Best GM over the last few years?

[J-Mezzy]

Joe Dumars. Only wrong move he's made was hiring flip. The guy's draft picks (other than Darko) pan out and he is managed to maintain a great team together for multiple years

[Banks2Pierce]

I don't get the Bryan Colangelo love. He seems to me to be great at setting up perennial first and second round exits, which may be worse than sucking and getting lottery picks.

He can turn that around if he can get an all star swingman. That is what that team's missing, imo, but how in the world are they ever going to get one of those?

[Flash3]

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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.

Many teams have HIT on players in the draft, yet nothing becomes of it for them. So, what's the use?

His team's sustained success and post-season play, and the 4 titles over the last couple of years say otherwise.

[Banks2Pierce]

I think Dumars, Ainge, Buford, and Kupchack are very good at finding rotation level players in the late first and second rounds.

Stuckey, Maxiell, Tayshaun, Rondo, Powe, Perkins, Davis, Jefferson, Gomes, Delonte, Ginobili, Parker, Scola, Oberto, Turiaf, Walton, Vujacic, Bynum, Farmar.

These guys aren't making many bad picks in these spots. We are seeing many project players taken in the lottery that could turn into all stars while ready made rotation players are falling to the good drafters.

[bleu]

I'm gonna say either Colangelo or Dumars. Both have been amazing.

[Iggyemu]

Probably Joe Dumars. He gets low picks and turns them into good players that contribute to his team right a way.

[Liqourish]

I think Dumars, Ainge, Buford, and Kupchack are very good at finding rotation level players in the late first and second rounds.

Stuckey, Maxiell, Tayshaun, Rondo, Powe, Perkins, Davis, Jefferson, Gomes, Delonte, Ginobili, Parker, Scola, Oberto, Turiaf, Walton, Vujacic, Bynum, Farmar.

These guys aren't making many bad picks in these spots. We are seeing many project players taken in the lottery that could turn into all stars while ready made rotation players are falling to the good drafters.

Don't forget that Dumars drafted Mehmet Okur with the 38th pick.

[Buckeye-NBAFan]

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Many teams have HIT on players in the draft, yet nothing becomes of it for them. So, what's the use?

His team's sustained success and post-season play, and the 4 titles over the last couple of years say otherwise.

Parker, Ginobili and Duncan were acquired with Popovich as GM.

Tell us who Buford brought in since he took over? Rasho?

Finley, Horry, and Barry all went to the Spurs for titles because Duncan was there, not because Buford unearthed some hidden gems. Bowen stayed because no one else was going to pay him all that much. That's their whole team. I could've signed playoff hero Robert Horry, Brent "begging to sign with a contender like the Spurs" Barry and Michael "I want a title, and stay near my home in Dallas" Finley.

[Banks2Pierce]

Good point about Okur. Dumars is a great drafter. It's so weird that he messed up the draft with the most talent or they'd have more than one ring.

[Bgil]

Wo's the GM in Dallas? Getting Dirk for tractor traylor, trading for Nash. Getting Jamison and Walker. NVE. Marquis Daniels, Josh Howard, Devin Harris, Jason Terry, Stackhouse.

Year in and year out they always make big moves and they usually work out pretty well.

[Liqourish]

Good point about Okur. Dumars is a great drafter. It's so weird that he messed up the draft with the most talent or they'd have more than one ring.

Dumars has always had better 'luck' with draft picks outside of the lottery. Lottery picks have included Rodney White, Mateen Cleaves and Darko Milicic.

Of course if Amir Johnson (pick #56) and Arron Afflalo (pick #27) turn into rotation players next year... it will enhance his resume even more. Of course Carlos Delfino was a late first as well, but time will tell on him.

For as good as Dumars drafts late in rounds... I think his trades/MLE signings are even better.

Trades:
Rip Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse
Ben Wallace/Chucky Atkins for Grant Hill
Expiring/#15 for Darko/Arroyo (cap space resigned Billups, #15 Rodney Stuckey)
Rasheed Wallace/Mike James for 4 bench guys and 2 1sts
2 expirings contracts for Nazr Mohammeds 4 yr contract

MLE signings:
Chauncey Billups
Antonio McDyess

[Point forward]

Wo's the GM in Dallas? Getting Dirk for tractor traylor, trading for Nash. Getting Jamison and Walker. NVE. Marquis Daniels, Josh Howard, Devin Harris, Jason Terry, Stackhouse.

Year in and year out they always make big moves and they usually work out pretty well.

Mavs are also almost constantly paying 100m+ in salary and thus HUGE amounts of luxury tax. Cuban also cheaped out on Nash, ran Nellie out of town, traded away valuable sparkplug 6MOY Van Exel for that lazy slacker Antoine Walker, never got himself a decent C (Bradley, La Frentz, Juwan Howard, Fortson, Booth... all busts), and at last signing Dampier for that huge contract will not go down as one of the best moves in DAL history.

EDIT: not to mention that Cuban also bought those French mega lamers Tariq Abdul Wahad and Antoine Rigeaudeau.

EDIT 2: giving Finley that mega contract and then waiving him so he bolts to the archrival (Spurs) is also not a move that brings glory.

[GonzoLays]

R.C. Buford would be out of the league if not for Tim Duncan. Make not mistake about it, he hit on Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli because their organization at the time believed that euro guards could make it in the nba while the rest of the league did not. But outside those two moves, BUFORD HAS DONE NOTHING.

Remember Rasho Nesterovic being signed for 65 million? Remember that move?

Remember Brent Barry being given 7 million a year for a 8 points a game?

Remember Jackie Butler?

Remember trading away Luis Scola just to get rid of Jakie Butler?

Remember Buford giving away Leahndro Barbosa?

Remember Buford letting Stephen Jackson walk away? (Tim Duncan called him the "ulitmate teammate."

Can you name a Buford draft pick outside of Parker/Ginobli that has panned out for SA?

If he is the "best", good gracious almighty, I hate to see the worst.

It's amazing what a little Tim Duncan can cover up for a GM AND a headcoach. No Tim Duncan, and Buford is cleaning cars in El Paso for a living.

[Vindicater]

Remember 4 titles in 9 years...

Name another Gm who can say that?

Dont give me this Duncan bull...

Everything you just named cant be judged by there numbers, Barbosa was useless to them when they allready had a better version in parker.

Rasho and Barry both played Key roles in Championships, When you consider what hell Riley has put Miami into for there 1 championship then Buford looks like a genius.

Wait, The spurs still have some salary cap flexability this year right?

Oh and they made the western finals AGAIN!

And they still have not paid the luxury Tax?


Oh god, If Buford isint the best i would like to hear who is?

[lukeridenour]

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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.

its true, buford acquired too many old role players. thats why we lost this year. but hes not stupid enough to leave us strapped. we have 15 mil coming off the books for a reason.

[lukeridenour]

R.C. Buford would be out of the league if not for Tim Duncan. Make not mistake about it, he hit on Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli because their organization at the time believed that euro guards could make it in the nba while the rest of the league did not. But outside those two moves, BUFORD HAS DONE NOTHING.

Remember Rasho Nesterovic being signed for 65 million? Remember that move?

Remember Brent Barry being given 7 million a year for a 8 points a game?

Remember Jackie Butler?

Remember trading away Luis Scola just to get rid of Jakie Butler?

Remember Buford giving away Leahndro Barbosa?

Remember Buford letting Stephen Jackson walk away? (Tim Duncan called him the "ulitmate teammate."

Can you name a Buford draft pick outside of Parker/Ginobli that has panned out for SA?

If he is the "best", good gracious almighty, I hate to see the worst.

It's amazing what a little Tim Duncan can cover up for a GM AND a headcoach. No Tim Duncan, and Buford is cleaning cars in El Paso for a living.

we traded rasho for expiring contracts when he failed to be who we wanted him to be.

brent barry was signed to the MLE never to a 8 mill contract. he was vital in 05 because of his ball handling and 3 point shot, esp against the suns that year. you can say that hes still vital after what he did this year.

jackie bulter had a 2 mil contract, espn did an article that his production rate was similar to chris webbers. you cant always win, but you can take calculated risks. having a production rate of chris webber i would say is pretty good. its too bad his work ethic failed us.

trading scola, for the last time, was a combination of things. 1. to sign udoka. 2. to get under the luxury tax. 3. scola plays the same position as duncan. 4. we drafted splitter. 5. scola and the spurs relationship had been badly damaged because he was supposed to come in 04 or 05 but something went wrong.

trading away barbosa was painful, but we signed finley and NVE with the money we saved. today, barbosa would have helped greatly against the lakers or the teams previously met in the playoffs. but at the time it was barbosa (a rookie) or finley and NVE (2 well documented players.)

if stephen jackson was still with the spurs, then ginobili would not. i choose ginobili, how about you?

imo all were calculated senarios and most gms would do the same when maintaining a champion ship caliber team.

[TMU]

So Mitch Kupchak takes all the credit for Chris Wallace's stupidity?

[Yadadimean]

Kevin Pritchard is 100% so far. I just want to see how he tweaks the roster now that there is a legit untouchable core in place. This will be what determines his greatness (not to make light of the exceptional job he has done in turning the Blazers around with that draft day in 2006).

[triplet1984]

Good point about Okur. Dumars is a great drafter. It's so weird that he messed up the draft with the most talent or they'd have more than one ring.

Its easily explainable though, because Dumars was just the poor unlucky sap to have that particular pick. Every GM was taken in. ESPN's chad ford did his poll of GMs around the league, and every one had Darko at either #2 or #3 (i think it was half and half).

In fact, I think it was a mild surprise that Wade was picked when he did.

[tsherkin]

We need to quantify what "best" means, because there are a couple of different definitions:

- the guy who made the biggest move
- the guy who has successfully taken his team from zero to hero
- the guy who has maintained a championship-caliber squad

That sort of thing.

With those types of criteria in mind, you come up with a short list of qualifying GMs that generally includes:

Danny Ainge, Joe Dumars, Mitch Kupchak, Bryan Colangelo, Kevin Pritchard and R.C. Buford.

If you pare it down, Ainge and Kupchak only hit the radar because of what they managed this year. Everyone and their mom thought Kupchak was a waste of skin until he fleeced Memphis for Gasol and that had less to do with Kupchak and more to do with Wallace and Heisley only talking to L.A. and selling Gasol for pennies on the dollar. So Mitch's best move wasn't even his own major doing and he has some serious errors in his recent history.

Mitch got lucky but he wasn't dumb or incompetent enough to screw it up; he's drafted reasonably well given that L.A. hasn't had high picks and Bynum has turned out well (his major lottery pick). I don't think you call him the best GM over the last few years because I think he's too balanced in terms of success and error. The Gasol trade was a big move, though, and that certainly changes his disposition compared to his peers.

Danny Ainge? Not a lot of people were very interested in giving critical acclaim to Ainge until this year. What has Ainge done?

Well, since joining the Celtics in 03-04, he made a clear decision to stockpile young talent.

He's responsible for the acquisition of Kendrick Perkins, Marcus Banks, Al Jefferson, Delonte West, Tony Allen, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, Sebastien Telfair, Allan Ray, Leon Powe, Jeff Green...

And you'll notice a theme in pretty much all of his trades; he was getting first- and second-rounders back with every move he made, even as he acquired and moved veterans to try to push the team forward.

You don't see many glaring errors, though you do see moves that didn't work.

Ultimately, his efforts culminated in the acquisition of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, which can be seen as The Big Move. Those moves are bigger than Kupchak's acquisition of Gasol because the Lakers were already off to the races before that trade (35-20 before he even got there, 22-5 with him), while the Celtics just enjoyed a 42-win turnaround from the 24-win season they had last year.

So Ainge's commitment to his strategy paid off big dividends and has them in the Finals for the first time in like two decades. He's definitely a front-runner if we're talking "the last few years," though we still have to decide how long a time frame we're discussing. Let's say from the 03-04 season forward, to stick with Ainge's entire Boston GM career.

So looking at Colangelo, that leaves him a few years of Phoenix time... He traded a pick for Barbosa, that was nice. He also took Zarko Cabarakapa over David West, Boris Diaw, Travis Outlaw, Barbosa, Josh Howard, Kendrick Perkins, Jason Kapono, Luke Walton, Steve Blake, Zaur Pachulia, Willie Green, Matt Bonner, Mo Williams, James Jones and Kyle Korver.

That was bad.

He was responsible for bringing Mike D'Antoni to Phoenix, which was good. There are rumors that he wanted to draft someone besides Amare in the previous draft, reinforcing the notion that he's overfixated on Euroball (which is something to which we shall return in a moment).

He pulled the Marbury/Penny trade that ultimately gave him the freedom to get Steve Nash; that was HUGE. He tried to acquire Keon Clark, which was a great idea, but Clark is a pot-head who was finished with the NBA, only no one knew it but him. Great idea, didn't work out, but you have to respect the thought on Bryan's part.

Drafted Luol Deng... and was compelled to move him to Chicago because of the frugal nature of Robert Sarver, who basically undermined Phoenix's ability to stockpile young talent. Grant Hill never would have happened if they could have kept Deng and if they had, that's probably a title right there because of Deng's defense. Even if they still had to pull the Shaq deal, that's a title because of his shooting, rebounding and perimeter D. GREAT pick by Colangelo.

He acquired Nash and Quentin Richardson, both good moves (the Nash one, obviously great). He was the center of Phoenix's success for the last few years.

He parlayed Cabarkapa into a pair of second-rounders... and thence into cash. What a move. Damn you, Sarver...

Traded Q and Nate Robinson for Kurt Thomas. He was also previously responsible for fleecing Boston to acquire Joe Johnson, so he was wholly responsible for JJ's time in Phoenix, as he was his departure to Atlanta (which resulted in the acquisition of Boris Diaw, key to Phoenix's success without Amare in '06). He acquired James Jones.

That's just Bryan in Phoenix; he's responsible for turning them into a juggernaught, that's why he copped an EOY award with them.

Then he came to Toronto.

He moved Araujo for Kris Humphries (and Robert Whaley, who was waived), which gave us value for nothing. He acquired Rasho for Bonner, Eric Williams and a 2nd round pick in the '09 draft, which was big, because we needed something inside.

He completely blew the #1 overall pick on Bargnani, again showcasing his overemphasis on Europlayers. It's not a critical failing on his part but he definitely screwed up the most important pick the Raptors had acquired in years. That was a pivotal moment and he fell flat on his face. Still, he also moved Charlie V for TJ Ford, signed Anthony Parker and Jorge Garbajosa, tried Fred Jones, moved Jones for Juan Dixon (who helped, sucked, and then became an expiring deal), acquired Carlos Delfino and signed Jason Kapono.

All of those turned out to be pretty good moves, with ups and downs as usual. He also extended Sam Mitchell, which wasn't great but Colangelo helped Toronto go from 27 to 47 wins and tabbed an EOY award.

That means he's tabbed an EOY in 04-05 and 06-07, making him the most decorated executive during the period we are discussing.

Is he the best GM? We'll revisit that question shortly; his Phoenix Suns never made the Finals but check this out:

They won 29 games in 03-04; they have since won 62, 54, 62 and 55 games. They made consecutive WCFs, then the second round, then lost in the first round this year. They succeeded spectacularly while Colangelo was in Phoenix and continued to do so in the regular season in his absence because he'd built a very impressive core.

From 03-04 to now, Dumars' Pistons (the success of whom for which he is entirely responsible) has included a very long run of ECF appearances, 2 Finals appearances and a title... the only person I've discussed so far with a ring.

Dumars has been the GM for Detroit since the 00-01 season and in that time, Detroit has averaged 52 wins. If you start from 01-02, they've averaged about 55 wins. They've made the playoffs in every year but his first year and have actually made 6 consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances (including those consecutive Finals appearances).

During the time frame we're discussing, they've won a title, made the Finals the year after and made three ECF appearances since then, averaging about 57 wins.

That's some damned fine success. Hard to argue with that, his resume trumps Ainge (even if he wins a title this year) and Colangelo for sure. Trumps Kupchak even if he wins a title, and trumps Pritchard, no matter how highly you think of his efforts to turn the Blazers around.

That leaves R.C. Buford.

He inherited Manu, Bowen, Parker and Duncan, and still had the previous GM (Popovich) in the organization... as the coach.

He acquired Turkoglu, Horry and Rasho. He drafted Udrih, re-signed Manu, signed Brent Barry, extended Parker, acquired Nazr, got some decent mileage out of Glenn Robinson, drafted Oberto, signed Michael Finley, made the Bonner/Eric Williams-for-Rasho trade with Colangelo's Raptors, signed Francisco Elson, turned Eric Williams and an '09 second rounder into Melvin Ely, drafted Splitter (TBD) and Marcus Williams (big flop, like James White, whom he also drafted but was considered a coup at the time), drafted Mahinimi, waived Vassilis Spanoulis, extended Bowen, traded Udrih for an '08 second-rounder, extended Duncan, pulled the KT trade and ended up getting Brent Barry back and he signed Damon Stoudamire.

Nothing really sticks out there, certainly not with respect to a comparison to the others.

The major components of his team arrived before his term as GM, so you cannot credit him for simple things like extensions and such, nor can you really give him a lot of credit for their regular or postseason success. Buford has done a solid job of shuffling the pieces and reinventing the team a little but he works closely with the former GM and hasn't pulled anything really significant besides fleecing the Sonics for KT and Barry.

I can't accept Buford as the best GM.

I have to go with Dumars.