I understand it depends on the team's location and marketability too...but who do you think has done the best job possible for their respective clubs? (I don't know how to make polls so I'll just list out the options I think are legit) -Miami Heat (Pat "godfather" Riley) -LA Lakers (Mitch "cupcakes" Kupchak) -OKC Thunder (Sam "the man" Presti) -Hoston Rockets (Daryl Morey) ... -Orlando Magic Rob(bed) Hennigan My votes for Morey for getting us JLin:grin:
Got sam presti credit he hit on all his draft picks. Mitch just sits there and all these teams just bend over for him, and Dwade should get more credit than Riley.
^ totally agree. You don't see up and coming teams trying to build through lottery anymore. w/ that said Mitch really knows the psychology of the trading game.. He'll break you balls and leave you begging for a crappy deal
Whether it's coaching, GM'ing, hiring, firing, patenting, presidenting and/or even playing - never, ever go against the family. Pat Riley is the single most decorated figure in today's NBA - not Kobe, not Lebron, not Pop, not Stern - Riley. Always Riley. Unlike any other GM on the list, Riley will make the trades then come down and coach the team after he's criticized for pulling the trigger on said trades. That's nuts man. He gets called out, dusts off his whiteboard and slaps critics in the face by having players throw secret items into a secret bucket then winning titles. Nuts man. Psycho. The man is a psycho.
Presti or Buford. I don't even count Riley or Kupchak, because they have the deck ridiculously stacked in their favor. You have to be Isiah Thomas-level bad not to succeed in those types of markets in Stern's modern NBA.
Also, drafted Harden, Landry, Big Baby, Beaubois, Ibaka (at #24), Bledsoe, and scooped up Perry Jones (late in the draft). Did I mention that they are still somehow some way under the cap? Kupchak is a stone-cold high stakes grave robbery of royal corpses. Almost a mirror rival to Morey who goes after lower stake deals that might yield high reward. Morey's moves are often more temporary (good value players) and extensively long term (draft picks), while Kupchak's tend to be long term in the sense of acquiring upper-echelon talent. 1. Managed to get Payton and Malone. 2. Did not do so shabby with the Shaq trade, managed two higher caliber players in Odom and Butler with a pick. 3. Drafted Andrew Bynum and also drafted Bizzaro Gasol (Marc). 4. Went against Kobe's wishes to trade Bynum back in 2007. 5. Orchestrated the Gasol trade, which is now legendary. 6. Did sign Artest for a fairly reasonable deal. 7. Captured Steve Nash for draft picks. 8. Probably had to convince Jim Buss that Howard had a higher ceiling than Andrew Bynum (was more valuable in the long run), since Buss *LOVED* Bynum. Kupachak was probably thinking about the Lakers, post-Kobe and wasn't quite as comfortable with Bynum, long-term.Even then, it wasn't a desperation trade for the Lakers. After that, he probably said he could get Dwight without giving up Pau Gasol. Rest is history. When your team makes big moves, they aren't as press to make so many smaller ones, like say Houston. No one is trying to help the Lakers, these other teams are trying to compete or *cough* make a profit (which sometimes happens when you don't spend a whole lot of money fielding a roster). You cannot tell me Phoenix wasn't trying, since they went after Goran Dragic and Eric Gordon. Unluckily, they lost out on Gordon. Philly got Bynum and Richardson, out of the deal, while the Nuggets were perfectly content letting go of Affalo and Harrington for Iguodala (and shedded salary in the process). Orlando may be the victim of executive meddling, I doubt Hennigan had the final say in that deal unless they all decided that Orlando should look competitive in the process of tanking for a few seasons.
I said it before but the Lakers GM is the best, bar none. That dude doesn't have a lot of moves, but the ones he made have counted: Drafts: -Ariza -Bynum Bargain Bin pickups: -Metta -Josh Mcroberts "Gang rape" Trades: -Pau Gasol trade -Howard trade I have never seen a GM consistently take advantage of the moron gms in the league than this guy. Seriously, what the hell is this Howard trade?
not so sure everyone (if anyone) still agrees that Gasol for Gasol was a gang rape trade. And how exactly is the Howard trade a freaking gang rape trade? They gave up Bynum? Everyone in the world said the Laker's are a contender in the Howard sweepstakes because they are willing to trade Bynum to make it happen. Are you actually surprised? Just because the Magic GM was stupid enough to let 76ers get Bynum doesn't mean the Lakers stole Howard. weird way of looking at it to say the Laker's stole him
sam presti, he developed a team the right and fair way. drafting and developing. riley obviously is great, but he should thank wade and CB4 that Lebron came to South Beach. Mitch is just lucky he is GM of the Lakers, whoever is GM of the Lakers they will always be sucessful in making a winning team, because the rest of the league bends down to the Lakers bidding. our trade would have helped Orlando 10x more than this one did, but no! the Lakers probably didn't want to give up Gasol or something so Orlando denies our proposal.
yea i think you make a good point there, he's just a smart guy amongst a very moronic crowd of NBA GM's. he pretty got Dwight for Bynum, he didn't lose anything, he just got better. i still think Presti is the best though.
McRoberts sucks. Anyways: Presti, Buford, Riley, Ainge... out of those 4 though Buford is the best imo. The Spurs have one lottery pick on their team.
When you trade the #2 center for the #1 center, you can't really say you didn't lose anything...rather it means you have the best trade bait to offer. Are you surprised this happened, because the rumor that the Lakers would trade Bynum to get Howard has been floating around for about 102 years now.
