Tony Ressler: Idiot? Or sly dog? Or both?

[sturt]

  

50 minutes ago, Sothron said:

Ressler is many things but he's not an idiot. 

Honestly. I didn't have that opinion of the man for 7.5 years. Regard for him was relatively high.

This last half year has seriously challenged me to think we have an uber-reactionary owner who purposely embraces a convoluted organizational management structure, specifically so that he's able to be an "invisible hand"... able to impose himself into big decisions yet able to claim with some legitimacy that he lets his basketball people make the decisions.

 

Is he an idiot?

Depends on how you mean "idiot."

 

He's an idiot, to me, now. He's unstable--prone to embrace one approach one year, and a different one the next. He's prone to saying publicly what he wants people to believe, not what actually is... so he's not trustworthy. And his history is that he seeks out relatively inexperienced people to lead the basketball ops machinery in the organization... which... again, is part of his convoluted organizational management convictions. Hiring inexperienced people is cheaper, but I don't think that's the big deal... rather, inexperienced people are easier to roll over, and easier to lay blame as disappointments occur. That makes him spineless.

All of which, can be summed up as qualities of an idiot.

Oh. And I didn't even mention not especially self-aware. Who installs his own inexperienced kid into the basketball ops offices, and doesn't get it that naturally  people are going to recognize that as an overt mechanism for installing an information channel almost as good as hidden mics and cameras, piped in directly to the owner's desk? Who goes even farther and tells Jeff Schultz how much his kid is universally loved in those offices... as-if anyone would ever have the stupidity to say differently???

My jaw dropped on that one. That's some special self-confirmation bias going on there in the brain of our owner. Our  owner. *sigh*

 

He's not an idiot from his own perspective... he's rather simply sly.

He's getting what control he wants without having to endure the scrutiny like a Hal Steinbrenner or a Jerry Jones. So, in that way, he's really, really clever.

 

 

 

[TRW]

An astute businessman. I don't agree with his methods of doing business at times but I surely appreciate this man.  Sometimes I think we forget how terrible our ownership was after Ted Turner. Hopefully, he has learned from his mistakes.

[macdaddy]

Idiot definitely not.  He's already increased his net worth by billions not to mention getting an unbelievable deal for his brother.  when the centennial yards  project is done they will be crazy richer.  Not bad for two guys not from Atlanta.  

Yeah he wants a winning bball team as a status symbol ego boost, but not so badly as to truly learn how to do it.   If he becomes truly hands off with the current basketball guys then I'll change my mind but that hasn't happened yet.  But winning a championship is at least #2 on his list of reasons to own the Hawks.   That's not a knock.  Probably true of a lot of owners.  

[sturt]

24 minutes ago, TRW said:

An astute businessman.

 

  

17 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

He's already increased his net worth by billions

 

 

Pardon the observation, but by that definition, almost no primary owner of any sports franchise in existence can be found to be an idiot.

 

  

15 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

but not so badly as to truly learn how to do it

That class exists?

See, I think there's no single way, but I do think, how ever you get it done, it normally requires a person to be steeped in certain principles/virtues.

Tony's changed my mind only recently that he brings the essential principles/virtues to the table.

 

 

 

[Dejay]

He's far from the perfect owner but still light-years beyond the Notorious ASG. I'd rather swim in the Hudson River than deal with that again...

[NBASupes]

Lol

[AHF]

13 minutes ago, Dejay said:

He's far from the perfect owner but still light-years beyond the Notorious ASG. I'd rather swim in the Hudson River than deal with that again...

This is still true.

 

As for what I think of Ressler, I will give the full offseason before rending a final verdict on that.  Right now I think he's too hands on (leave the GM to run the team and get out of the way) and isn't serious about winning (basically all teams that legit want to contend are paying the tax).  But how I view the JC move in particular will depend heavily on what moves we make the rest of the offseason.  It doesn't look good right now for sure.

[sillent]

2 hours ago, sturt said:

  

Honestly. I didn't have that opinion of the man for 7.5 years. Regard for him was relatively high.

This last half year has seriously challenged me to think we have an uber-reactionary owner who purposely embraces a convoluted organizational management structure, specifically so that he's able to be an "invisible hand"... able to impose himself into big decisions yet able to claim with some legitimacy that he lets his basketball people make the decisions.

 

Is he an idiot?

Depends on how you mean "idiot."

 

He's an idiot, to me, now. He's unstable--prone to embrace one approach one year, and a different one the next. He's prone to saying publicly what he wants people to believe, not what actually is... so he's not trustworthy. And his history is that he seeks out relatively inexperienced people to lead the basketball ops machinery in the organization... which... again, is part of his convoluted organizational management convictions. Hiring inexperienced people is cheaper, but I don't think that's the big deal... rather, inexperienced people are easier to roll over, and easier to lay blame as disappointments occur. That makes him spineless.

All of which, can be summed up as qualities of an idiot.

Oh. And I didn't even mention not especially self-aware. Who installs his own inexperienced kid into the basketball ops offices, and doesn't get it that naturally  people are going to recognize that as an overt mechanism for installing an information channel almost as good as hidden mics and cameras, piped in directly to the owner's desk? Who goes even farther and tells Jeff Schultz how much his kid is universally loved in those offices... as-if anyone would ever have the stupidity to say differently???

My jaw dropped on that one. That's some special self-confirmation bias going on there in the brain of our owner. Our  owner. *sigh*

 

He's not an idiot from his own perspective... he's rather simply sly.

He's getting what control he wants without having to endure the scrutiny like a Hal Steinbrenner or a Jerry Jones. So, in that way, he's really, really clever.

 

 

 

I'm not sure if idiot is the word I would use but definitely self sabotaging. All and all because Landry and company actually does have a good sense of what there doing the JC move may be a blessing in disguise for both parties.

In our case not just the money we saved and room accumulated but also I think people under value how deep we are as a whole and unfortunately someone needed to be moved in order to make room for others.
 

Of course Utah got a steal on their side (glad he's out west) and with JC playing on a team that should definitely make him more inclusive he should be able to reach levels we knew he was capable of and more.

I think when it's all said and done it will be a win win for both parties which ironically would make Ressler look more like a genius for putting us in this predicament.

[Atlantaholic]

Seems obvious that for all of the talk of "we will spend to win" the goal has been to maximize profit regardless of overall team success. I don't think it's "stupid", I think for us real fans though, it's definitely unfortunate. 

[sturt]

On 6/26/2023 at 11:19 AM, sturt said:

And his history is that he seeks out relatively inexperienced people to lead the basketball ops machinery in the organization... which... again, is part of his convoluted organizational management convictions. Hiring inexperienced people is cheaper, but I don't think that's the big deal... rather, inexperienced people are easier to roll over, and easier to lay blame as disappointments occur.

 

Presented without comment...

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/warriors/article/grant-liffmann-hawks-vp-18265217.php

 

 

[Jdawgflow]

Sturt.  Good to see you back!

[AHF]

5 hours ago, sturt said:

 

Presented without comment...

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/warriors/article/grant-liffmann-hawks-vp-18265217.php

 

 

Don’t let @Spud2nique know that the “Outsiders” thing already existed in the Bay.  Warriors East?

[Spud2nique]

3 hours ago, AHF said:

Don’t let @Spud2nique know that the “Outsiders” thing already existed in the Bay.  Warriors East?

It may be time to sue. I got a good lawyer who loves Ashley  

Edited August 20, 2023 by Spud2nique

[AHF]

4 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

It may be time to sue. I got a good lawyer who loves Ashley  

Cut out the middle man and pay her retainer.  Comes with Morgan Freeman to narrate your case.

[Jdawgflow]

@sturt

you going to start posting again after your break?  

[NBASupes]

On 6/26/2023 at 11:19 AM, sturt said:

  

Honestly. I didn't have that opinion of the man for 7.5 years. Regard for him was relatively high.

This last half year has seriously challenged me to think we have an uber-reactionary owner who purposely embraces a convoluted organizational management structure, specifically so that he's able to be an "invisible hand"... able to impose himself into big decisions yet able to claim with some legitimacy that he lets his basketball people make the decisions.

 

Is he an idiot?

Depends on how you mean "idiot."

 

He's an idiot, to me, now. He's unstable--prone to embrace one approach one year, and a different one the next. He's prone to saying publicly what he wants people to believe, not what actually is... so he's not trustworthy. And his history is that he seeks out relatively inexperienced people to lead the basketball ops machinery in the organization... which... again, is part of his convoluted organizational management convictions. Hiring inexperienced people is cheaper, but I don't think that's the big deal... rather, inexperienced people are easier to roll over, and easier to lay blame as disappointments occur. That makes him spineless.

All of which, can be summed up as qualities of an idiot.

Oh. And I didn't even mention not especially self-aware. Who installs his own inexperienced kid into the basketball ops offices, and doesn't get it that naturally  people are going to recognize that as an overt mechanism for installing an information channel almost as good as hidden mics and cameras, piped in directly to the owner's desk? Who goes even farther and tells Jeff Schultz how much his kid is universally loved in those offices... as-if anyone would ever have the stupidity to say differently???

My jaw dropped on that one. That's some special self-confirmation bias going on there in the brain of our owner. Our  owner. *sigh*

 

He's not an idiot from his own perspective... he's rather simply sly.

He's getting what control he wants without having to endure the scrutiny like a Hal Steinbrenner or a Jerry Jones. So, in that way, he's really, really clever.

 

 

 

He's not a big picture guy, he's a system guy. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

What does the VP of Basketball Operations do?

I know Nique held that position once.

What is their main job function?

[NBASupes]

I like Tony. I keep saying it but i really do. He's not perfect but his effort is always there. 

[sturt]

On 8/20/2023 at 7:08 AM, Jdawgflow said:

@sturt

you going to start posting again after your break?  

 

Don't think I said I wouldn't be posting ever any more. What I'd said is that this won't consume my time like it used to, because I no longer have any good reason to believe the owner is serious about winning a championship. And yeah, I hate that it's come to this. Hate, hate, hate. This team purposely took a significant step back by totally ditching a starter-quality asset and having no concurrent move that looked to replace that asset. That's a hallmark of hamster-wheel-ism. I've waited all these years for this team to get to this very place where they were legitimately close to getting over the hump. Insert cliche' regarding definition of insanity. This is no longer a journey that I'm willing to take. It's not a religion. It's a consumer entertainment option. I'm choosing other options. So, yeah, I'll still visit, but less out of any interest in the team, more just to check-in on old friends (and otherwise...hehe). More lurking, less posting. Substantially less posting. Lurking maybe once a week or every other. We'll see. And maybe Antony Peter sells the team in a few years... at that point, I'll reassess. Done with him and his shenanigans.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

On 8/22/2023 at 6:49 AM, NBASupes said:

I like Tony. I keep saying it but i really do. He's not perfect but his effort is always there. 

I personally don't have a big issue with him either. I don't think he's done anything catastrophic to stunt this franchise's development.

He just need to open the wallet a little more, and that's it.