Fencer
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2006
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That other thread on assessing Pioli has become a flamefest. Anyhow, here are some of my thoughts:
1. There can be no doubt that Pioli has done a great job of providing players that fit BB's system better than they fit other teams in the league. It's harder to say whether that proves the system is clever, or whether Pioli just does a good job of delivering the specific kind of player requested.
A related open question is whether Pioli could do it for any system, or just the one he knows best.
2. By all accounts the Patriots have a great, effective, well-organized field scouting organization. Pioli surely deserves a lot of credit for that, and it is most likely a skill that can be tranferred to another organization.
3. BB's system was much more unusual when he started with the Pats than it is now. That gave BB/Pioli an unfair advantage in getting who they wanted that has not wholly endured.
In a related unfair advantage, they knew a lot of JAG FAs who would up contributing early in the BB/Pioli era of the Pats.
4. Pioli is a very tough negotiator on contracts. I've sometimes thought he may be too tough, based on credible-sounding stories of guys who could have been retained by the Pats for less money than they wound up taking elsewhere.
That said, I think the complete list of serious botches in this regard is:
A. Pissing off Branch as a rookie, which came back to bite him at the end of Branch's contract.
B. Not locking up Asante as he began to prove his value.
C. Missing out on one more year of Ted Washington.
D. MAYBE Grahambo.
And if you're a good negotiator, the number of such botches shouldn't be zero. (If it is, you're negotiating too weakly.)
1. There can be no doubt that Pioli has done a great job of providing players that fit BB's system better than they fit other teams in the league. It's harder to say whether that proves the system is clever, or whether Pioli just does a good job of delivering the specific kind of player requested.
A related open question is whether Pioli could do it for any system, or just the one he knows best.
2. By all accounts the Patriots have a great, effective, well-organized field scouting organization. Pioli surely deserves a lot of credit for that, and it is most likely a skill that can be tranferred to another organization.
3. BB's system was much more unusual when he started with the Pats than it is now. That gave BB/Pioli an unfair advantage in getting who they wanted that has not wholly endured.
In a related unfair advantage, they knew a lot of JAG FAs who would up contributing early in the BB/Pioli era of the Pats.
4. Pioli is a very tough negotiator on contracts. I've sometimes thought he may be too tough, based on credible-sounding stories of guys who could have been retained by the Pats for less money than they wound up taking elsewhere.
That said, I think the complete list of serious botches in this regard is:
A. Pissing off Branch as a rookie, which came back to bite him at the end of Branch's contract.
B. Not locking up Asante as he began to prove his value.
C. Missing out on one more year of Ted Washington.
D. MAYBE Grahambo.
And if you're a good negotiator, the number of such botches shouldn't be zero. (If it is, you're negotiating too weakly.)