Best GM's in the league

[darth_federer]

Who do you guys think are the best gms in the league. As a Raptors fan, I used to think Bryan Colangelo was top 5, but hes probably not even top 10 anymore. We had such high expectations

My top 5 in no particular order are

Danny Ainge- before the trade for the big 3, drafted really really well. Also has set up salary structure really well with big 3 expiring next 3 years
Rc Buford
Daryl Morey
Sam Presti
Kevin Pritchard

[Don Ford]

Mitch Kupchak- traded for Gasol, drafted Bynum (with some help from Buss), traded for Shannon Brown, and signed Ron Ron for the MLE.

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Ferry's up there somewhere.

[DumbyTheWizard]

Mitch Kupchak- traded for Gasol, drafted Bynum (with some help from Buss), traded for Shannon Brown, and signed Ron Ron for the MLE.

Dont forget he also brought Ariza for nothing.

[Slava]

Mitch Kupchak- traded for Gasol, drafted Bynum (with some help from Buss), traded for Shannon Brown, and signed Ron Ron for the MLE.

Mitch had his hits and misses.

Gasol trade
Trading for Ariza
Trading for Shannon
Keeping the Kobe circus under control
Keeping Lamar in a crazy free agency
Drafting Turiaf, Bynum and Marc Gasol
Acquiring Fisher are his positives.

Acquiring Kwame for Butler
Giving bad contracts to Luke, Radmanovic & Sasha
Failing to get stability at PG so far are his negatives.

[RIPskaterdude]

Mitch Kupchak- traded for Gasol, drafted Bynum (with some help from Buss), traded for Shannon Brown, and signed Ron Ron for the MLE.

Signing Artest for the MLE doesn't count. It's not like Kupchak used his amazing GM skills to sign him; Artest just wanted a chance for a ring, and LA was the best place to get it.

[ThreeYearPlan]

Chris Wallace will be considered top 5 soon

[Garbs_7]

John Hammond from the Bucks deserves a mention as maybe not the best, but as a very solid GM. Has had very little financial freedom being tied down by Redd and Gadzuric's combined 28 (or so) mil, and has still managed to put together a very tough, competitive team that suites the very good coach he employed's style.

Blew it with the Joe Alexander pick obviously but found a gem in LRMAM in the 2nd round. Struck gold with the very nice Jennings pick this year and the Salmons trade at the deadline was brilliant. Salmons has been perfect for us on the wing and we also get two 2nd round picks and the right to swap 1sts this year which is looking like swapping pick 16 for pick 11.

[Subway Token]

If this summer is successful, the Donnie Walsh is a top 3 GM.

[Garbs_7]

Chris Wallace will be considered top 5 soon

Has built a good young team and drafed fairly well prior to this year but IMO the Thabeet pick will hurt a bit down the track. Passing on some very good players and potential star young guards including Evans, Jennings and Curry will be a blip on his term.

[Don Ford]

Mitch Kupchak- traded for Gasol, drafted Bynum (with some help from Buss), traded for Shannon Brown, and signed Ron Ron for the MLE.

Signing Artest for the MLE doesn't count. It's not like Kupchak used his amazing GM skills to sign him; Artest just wanted a chance for a ring, and LA was the best place to get it.

Artest did want to come to LA but if Kupchak had dragged out the Ariza negotiations Ron Ron would have probably moved on. Cleveland was after him too.

[Don Ford]

Ferry's up there somewhere.

Ferry has done a good job.

[AIfan3]

It's hard to judge GM's. Most don't stay around long enough to be judge adquately.

I guess if you had to rank, you can base it off how consistent they've kept their teams throughout the years.

My rankings are based on how long these teams have been competitive despite the ever changing landscape of the NBA

1. Mitch K
2. R.C. Buford
3. Danny Ferry
4. Kevin O'Conner
5. Daryl Morey
6. Donnie Nelson/Mark Cuban

[wiff]

Kevin Pritchard in the top five? Didn't he pass on Durant?????

[OzzyAZ]

Kevin Pritchard in the top five? Didn't he pass on Durant?????

Green font?

[Sting3r]

mitch k has to be up their. Despite his shortcomings he transformed a lottery team to a team who made it to the finals twice and won a championship in less than 3 years. Thats just crazy.

[mo4allstar]

danny ferry.

turned damon jones, sasha pavlovic, and the #30 pick into Mo williams, Shaq, and Antawn Jamison

[amcoolio]

Our team at the beginning of the 2008-09 season

Raymond Felton/DJ Augustin
J-Rich/Matt Carroll
Gerald Wallace/Adam Morrison
Sean May/Linton Johnson
Emeka Okafor/Nazr Mohammad (out of shape)

Our team now

Raymond Felton/DJ Augustin
S-Jax/Larry Hughes/Henderson
Gerald Wallace/Larry Hughes/Steven Graham
Boris Diaw/Tyrus Thomas/UPS
Tyson Chandler/Nazr/Theo Ratliff

Hell of a difference if you ask me

[Ming Kong!]

If this summer is successful, the Donnie Walsh is a top 3 GM.

Not really, if Lebron signs with NY, which I doubt, it'd be cause he intrigued about playing in NYC, a bigger market, a bigger spotlight, etc.. Walsh has zero influence. I guess you can say he's freed up cap space, but 1/3 the GMs have done the same for the 2010 free agency.

[bicatmit]

Argument for Otis Smith, GM of the Magic:

GOOD
- Traded Steve Francis for Trevor Ariza and Penny Hardaway (who was instantly waived), freeing up the cap space they used to sign Rashard Lewis
- Fired Brian Hill in 2007
- Pried Stan Van Gundy away from Miami/Sacramento
- Signed Dwight Howard to a contract extension
- Signed Marcin Gortat
- Signed Jameer Nelson to a contract extension
- Signed Hedo Turkoglu as a free agent using the MLE
- Signed Mickael Pietrus as a free agent using most of the MLE. He may be slumping a little now but he was huge during the Magic's recent run to the Finals.
- Drafted Courtney Lee with the 22nd pick in the 2008 draft
- Traded Brian Cook and Adonal Foyle (who was brought back 30-days later) for Rafer Alston when Jameer Nelson went down with a regular-season-ending injury last year. Skip captained the ship all the way to the Finals.
- Let Hedo walk this past off-season when he was overvalued and now he's under-performing
- Replaced Hedo by trading for Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson, only giving up Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, and Courtney Lee-- 3 guys who couldn't shine on the worst team in the league
- Tricked the Mavericks by signing Brandon Bass and matching their offer to Marcin Gortat in the same week
- Signed Matt Barnes for the veteran's minimum
- Signed Jason Williams for the veteran's minimum

MEDIOCRE
- Drafted JJ Redick with the 11th pick in the 2006 NBA Draft. It didn't work out for the first couple of years as Redick was buried on the bench but he's really turned it around and is now a solid SG and a valuable asset.
- Signed Rashard Lewis to a 6-year max contract worth over $110 million. Contract-wise this was terrible but Rashard helped lead the Magic to the NBA Finals, so it is what it is.
- Signed Anthony Johnson to a 2-year deal

WTF
- Traded Kelvin Cato for Darko Milicic and Carlos Arroyo. At the time it appeared as if the Magic won this trade but all 3 players are just garbage so that doesn't count.
- Drafted Fran Vasquez and Travis Diener in 2005
- Traded Trevor Ariza to the Lakers for Brian Cook and Maurice Evans
- Signed Billy Donovan to a 5-year contract. Donovan wanted out of it the next day.

Every GM has their WTF moments but Otis Smith has made many more good decisions than bad. He acts very professionally, keeps team issues to himself, keeps his cards close to his vest and sets incredible smokescreens. Recently, he didn't overreact to the trades other teams made at the deadline and stuck with what he built in the off-season, expecting the Magic to pull things together and turn it around. They did. Not to mention he has almost singlehandedly built a title-contender from a team full of scrubs + Dwight Howard. Now if the Magic wish to improve this summer, he has a wealth of valuable assets: Gortat, Bass, Anderson, Pietrus, Redick, Nelson, etc.