WOEFFEL on GM search

[smalls]

Bucks' GM search heats up
Posted by: gwoelfel at 3:49PM EST on April 8, 2008
BY GERY WOELFEL



Two former NBA general managers have drawn considerable interest from the Milwaukee Bucks for their vacant GM position.


Both Billy King, a former GM with the Philadelphia 76ers, and John Gabriel, once the GM of the Orlando Magic, are the latest to emerge as potential candidates to replace Larry Harris, who was relieved of his duties nearly three weeks ago.


Gabriel, who was chosen the NBA

[xTitan]

Billy King.... ...what a loser, terrible GM, more of a failure than Sund.....this makes me ill.

[Dags]

Great, lets look at 2 guys who had good runs because they managed to get superstars with the obvious number 1 picks.

Isn't there anyone that's got good experience building teams rather than tanking and fluking a superstar?

[EastSideBucksFan]

What deal do I like better about Billy King?


The Brian Skinner $25M contract?

The Kevin Ollie $15M contract?



This guy seems to actually represent the exact same problems that have crippled this franchise. Overpaying your bench players.


I can't remember Gabriels track record. I will have to look at it, then form an opinion about him.

[europa]

Harris is regarded as a shrewd draft evaluator and helped the Bucks unearth several gems in the second round, including Bucks star guard Michael Redd and Houston Rockets

[bango_the_buck]

Here's a short bio of Gabriel from Wikipedia. If you're an advocate of dismantling the "core" and starting over, he might be your guy...

John Gabriel is an executive in the National Basketball Association. Currently serving as a scout/administrator for the Portland Trailblazers, he is best known for his stint as general manager with the Orlando Magic. During that time (1999

[mcfromage]

I'm not sure what to think about Gabriel. I guess I'd rather have him than Babcock. King's tenure with the Sixers was pretty much a disaster. I'd just as soon the Bucks didn't go after him.

Gabriel seems like a decent, if unspectacular, option.

I like this bit from Gabriel's Wikipedia biography (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gabriel):

Gabriel won the 1999 NBA Executive of the Year Award after dismantling the previous year's team and trading players for future draft picks.

At least he knows a sinking ship when he sees one.

[smalls]

What deal do I like better about Billy King?


The Brian Skinner $25M contract?

The Kevin Ollie $15M contract?



This guy seems to actually represent the exact same problems that have crippled this franchise. Overpaying your bench players.


I can't remember Gabriels track record. I will have to look at it, then form an opinion about him.

exactly why i have the feeling he is gonna be the guy

[rilamann]

I can't remember Gabriels track record. I will have to look at it, then form an opinion about him.

Im not up on Gabriels track record either but one of his moves off the top of my head involves the Grant Hill sign and trade deal in 2000.

In that deal I heard the Pistons gave the Magic the option to send them either Ben Wallace for John Amechi.

Gabriel chose to send the Pistons Ben Wallace and keep John Amechi.



And sure Ben Wallace wasnt the defensive force in those days he was in his prime Piston days but I remember in 1999 (with the Wiz) and in 2000 with the Magic he was having some monster rebounding games.

Back in 1999 & 2000 Ben Wallace was a player I kept an eye on because I liked his game and he had some eye popping rebound games and for some reason not a lot of people took notice.

OT but after the 1999 season I wanted the Bucks to go after Ben Wallace real bad,I thought he would have been perfect for the Bucks at that time.

[fam3381]

King's failures have been well-documented, but I'll play the devil's advocate and note that he has drafted well:

Dalembert 26th in 2001
Iguodala 9th in 2004
Louis Williams 45th in 2005
Thad Young 12th in 2007.

I am going to conveniently ignore his selection of Jiri Welsch 16th overall in 2002

[battier31]

Even though Billy King is a Duke guy and I normally stand up for them, even though I shouldn't, but in this case I refuse to!!!

But I have a feeling it will be him too just because it fits with Kohl's track record Can I make a prediction? If King is the guy I'm gonna say we somehow end up with JJ Redick cuz he covets Duke guys... Like we really need someone like Redick onthis team

Can we get a new franchise and get in on some sort of expansion draft please???

[paulpressey25]

Billy King is an F-ing disaster. Some in the media are saying that he was the one who put together the Sixers team which this year is jelling......

Not true. This sixers team is only where it is at today because Larry Brown came on as advisor last year and got them to deal Iverson for Andre Miller....

No to King.

Gabriel I'm not excited about but reserve the right to look harder at it.....I want to figure out what Gabriel did there versus Pat Williams versus DeVos the owner.

[Nowak008]

Gabrieal seems like our guy. Blow this **** up.


King did a lot of dumb things, but at least he realized that he needed to deal AI. As a result they have a hungry young team with a boat load of cap room.

[pilprin]

I'd take either King or Gabriel ver Sund or Babcock.

I persoannly have liked Gabriel or Nash from Gery's first list.

[Cold Crush 24]

I would say Gabriel sounds like our man. Unfortunately the criteria to be GM on my list is
1. Be able to attract top tier players
2. Bring in a good coaching staff
3. Not be allergic to bees
4. Not be afraid to make ANY move to better your team.

I guess the search continues...

[europa]

Billy King is an F-ing disaster. Some in the media are saying that he was the one who put together the Sixers team which this year is jelling......

Not true. This sixers team is only where it is at today because Larry Brown came on as advisor last year and got them to deal Iverson for Andre Miller....

No to King.

If I still had my old sig you could get a good look at the moves King made - and it wasn't pretty.

[raferfenix]

Garbriel did a great job blowing up the Magic---people forget how close he was to getting Tim Duncan to Orlando.

He made that team attractive to free agents because it was full of hard working, selfless, defensive minded players. I'm all for going with that plan!

[LUKE23]

The only candidate mentioned that I'd take King over would be Sund. The guy is horrible. Not a good drafter at all. Gabriel I'd be blah with, wouldn't be irate, but wouldn't be excited. I think he was Exec of the Year once, but that was back in 2000.

Neither of these guys excite me, but of the two I'd take Gabriel no questions asked.

[LISTEN2JAZZ]

Gabriel doesn't look so bad. He's got a lot more success stories to his name than Larry Harris had.

[LUKE23]

Gabriel's Draft History:

1999: No first round pick, Laron Profit in the 2nd (irrelevant career)
2000: Mike Miller in the 1st (eventualy Rookie of the Year)
2001: Steven Hunter and Jeryl Sasser in the 1st, Omar Cook in the 2nd (all three busts)
2002: Curtis Borchardt in the 1st (bust)
2003: Reece Gaines in the 1st (bust), Zaza Pachulia in the 2nd

Based on this small sample, he tends to really lean towards college production over projectable pro skills. Not sure I like that very much.