The 2019 GM Survey: Are They A Joke Or Trolling (?) Edition

[Triples333]

https://www.nba.com/gmsurvey/2019

I am going to pick my favorite standout "HUH?"s.

~20% Believe the breakout player of the year is D. Fox. Interesting, as I would say his clear breakout was last season.

-45% believe Kawhi Leonard is the best defensive player in the NBA (MONSTER favorite over the field). This is indefensibly (heyyy) wrong. I'm not sure there is an eye test or metric that could land him in the top 5 (most would not land him top 15 at any point post 2017), let alone the heavy favorite.

-Who is the best defensive team in the NBA. The LA Clippers received a 45% share of #1. Now I am convinced they are screwing with us or just downright clueless. If they finish with a top 3 Defense it will be shocking. I see them in the 7-12 range.

My conclusion is that NBA GM's and/or their interns must be much more in tune with their team finances and roster decisions than the actual league personnel. Or, many are just as clueless as some seem to think they are.

Share your thoughts on the GM survey and where you agree/disagree.

[Lakers LeBron]

So I think one thing to consider that you sort of touched on is that GMs think about the league differently than fans do because GMs have different priories than the fans do

So something like who's a better defender, Gobert or Leonard, is an interesting discussion for fans, but for GMs the answer is, "Doesn't matter. Both are on long-term contracts and won't be traded."

A question that an NBA GM might have unique insight on would be more like, "Who is the best rim protector in the 2020 free agency class?"

And then of course GMs aren't incentivized to provide accurate information on these surveys. If a GM for example expects a certain player to break out, he's better off trying to trade for that player than he is to report it on a survey

[rtiff68]

It could also be a case of them evaluating how good a team or individual can/will be when performing at their peak level as opposed to where said person/team will finish in the rankings.

For example, due to games missed, taking time off on defense due to carrying an offensive load, etc. I agree that the Clippers will not be the best defensive team in the league. That said, in a playoff series-- with everything on the line-- could that personnel playing at max effort defensively potentially be the strongest unit in the league or close to it? I would say so.

Think of LeBron's defense during the regular season his last stint in Cleveland, and then compare it to the defense he played in the playoffs...

..two polar opposite players.

[MartyConlonJr]

Clippers as a top defensive team isn't exactly a crazy take.
Kawhi is a 2 time DPOY and 2nd team last year while missing a tonne of games. Paul George was 1st team. Patrick Beverly is a dog.

Most scoring comes from the perimeter these days and they have guys that can defend all three.

Fox as breakout is a bit silly though. He'd have to reach that kind of HOF type level of play as he was borderline All Star level last year. He does have that capability maybe but there are better candidates

[Catchall]

FWIW, I think Jimmy Butler is as good a perimeter defender as Kawhi at this stage of their careers. Paul George can also take guys out of the game with defense. Keep an eye on Jonathan Issac defensively this year.

[BloodNinja]

I doubt GM's take these polls seriously.

[GeorgeMarcus]

I doubt GM's take these polls seriously.

Not only that, but I wonder if they would be intentionally deceiving in some cases. If they really like X player who has gone under the radar, they probably don't want to draw attention to that player by voting for him in any of these categories.

[azcatz11]

I doubt GM's take these polls seriously.

If they are completing them they're prob taking 2 min to complete the entire form.

Akin to taking an employee survey if you work for a big company but this is even less important

[ShotCreator]

Clippers as a top defensive team isn't exactly a crazy take.
Kawhi is a 2 time DPOY and 2nd team last year while missing a tonne of games. Paul George was 1st team. Patrick Beverly is a dog.

Most scoring comes from the perimeter these days and they have guys that can defend all three.

Fox as breakout is a bit silly though. He'd have to reach that kind of HOF type level of play as he was borderline All Star level last year. He does have that capability maybe but there are better candidates

Clippers have a ton of defensive deadweight and Leonard/Bev aren’t anchors. They’ll be good enough but closer to average than elite.

[NBAFan93]

Why are any of those crazy takes? I mean Kawhi’s defense was not that hot last year, but it’s not like those GMs are the only ones overrating him. And PG was elite defense before he got hurt too.

Nothing too crazy about the Fox prediction either. He’s legit good.

[MartyConlonJr]

OP should probably give their predictions so we can compare.

[UcanUwill]

As a Euroleague fan, I always looking forward to ''Who is the best international player NOT in the NBA'' answers, because it always provide WTF answers. THis year someone voted for Deni Avdija who is like 10th. player on his Israeli team, but ok. But for the most part they probably got this one right with Mirotic and De Colo, altho De Colo is better, Llull is nowhere close to best player anyymore tho, I would much rater have Campazzo.

Speaking about Kawhi, he coasted in regular season, but his defense in playoffs was amazing.

[Johnny Bball]

The Jazz for me. There are a few teams in their order that just don’t make any damn sense. But the Jazz aren’t finishing 4th or worse bring injury.

[Gooner]

As a Euroleague fan, I always looking forward to ''Who is the best international player NOT in the NBA'' answers, because it always provide WTF answers. THis year someone voted for Deni Avdija who is like 10th. player on his Israeli team, but ok. But for the most part they probably got this one right with Mirotic and De Colo, altho De Colo is better, Llull is nowhere close to best player anyymore tho, I would much rater have Campazzo.

Speaking about Kawhi, he coasted in regular season, but his defense in playoffs was amazing.

I remember they selected Dragan Bender few years ago, and he barely played.

[Gooner]

The Jazz for me. There are a few teams in their order that just don’t make any damn sense. But the Jazz aren’t finishing 4th or worse bring injury.

Agreed, they have evrything. Creative guards, athletic big man in the middle that can finish, lethal shooters and depth.

[The_Hater]

I doubt GM's take these polls seriously.

If they are completing them they're prob taking 2 min to complete the entire form.

Akin to taking an employee survey if you work for a big company but this is even less important

And how many GM’s Just hand the survey to a staff member and tell them to take care of it?

[cupcakesnake]

As a Euroleague fan, I always looking forward to ''Who is the best international player NOT in the NBA'' answers, because it always provide WTF answers. THis year someone voted for Deni Avdija who is like 10th. player on his Israeli team, but ok. But for the most part they probably got this one right with Mirotic and De Colo, altho De Colo is better, Llull is nowhere close to best player anyymore tho, I would much rater have Campazzo.

Speaking about Kawhi, he coasted in regular season, but his defense in playoffs was amazing.

I remember they selected Dragan Bender few years ago, and he barely played.

Seems clear that some GMs answer the question the ways it's worded, and some answer it as though it's a question about the next NBA draft. Deni is a hyped prospect but clearly not even on any kind of list of best player not in the NBA.

[cupcakesnake]

I don't understand the Clippers hate.
Beverly, Kawhi, George, Harkless, Green is an excellent defensive personnel. They should have every opportunity to craft a scary defense.
The Kawhi isn't good at defense thing had gotten to me one of the most overblown topics on this board. He didn't assume primary defensive stopper responsbility for the Raptors last season, but was still pretty impossible to score on, and always kept the team scheme intact. Whenever he needed to ramp it up, he did. I watched almost every Raptors game and while Siakam/OG/Green were clearly putting in more work on defense, i never saw Leonard do anything to compromise the team defense. He is still a very scary presence to dribble or shoot around and you see players avoid him to some extent.

I agree that Leonard shouldn't be winning awards or being called the best defensive player in the NBA anymore. But those of you who want to take it a step further and pretend he's doing a Kobe/Lebon on defense, you're just not watching the games.

[UcanUwill]

As a Euroleague fan, I always looking forward to ''Who is the best international player NOT in the NBA'' answers, because it always provide WTF answers. THis year someone voted for Deni Avdija who is like 10th. player on his Israeli team, but ok. But for the most part they probably got this one right with Mirotic and De Colo, altho De Colo is better, Llull is nowhere close to best player anyymore tho, I would much rater have Campazzo.

Speaking about Kawhi, he coasted in regular season, but his defense in playoffs was amazing.

I remember they selected Dragan Bender few years ago, and he barely played.

Seems clear that some GMs answer the question the ways it's worded, and some answer it as though it's a question about the next NBA draft. Deni is a hyped prospect but clearly not even on any kind of list of best player not in the NBA.

I understand the reasoning that they look from NBA perspective. Like Jasikevicius was much better in Europe than PJ Tucker or Patrick Beverley, but you most likely wouldnt pick him before those guys if you were building NBA team, but some of the answers over the years were insane. Like one guy once actually voted Furkan Aldemir as best player not in the NBA... what rofl? I bet it was 76ers guy, but come on, you arent even pretend you are trying.

[cupcakesnake]

FWIW, I think Jimmy Butler is as good a perimeter defender as Kawhi at this stage of their careers. Paul George can also take guys out of the game with defense. Keep an eye on Jonathan Issac defensively this year.

Jimmy's an excellent defender, but I have 2 problems with this statement.
1. Kawhi is just so much more physically gifted. 7 foot 3 wingspan with hands like Shaq/Jordan/Giannis. Jimmy has arms a touch under 6'8. Jimmy is a strong average sized wing. Kawhi is a high level physical force. This means Kawhi can guard way more kinds of players. He can mess up centers for a few positions and has no problems with any kind of wing or power forward. Jimmy can hold his own against a Blake Griffin post up due to his strength, but has a harder time bothering shots on big wings. Ben Simmons was a much more effective defender on Kawhi in the playoffs than Butler was.
2. Jimmy is slowing down a little bit. He's older than Kawhi and similarly saves a bit more for offense than he used to. He's still a great defender, but he's 30 and likes to scamper and grind a little bit less. Kawhi is 28 an although he has a less hyper persona than Butler, he's a smarter defender. Kawhi can still put the clamps on anyone when necessary. Jimmy is a beast but there are certain players that aren't a good matchup for him.