My apologies to MythBreaker for tilting this thread before, it's a really good concept for a thread. Here are my top 10, based on Myth's criteria:
1. Auerbach (the best coach and the best GM, ever)
2. Russell (greatest team player ever, great coach, decent GM)
3. West (
permanent top 10 player of all time, great GM, decent coach)
4. Cunningham (all time great player, all time great coach)
5. Heinsohn (great player, great coach)
6. Sharman (great player, great coach)
7. Bird (top 10 player of all time, really good coach, decent GM)
8. Dumars (great player, really good GM)
9. Riley (great coach, really good GM, decent role player)
10. Wilkens (really good player, really good coach)
Honorable Mention:
Sloan (really good player, really good coach)
K.C. Jones (really good player, good coach)
Ainge (pretty good player, good coach, really good GM
)
I kind of think West is overrated as a GM, about as much as he's underrated as a player. Magic and Kareem were already in place; paying Shaq to come to L.A. wasn't that hard; his work on the Grizzlies was very good. Meh. Great, but not
GOAT GM great.
Also, I should eat my words ("WTF is he doing there?") about Bird, there's such a short list of people who've even remotely excelled at more than one of the three functions, Bird makes the list by default. I also underappreciated his work as Pacers GM, it's at least decent.
I've also been unfair to Wilkens, I just have an instinctive loathing for the above-average Don Suttons of the world who stick around long enough to out-volume the truly great. Wilkens is much better than an NBA Sutton, though.
I tried standardizing the praise, but some of it's a little off, for sure.
