RealGM

Make an argument for who has been the best GM over the last few years.



I'll nominate Kevin Pritchard. This guy has been unbelievable - has only been a GM for two years (was actually an assistant GM in 2006, but apparently was the man behind the huge Blazers trades that year), but has made more amazing moves over those two years than most GMs make in a career. He's also made essentially no bad moves. Here's his track record:

2006:
- Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff to the Boston Celtics for the 7th overall pick in 2006 and Raef LaFrentz
- Tyrus Thomas (selected 4th) and Viktor Khryapa to the Chicago Bulls for LaMarcus Aldridge (selected 2nd)
- Randy Foye (selected 7th) and cash to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Brandon Roy (selected 6th)
- Cash to the Phoenix Suns for Sergio Rodriguez (selected 27th)

2007:
- Zach Randolph, Fred Jones, Dan Dickau and Demetris Nichols (selected 53rd) to the New York Knicks for Steve Francis, Channing Frye, and a trade exception
- That same trade exception and cash ($3 mil) to the Phoenix Suns for James Jones and Rudy Fernandez (selected 24th)


Sure it helps to have owners willing to spend money, but a lot of GMs have that. Plus getting rid of Randolph's monster contract pretty much negates all of the cash he traded out. In total, Pritchard's major deals look like this:

Out:
Zach Randolph
Tyrus Thomas
Sebastian Telfair
Theo Ratliff
Viktor Khryapa
Fred Jones
Dan Dickau
Demetris Nichols
Cash

In:
Brandon Roy
LaMarcus Aldridge
Rudy Fernandez
Channing Frye
James Jones
Sergio Rodriguez
Steve Francis
Raef LaFrentz


He also made a smart move by signing Steve Blake as a FA to a cheap deal, and in 2005, before his promotion to assistant GM, he apparently was pressuring the Blazer to keep the 3rd overall pick and select Chris Paul, but the Blazers wouldn't listen to him and ended up dealing the pick.

RC Buford, Randy Pfund, Mitch Kupcak, Danny Ainge, Joe Dumars all are up there.

R.C. Buford

/thread

Thron is one of my favs.

BC has/had God status in TO when he first got here

Has anyone had better drafts in the last few years than Mitch Kupchak. Portland has good drafts but lots of there picks were very high.

richboy wrote:Has anyone had better drafts in the last few years than Mitch Kupchak. Portland has good drafts but lots of there picks were very high.

Heh this time last year Kupchak was dirt accoring to most LA fans. I remember lots of "magic wand" sarcasm until he actually pulled out the magic wand and now he's a hero.

Joe Dumars.

Seems like more often than not he is on the winning end of trades and he has wonderful roster management skills (salaries, contract lengths etc).

Bryan Colangelo with the Suns.

And Bryan Colangelo for the future with the Raptors.

Frosty wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


Heh this time last year Kupchak was dirt accoring to most LA fans. I remember lots of "magic wand" sarcasm until he actually pulled out the magic wand and now he's a hero.

if by maic wand your referring to ronny (2nd round), luke (2nd round), sasha (late 1st round), bynum (10th pick) & farmar (26th) all becoming strong contributors to this years success................then yeah

Joe Dumars

walchy wrote:R.C. Buford

/thread

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

TommyTheCat wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



if by maic wand your referring to ronny (2nd round), luke (2nd round), sasha (late 1st round), bynum (10th pick) & farmar (26th) all becoming strong contributors to this years success................then yeah

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.

Rasheeed!!! wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



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

the last 10 years - Spurs championships - 4
rest of league (29 teams) - 6

nuff said

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

I cant believe how well the Blazers did in that weak 2006 draft. They got the 7th pick for Telfair...crazy.

walchy wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



the last 10 years - Spurs championships - 4
rest of league (29 teams) - 6

nuff said

Yeah....and the moves PRIOR to Buford pretty much solidified that. He's obviously good @tweaking the team but he hasn't made any great deals. We'll see how good he is this off-season!

Buford owns everyone elses ****, its not even close

faze wrote:I cant believe how well the Blazers did in that weak 2006 draft. They got the 7th pick for Telfair...crazy.

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.

warriors aren't a title contender but considering what the warriors were just 2-3 years ago, he's done a remarkable job. sjax/harrington while dumping murphy/dunleavy, davis for trash, ellis in the 2nd round, warriors MAKING THE PLAYOFFS!. thats the equivalent of 2-3 titles for other franchises.

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.