Cuban: GM's Pretend to have Authority.

[Buck You]

In a blog post, Mark Cuban reflected on the Mavericks' 2007-08 season and also commented on how few GMs have the final authority to complete trades.

"GMs get on the phone and talk and talk and talk," wrote Cuban. "But rarely is the GM actually empowered to make a trade. So they play the game of "having to go back to their owners". I would tell Donnie all the time, "You have the authority to say yes, when they get to the point of commitment". When we thought things would get close, we would get the "Now I have to get my owners permission". Its almost comical how unable some GMs are to pull the trigger in the NBA. Its a game they all agree to play. They pretend they have authority, until its go time. I have never seen so much time wasted in my life. I feel sorry for Donnie having to deal with all that nonsense."

Link
What do you all think about this? He's basically calling most of the NBA gm's wussies. Maybe Larry Harris wasn't the only GM to have to go to the owner and maybe Herb Kohl wasn't the only owner to meddle. The things you learn in a day..

[jerrod]

i don't see how that makes them wussies. it just makes them not the highest ranking person there.

[EastSideBucksFan]

Anyone who thinks Harris was the only GM who had to go through the owner to approve a trade is quite shortsighted.

[MickeyDavis]

When Cuban tells Donnie "you have the authority to say yes", I'm sure it's about deals that they have already discussed. I don't believe for a second that Nelson can make any deals he wants without Cuban knowing all about it first.

[LISTEN2JAZZ]

Anyone who thinks Harris was the only GM who had to go through the owner to approve a trade is quite shortsighted.

There's nothing wrong with having to go through the owner. The problem is when you have to go through other people in addition to the owner.

[ReasonablySober]

Interesting. I bet a list of vetoed deals by owners would be absolutely fascinating.

[ReasonablySober]

-= original quote snipped =-

There's nothing wrong with having to go through the owner. The problem is when you have to go through other people in addition to the owner.

Well, it's also a problem if a GM brings and owner a slam dunk deal that would upgrade the talent on the team considerably, but the owner strikes it down because he doesn't want to fit the bill.

[IrishRainbow]

Interesting. I bet a list of vetoed deals by owners would be absolutely fascinating.

Absolutely....aren't vetoes and the such available to the public as public knowledge in the law making process? I say we start a campaign for reforendom VK (veto knowledge). At least then we as fans might have the same fan authority as in the All Star games. But still a joke

anyway,
I would love to dink around and see exactly what rosters might look like if the GM had full autonomy.

[bango_the_buck]

When Cuban tells Donnie "you have the authority to say yes", I'm sure it's about deals that they have already discussed. I don't believe for a second that Nelson can make any deals he wants without Cuban knowing all about it first.

Yeah, I think the only difference is most owners are businessmen who don't want to be disturbed with trade scenarios until they're close to being final. Cuban, on the other hand, wants to be in on every aspect of his team and there's probably no trade idea that he doesn't already know about...

[Licensed to Il]

There were published reports, as well as quotes by Pat Riley (Heat GM) and Steve Kerr (Suns GM) that the Shaq - Marrion trade was conceived and executed by the owners (Arrison and Sarver). Yet media, broadcasters, bloggers, keep talking about if Kerr should have made the gamble.. etc. I have also had people in the know tell me Chicago's Ben Wallce signing was conceived and executed by the Bulls owner/chairmen and superagent Arn Tellum. And what is a GM (who wants his job) supposed to do? Quit on principle?

Yet the Bucks get singled out for having a meddlesome owner (which they do).

The bottom line is that very few owners (Paul Allen in Portland comes to mind) actually hire basketball people and let them do their jobs (though SI published a blurb that Paul Allen likes to scout obscure college players and alert his scouts about random players from Butler).

We can only hope that Herb has learned from his lack of success, and moved to a point where he lets people that know more than him make the big decisions.

[raferfenix]

I think the key is an owner having a GM who is able to convince him to make the right basketball decisions. Of course there's a give and take, as otherwise a GM would certainly spend money infinitely because it's not his and signing great free agents when under the cap is hard.

Harris may have been great at a tradechecker to get marion and boozer deals on the table....but he just couldn't convince Kohl and cronies to go for it. Hopefully John Hammond can close the deal on thigns like that----his quick hiring of skiles and purge of hte front office are both very good signs in this regard.

[MickeyDavis]

Virtually all owners sign off on deals that have a big financial impact on the team. I have no problem with Kohl doing it. And if Hammond had to work things out with Kohl one on one I wouldn't be worried. It's the damn "Big 3" of Walter, Burr and Steinmiller (along with other cronies like Majerus) that bother me. If Hammond can somehow supplant those guys and work only with Kohl we might have a chance.

[Bucks_Revenge]

so this is saying that Herb Kohl was the one who decided to trade Ray Allen not Karl and Ernie G?

[MickeyDavis]

Karl sold Kohl on the trade. In the weak East of that year Karl thought the Bucks could make a run at the finals. And with Peyton's expiring contract it would save Kohl a good chunk of cash. Potential playoff run plus reduced payroll made Kohl go for the deal.

[old skool]

John Paxson said that he went to Jerry Reinsdorf to get an extra $2-million to acquire the rights to Luol Deng from the Suns. The extra $2-million was not in Paxson's budget. (Reinsdorf does not own the Bulls; he is the managing partner and purportedly owns less than 10% of the team.)

The long term nature of NBA contract's and the possibility of the luxury tax almost dictate ownership involvement.

The same holds true for contract negotiations. Cuban has reportedly squashed several possible contracts, including the decision not to match the Suns free agent offer to Steve Nash a few years ago.

oLd sKool

[NotYoAvgNBAFan]

-= original quote snipped =-

There's nothing wrong with having to go through the owner. The problem is when you have to go through other people in addition to the owner.

Exactly...I think.

[craig]

When Cuban tells Donnie "you have the authority to say yes", I'm sure it's about deals that they have already discussed. I don't believe for a second that Nelson can make any deals he wants without Cuban knowing all about it first.

If true, it seems very different from the way GM's in baseball or football routinely operate.

In baseball, ownership decides what a team's budget is, and tells the GM. Jim Hendry for the cubs knows what he has to work with, and then is free to use it as he deems best. Does Ted Thompson need to check in with somebody on who he should draft or whether he should sign Charles Woodson?

In MLB there is no salary cap, so the ownership always needs to decide how much the GM can spend and tells him so. Only if the GM wants to go beyond his budget should he need to appeal to ownership. In NFL, the salary cap rules are well defined. So no reason to ever need to discuss with the owner, other than as a courtesy.

Only in the NBA with it's uncapped cap and small rosters is it so difficult to make a deal without needing special money authorization from the owner.