning in sports takes more than simply finding a superstar to lead a team. Individuals don't win championships. It starts from the top down. Some owners care only about making money, while other owners care more about putting a good product on the field or court. Some organizations hire general managers that make great decisions and are able to put together successful teams. Other organizations hire general managers that are inept and coaches who cannot get the job done.

It is easy for guys that have won titles and fans that support teams that have won titles to criticize players who were dropped into circumstances that were much worse than their own. Did Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or Tom Brady win multiple titles with one team? Yes, they did. But were they also put in far better circumstances than guys who never won a title? The answer to that is yes as well. Their teams were managed better. They had better supporting casts. They had better coaching.

Do not praise a guy like Joe Thomas for his loyalty but at the same time point out that he never won a Super Bowl. The Browns have been an utterly disastrous organization for his entire career. They have gone through numerous coaches and numerous general managers. They hit on Thomas in the draft, but they swung and missed a whole lot of other times. The same can be said for Cousins and Davis. It is easy for guys like Brady or Jordan or Bryant to be loyal when they find themselves surrounded by competent people. If Brady was drafted by the Jets or Jordan was drafted by the Nets or Bryant was drafted by the Timberwolves, could you blame any of them for wanting to leave because of the constant ineptitude of those organizations? In the eyes of any honest person, no, you could not blame them one bit.

Karl Malone and Gary Payton are NBA legends. However, when you think of those guys, what is one of the first things that comes to mind? Neither of them ever won a championship. At the end of their careers they teamed up with Kobe Bryant on the Lakers to try to win a title, but they were unable to do so. Is that being completely loyal to the teams that drafted them? No, it isn't. They wanted to win, and the organizations in Utah and Seattle were overall not good enough to win. It wasn't because of Malone and Payton, it was because of the organization as a whole.

So for Davis and Thomas and Cousins, it seems to be a situation of damned if you do or damned if you don't. If they want to remain with their incompetent organizations, then they are loyal but after their careers are over, the first thing we will point to is the fact that they never won a title. Yet, if they decide to go elsewhere, then they are breaking the laws of loyalty in sports. In my mind it makes no sense and it is unfair to all of these guys.

Does Anthony Davis want his biography to say that he never won anything, but dammit he was loyal to a horrible organization, or does he want it to say that he was a great player who won a championship at the highest level. I can't speak for him, but if you listen to any former athlete that never won a title, it is pretty clear that he would rather win it all then be the best player on an annually bad team.

There is a reason that the Pittsburgh Steelers are constantly in the playoffs and the Cleveland Browns are constantly in contention for the worst record in the league. There is a reason that the San Antonio Spurs have won so many titles over the past two decades while the Pelicans and Kings are perennial losers. If a wife is loyal to a husband that has no money and is never home, would you blame her for trying to find a better situation? If an employee is loyal to a company that is continually losing money and laying off employees, would you blame him or her for looking for a new job? The answer is easy. It is a resounding no.

So if Joe Thomas or Anthony Davis or DeMarcus Cousins want to stay with their current teams who all will be losing for the foreseeable future, then that is fine by me. However, if any or all of them choose to move on to a better situation and surround themselves with more competent people, don't get on a pedestal and criticize them. Because if you were in the same situation, wouldn't you rather be a part of a successful enterprise than be the best employee in an enterprise that is known for nothing other than failure?

Daily Rangers Update: The team lost to the Islanders last night, but they have looked much better recently and with 25 games left to play have the fourth best record in the Eastern Conference. 25 games in the NHL is still a ton of time though, so hopefully they can continue to play well and enter the playoffs healthy and on a roll.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: Spring Training is right around the corner, and the Diamondbacks added some nice pieces this offseason. Fernando Rodney seems like he is in line to be the new closer, and the starting rotation will hopefully be better as well. I like the infield, and the outfield seems pretty good as long as the injury bug doesn't strike there.
I do have concerns with the middle relief and the catcher position though. However, there is still plenty of time before the start of the season to hopefully get those spots sorted out. It would also be nice if an All Star player didn't get seriously hurt two days before the season began like A.J. Pollock last year.
I will preview the baseball season some time in the future, but right now when everyone is healthy and no one has lost a game, there are 30 teams that have a whole bunch of optimism heading into the 2017 season.

Daily NBA Update: NBA All Star weekend is one of the biggest events in all of our professional sports, and that is about to begin. However, it is more about the celebrities and the fanfare than the actual game. I don't know how much of it I will actually watch, but in all candor, pretty much none of it really matters.

Daily Giants Update: The team released Victor Cruz and Rashad Jennings this past week, and while it was especially tough to say goodbye to Cruz, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion after seeing his role so limited this past season. Adrian Peterson has given multiple indications that he seems interested in somehow joining the team, and I have seen multiple mock drafts saying that the Giants will go for a defensive lineman in the first round. That makes me believe that either Jonathan Hankins or Jason Pierre-Paul will leave, and maybe even both of them. In that case, we would need to bolster the defensive line.
As far as Peterson goes, he seems to be past his prime and he has been injured a lot in recent years, but if the price is right, I would be more than happy to see him play for the Giants. Paul Perkins came on at the end of the year both as a runner and catching passes out of the backfield, so if Peterson were able to run anywhere close to as well as he has done for the majority of his career and we could use Perkins as a situational back, I would like that going into next season.