Best GM over the last few years?

[Rasheeed!!!]

or ever

[Vindicater]

A lot of people have brought up Buford. The guy is a great GM without a doubt, but this thread is about who's been the best GM over the last few years, and Buford really hasn't made any amazing moves over the last 3 or 4 years.

And why does making big earth shaking moves automatically make you great?

Bufords ability to mold and continue his teams dominance is what makes him great.

Just ask Dumars and Riley how hard it is to continue the winning tradtion?

[farzi]

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Can any Blazers fan confirm that Pritchard was responsible even though Patterson still was the GM in 2006?

I wouldn't call Pritchard great, because he got lucky in the lottery and has the 2nd most open-handed owner in the league. Currently there's no GM who can act in the way Pritchard is allowed.

Yep. It was leaked that Nash was extremely high on Noah, and was trying to talk him in to coming out so that Portland could take him and build around him. He was also reportedly pretty high on Bargs and the Stache. Seeing as how there were reports Pritchard ran the show, and we have none of the aforementioned players, it looks like thats how it went down.

[Buckeye-NBAFan]

R.C. Buford

/thread

Over the last few years, the guy is responsible for drafting Tiago Splitter, Marcus Williams, Ian Mahinmi, and Beno Udrih (then letting him leave before he came into his own), re-signing Ginobili and Parker (no brainers), and signing Finley, Horry, and a bunch of other old vets who begged to come play for the champs.

And that's the thread? Lol?

The Spurs management hasn't made a game changing move since drafting Ginobili in '00 and Parker in '01. They gave away Scola. Let Hedo walk for the MLE. Signed Malik Rose long term and had to dish out 2 1st rounders to get rid of him, and signed Rasho.

The Spurs are good because of 3 players, all of which were on their roster by 2001. Other than that? Nadda. I guess you can credit them for getting Ginobili and Parker to sign really cheap, long term deals. And not spending any money on anyone else (except Malik Rose and Rasho - which happen to be two big mistakes, so maybe its a good thing they haven't used a lot of money on anyone but the Big 3). That's about it in the last few years.

[_SRV_]

RC Buford had the leverage of Duncan, but he knew how to surround him and not waste his ability which puts him at top, Dumars built the team from scratch w/o high draft picks, his main star almost bolted to the Magic but he managed to get Ben Wallace for him, the Pistons might not wow with # of championships, but Dumars build and maintained a relatively cheap contending team by finding diamonds in the rough (Billups, Rasheed, Dyess, Prince as a very late pick, Stucky and Maxiell are looking really good), no one comes close to that.

[Kosar86]

i think making the Jazz get over the Stockton-Malone Era in 3 years with one losing season deserves some recognition, maybe not the best, but Kevin O'Connor should be here

True, but ALOT of that was because Boozer got hurt for a year, the Jazz sucked, and ended up with Deron Williams.

If they win a few more games that year and end up with raymond felton, he isnt looked at as great.


I loved what the seattle gm did in his first year.

[Mahoney_jr]

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I loved what the seattle gm did in his first year.

I liked how they transformed Rashard Lewis into three 1st rounders. But the Kurt Thomas deal isn't possible if Clay Bennett (yeah, the bad guy) wouldn't accept to take on additional salary. That was, regarding the circumstances, a nice move from this ***

[Mahoney_jr]

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Yep. It was leaked that Nash was extremely high on Noah, and was trying to talk him in to coming out so that Portland could take him and build around him. He was also reportedly pretty high on Bargs and the Stache. Seeing as how there were reports Pritchard ran the show, and we have none of the aforementioned players, it looks like thats how it went down.

Thank you for responding.

But don't you think it's kind of obvious to not talk high about the player you want (excluding Billy Knight)? Just as well as Morrison, Brandon Roy is from the North-West. And I would think that the deal for LaFrantz and the pick would have to be arranged by GMs (Ainge / Nash) and completed by the owners (Grousbeck / Allen). Pritchard may have a word to say about his assessment about the possible trade, because the goal was another pick, but I can't give him the credentials. As a scout (or chief scout) you can't work the phones to get a picture about who would like to deal a pick. I can't believe that's the way deals are made. Esp. big deals like this one (+10 million of salary).

[Blame Rasho]

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Overrated......

Best transaction: Signed guard Emanuel Ginobili on July 19 2002.

Worst transaction: Traded the draft rights to guard Leandrinho Barbosa to the Phoenix Suns for a future first-round pick in 2003.

http://hoopshype.com/general_managers/rc_buford.htm

LOL...Yeah and that pick became Nazr who helped us win a championship. Barbosa was doing nothing in that series...

[richboy]

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That wasn't his wand. That was Kobe "injecting his DNA into his teamates". Didn't you hear? Sounds a little Colorado'ish to me but at least he didn't give details in the interview.

Gasol was the magic wand

To be honest. Kupchak was pretty much right on the mark when he said he didn't think the team was as far away as people suggested last year.

The Lakers had the best record in the West when Bynum went down. Even I who was very critical of Mitch has to say that he has been vindicated. That a mark of a good GM is recognizing his mistakes and turning them into positives. Mitch blew the Shaq trade at first. Then he blew it some more when he traded Butler for Kwame Brown. He pretty much turned Shaq into Odom and Gasol. Thats not too bad. You add the draft picks and signing Fisher and Vlad to the MLE. Both that I criticized but was proven wrong.

Its weird to say someone that you thought was one of the worst is now one of the best. Fact is the Lakers have went from mediocre to a potential dynasty and the moves that Mitch have done that were so criticized can't be anymore.

[lukeridenour]

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Overrated......

Best transaction: Signed guard Emanuel Ginobili on July 19 2002.

Worst transaction: Traded the draft rights to guard Leandrinho Barbosa to the Phoenix Suns for a future first-round pick in 2003.

http://hoopshype.com/general_managers/rc_buford.htm

how can 3 championships in 6 years be overrated?

besides its not just who he signs and trades, we havent/barely paid the luxury tax while maintaining championship contendership.

[Boognish]

Real GM!

[Vindicater]

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how can 3 championships in 6 years be overrated?

besides its not just who he signs and trades, we havent/barely paid the luxury tax while maintaining championship contendership.

Agreed, People saying Mitch Kupchak are ridiculous...

*Shaq trade was horrible
*Brown trade was Horrible
*Getting Fisher was extremely lucky
*Getting Gasol was plain ridicolous and the Grizzlies GM should be shot.

[Point forward]

Guys, it is harder to SUSTAIN excellence rather than REACH it. Therefore, RC Buford. His little tweaking is more effenctive than any earth shaking trade. Spurs won 4 rings PAYING VIRTUALLY ZERO LUXURY TAX!! (Hi Mavs)

[Hemingway]

Danny Ainge is my pick.

Danny did a number of good things in advance to make the trades last offseason possible.

1. He made a plan (get chips and trade up) and stuck with it even when injuries struck.

2. He resisted the quick fixes. AI rings a bell, imagine trading AJ for him, it'd be PP and AI not PP RA and KG.

3. He targeted KG an lined up contracts. Yes the 7 pick and lafrenz for Theo and Telfair was a good deal for the blazers but it was great for us in that it gave us a big contract with a year less to match up with KG.

4. Smart decisions. Cash for Rondo, Signing Perk up long term at short money. No bad draft choices.

My point is that Danny worked very hard over the past few seasons to make last offseason possible. Last offseason for hte CEltics has to be looked at as one of the best ever. This seasons turn around is, i think, statisticly the best ever. If the Celtics win the finals, Ainge deserves a LOT of praise around Boston!

[Rasheeed!!!]

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how can 3 championships in 6 years be overrated?

besides its not just who he signs and trades, we havent/barely paid the luxury tax while maintaining championship contendership.

Because people act like he built the team from the ground up. Yes he's made some nice moves to keep them in contention but he's not the best GM.

[Basileus777]

Buford blowing first round draft picks on Euros that don't even play for the Spurs is a reason why they got so old. Unlike Dumars, Buford has been unable to acquire young athletic players to complement his stars.

All he has really done is sign veteran role-players, mostly shooters. Its not that difficult to build around a DUncan.Manu-Parker core.

[Flash3]

Buford blowing first round draft picks on Euros that don't even play for the Spurs is a reason why they got so old. Unlike Dumars, Buford has been unable to acquire young athletic players to complement his stars.

All he has really done is sign veteran role-players, mostly shooters. Its not that difficult to build around a DUncan.Manu-Parker core.

You make it seem as if building a title contending team, and sustaining that team as a title contender year in and year out is something easily done.......

[Basileus777]

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You make it seem as if building a title contending team, and sustaining that team as a title contender year in and year out is something easily done.......

I'm not saying that at all. Buford has done a good job of resigning Manu and Parker and acquiring veteran role-players. But acquiring those role-players is much easier once you have your core in place, look how quickly Boston was able to do it after getting Garnett and Allen. And I just think he has made a number of mistakes in the draft and if he hadn't done so the Spurs wouldn't have become so old.

[T-dot Raps]

Are some people really saying Danny Ainge?