Q00 wrote:Snakebites wrote:Its not surprising.
They're completely different skill sets. Sure, there's the occasional player or coach with a knack for being an executive (Pat Riley, Jerry West, Larry Bird and some others come to mind), but for the most part it doesn't work out.
14 of the last 15 championships were won by former players or coaches.
Popovich: 1999
West: 2000, 2001, 2002
Buford: 2003, 2005, 2007
Dumars: 2004
Riley: 2006, 2012, 2013
Ainge: 2008
Kupchak: 2009, 2010
The only GM who wasn't a former player or coach in that span was Donnie Nelson for the Mavs in 2011 (who is the son of a former HOF coach).
Only 3 GM's have won championships in the last 30 years that weren't former players or coaches.
Krause (Bulls)
Patterson (Rockets)
Nelson (Mavs)
I think this goes more to the fact that there simply aren't that many different teams that win championships.
Doesn't mean the average team isn't better off hiring someone with some knowledge of analytics. Of course, such a person does not necessarily have to be a non-former player, but in a lot of recent hire cases it certainly is.
And going back more than 10 or so years is simply pointless, because there simply weren't that many GM's without "basketball Phds" in positions of authority. The league is changing.