With teams now set, time to pick the GMs that nailed it

[HMFFL]

Since the "general manager season" is basically over, it's the right time to check the performances and see who did what:

John Hammond, Bucks

He was the recipient of an unexpected bonus when Brandon Jennings fell in last June's draft, and then Jennings had a quicker impact than many expected. If anything, Hammond's best decision was finding a taker last summer for Richard Jefferson's albatross contract, something the small-market Bucks couldn't afford. In hindsight, given Jefferson's stumble in San Antonio, Hammond's timing was great.

Geoff Petrie, Kings

The front-runner for executive of the year? Seems like it. He clearly had the best draft of any GM, getting Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi (at No. 23) and setting the foundation for the Kings' rebuilding project. Then Petrie unloaded Kevin Martin, which officially opened the way for the Kings to be Evans' team. In the process, he grabbed Carl Landry, a power forward on the rise, who comes rather cheap. The money saved from Martin's contract gives the Kings flexibility to make a future run at free agents.

John Paxson, Bulls

Last spring the Bulls took the Celtics to the limit in the postseason. But Paxson decided against building on that experience. He let Ben Gordon go and never found a replacement. He drafted Taj Gibson at No. 26, refused (for now, anyway) to fire Vinny Del Negro and then traded Tyrus Thomas rather than extend his deal. Paxson's goal was to free up enough money to make a run at Dwyane Wade -- perhaps the best strategy -- to pair with Derrick Rose.

Danny Ferry, Cavaliers

No question, Ferry played his hand correctly during the intense days leading up to the trade deadline and grabbed Antawn Jamison, a better fit than Amar'e Stoudemire. Plus, Ferry kept J.J. Hickson, a promising player on the rise. But let's be fair. Ferry got Jamison and also Shaquille O'Neal last summer only because Dan Gilbert was willing to pay the luxury tax, an advantage most GMs don't have.

Donnie Walsh, Knicks

If the goal was to clear as much cap space as possible to fatten their wallets for this summer, mission accomplished. But it's been a mixed bag for Walsh. Dumping Jared Jeffries was costly, forcing the Knicks to essentially sacrifice three first-round picks (two plus Jordan Hill, their first-rounder last year). And Walsh passed on Brandon Jennings in the draft.

Rick Sund, Hawks

He stood pat at the trading deadline, but could afford to chill. Sund is still riding high on offseason pickup Jamal Crawford, the best of the offseason pickups. Crawford is almost the runaway favorite for the sixth man award and is the reason the Hawks are, at worst, fourth-best in the East. Sund also drafted Jeff Teague, who's beginning to eat into Mike Bibby's minutes at the point.

Donn Nelson, Mavericks

He took advantage of the Wizards' fire sale by filling two needs with a scorer (Caron Butler) and low-post defender (Brendan Haywood). Oh, and it's always nice when you have an owner, in this case Mark Cuban, to write checks to cover the luxury tax.

Daryl Morey, Rockets

He received lots of back-slaps at the trading deadline, but we won't know for a while whether the Rockets helped themselves. They added Kevin Martin, who could be the outside shooter the Rockets need when Yao Ming returns next season. But it cost them Carl Landry. Morey also added a pair of assets with picks from the Knicks, which may turn into gold, but that depends on how quickly the Knicks build themselves into a contender.

Michael Jordan, Bobcats

The trade for Stephen Jackson was the turning point of the season for Charlotte. And then Tyrus Thomas was added to strengthen the front line. This was Jordan's best move since breaking Bryon Russell's ankles.

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[farzi]

Andre Miller and Brandon Roy are playing together very well, and Andre helped keep us in the playoff race during the injuries. Plus KP also got Camby for an injured player and a backup PG. Dante Cunningham (second round pick) has been playing well in big minutes as of late as well.

[Dr Aki]

its not over yet...

there are still midseason buyouts

[KiDdFrESh]

I think Morey did a great job this season. Since he became GM in Houston, trading Tracy was certainly his most difficult task. Trading T-Mac was certainly not easy because of his salary this year. He got value for Tracy, which no one thought was possible. Yes it sucked giving up Landry but to get something of value you certainly have to give something of value in return. We got one of the most efficient scorers in the league on an affordable contract. And with T-Mac no longer in our future plans, SG was our biggest hole as far as team needs.

Landry is a very nice player and will certainly be missed but we also have Scola who is not only a better fit next to Yao but is also our most consistent player. Without Landry, that means more minutes for Luis and that's good.

He didn't cripple our cap structure with old overpaid veterans like Hamilton. And he put us in a great position to pursue to a MAX FA via sign and trade next summer. And he managed to trim our team salary by 4.4 million this season, putting us under the luxury tax.

Had we simply let T-Mac expire we would have been slightly under the cap but not enough to make a big splash since we would have to use that cap space to sign Lowry and Scola.

Morey improve the Rockets now and in the near future. Great job.

[Bobbcats]

Jeff Bower of the Hornets deserves a mention. He didn't do it at the deadline but he had the best draft and made a ton of small trades throughout the season to save shinn 15 mill without losing much talent. he may be the one that messed him up but if you just take the most recent "GM season" he's been amazing. That's not counting how much better the team was after he replaced Byron as coach.

[Serge28]

Bucks are also 4-0 since trading for Salmons. Just saying.

[Dr Positivity]

John Hammond owned this year IMO

[Kunta Kinte]

OKC GM

[ThreeYearPlan]

Anybody who trades for Kevin Martin deserves to be nowhere near this list, especially when you give up maybe the best player on your team this year

[Mr June]

Gar Forman has been the Bulls GM since last May btw. Although Paxson is VP of Basketball Operations so I'm sure a lot of the decisions are shared.
As far as Forman goes, it's been so far so good. Gordon is stinking it up this year in Detroit, Taj was a excellent find in the late 1st round (although Johnson is going to be a project). He's gotten Bulls cap space for a max free-agent.
For a GM that can't really be judged until the results of this summer, he's done a good job at keeping the Bulls competitive in the short term at 6th in the east, while retaining flexibility to dramatically add to it come July.

[Smooth32]

The Cavaliers homer in me says Danny Ferry.

He acquired Antawn Jamison, Sebastian Telfair and Shaquille O'Neal basically for Sasha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace, a 1st round pick and a 2nd round pick. He managed to keep key players like Delonte West and JJ Hickson out of both those trades.

He also drafted Danny Green in the 2nd who looks to be a future rotation player. Chrisitan Eyenga looks promising too but he's a project.

He also split the MLE between Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon.

At the end of the season last year our roster was:

Mo Williams / Daniel Gibson
Delonte West / Sasha Pavlovic / Tarence Kinsey
LeBron James / Wally Szczerbiak / Jawad Williams
Ben Wallace / Joe Smith / Darnell Jackson / JJ Hickson
Zydrunas Ilgauskas / Anderson Varejao / Lorenzen Wright

Now our roster looks like this:

Mo Williams / Daniel Gibson / Sebastian Telfair
Anthony Parker / Delonte West / Danny Green
LeBron James / Jamario Moon / Jawad Williams
Antawn Jamison / Anderson Varejao / JJ Hickson
Shaquille O'Neal / Zydrunas Ilgauskas / Leon Powe

He transformed a flawed roster into one of the better rosters in the league in about 1/2 year.

[INKtastic]

clearing cap space can't be graded until the off season when it's seen what the GMs are able to do with that cap space. If LeBron, Wade, Bosh and Amare all stay where they are, the GMs that won are the ones who grabbed the fire sale talent, not the ones who cleared space.

Jordan turned the bobcats into a solid playoff team.

Nelson made Dallas a contender to win the west

Ferry made Cleveland favorites to win it all - getting Shaq + Jamison for three expiring contracts that are bought out plus a single pick that is likely to be the 30th overall pick as well as bringing in Parker, Moon and Powe. Rather than stand pat with a team who had the best record in the league and was upset in the playoffs, he did a major overhaul and still has a team with the best record in the league that matches up far better with the other elite teams without giving up anyone at all that's important.

[Basileus777]

Anybody who trades for Kevin Martin deserves to be nowhere near this list, especially when you give up maybe the best player on your team this year

Yep. Martin is an injury prone 2nd/3rd tier guard tied up on a bad contract. He can be efficient scorer, but that's all he gives you. It could work out in Houston, but it's no cause for celebration at this point.

[The Shiv]

OKC GM

No, he drafted Harden over Tyreke and Curry, and he could have swung a deal for a big man at the trade deadline but declined to.

[Relentless88]

BC wins this, signing Rasho in the off season.

[KiDdFrESh]

Anybody who trades for Kevin Martin deserves to be nowhere near this list, especially when you give up maybe the best player on your team this year

Really? I agree the dude is overrated but other SG that was available would have been a better option?

And while Landry was beasting this year, he is redundant with Yao. Scola is a much better fit.

[britblazerdude]

Houston effed up majorly. I didn't like the trade for them and now they have lost 4 out of 5...You can't win games with Ariza, Martin and Brooks as your three scorers. All good players but you can only have so many players that play that certain style of basketball.

[Dr Positivity]

Kevin Martin will work out in Houston, he just needs a little time. I think Houston had their eye on next year with that deal to be honest

[Buck You]

Shouts on the John Hammond shout out, he's done really well lately.

[retrospect24]

I'd rather have Carl Landry on my team than Kevin Martin. I'm just sayin...