Rank the rumoured replacements for Masai

[ATLTimekeeper]

I don't rate Bobby highly at all. Maybe that's unfair. It's kind of like with Masai, where he should either get all of the credit or none at all, and I'm not sure which one. For a cap expert, you would think he'd run a bit of a tighter ship. To be fair, we've never really been in cap hell with him around either, so maybe he's secretly doing a great job there.

I dunno, if there were a GM (under a PBO) of a team that won a title in the past 5-10 years but had since been an absolute trainwreck, I don't think I'd be salivating to pick them up. Front office performance can be tough to evaluate though... like I'd want nothing to do with Myers, Pelinka, or Horst, and they've won titles recently.

Graham was a guy to look out for because of his scouting background. I prefer that to a bean counter like Bobby any day. I concede that he doesn't have the profile of Bobby -- I didn't even know he'd left New Orleans until hearing a feature about how he helped fleece Dumars immediately after going to Atlanta. Again though, that's the tough thing about front office guys; they are usually unavailable (your Sam Presti-types), unknown (can't say I can name the assistant GM or director of scouting for any other teams), or undesirable because they've recently been fired.

Kind of makes me think we should be going for one of these agent-turned-FO exec types or a former coach looking to move upstairs.

I think this is an unfair opinion. Either Masai hired a bunch of yes men and did all the legwork, or he hired a bunch of good basketball guys and they all played a part. I couldn't tell you if Bobby would be a good president, as much as I couldn't tell you if Masai would have been a good president before he was one. It's unfair to just call him a bean counter when it's known that he does scouting, trades, contract negotiations, etc. Maybe his prowess is overrated, but the characterization is unfair. It would be like claiming Masai was only there to stick his finger in the air and promise victory. That's not true, Masai was also a rich kid business student that broke into the league by networking. He got tapped on the shoulder for a big promotion by BC, like Bobby got tapped on the shoulder by Masai.

[And1Skip]

A president of basketball operations role is to hire the right people to do all of the leg work as well as recommend decisions. The president will simply be responsible for a yes or a no and if he trusts the people he hired, then the decision is normally a yes. It's a role I play in the company I work for being high level second in-command and never had any of my recommendations denied in my 8 years working here. The front office that Masai had built now is exactly what he had envisioned when he started 12 years ago - its pretty much the same people since he started and thus, Masai never had to do much in his position - yes he did a lot of work and still did a lot of scouting - but he wasn't the only one doing the work. The key trait of a PBO is the connection with the Board but in this case, Keith Pelley. That didn't work out (obviously due to Ed's influence) but just like in every other large corporation like the one I work for, that position that reports to the CEO or CFO, is very crucial being able to communicate ideas and recommendations to the C-suite. Not a lot of high-level executives have that skill. Of course, they'll probably hire a "yes man" but as far as basketball decisions, I'm pretty sure that won't be impacted much as long as Bobby and Dan are doing their job.