O'Connor has the boss in his corner
I talked to Greg Miller at his Jordan Commons office late Thursday afternoon as part of the legwork for a story about Jazz vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor that is scheduled to run in Sunday's Tribune.
Among the things I learned:
No. 1, Miller is firmly in O'Connor's corner, when it comes to the job he is doing.
No. 2, Miller reads the newspaper -- at least the on-line edition of the sports section.
After discussing why he likes O'Connor's job performance, Miller talked at length about reading "trade stories" that appear in the web edition of the paper and the comments that other readers/Jazz fans post underneath them.
His usual reaction?
With all due respect, they should leave the wheeling and dealing to O'Connor because that's his business.
"In my opinion, the [comments] I've read -- about 85 or 90 percent of them -- are about things that people know nothing about," Miller said. "There are a handful of things that makes sense -- some suggestions that are even doable. But most of them are completely ridiculous.
"The thing that I've learned reading those things is that anybody can have an opinion but, when it comes to actually executing it, they don't know how difficult that is. And that's what Kevin does -- day in and day out."
Miller noted that just because trades aren't finalized doesn't mean O'Connor hasn't been working.
"I don't know what the ratio is, regarding the deals he pursues," Miller said. "I don't know if there are 10 deals he pursues for every one he makes or if there's a 100. But it's probably somewhere in that range.
"I honestly think most of what Kevin does only Kevin knows about. I think there are a lot of dry runs. There are a lot of dry runs that he doesn't even bother [team president] Randy Rigby or I about because there's no point to it.
"That's not saying he has total autonomy, of course. But I know he's always trying to make the team better and, when there is something with substance to it, I know Kevin always does his homework."
What happens when O'Connor comes to Miller with a legitimate trade possibility?
"The first step is to bring [vice president] Bob Hyde in and look at the economics of it and see if the numbers are doable," Miller explained. "If that pans out, then Randy, Bob, Kevin and I usually sit down and discuss the possibility of doing it."
At those meetings, Miller often stays in the background.
"It's been fun for me being part of that process," he explained. "Obviously, I'm the junior member of that four-person team in terms of tenure and I do a lot more listening than talking. But I've been very impressed and very comforted knowing that a person of Kevin's caliber and expertise is at our disposal."
-- Steve Luhm
Among the things I learned:
No. 1, Miller is firmly in O'Connor's corner, when it comes to the job he is doing.
No. 2, Miller reads the newspaper -- at least the on-line edition of the sports section.
After discussing why he likes O'Connor's job performance, Miller talked at length about reading "trade stories" that appear in the web edition of the paper and the comments that other readers/Jazz fans post underneath them.
His usual reaction?
With all due respect, they should leave the wheeling and dealing to O'Connor because that's his business.
"In my opinion, the [comments] I've read -- about 85 or 90 percent of them -- are about things that people know nothing about," Miller said. "There are a handful of things that makes sense -- some suggestions that are even doable. But most of them are completely ridiculous.
"The thing that I've learned reading those things is that anybody can have an opinion but, when it comes to actually executing it, they don't know how difficult that is. And that's what Kevin does -- day in and day out."
Miller noted that just because trades aren't finalized doesn't mean O'Connor hasn't been working.
"I don't know what the ratio is, regarding the deals he pursues," Miller said. "I don't know if there are 10 deals he pursues for every one he makes or if there's a 100. But it's probably somewhere in that range.
"I honestly think most of what Kevin does only Kevin knows about. I think there are a lot of dry runs. There are a lot of dry runs that he doesn't even bother [team president] Randy Rigby or I about because there's no point to it.
"That's not saying he has total autonomy, of course. But I know he's always trying to make the team better and, when there is something with substance to it, I know Kevin always does his homework."
What happens when O'Connor comes to Miller with a legitimate trade possibility?
"The first step is to bring [vice president] Bob Hyde in and look at the economics of it and see if the numbers are doable," Miller explained. "If that pans out, then Randy, Bob, Kevin and I usually sit down and discuss the possibility of doing it."
At those meetings, Miller often stays in the background.
"It's been fun for me being part of that process," he explained. "Obviously, I'm the junior member of that four-person team in terms of tenure and I do a lot more listening than talking. But I've been very impressed and very comforted knowing that a person of Kevin's caliber and expertise is at our disposal."
-- Steve Luhm
9:52 PM
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2 Comments:
Excellent insight into how things are done in the FO. Great work as usual!
I would put it at 1 in every 1000 offers results in a trade. They are bring back basically the same team as last year. that team was an 8th place finish. He is not trying hard enough to make this team better.
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