Kornheiser: Welcome back to PTI, boys and girls, and we’re joined right now by Ian Quailmen. How you doing, Ian?
Quailmen: Doing great, guys. Pleasure to be here.
Kornheiser: Ian, After taking his team to the Finals a few years back, the Bucks are in rebuild mode as they try to develop young talent. And that’s where I want to start, Ian. We just had an argument before the break – one that I won, by the way – about tanking. Do you think what you’re doing is tanking, and do you think there’s a problem with it?
Quailmen: That term - tanking - it has such a negative connotation. However, sometimes the best way to build a building is to tear it down and build from scratch. Patch jobs and half-ass repairs may fix the short term, but over the long haul, that building's value is not going up. And that's what we are doing in Milwaukee. With Jalen and Shaq, we went all in, and with that roster and the assets that we had, we peaked. Some people call it cowardice for us to move on and defer to the Hawks instead of pushing them for the central crown. But we felt we could've kept Shaq and Jalen in tact, but we would have no room to build a legitimate contending roster around them. So instead of patch jobs, we maximized our value and decided to get younger. And if you ask me, it's paid off so far. This season is about growth and team-building. We are letting our young players grow together, and while the results are far from desirable in the Win-Loss columns, we are happy with our core and their progression together. It's a shame that Manu was hit with that injury.
As for tanking being a problem for the league, it may be a short term problem, but honestly, the league will always have teams that are, for political correctness's sake, not so good. And for those teams, things just have to get worse before it gets better. Then there are teams who just drift in their roster's talent (or lackthereof) and want to be worse but just can't get there. With these teams that are not so good now, Im going on a limb to predict that things will change within the next couple of seasons.
Wilbon: Before we continue I just want to say Tony didn’t win anything, unless we were having a contest for worst facial hair. Ian, you’ve gotten a few nice young pieces right now, with Ron Artest and Manu Ginobli, who was looking pretty promising before his concussion issues. But the really intriguing player to me is Amare Stoudemire. He’s putting up 13 and 6 with nearly .500 from the floor as a rookie. He looks really special. What do you see as his ceiling?
Quailmen: We love what we are seeing out of Amare. It really was a tough decision between Amare and Yao, and Yao is playing at a great level right now. But with Amare, we see his ceiling being a slightly worse rebounding Karl Malone and Elton Brand. Call me a homer all you want, but his athleticism and skillset will dominate the league for years to come if he continues to develop the way we hope he does.
Kornheiser: It’s been seen as the Hawks league for a few years now. Looking across at the West, what teams if any do you see as capable of stopping the Hawks' reign of terror?
Quailmen: The West is a grindhouse right now. The Lakers, despite the organizational changes, still sit on top the conference right now; although, without Kidd for 15 days, they may struggle some and potentially slide down the Pacific rankings. The Sonics are playing great with their Monstars up front. The Mavericks are surging behind the career year effort of Marcus Camby and Antawn Jamison. The Kings, after a slow start, are really picking up the slack and making a run. Same can be said for the Trailblazers who started off slow but were on fire once December started... and NOW they've acquire Gary Payton, giving them the facilitator on offense that they've been sorely lacking and needing (no knock on Bobby Jackson there). It's going to be a blood bath to the top of the West, and I haven't even talked about the Spurs who are struggling due to Glenn Robinson's injury. I fully expect them back in the thick of things soon enough. The Clippers are fighting and clawing their way to a surprise start to the season and, with the return of Nick Van Exel in January, could look to make some more noise. And the Grizzlies are finally hitting that potential that they've shown for years.
But who can challenge the Hawks? Honestly, I think the Hawks are the most vunerable as we've ever seen them. They were forced to move Sprewell for cap reasons and really got a dud in Rider, who they just dumped on the Magic for one of their prize young players - Eddy Curry. Their wings are looking spotty, despite having Dermarr learning and growing. So I think they can definitely be had. I see the Kings as a team that could really cause them trouble, as well as the Sonics and Lakers. But will one of those teams make it that far? Not if the rest of the juggernauts in the west have something to say about it
Wilbon: Great insight. It’s good to talk to a GM who pays attention to the league. I work with a guy in media who doesn’t even pay that much attention.
Kornheiser: Don’t blame me, the games are on too late at night.
Wilbon: Last question: do you still talk to Shaq? You guys had a really good relationship for the years he was there. Do you ever just send him a text telling him you miss him, that you’re thinking of him?
Quailmen: Aw, Shaq. Yeah, we miss the big guy. We don't text him as much as we text Jalen, but he gets a few messages from me wishing him luck over in Portland. I can't say much more about those texts with him or Jalen (especially Jalen) without getting dinged for tampering... so I'm going to have to just leave it there.
Kornheiser: I bet Shaq misses Milwaukee’s Best.
Wilbon: Tony, we’re gonna get fined.
Kornheiser: Let em fine me, it’s a good beer. Thanks for your time, Ian. This was fun, we’ll talk soon.
Quailmen: Thanks for having me, guys.
Wilbon: Okay, we’ll be back for Roleplay and then the big finish.