A guide to Mitchspeak (for those who need guiding)

Posted on LG.net on 12/22/05.

After reading some posters go nuts here on a fairly boring Mitch interview, I thought I would post a guide for understanding Mitch's public statements.

IMHO Mitch has these goals when speaking to the media:
1. Never lie
2. Never tip his hand
3. Never put pressure on young players
4. Never close out options
5. Let the performance on the court speak for the team

As a consequence, he will always say:
Roster moves are possible, but not likely
An example from the above thread - "We approached the season thinking this is the team were going to stay with all season but he's going to look around and talk to GMs so that he can improve the team."
Another example - After McKie was signed, the press wanted to know if the Lakers were going to sign another free agent, in particular Sprewell. Mitch said that the Lakers weren't going to sign another free agent...unless they signed a free agent who fit there needs for the right price.

Both of those statements don't tip the Lakers' hand, don't close out any option and could never be deemed a lie.

Young players have the potential to contribute eventually, but not right now
Examples - Mitch's comments about Bynum not contributing for 3-5 years. In the reporting on Turiaf being cleared to play for the Lakers, the Laker officials talked about what more Turiaf what have to do before he could play for the Lakers and didn't discuss what Turiaf might contribute to the team. When Wafer played great in the SPL, no Laker official talked up his potential.

Here is Mitch on Turiaf during his interview with the LA Times Lakers' blog:

AK: He [Turiaf] could maybe provide a kind of emotional lift to the team.

MK: If he plays like he did in the summer, from time to time, he would give us an emotional lift with his energy. He likes to do the dirty work stuff like run the floor, rebounding, loose balls, blocked shots, that kind of stuff. That would help us, initially. But he would have to continue to improve to have a sustained ability to help us. You can't come in and stay at a certain level. You have to improve. So there might be an immediate flurry of activity about him joining the club, but that could go away quickly if he doesn't improve. He's unproven as an NBA player. It's not like we've had four years to watch him in the NBA, and you know that once you bring him back, he'll eventually get back to where he was. He still hasn't played in an NBA game, so you're still trying to evaluate if this rookie is good enough. And then on top of that, you have to evaluate the fact that he had open heart surgery and is he back where he was this summer? That's our process. But it's not far fetched to think that he would play with us this year.

It is hard to set expectations for Turiaf much lower than that. Mitch doesn't close the door on Turiaf playing for the Lakers this season, but he certainly doesn't put any pressure on Turiaf to start contributing and instead emphasizes long-term performance improvement.

As a consequence of Mitch's style, the Laker young players can develop in a very supportive, relatively pressure-free environment where the focus is on contributing long-term. Sasha sucked last year, but the Lakers officials were very supportive of him, didn't put any pressure on him to contribute right away and created an environment for him to make huge strides.

Contrast that with the Celtics, who spent this off-season talking up Al Jefferson as a future franchise player even though he was drafted last year right out of high school. I think a lot of Celtic fans now view this season as a disappointing one for Jefferson though he is playing a lot more minutes (17.7 mpg) than Bynum probably will next year.

The team has earned its record, but their future performance can't be predicted
From the LA Times Lakers' blog:

BK: Obviously, the playoffs are the goal. Realistically, how high do you think it can go? How low do you think it can be if things don't go right?

MK: I don't know. You really don't know. Injuries play a huge part in this whole thing. If we have a couple of key injuries, then we're going to lose a bunch of games. I think Detroit and San Antonio are the two best teams in the NBA. I don't think we're in that class, although I'm sure that on any given night, we can beat a team like that. But I think those two teams are the best teams. There are some other good teams in the west that you can argue could beat us in a seven game series. But I feel comfortable with us in the pack. Whether we're at the middle of the pack or at the bottom of the pack right now, I don't know. But if we stay healthy and continue to improve...

Expectations? We can make the playoffs. That would be great. And if you get the right match up in the playoffs, maybe you can win a round or two. But I do think San Antonio and particularly Detroit, they know how to win right now. San Antonio is going through integrating some new players right now. But Detroit just has a certain poise about them, and in my mind, they would be the favorite team right now in the NBA. Let's see what happens in Miami, with the coaching change. But right now, I'm going to say Detroit.

Searching through this, the only definitive statement I find is that the Lakers aren't as good as Detroit and San Antonio. Mitch doesn't even extrapolate from the Lakers current record. The Lakers "can make the playoffs" and if they do, that's "great". I think most GM's in Mitch's position would say that they expect to make the playoffs unless there is injuries, etc. On the other hand, Mitch says that the Lakers "maybe you can win a round or two", which would take the Lakers to the WCF. To me, Mitch is trying is to be a team spokesman and at the same time same that it is not about him, it's about what the players do on the floor and they earn whatever accolades the team gets.

I get the feeling that because Mitch doesn't say he is doing a great job and the team has tons of talent that people interpret that to me that Mitch isn't doing a good job. I think Mitch would much rather have people evaluate his performance based upon how the team is playing (which IMHO is very impressive for the sixth youngest team which was rebuilt in two off-seasons) than based upon what he says.