Grading Larry Bird as a GM

[SmashMouthRod]

First of all I like Bird as the Exec; but there have been many questionable moves made over the last couple seasons that im wondering if the he will eventually be judged on. Firstly the last couple years in the draft.
2012
Picked: Miles Plumlee (couldve had): Draymond Green
This pick stands out because of the flexibility of Green. Couldve been great for Indy off the bench; and matched up nicely with Lebron. High character; good defender; can play the 3 or the 4.
2013
Picked: Solomon Hill (couldve had): Tim Hardaway Jr.
this pick stands out because they wanted insurance for Lance and passed on a great option to get Evan turner who stinks. Imagine Hardaway Jr. and Granger coming off the bench with CJ Watson.
2011
Drafted: Kawhi Leonard traded for George Hill;
This is biting INdy now because of who was passed up in 2009.
2010
Picked: Paul George. KUDOS! BEST Possible selection (although I believe that Utah helped us here by taking Hayward earlier.)
2009
Picked: Tyler Hansborough (couldve had): Ty Lawson; Jrue Holiday; or Jeff Teague who might I add was killing us this year in the playoffs.

I understand that this team has made great strides and has a chance to be a champion. Im enjoying every moment of it. Although this years playoffs have been kinda embarrassing as a fan (getting blown out by the Hawks and all.) As a fan seeing this just makes me wonder what if.... This team may have won it all last year and be in the process of trying to defend that this year with a couple of these players that were not selected. What are your thoughts on this? Grade Birds construction of this team....

[Wizop]

First of all I like Bird as the Exec; but there have been many questionable moves made over the last couple seasons that im wondering if the he will eventually be judged on. Firstly the last couple years in the draft.

2012
Picked: Miles Plumlee (couldve had): Draymond Green
This pick stands out because of the flexibility of Green. Couldve been great for Indy off the bench; and matched up nicely with Lebron. High character; good defender; can play the 3 or the 4.

Plumlee had a better second year than Green. hard to forcast that Green would totally change his body after being drafted.

2013
Picked: Solomon Hill (couldve had): Tim Hardaway Jr.
this pick stands out because they wanted insurance for Lance and passed on a great option to get Evan turner who stinks. Imagine Hardaway Jr. and Granger coming off the bench with CJ Watson.

rookies get PT on bad teams and sit on good teams. too early to judge this one.

2011
Drafted: Kawhi Leonard traded for George Hill;
This is biting INdy now because of who was passed up in 2009.

this was a win-win trade.

2010
Picked: Paul George. KUDOS! BEST Possible selection (although I believe that Utah helped us here by taking Hayward earlier.)

big hit although Hayward might also go higher if that draft were being redone with hindsight.

22009
Picked: Tyler Hansborough (couldve had): Ty Lawson; Jrue Holiday; or Jeff Teague who might I add was killing us this year in the playoffs.

Tyler failed to grow. his pick together with Plumlee does raise a possible preference for white players or perhaps a view that after the brawl ticket buyers had such a preference but you can't take that too far given our free agent signings.

[8305]

In hind sight the selection of Hansbrough was a clear miss. That draft was thought by most to exceptionally deep in point guards and five years later that projection has proven to be true. At that time the Pacers had a gaping hole at that position. Many talent evaluators saw Hansbrough to be extreme ly limited and that has proven to be tru also.

I have no problem with drafting Plumlee over Green. Guys like Green are always available. I won't be surprised if Solomon Hill turns out to be a similarly solid player once he's given an opportunity. Guys like Plumlee on the other hand are not always available. Moving forward Plumlee would have provided two more years of cheap productivity. No small thing as the Pacers look at having to pay George and Stephenson.

For a team reputed to be all in for a championship the trading of Danny Granger could be looked upon as a fatal mistake. The ability to step out on the floor and guard a stretch 4 has already been a problem. Gotta think Danny with his ability to stretch the floor and play effectively without the ball would be much more useful than Evan Turner. If we fall just short of advancing and Evan continues to be of marginal to no use Larry will be kicking himself for years to come.

[Jake0890]

Yeah, the Hans selection still really sucks, considering we could've had Ty Lawson and then we wouldn't have needed to trade Kawhi for George Hill at all.

He's also made some questionable free agent signings with guys like Gerald Green and DJ Augustin and trading Darren Collison for Ian Mahinmi, but I guess nobody is perfect.

He's done a great job for the most part with all of his moves and draft picks, basically hand picking the team we have now. Hindsight is always 20/20.

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[pacers33granger]

Yeah, the Hans selection still really sucks, considering we could've had Ty Lawson and then we wouldn't have needed to trade Kawhi for George Hill at all.

He's also made some questionable free agent signings with guys like Gerald Green and DJ Augustin and trading Darren Collison for Ian Mahinmi, but I guess nobody is perfect.

He's done a great job for the most part with all of his moves and draft picks, basically hand picking the team we have now. Hindsight is always 20/20.

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Wasn't Bird away from the team when they signed DJ and Green?

As for the Collison for Ian trade it looked terrible at the time since we could've signed Ian outright, but we got rid of Dahntay Jones (who was a cancer) and Collison is really just terrible, doesn't play winning ball, and has an ego. I think that one was a win overall or at the least a draw.

[Jake0890]

Yeah, the Hans selection still really sucks, considering we could've had Ty Lawson and then we wouldn't have needed to trade Kawhi for George Hill at all.

He's also made some questionable free agent signings with guys like Gerald Green and DJ Augustin and trading Darren Collison for Ian Mahinmi, but I guess nobody is perfect.

He's done a great job for the most part with all of his moves and draft picks, basically hand picking the team we have now. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

Wasn't Bird away from the team when they signed DJ and Green?

As for the Collison for Ian trade it looked terrible at the time since we could've signed Ian outright, but we got rid of Dahntay Jones (who was a cancer) and Collison is really just terrible, doesn't play winning ball, and has an ego. I think that one was a win overall or at the least a draw.

You might be right about DJ and Green, I don't really remember.

Still, that Mahinmi trade was bad. He's not worth 4 million per year (he's a min level player, let's be honest), and even though Darren Collison wasn't great for us, in game 6 (I think...) of the LAC v. OKC series, he took over the game and won it for the Clippers. Talent wise, he's far better than Ian. And as far as Dahntay being a cancer, I've never heard that.

[Miller4ever]

This year, he's been a B, maybe a B-.

[pacers33granger]

Yeah, the Hans selection still really sucks, considering we could've had Ty Lawson and then we wouldn't have needed to trade Kawhi for George Hill at all.

He's also made some questionable free agent signings with guys like Gerald Green and DJ Augustin and trading Darren Collison for Ian Mahinmi, but I guess nobody is perfect.

He's done a great job for the most part with all of his moves and draft picks, basically hand picking the team we have now. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

Wasn't Bird away from the team when they signed DJ and Green?

As for the Collison for Ian trade it looked terrible at the time since we could've signed Ian outright, but we got rid of Dahntay Jones (who was a cancer) and Collison is really just terrible, doesn't play winning ball, and has an ego. I think that one was a win overall or at the least a draw.

You might be right about DJ and Green, I don't really remember.

Still, that Mahinmi trade was bad. He's not worth 4 million per year (he's a min level player, let's be honest), and even though Darren Collison wasn't great for us, in game 6 (I think...) of the LAC v. OKC series, he took over the game and won it for the Clippers. Talent wise, he's far better than Ian. And as far as Dahntay being a cancer, I've never heard that.

I'm not 100% sure on DJ/Green, either way Bird may not have been active but was advising the team, so he should take some heat for that one, just not sure how much.

I don't think of Ian as a minimum level player, I think he's paid fairly. Still of course we could have just signed him outright IIRC. I'd consider him one of the better backup bigs in the league. Others I can think of who'd be comparable are Zaza (5.2 mil a year), Brandan Wright (5 mil a year), Asik (8 mil a year), Koufos (3 mil a year), and Mozgov (4.4 mil a year). Of those guys I'd say only Asik and Mozgov are clearly better.

Most other teams' backup bigs are clear minuses when they come in (guys like Ryan Hollins) and we desperately needed one after Foster retired due to Hibbert's inability to stay on the floor at times. Ian can at the least hold his own and plays his role well.

As for Jones, I recall him being shipped out because he was the one who got into it with Lance in the locker room that year and wasn't a long term piece like Lance. Cancer may be too strong a word, but I always hated how he played. He could be a great defender, but he also had no IQ whatsoever and stunted our offense constantly.

Same goes for Collison really. He always had some talent and could string together some good games, but was ultimately a liability. The only thing I miss about him was he could feed Hibbert in the post, but it wasn't worth the rest of his crap. There's a reason Dallas fans were more than happy to see him go. I think the only reason hes worked out in LA is because he's on a short string and has someone clearly better than him in front so his ego doesn't get in the way.

[ThePacer31]

1. He drafted Danny Granger = A
2. He drafted Roy Hibbert = B+
3. He drafted Paul George = A+
4. Trade G. HIll for Leonard = B
5. Traded for D. West = A+ (This is just as big as the Paul George draft. Pacers fans all over will agree 100%)
6. Drafted Lance Stephenson = A
7. Traded Danny for ET & Co. ET is a good player. He's never played in a good team. Another good point is that we wouldn't have been able to afford Danny next year anyways. Getting anything (getting turner is def a win) would've been okay. There will be a breakout game by ET in this playoffs, hopefully it'll be at the right time.
8. Getting Scola was a good move.
9. Getting CJ watson and Ian was a good move.

I def. think he's the best if not one of the best GM's in the league.

My grade for Larry Legend as of right now: A+