Mook vs good & bad teams

There are good teams and there are bad teams.
Good teams generally stay good and bad teams generally stay bad.

There have been exceptions. There were a few years the Yankees couldn’t do anything, and a while that the Celtics sucked. The Cowboys were notoriously bad, then ridiculously good. The Dolphins have had their slumps… and it is hard to remember the Raiders ever being good.

But the tendency is good teams stay good, while bad teams stay bad.
We know the Clippers will be bad. We know the Lakers will be good.

People often criticize the Yankees. “They buy their championships.” It’s unfair.”
But the Twins are continually contenders. The A’s are usually decent. And neither spends any money. The Padres, Rockies, Giants aren’t known for spending. The Cardinals spend some, but they’re not known for their spending.

If you look at the Yankees though, when they were winning consistently, it wasn’t b/c of free agent signings.
A Rod didn’t help them win. Neither did Jason Giambi. In fact those guys ruined the team.

The core of their championships ran up the middle: Jeter, Rivera, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Andy Petitte – all homegrown. Heroes were guys like Paul O’Neil acquired in a minor trade or little know guys like Scott Brossius or Jim Leyritz.

The team that bought their world series were the Red Sox: getting guys like Manny Ramirez & David Ortiz and pumping them up with steroids. And Curt Shilling & Johnny Damon. None of these guys came from their system or in smart trades.

Meanwhile the Orioles tried going after free agent after free agent and never could get out of the cellar. The Mets are awful, no matter who they sign or who they trade for.

Money doesn’t make the difference between a good team and bad team.
It’s all about how you spend the money.

This summer we’ve seen NBA GM’s spend lavishly on bench players, underachieving players, and guys who just aren’t any good. The T-Wolves, the Bucks…. They aren’t getting any better.

The Twins haven’t made all the right moves (getting practically nothing for Johan was a waste, esp when they could have got a Jon Lester or Jacoby Ellsbury or a Phil Hughes), but they reload and get the players on their team that play their style, buy into their philosophy and play hard and play well.

Issiah Thomas was a horrible judge of talent, and never formed teams. They would be a good fantasy team, but not a championship team.

The Mets pay huge chunks of money who no one else is willing to pay – like Jason Bay. They could have saved $15million. Why did the Orioles spend so much money on a closer- who wasn’t even that good?

The Angels recent trades and free agent signings show this too.

Don’t blame the Yankees or the Heat or the Lakers because they make good trades, wise draft picks, and sign the right players.
It’s not about the money, it’s about how they spend it.

In life it is similar. We can't just throw money at something to fix a problem. It doesn't solve anything and sometimes makes things worse, especially in the long-run.

A lot also has to do with the atmosphere & attitude of the team. You can create a winning environment on a team.
And you don't just want a bunch of all-stars, you want a team. People filling different roles and working together.

If it is professional sports team or a ministry team or an office. We need people who can work together to be successful. We need to create an environment for success. And we need to be wise in spending and selection of personal.