ESPN basketball analyst Brian Windhorst has a unique description for one of the sports world’s most successful aging athletes: He refers to LeBron James as a non-renewable resource.
There are front-office decision makers with the Steelers and Penguins who can relate to the term even without knowing its context.
In 2017, the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers were one season removed from delivering the city’s first championship in 52 years when disgruntled guard Kyrie Irving demanded a trade. James, who turned 33 in the middle of the season, was heading into the final year of his contract. The Cavaliers had a big call to make. Swing a deal that would maximize their chance to win another title with James or build for the future. Instead, they tried to do both in a trade with the Boston Celtics that blew up like the helicopter crashing on to Civic Arena ice in “Sudden Death.”
“LeBron was looking seriously at leaving for Los Angeles at the beginning of the 2017-18 season,” Windhorst told DK Pittsburgh Sports. “But when the Cavs traded their star guard for a first-round draft pick and an injured Isaiah Thomas, it pretty much cemented LeBron’s departure.
"LeBron is a non-renewable resource. There is no replacing him. If LeBron walks away, it’s not like you can say, ‘We’ll get another one in the draft in the next two or three years.’ In my view, you squeeze every last egg out of the golden goose.”
It’s squeezing time in Pittsburgh.
Having aging superstars like Sidney Crosby, 33, Evgeni Malkin, 34, and Ben Roethlisberger, 38, can be both a blessing and a curse. They enable franchises to make more title runs, knowing if they can surround them with the right complementary pieces, another victory parade is possible. But such plans often involve sacrificing the future.
Championship windows can slam shut with the force of a guillotine. General managers and coaches must decide how far to stick out their necks.
There might not be another pro sports market with two franchises currently facing the same decisions. Both the Penguins and Steelers are going all in with hopes of adding to trophy cases well stocked by the talents of graying stars.
The Penguins, winners of three Stanley Cups with Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang, 33, have traded their first-round picks in four of the past five years, including this one in re-acquiring Kasperi Kapanen from the Maple Leafs just last week.
The Steelers, who have won two Super Bowls with Roethlisberger, dealt their first-round pick for the first time in 53 years last fall to acquire Minkah Fitzpatrick from Miami. Fitzpatrick undoubtedly upgraded the position and strengthened the Steelers’ defense. However, the club made the move last September with Roethisberger sidelined due to season-ending elbow surgery and, according to ESPN analytics, a 62 percent chance of landing a top-10 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Translation: Management gambled on the return of a healthy Roethlisberger. Earlier indications suggest Big Ben looks up to the task.
Some believe both Pittsburgh franchises are in need of rebuilds, particularly the Penguins, whose farm system is ranked 30th out of the NHL's 31 teams in the latest poll by The Athletic’s Corey Pronman. Others fiercely subscribe to the “golden goose” theory.
Cup-winning coach Ken Hitchcock, who follows all sports, has no issue with the routes taken by Steelers’ Kevin Colbert and Penguins’ Jim Rutherford.
“Look, you can’t predict tomorrow,” Hitchcock said. “You can listen to people say, ‘Well, we’re going to be good next year or we’re preparing for two or three years from now.’ That’s not reality. You can only predict today. If you feel you have a chance to have success today, you go for it. Today is everything. The tomorrows are unpredictable in the sports business.”
Rutherford is aware of critics screaming about the potential iceberg in the path of the SS Penguin. He is unwavering in his approach.
“We go about our business a little different than the traditional way, I guess is the best way to say it,” Rutherford said.
‘A SLIDING SCALE’
Josh McCown is a gridiron Zelig. He’s a signal-calling tumbleweed who’s played for a quarter of the NFL’s 32 teams, always managing to fit in no matter the franchise or role. Just 18 current stadiums have been around longer than the 2002 third-round pick.
The 41-year-old passer has seen plenty, including one comeback that should give Steelers fans reason for hope with Roethlisberger. In 2008, McCown was a member of the Panthers with a front-row seat to medical history. He witnessed Jake Delhomme return from a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm that required Tommy John surgery. At the time, no NFL quarterback had undergone the procedure and played again. Delhomme not only made it back, but led the Panthers to a 12-4 record.
“Jake did a tremendous job in terms of management and maintenance,” McCown recalled. “He followed the protocols the team put in place and had a great year.”
McCown is confident Roethlisberger will rebound from a surgery that reattached three flexor tendons to his throwing arm.
“Look at how advanced we are medically since 2008,” McCown said. “I don’t think it will be a big problem for Ben. He looks good. That time off was probably good for his body as a whole. I think he could play three more years.”
That doesn’t mean the Steelers shouldn’t be in search of his replacement. Since 2013, the club has drafted three quarterbacks in the middle rounds: Landry Jones, Josh Dobbs and Mason Rudolph. None have offered serious threats. Rudolph struggled mightily last season after the Roethlisberger injury.
But as ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky noted, contending teams “don’t want to draft quarterbacks when you need them.” It’s why Orlovsky liked Green Bay’s controversial decision to select Utah State’s Jordan Love with the No. 26 overall pick this year. Love will marinate on the sidelines, waiting for his chance to unseat 36-year-old Aaron Rodgers, an eight-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion.
“There’s often an emotional aspect involved in these decisions,” Orlovsky said. “You need to do your best to be respectful of that while also being realistic.”
Rodgers is part of a golden generation of quarterbacks still playing at a high level. The others are Tom Brady, 43, Drew Brees, 41, Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers, 38.
Each has benefitted from rule changes aimed at protecting quarterbacks, practice limitations brought about by the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, advancements in sports science and a league that spent a decade ruining young passers by stubbornly refusing to incorporate elements of college spread offenses.
While the NFL finally has found ways to utilize the abilities of Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, teams with older stars still rely on them.
“Every team with these guys except for maybe Green Bay has made the decision to go all-in right now,” Orlovsky said. “If I’m Pittsburgh, I think I still have a legit chance to win a Super Bowl. And if they keep winning games because of Big Ben and not in spite of Big Ben, then I’m 100 percent focused on bringing him back."
“If you think you have a legit shot, you definitely sacrifice the future for the now. You do everything you can to win that Super Bowl and deal with the later stuff later.”
McCown said quarterbacks such as Roethlisberger can adjust to the changing game and the limitations of their aging bodies. He no longer expects to see Roethlisberger trying to extend plays with his legs and swatting away defenders in the pocket like King Kong batting at airplanes atop the Empire State Building.
“Early in his career, Ben ran around and made plays, and that was part of his gift,” McCown said. “I think you will see him use the things he’s learned throughout his career to his advantage and play some of his best football. You hear Brady talk about it all the time. I think your mind speeds up as you get older at that position and you can cut corners to (compensate) from maybe losing some RPMs off throws. These guys like Ben and Brady have seen it all. There are definitely ways on a sliding scale, where it affords quarterbacks to play a little longer.”
FIND THE BRIDGE
Rutherford is well versed on the Red Wings’ resurrection of 2002. In some ways, he orchestrated a similar revival 14 years later.
Detroit looked like a franchise in decline after getting bounced from the first round of the 2001 playoffs. Captain Steve Yzerman was 35. Chris Chelios and Larry Murphy were 39. Igor Larionov was 40. Sergei Fedorov and Nicklas Lidstrom were still close to their primes, just north of 30, but the back-to-back Cup champions from 1997-98 needed an injection of quality youth. It came in the form of two late-round draft picks, Pavel Datsyuk (1998, sixth round) and Henrik Zetterberg (1999, seventh round).
Datsyuk played a role in the 2002 and 2008 Cup titles. Zetterberg was instrumental in the 2008 championship. The two forwards helped bridge a remarkable playoff streak that ran from 1990-2016.
“Those guys you mentioned were not high draft picks at all,” Rutherford said. “Those are the kind of guys we are looking for all the time — middle round or later-round picks or college free agents who can really help a good team.”
The Penguins were not nearly as ancient when Rutherford took command in 2014, but the franchise was at a crossroads heading into the 2015-16 season. They had made it past the second round only once since winning the Cup in 2009, and were eliminated by the Rangers in five games in a 2015 opening-round series.
Rutherford was determined not to squander the primes of Crosby and Malkin. He made a series of important trades, including the addition of mercurial Phil Kessel, and promoted his AHL coach, Mike Sullivan, who would make good use of middle-round draft picks Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust and Matt Murray.
Still, it was Crosby and Malkin who led the charge to consecutive titles in 2016-17.
“No superstar, no elite player who’s won titles thinks they can’t win them again,” Hitchcock said. “That’s what make those guys special. Championship players are really unique individuals. They think differently and they react differently under pressure. They’re not normal. They defy age all the time. Age is irrelevant to elite players.”
Well, at least to a point.
When Detroit fans saw Crosby lift the Cup at Joe Louis Arena in the spring of 2009, they never imagined what was in store for their dynasty. The Red Wings haven't made it past the second round since. Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom grew old together. The franchise has missed the postseason the past four years, and the Red Wings show little sign of improvement.
It’s the kind of slide some Penguins fans fear when Crosby and Malkin finally leave town or retire.
Rutherford is attempting to siphon at least one more Cup out of a decorated group that’s been eliminated in the first round the past two seasons.
“What I see with our three core guys, superstars, future Hall of Famers, are guys who really take care of themselves,” Rutherford said. “Sid, Geno and Tanger are going to get more out of themselves than what the average is — or what people think the average is.”
No doubt, Rutherford has had a few whiffs in trying to find the right mix. He’s quick to note, however, several of their recent key additions are players in their prime or still approaching it such as Jason Zucker, 28, Kapanen, 24, and John Marino, 23.
“If we can hit on a couple of young players, the transition can go pretty well,” Rutherford said. “But that being said, it’s not easy to do.”
Translation: In Sid and Geno we trust.
Like many sports fans, Hitchcock spent the early days of the global pandemic in his home watching the 10-part ESPN series, The Last Dance, on the dynastic Chicago Bulls of the Michael Jordan era.
“We all talk about the word ‘accountable,’ ” Hitchcock said. “What is it? How is accountability created? We saw in a segment-by-segment basis of what accountability is. It was led by Jordan. You left there with a very good feel for what championship accountability is all about. I think you have that with Sid. The Bulls created such a high standard, and nobody wanted to let go of that standard. When it meant the most, they always maxed out.”
Orlovsky still cannot believe the Bulls’ management failed to bring back the principle players and coach for a shot at a seventh ring.
“It made no sense to me,” he said. “It blew my mind that someone’s ego could get in the way of what everyone says is the ultimate goal — winning championships. You just wonder what could have been had they kept it all together for another year.”
In his research, Windhorst said many in that group thought they had taken their championship run as far as it could go.
Still . . .
“There was an arrogance from ownership and the front office that they could build another championship team after those guys left,” he said.
The Penguins and Steelers aren’t looking too far ahead. They are focused on making the most of their non-renewable resources.