Where does Sam Presti rank on all-time GM list?

[Ruma85]

Curious how folks think he stacks up.

Too early to say imo.

after 18 years?

In terms of championships yes, obviously 18 years is quite a length of time.

[NYPiston]

Presti has not drafted particularly well outside the top 5 and he made one of the worst trades of all-time in trading Harden for essentially nothing. Then lost KD for nothing then proceeded to build a team around a flawed Westbrook for 4 years before being bailed out by the Clippers.

Presti is definitely a good GM but to be considered one of the best, you need to hit on picks outside of the top 5. His team without SGA would be a middling squad as well. Clippers played a big role in his recent success.

Ibaka at 24, Bledsoe at 18, Reggie Jackson at 24, Steven Adams at 12, Wiggins at 55, Jalen Williams (might have heard of him) at 12 and the other Williams at 34 beg to differ. Not a cast of All Stars outside of Jalen Williams but a bunch of solid NBA players.
Oh and Sabonis at 11, forgot about him for some reason.

How did the Clippers play a big role? He's the one who made the trade for SGA, he doesn't get credit for that? He's an elite GM all around, don't know how anybody can argue differently, and at a location where it's really hard to attract good players.

[mojomarc]

Sam is amongst the best ever.

I understand that the method of determining where he stands is to count rings, look at winning percentage and perhaps look at some contextual factors. Red Auerbach, Jerry West, RC Buford and Pat Riley are the top general managers off the top of my head. In the context of innovation, system building, decision making and weaving a team into a community, he holds his own with all of them.

Most posters, even Thunder fans are unaware of what he’s done or how he’s done it and that is just fine with Presti.

I'd throw Harry Glickman into that mix. Built the Blazers as a team, set the standard for how small market teams could operate successfully, built the 77 championship team and the Drexler Blazers (along with Bucky Buckwalter, who won Exec of the Year as part of that). From 77-on, that team never missed the playoffs and every game was sold out until he left the team in 1994.

[SelfishPlayer]

He is the best GM that I have ever seen build a Finals team from scratch through the draft. I have never seen a GM do it through the draft like him, especially more than once.

[Clav]

I voted 7; he's been a rewarding asset for OKC for sure. Despite some failings (which all GMs have some level of), Presti has done exceedingly well repositioning a team from title contention, to rebuild, and now champions in a span of about a decade. It's very impressive and I cannot recall a navigation quite like that. The team has been overall quite competitive despite a few years of specific rebuilding. Yes, some misses, but the guy drafted 2 MVPs that won it for his team. Drafted one, but traded Harden - who eventually won an MVP. Traded for a player who eventually won MVP (SGA). That's a pretty golden touch all things considered - even if some guys like McGary or Perry Jones didn't play well in the NBA at all and were gone in a flash.

His trades have been highs and lows, with some bangers and some busts among them - however he is smart at getting into other teams' deals as a 3rd team to facilitate salary and picks. During the rebuilding time he made lots of moves to gather as many chances at the draft as possible. Trading Harden was a poor one, but PG was a masterclass. I do believe he overthinks a little too much because he did draft Bledsoe (but traded him) and Sengun (who was also traded) on draft night. Both players -- if not long term additions -- surely would have helped OKC at that time and the return was questionable.

Nice to read about some of the older GMs on the first page, thank you for that summary!

[Slimjimzv]

#2 behind Red. I'd accept arguments for Jerry West. No one else could do what he's done, so no one else should be above him.

[azcatz11]

#2 behind Red. I'd accept arguments for Jerry West. No one else could do what he's done, so no one else should be above him.

Pat Riley is above him pretty easily.

[Slimjimzv]

#2 behind Red. I'd accept arguments for Jerry West. No one else could do what he's done, so no one else should be above him.

Pat Riley is above him pretty easily.

For what? Letting DWade recruit Lebron and Bosh? What a genius move. He hasn't done anything other than drive off his best players.

[azcatz11]

#2 behind Red. I'd accept arguments for Jerry West. No one else could do what he's done, so no one else should be above him.

Pat Riley is above him pretty easily.

For what? Letting DWade recruit Lebron and Bosh? What a genius move. He hasn't done anything other than drive off his best players.

Pretty obvious you are unfamiliar with his tenure. If you think that's all he did - it's not worth a conversation.

[Slimjimzv]

Pat Riley is above him pretty easily.

For what? Letting DWade recruit Lebron and Bosh? What a genius move. He hasn't done anything other than drive off his best players.

Pretty obvious you are unfamiliar with his tenure. If you think that's all he did - it's not worth a conversation.

Hah. Great counter argument. I'm incredibly familiar with his tenure. The reason you don't want to have a conversation is that you can't come up with anything to justify him as "easily" above Sam Presti. Drafting Bam? Great. He also drove off Stan Van Gundy so he could take credit for the Heat championship.

[JayMKE]

He’s built some great rosters but at the end of the day it’s 1 ring in 18 years, calling him the best ever is preposterous

[Johnston797]

He’s built some great rosters but at the end of the day it’s 1 ring in 18 years, calling him the best ever is preposterous

Who is the GOAT? The modern day GMs that have been mentioned Riley and Ainge have a grand total of 3. 2 for Riley and 1 for Ainge.

[Raps in 4]

#2, behind Pop.

[Raps in 4]

He’s built some great rosters but at the end of the day it’s 1 ring in 18 years, calling him the best ever is preposterous

He operates in the NBA's smallest market, with the cheapest owner. The fact that he managed to build two seperate contenders in 18 years is remarkable. He'd have won multiple titles if the team's owner had wanted to pay Harden in 2012.

He drafted four MVPs in that span of time.

[The Servant]

Pat Riley is above him pretty easily.

For what? Letting DWade recruit Lebron and Bosh? What a genius move. He hasn't done anything other than drive off his best players.

Pretty obvious you are unfamiliar with his tenure. If you think that's all he did - it's not worth a conversation.

I have to consider how Riley's tenure would be if his home was OKC and Presti's was Miami. I don't know if he pulls off any of his "god father" stuff if he is in a small market in a fly over state.

He has still built a great culture, drafts strong role players with good character and routinely over achieves. I think Riley is great but not sure how high I rank him all time. Consistently a top 5 GM in the league any given season though for sure.

[TwitterFingers]

Jerry West is on his own tier.

[JayMKE]

He’s built some great rosters but at the end of the day it’s 1 ring in 18 years, calling him the best ever is preposterous

He operates in the NBA's smallest market, with the cheapest owner. The fact that he managed to build two seperate contenders in 18 years is remarkable. He'd have won multiple titles if the team's owner had wanted to pay Harden in 2012.

He drafted four MVPs in that span of time.

im not saying he isn’t a great GM but I think there has to be some quantifiable measure. Presti drafted 3 MVPs and traded for another, Durant/Westbrook/Harden were all top 5 picks and kind of no brainer picks who probably should have gone earlier. Greg Oden was ahead of KD, Michael Beasley & OJ Mayo picked right ahead of Westbrook, Hasheem Thabeet was ahead of Harden.

[ShootersShoot]

Clearly one of the best ever. He drafted 3 mvp level players in a row. Yea it was with top 5 picks but ask hinkie and the sixers how easy it is to hit like that. Flipping oladipo and sabonis for paul george was an incredible move that helped set them up for where they are today.

The KD thunder was his first GM gig..lets not forget that. He obviously learned a great deal from that time and it shows in how he built the current thunder.

Basically when it comes to building through the draft and asset management/acquisition I would argue presti is essentially unmatched in nba history save like maybe 3-4 guys.

[Raps in 4]

He’s built some great rosters but at the end of the day it’s 1 ring in 18 years, calling him the best ever is preposterous

He operates in the NBA's smallest market, with the cheapest owner. The fact that he managed to build two seperate contenders in 18 years is remarkable. He'd have won multiple titles if the team's owner had wanted to pay Harden in 2012.

He drafted four MVPs in that span of time.

im not saying he isn’t a great GM but I think there has to be some quantifiable measure. Presti drafted 3 MVPs and traded for another, Durant/Westbrook/Harden were all top 5 picks and kind of no brainer picks who probably should have gone earlier. Greg Oden was ahead of KD, Michael Beasley & OJ Mayo picked right ahead of Westbrook, Hasheem Thabeet was ahead of Harden.

Most successful teams have been successful even with **** GMing. Mitch Kupchak won 3 titles with the Lakers because Shaq signed with them as a free agent (the Lakers were a treadmill team at the time) and Kobe told other teams not to draft him.

I feel most dynasty runs were a function of a team getting lucky or just having favourable market conditions. Presti has had to make his own success. Drafting/trading for future MVPs is no easy feat, even with high picks. Look at how many top picks end up being busts.

I don't think anyone for a second would consider Kupchak a better GM than Presti.

[Onlytimewilltel]

Curious how folks think he stacks up.

A good question, but I have to say I don’t keep GM GOAT list.

Let me just name some guys to talk through it a bit.

The first great GM (and also owner and coach) was Les Harrison who launched the Rochester Royals after World War II, and the NBL expansion team immediately became the best pro team in the world. He assembled his team by grabbing the best players from the military after they were freed from duty. He was definitely a dude playing chess while others played checkers, but that run of competitive separation from rivals didn’t last once the NBA developed their draft-based system.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Minneapolis Lakers GM Max Winter, though I know less of how much their early dynasty was specifically about him. Regardless, when the expansion Lakers, in a relatively small metro even then, immediately came in and signed the two biggest free agents (George Mikan and Jim Pollard), this is what set the course for the Lakers to become what they are now - the strongest team brand in basketball.

Red Auerbach is the next guy, and the clear GOAT to this day. Basically from the 50s to the 80s he’s was the gold standard. He’s so obviously the Man here I don’t think I even need to elaborate on what all he did.

Next true great is probably Jerry Colangelo, who basically launched the Phoenix Suns like Harrison did the Royals. Scout/coach/GM/owner he did it all. He also won EOY 4 times and became the most powerful voice in the ear of David Stern which enabled him essentially turn the NBA into pace and space.

Then we get to Jerry West who has a case for best-since-Red at GM even before we look at his continued legend later in when he was more of a consultant that worked with GMs who knew he was a better GM than they were.

Next up we get Gregg Popovich along with his partners and protégés who gave the Spurs a serious competitive advantage with their early adoption of international players and play. There’s also the matter that their player development was incredible, and while that’s more about coaching than GMing it feels relevant to mention here.

You can argue I should have mentioned Pat Riley before Pop, but I do think Riley’s great ‘80s and ‘90s run should be seen as primarily a coaching accomplishment. It wasn’t until the ‘00s in Miami when he really shifted his role looking to identify and empower great coaches - and boy did he, the Van Gundy bros were brilliant, Spo even more so.

As we move through the decade, we see Danny Ainge prove he could walk the walk in addition to talking the talk (which began in the ‘80s as a player). What he did in Boston first with their early adoption Big 3 era, then managing to get a competing franchise to give him assets so he can free from the by-then behind-the-times Doc Rivers and go hire the one modern college coach who actually proved to be brilliant by NBA standards (Brad Stevens), and then the new build around Tatum, just super-impressive.

And then we get to Pop-protege Sam Presti who I think we can safely say has had the best GM career of anyone who has come since. With the capstone of the title last year after this new masterful build, including identifying an unknown of a coach who has been the most cutting edge thinker in the NBA in the 2020s (Mark Daigneault), he deserved to be considered on a list like this.

I’ll put him ahead of the two early guys (Harrison & Winter), and say he probably needs more longevity to top

Red
Colangelo
West
Pop
Riley
Ainge

So I’ll say Top 10 at this time, but not quite Top 5.


EDIT: Okay, reading the poll and seeing I listed 6 guys I'd put ahead of Presti, I voted 7th.

It's possible I'm forgetting other candidates though.

Nice list. But since Jerry Colangelo had that dweeb offspring in Bryan, it drops him down a few notches unfortunately. I kid I kid. But big collar Bryan was churrible.