Well, someone went out and ranked all 30 of the league's GMs. Rather than give the whole article, here's a quick list of the ranks.
1 R.C. Buford, San Antonio Spurs 2 Donnie Nelson, Dallas Mavericks 3 Joe Dumars, Detroit Pistons 4 Bryan Colangelo, Toronto Raptors 5 John Paxson, Chicago Bulls 6 Geoff Petrie, Sacramento Kings 7 Pat Riley, Miami Heat 8 Rod Thorn, New Jersey Nets 9 Kevin Pritchard, Portland Trail Blazers 10 Kevin O'Connor, Utah Jazz 11 Ernie Grunfeld, Washington Wizards 12 Mark Warkentien, Denver Nuggets 13 Sam Presti, Seattle SuperSonics 14 Jeff Bower, New Orleans Hornets 15 Larry Harris, Milwaukee Bucks 16 Daryl Morey, Houston Rockets 17 Chris Mullin, Golden State Warriors 18 Steve Kerr, Phoenix Suns 19 Elgin Baylor, Los Angeles Clippers 20 Danny Ferry, Cleveland Cavaliers 21 Larry Bird, Indiana Pacers 22 Danny Ainge, Boston Celtics 23 Mitch Kupchak, Los Angeles Lakers 24 Otis Smith, Orlando Magic 25 Isiah Thomas, New York Knicks 26 Billy King, Philadelphia 76ers 27 Chris Wallace, Memphis Grizzlies 28 Billy Knight, Atlanta Hawks 29 Michael Jordan, Charlotte Bobcats 30 Kevin McHale, Minneosta Timberwolves
No big surprises in that list.
(edited by Kawshen on 27.6.07 1128)
(edited by Kawshen on 27.6.07 1144) The preceding post was brought to you by the letter K and the number 22.
I'm going to stick up for Jordan a bit here, because unlike the guys grouped around his area, he hasn't made some franchise killing moves. The Bobcats are just an expansion team, and about how far you'd expect them to be along. They ought to be competitive in 2007-2008 and there's problems if they're not, but I think he's getting ranked lower based on rep rather than results. I wouldn't have him higher than 23ish, because he hasn't proven anything either way.
Then again, Kevin Pritchard gets rated 9 and he just became GM five minutes ago, so it seems like the list is heavily based on personal opinion and not much to tangible achievements.
23rd for Mitch Kupchak sounds about right. But then when I think about:
-The way he screwed up Boozer-to-L.A. -The way he screwed up Baron Davis-to-L.A. -The way he screwed up Artest-to-L.A. -The way he screwed up Garnett-to-L.A. -Trading Shaq for pennies on the dollar. Two years later, Shaq wins Miami its first title and Odom's the only guy from the trade still left in L.A. -Trading Caron Butler for Kwame Brown. Today, Butler's a 20-10 guy for Washington and Kwame's STILL a huge bust. -Trading for Brian Grant's huge contract. -Pissing off the only star power the Lakers have left to the point that he's demanded a trade.
He's definitely the worst GM in Lakers history. But 23rd sounds about right on a list that contains Kevin McHale and Billy King.
And isn't it a little early to be ranking Steve Kerr? Good lord, the man just started a few weeks ago!
The Wisdom of Homsar: DaAaAa, these Easter pants are gettin' way too tight!
Funny enough, a friend of mine called me at work today and told me about a proposed Amare-to-Atlanta deal. I immediately told him that I hated the idea without even thinking about it or really looking at the details first. Why? Because if Billy Knight does it, it stinks. It's almost guaranteed to be a bad idea. He should be #30.
- StingArmy
P.S. - For the record, I think the proposed trade my friend told me about was Atlanta's #3 and #11 picks to Minnesota, Amare to Atlanta, Kevin Garnett to Phoenix, and a couple of cap-friendly contracts from Atlanta and Phoenix to Minnesota. The end result is that Atlanta loses BOTH of its lottery picks, gets another 6'9"+ power forwardish guy, and once again doesn't have a point guard. A slight improvement on the past several draft disasters, but it's nonetheless same shit, different day.
Originally posted by StaggerLeeAre the Raptors really that good that their GM is number 4?
Certainly as Java points out, he is the main architect of what is now the Suns team....
In terms of Toronto,
He took over a Raptors team that was a league doormat at 27-55 and turned them into the Atlantic Division champs at 47-35.
Not only that, but has seemingly given hope to the Toronto Basketball community by signing players who are young and have a huge upside, as opposed to the previous regime that brought in old, broken down players, who really didn't seem to want to be here.
I would've thought he is higher on the list, but then looking at the 3 above-him, all makes sense...
There's a World Container with your name on it, and a billion ways to go bezerk!!
You wanted the best, you got... Out of Context Quote of the Week.
"Yep....and was it really necessary having the woman keep glancing down at his penis?" (Kevintripod)
Originally posted by JayJayDeanI found Sam Presti's ranking odd, considering he's been a GM for about three weeks. Why would he be five spots higher than Steve Kerr?
Presumably based on projection. Not to mention his length, his topside, his tremendous upside poten-- (slaps the Chad Ford out of him)
I'll say in part because he hasn't screwed his team up yet, and in part because he's a stat guy and riding the sabermetric wave.
No, Jordan hasn't had much time with the Bobcats and they are an expansion team but before that he screwed up the Wizards and set them back several years so I'd say he deserves the ranking.
Edit: And now Rick Bucher is reporting that the Bobcats are trying to trade Brandan Wright for Jason Richardson. This is why Jordan isn't any good.
(edited by Quezzy on 28.6.07 1950)
(edited by Quezzy on 28.6.07 2020) Lance's Response:
Man, the NBA has some truly horrible GMs. Everyone from Baylor on down is terrible at their job. What does it say when Elgin Baylor isn't even in the bottom third?
Originally posted by MercMy biggest question marks are: 6 Geoff Petrie, Sacramento Kings 7 Pat Riley, Miami Heat
The Kings and Miami are stagnating at best.
Although in Riley's case, it's worth remembering what a graveyard Miami was when he arrived 12 years ago. At which point he traded for and built the team around Mourning and later traded for Shaq and didn't fear making bold gestures in order to win championships (although drafting that guy from Marquette in 03 didn't hurt much either) as well as finding guys on the scrap heap and having them blossom into contributors. Even if it only worked once, that's one more time than most organizations.
He's probably going to feel the need to make another big move in the next season or so to spark things, but at least they have no question who their franchise player is right now.
(edited by JoshMann on 29.6.07 1933) 2006 Time Man Of The Year
Normally I wouldn't advocate getting Van Horn as a good move... but Cuban has had relative success with shelling out big bucks, and Van Horn helps bring quality depth behind Dirk at the PF.
Thread rated: 5.68
#
#
#
