Best GM's in the league

[Rand10]

Donnie Nelson has got to be up there. This year will be the Mavs 10th straight season with at least 50 wins, all while the roster has been completely remade twice (Dirk being the only constant).

Argument for Otis Smith, GM of the Magic:

GOOD
- Tricked the Mavericks by signing Brandon Bass and matching their offer to Marcin Gortat in the same week

Otis tricked no one. Dallas made Bass their best offer and said take it or leave it. We weren't going to overpay for a marginal backup to our franchise player. Bass was completely unrelated to the Gortat situation. I'm sure our front office was surprised Orlando matched Gortat, but they knew it was a possibility, and in the end they pulled an even better center out of a hat.

[DraftBoy10]

Ok im going to start at the bottom and work my way up.

Drafting Harden was the right choice. Tyreke would have stunk it up on the Thunder. He can't shoot, Harden can. Put Harden in Reke's situation where he gets to be the #1 option and he might have put up good numbers.

What kind of arguement is that? Harden is giving the reigns to do what he can do. Tyreke's just the better player, plain and simple. Years from now, fans that say Durant/Roy over Roy/Oden would've been something will be saying the same thing. Evans is more of a ball-dominant scorer, as opposed to Durant. They would've fit beautifully. You have two of the best perimeter, young players in the league. One's thats going to be 22/5/5, one that is 30/8.

Westbrook-Evans backcourt also is one of the best defensive backcourts. Shooting is a concern, though.

Noah? Maybe, but im not enomared with him. Green is a winner. His stats are up and down, but if you watch him play every game you will see he makes alot of winning basketball plays. I am still happy with that pick.

Don't be enamored with him, it's fine. He's ugly as ****, but he's a 6 foot 11 agile PF/C that averages a double double in barely 31mpg. He's the answer to a tremendous interior defense, and pick and roll defense. He has the length, athleticism, and size to be a heck of a defender, you're talking about someone that can come out on picks, that can contest shots, etc. He'd be the perfect, young, defensive PF/C in OKC.

He'd be the team's leading rebounder, shot blocker, and improve the interior defense immenesly.

Green is a nice piece, but we all know in order to take that NEXT step in the franchise, the PF part is going to have improve.

Westbrook... We had Luke Ridnour and Earl Watson playing at the PG.... WE NEEDED AN Upgrade desperatly, Westbrook is a massive upgrade, he has the potential to be a superstar. Lopez is putting up good stats, but his team has won....7 games?! I think its a decent player putting up good stats on a bad team. I don't see him doing anything close to that on a winning team. Love, well we already had/have 4 decent pf , 2 of which are young pf prospects that look like they will become pretty goood players. (Ibaka and DJ White) no need to draft something that you are loaded at. (We picked Ibaka the same year as Westbrook, and stashed him for a year but still had Collison, Green, and a Kurt. (from memory)

Westbrook is NEVER going to be a superstar. Immeaditly get that train of thoughts out your head. In order to be a superstar, you got to show flashes year 1. Meaning taking big shots, doing big things, and exceeding expectations(i.e Tyreke evans).

Defensively and athleticism wise he's a premiere PG, but he's brick shooter, and a poor playmaker. Granted, in the draft, if you would've gotten Lopez or Love that would've been incredible. Lopez, a legit 7 foot inside presence, Love a legit double double EVERY night.

Can you imagine a Lopez/Noah/Durant front court or a Noah/Love/Durant frontcourt. Fantastic efficiency, rebounding, and defense to go along with Tyreke at the SG spot. Granted, not every pick would be the same cause of different outcomes, but with the picks Presti got he could've done better.

You'd be out at PG, but PG/Reke/Durant/Love or Noah/Lopez or Noah is SICK.

Glen Davis is an over-rated scrub. I'll admit Landry would have been nice though. But that's just refuting the picks. You can always say "they should have drafted player x instead" but whether or not he could have picked other players is irrelavant to a point, beacuse all of Presti's picks have turned out pretty good- none of them could be considered bad picks because all of them are decent players. Can every GM say that? Plenty of GM get top 5 picks and get it wrong.

Glen Davis would be a rotational piece in the OKC Thunder if he was still on the team. He's a good mid-range shooter, offensive rebounder, and pretty solid defender. You can hate him, but he's actually pretty solid. In a championship caliber team, he's a rotational piece.

Carl Landry? Now he's just evidence on how a great GM(Morey) rapes another GM(Presti).

But IMO the reason he is considered good is because of the combined body of work he has put together - he has drafted well, traded well (mostly) and has a bucket load of cap room, talent, and draft picks to show for it, not to mention a playoff team. he has put the thunde in a good position financially to resign KD RW and the rest of our good young players in the next few years. Do you realize that OKC will have enough cash for a MAx player this off season? (or dam close to it) - they did this WHILE MAKING THE PLAYOFFS! He also cleared house, we had a bunch of losers and guys that don't play d and weren't winning - Ray, Rashard, Ridnour, Watson, Wilkins, Saer Sene, Robert Swift, Johan Petro, Kurt Thomas(hes ok but old) Wally Szerbiak, etc etc to turn that group into one of the best cores in the NBA AND collect a handful of picks and a **** load of cap space takes a genius GM. Sometimes it pays to look a little deeper that just who a guy drafted.

He's a good GM cause he's patient. Other GMs be bad and continue to be bad, or be bad and trade up to be good. He's had the fortune to have a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th overall pick in the last 3 drafts. It's not like he did something to earn that.

The best thing he's done is not accept bad contracts, but that's obvious cause he has 4 youngsters he needs to play, so the benefit of taking someone more ready-now does what besides negate their playing time.

Sam Presti is a really good GM. I can't think of another guy i would want running things instead.

Daryl Morey. The best GM in the league.

[ATLTimekeeper]

I think a lot of the newer successful crop (Morey, Presti, Pritchard) just need sustained deep playoff runs before they can really be considered among the best. Right now they've just built paper empires. They haven't even gotten into the, "now I have to pay everyone" stage.

Buford is still the top, and there's no one close.

Then it's a guy like Presti, who's built a sustained contender in a small market without amazing draft picks. Dumars is in this boat, too, even though he had a few huge gaffs on his resume. Nelson (and Cuban) and Kevin O'Connor are up there, too.

[DraftBoy10]

I think a lot of the newer successful crop (Morey, Presti, Pritchard) just need sustained deep playoff runs before they can really be considered among the best. Right now they've just built paper empires. They haven't even gotten into the, "now I have to pay everyone" stage.

Buford is still the top, and there's no one close.

Then it's a guy like Presti, who's built a sustained contender in a small market without amazing draft picks. Dumars is in this boat, too, even though he had a few huge gaffs on his resume. Nelson (and Cuban) and Kevin O'Connor are up there, too.

Presti I can agree, but how can you say that about Morey. He had to pay up for Landry, and got him at bargain. Heck he paid $1 million for his draft rights but refused to pay him more than 500k on his contract to the season. He then matched the Bobcats offer after his rookie year, and got a 16/6 big man on a 3 mil deal.

Morey's ruthless with money, absolutely ruthless. He'll prove his worth this off-season, he's aligned himself as a perfect partner in a sign and trade. A top tier FA can get the most money available, and we have assets(Brooks, Ariza, Martin, Hill, Knicks picks) to get another team to accept it.

[MVP16]

I like how all of these "top GM's" were either gifted stuff (do you really think it was 100% Mitch getting Artest to sign for the MLE or was it Ron wanting to win a title and going to the defending champs?) and were on the hot seat before being forced to make a move.

Mitch was having trouble with Kobe being unhappy and got the Gasol gift. Fans were calling for his head. Mitch Kupcake anyone?

Ainge and Rivers were almost on their way out before the big trades / ring chaser signings, but oh no he's a great GM

Ferry was getting blasted for never putting talent around LeBron. LeBron becomes even better and they get gifted Shaq and Jamison and now he's a top GM?

IMO the REAL top GM's are the ones who actually build their team without getting gifts from free agents / other GMs.

Buford
Presti
Pritchard
and possibly Wallace (MAYBE)

So basically the GMs whose teams sucked enough to luck into Duncan, Durant, Oden, etc. Those GMs got good gifts from the lottery balls. It takes more skill to trade for KG and Allen in 1 offseason rather then picking Duncan with the 1st pick or Durant with the 2nd. I would have made the same decision. Nothing special about that.

[Wolfay]

Geoff Petrie's Resume:

*Longest Tenured General Manager in the NBA*

The Good:

-Selected Corliss Williamson (#13).
-Selected Peja Stojakovic (#14). A lot of people criticized the pick and balked at Petrie passing up John Wallace.
-Selected Jason Williams (#7).
-Selected Hedo Turkoglu (#13)
-Selected Gerald Wallace (#25)
-Selected Kevin Martin (#26)
-Selected Francisco Garcia (#23)
-Selected Spencer Hawes (#10)
-Selected Jason Thompson (#12)
-Selected Tyreke Evans (#4)
-Selected Omri Casspi (#23)
-Traded the draft rights to forward Jeff Pendergraph (#30) to the Portland Trail Blazers for guard Sergio Rodriguez, the draft rights to forward Jon Brockman and cash.
-Traded Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe to the Washington Wizards for Chris Webber
-Signed Vlade Divac via FA
-Fired head coach Eddie Jordan
-Hired Rick Adelman
-Signed Jon Barry (Mr. 4th Quarter for the early Kings)
-Signed Scott Pollard (Solid defensive presence at his peak)
-Signed Bobby Jackson.
- Traded Corliss Williamson to the Toronto Raptors for Doug Christie.
-Resigned Peja.
-Resigned Adelman (extension).
- Traded Jason Williams and Brent Price to the Memphis Grizzlies for Mike Bibby and Nick Anderson.
-Resigned Christie on a cheap contract.
-Resigned Webber.
-Resigned Bibby.
-Traded Scot Pollard to the Indiana Pacers and forward Hedo Turkoglu to the San Antonio Spurs for Brad Miller from the Indiana Pacers.
- Traded Doug Christie to the Orlando Magic for Cuttino Mobley. (Christie had nothing in the tank at that point).
-Traded guard Bobby Jackson and Greg Ostertag to the Memphis Grizzlies
for Bonzi Wells (At that point, Jackson was too injury-prone and lost a step due to age/Wells played a HUGE part for our last PO run in 2006).
- Traded forward Peja Stojakovic to the Indiana Pacers for Ron Artest.
-Signed John Salmons on a "bargain" contract.
-Signed Kevin Martin on a "bargain" contract.
-Traded Sean Singletary and Ron Artest and Patrick Ewing Jr. to the Houston Rockets for Bobby Jackson, Donte Greene, a future first-round pick (Omri Casspi) and other considerations (cash/2nd rounder?).
-Traded Kevin Martin and Hilton Armstrong to the Houston Rockets for Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey; traded Sergio Rodriguez to the New York Knicks (Created MAX capspace).
for Larry Hughes; traded a future second-round pick and cash to the Washington Wizards for Dominic McGuire
-Hired Paul Westphal (The best coach we had since Rick Adelman).
-Waived forward Kenny Thomas.

The Meh:

-Traded Keon Clark and two future second-round picks to the Utah Jazz in for a future second-round draft pick. (To this date, Keon was our last best defensive "big" we had/Purely for capspace/Avoiding Luxury Tax).
-Traded Brian Skinner to the Portland Trail Blazers for Sergey Monya from the Portland Trail Blazers and Vitaly Potapenko from the Seattle SuperSonics. (Skinner was our 2nd best defensive big we had in the last decade/Purely for capspace/Avoiding Luxury Tax?).
- Signed Shareef Abdur-Rahim. (We thought he can be our next huge low scoring threat but injuries finally got to him).
- Named Eric Musselman head coach. (He wasn't THAT bad, we had a .500 record before January but everything went downhill January and beyond).
-Named Reggie Theus head coach (Again, he wasn't THAT bad in his first year. Put a hard-working, all out hustle, scrappy team in his first year. Won *overachieved* 38 games in a historical Western Conference...50 wins was the bare minimum to qualify for the PO that year....2nd year: Theus worn off every player. Lost respect from players).
-Traded Mike Bibby to Atlanta for Anthony Johnson and Tyronn Lue, Shelden Williams and Lorenzen Wright and a second-round pick. (Financial Purposes).
- Re-Signed Beno Udrih to FULL MLE. (Overpaid but very productive).
-Re-Signed Francisco Garcia to FULL MLE (Overpaid but solid role player).
-Traded John Salmons and Brad Miller to the Chicago Bulls for Drew Gooden, Andres Nocioni, Cedric Simmons and Michael Ruffin; traded Michael Ruffin to the Portland Trail Blazers for forward Ike Diogu. (Financial Purposes...Even though, Nocioni's contract is pretty long).

The Bad:

-Exposed Gerald Wallace to expansion draft. (In retrospect, that was bad. Even though, it was noted that Wallace was notoriously a slacker with us. Had potential for sure but at the time, we were contending for titles. Regardless, it's still bad IMO).
-Traded Chris Webber, Michael Bradley and Matt Barnes to the Philadelphia 76ers for Kenny Thomas, Corsliss Williamson and Brian Skinner.
-Offered Bonzi Wells a 5 year/$37 million contract. (Coming off from an epic PO perfomance...Wells averaged 23/12 against Duncan's Spurs...Petrie offered the contact to Wells but luckily Wells rejected it).
-Selected Quincy Douby (#19). (A rare draft blunder by Petrie. Douby was a bust with the Kings. Skipped over Rajon Rondo).
-Fired Rick Adelman. (Even though, it seemed he ran out his time in Sacramento, Adelman was the most successful coach in the Kings franchise history).
-FULL MLE to Mikki Moore for 3 years. (Even though, Moore's contract was partially un-guaranteed in his final year(s), this was an awful move by Petrie).


...........

There is probably a few I missed but I'm pretty sure I hit most of them. Petrie is one of the best scouting/draft minds in the NBA (Top 5? Top 3?). A decent/solid negotiator in general.

Petrie has fallen from being the best GM in the NBA in his peak years (early 00s-mid 00s) to a top 10-ish GM. Still a very damn good GM. I think most teams would kill for a caliber of a GM like him.

The coaching changes were more the fault of the Maloofs than Petrie. I think Petrie would've held on to Adelman, and some of our bad moves were made under pressure from again the Maloofs to keep us competitive. It's hard to do a good job when your bosses are telling you to do otherwise. Picking Douby was 100% on Petrie though.

Anyway, Petrie has us set up well for the future, and the two-time exec of the year is in the running for his third, in my opinion.

[DraftBoy10]

I like how all of these "top GM's" were either gifted stuff (do you really think it was 100% Mitch getting Artest to sign for the MLE or was it Ron wanting to win a title and going to the defending champs?) and were on the hot seat before being forced to make a move.

Mitch was having trouble with Kobe being unhappy and got the Gasol gift. Fans were calling for his head. Mitch Kupcake anyone?

Ainge and Rivers were almost on their way out before the big trades / ring chaser signings, but oh no he's a great GM

Ferry was getting blasted for never putting talent around LeBron. LeBron becomes even better and they get gifted Shaq and Jamison and now he's a top GM?

IMO the REAL top GM's are the ones who actually build their team without getting gifts from free agents / other GMs.

Buford
Presti
Pritchard
and possibly Wallace (MAYBE)

So basically the GMs whose teams sucked enough to luck into Duncan, Durant, Oden, etc. Those GMs got good gifts from the lottery balls. It takes more skill to trade for KG and Allen in 1 offseason rather then picking Duncan with the 1st pick or Durant with the 2nd. I would have made the same decision. Nothing special about that.

You don't see the contradiction? Ainge tanked that year, missed out on a top 2 pick, got the 5th pick then traded it for Ray Allen & Glen Davis. THEN, that urged Garnett to get a trade to Boston with what assets? Oh that's right a bunch of draft picks from the three previous years; Jefferson, Telfair, Gomes, Green.

And who was the REAL mastermind behind this? Nope, not AInge. Daryl Morey, the assistant GM who helped align these pieces up.

[MVP16]

I like how all of these "top GM's" were either gifted stuff (do you really think it was 100% Mitch getting Artest to sign for the MLE or was it Ron wanting to win a title and going to the defending champs?) and were on the hot seat before being forced to make a move.

Mitch was having trouble with Kobe being unhappy and got the Gasol gift. Fans were calling for his head. Mitch Kupcake anyone?

Ainge and Rivers were almost on their way out before the big trades / ring chaser signings, but oh no he's a great GM

Ferry was getting blasted for never putting talent around LeBron. LeBron becomes even better and they get gifted Shaq and Jamison and now he's a top GM?

IMO the REAL top GM's are the ones who actually build their team without getting gifts from free agents / other GMs.

Buford
Presti
Pritchard
and possibly Wallace (MAYBE)

So basically the GMs whose teams sucked enough to luck into Duncan, Durant, Oden, etc. Those GMs got good gifts from the lottery balls. It takes more skill to trade for KG and Allen in 1 offseason rather then picking Duncan with the 1st pick or Durant with the 2nd. I would have made the same decision. Nothing special about that.

You don't see the contradiction? Ainge tanked that year, missed out on a top 2 pick, got the 5th pick then traded it for Ray Allen & Glen Davis. THEN, that urged Garnett to get a trade to Boston with what assets? Oh that's right a bunch of draft picks from the three previous years; Jefferson, Telfair, Gomes, Green.

And who was the REAL mastermind behind this? Nope, not AInge. Daryl Morey, the assistant GM who helped align these pieces up.

Umm that's my point. He didn't luck into a top 2 pick and getting a stud like Duncan or Durant like those GMs did. Jefferson/Gomes/Green weren't even lottery picks and Telfair came through a trade. And lol at saying the Morey was the "mastermind." You know this how? Ainge was just his puppet letting Morey make all the decisions?

My point is that GMs like Pritchard, Presti and Buford have done a good job. But saying that they are above other GMs like Ainge, Kupchack, etc. because those GMs lucked out in trades is idiotic because Pritchard, Presti and Buford lucked out with the draft.

[Doctor MJ]

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

Green font?

Yeah, people are way to quick to give GMs credit/blame for making the obvious pick. Oden was the consensus #1. Had Pritchard selected Durant going against the consensus, he'd deserve big credit. As it is, the Oden pick shouldn't count against Pritchard at all. Similarly, Presti in OKC shouldn't get credit for picking Durant since everyone would have picked Durant at #2.

[ATLTimekeeper]

I think a lot of the newer successful crop (Morey, Presti, Pritchard) just need sustained deep playoff runs before they can really be considered among the best. Right now they've just built paper empires. They haven't even gotten into the, "now I have to pay everyone" stage.

Buford is still the top, and there's no one close.

Then it's a guy like Presti, who's built a sustained contender in a small market without amazing draft picks. Dumars is in this boat, too, even though he had a few huge gaffs on his resume. Nelson (and Cuban) and Kevin O'Connor are up there, too.

Presti I can agree, but how can you say that about Morey. He had to pay up for Landry, and got him at bargain. Heck he paid $1 million for his draft rights but refused to pay him more than 500k on his contract to the season. He then matched the Bobcats offer after his rookie year, and got a 16/6 big man on a 3 mil deal.

Morey's ruthless with money, absolutely ruthless. He'll prove his worth this off-season, he's aligned himself as a perfect partner in a sign and trade. A top tier FA can get the most money available, and we have assets(Brooks, Ariza, Martin, Hill, Knicks picks) to get another team to accept it.

Cheapness isn't a great quality to have in a closed bargaining system like the NBA. You can only dodge agents for so long. My greater point is probably tied up in your "he'll prove his worth this off-season" comment. I mean, Kevin McHale has accomplished more as a GM than Morey.

[Sting3r]

I like how all of these "top GM's" were either gifted stuff (do you really think it was 100% Mitch getting Artest to sign for the MLE or was it Ron wanting to win a title and going to the defending champs?) and were on the hot seat before being forced to make a move.

Mitch was having trouble with Kobe being unhappy and got the Gasol gift. Fans were calling for his head. Mitch Kupcake anyone?

Ainge and Rivers were almost on their way out before the big trades / ring chaser signings, but oh no he's a great GM

Ferry was getting blasted for never putting talent around LeBron. LeBron becomes even better and they get gifted Shaq and Jamison and now he's a top GM?

IMO the REAL top GM's are the ones who actually build their team without getting gifts from free agents / other GMs.

Buford
Presti
Pritchard
and possibly Wallace (MAYBE)

Its kind of a way 2 way arrow dont you think... Its easy to build teams when your team sucks and you have great lottery picks to deal with. Guys you mentioned like Mitch, Ainge, and Ferry dont have much to work with. But they shine when they have their opportunities. Mitch with Bynum and trading for Gasol. Ainge with drafting Rondo, drafting Jefferson then trading for KG and Ray Allen. Ferry well i dont know.

Its kind of funny the names your bring up have been heavily supported by great lottery picks. Lets be real, RC Beuford/Presti gets alot of credit for his Ginobli and Parker finds. But he wouldnt be as praised if it wasnt for his drafting of Duncan whom they acquired by tanking a season.

Don't get me started on Pritchard and the Blazers....

[J Smitty]

Mark Warkentien + team really hitoff and made the right moves last season.

GOOD:
- Traded Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups.
- Traded 3 2nd round draft picks for JR Smith.
- Traded Marcus Camby for a big TE.
- Signed Chris Andersen.
- Traded to draft Ty Lawson.
- Traded a TE for Arron Afflalo.

BAD:
Traded Leon Powe for a 2nd.
Re-sign Anthony Carter.
Trade Sonny Weems for Malik Allen.

To be fair, the 2nd we acquired in the Powe trade was used to land J.R.(it was only two 2nd rounders, btw), so I'd say that wasn't a huge deal. Signing a guy to the minimum is never a bad deal, even if you don't like the player. Weems for Allen is kind of moot, since both suck...but we did need a big and saved a little bit of money, so it was mostly good(Karl actually playing Allen makes it look worse).

And add signing Howard Eisley at the end of the 05-06 season, with a second non-guaranteed year, creating an asset for the future(which was used to get J.R.) as another good move. Those kind of things go under the radar, but creating assets out of nothing is always something wise to do.

Overall I'd say the job they did on the whole these past couple years was really impressive. Not many teams could improve from an 8th seed that was getting bounced in the first round, to a 2nd seed WCF team, in one season, while also cutting 15 million in salary.

[Banks2Pierce]

You're wayyyyy wayyyyyy off base for saying Morey was the mastermind behind Ainge's success. Complete fabrication. Rondo was 100% an Ainge pick, Jefferson was, and West was Mike Zarren's baby. Morey was only one of the many people in Ainge's ear giving him help. From what I hear, the brain doctor Niednagel and Ainge's own scouting trump everything else. I want to hear one thing that Morey was directly responsible for.

And I like what Presti and Morey have done, but they still need to make the next step. Houston has a ways to go and he has to react the proper way to how Ming performs. I am not deducting him for Yao's injury, but I wouldn't consider them championship contenders this season even with Ming. I have a lot of confidence he will make the right moves, but he still has to do them. He has acquired the young talent. Now he has to either cash them in(can do some major damage with the knicks picks and his own pick) or hope one of them becomes a superstar.

Presti had Durant fall into his lap, but has had solid drafts. Not home runs, but definitely doubles at the very least. This current roster either needs harden or westbrook to be an all star (doubtful) or to cash in those types of players for a quality big man to pair with Durant. I'm not in love with Jeff Green and don't think he can be the third wheel on a contender.

Kupchak has the fortune of being in LA. Bynum was a great pick, but their bench is absolute trash right now. Their depth at the 1/2/3 might cost them a title this year. They gave up poor assets go get Gasol. That was memphis sleeping at the wheel and LA lucking out.

[DraftBoy10]

Cheapness isn't a great quality to have in a closed bargaining system like the NBA. You can only dodge agents for so long. My greater point is probably tied up in your "he'll prove his worth this off-season" comment. I mean, Kevin McHale has accomplished more as a GM than Morey.

Cheapness is the most integral quality to getting the most out of of what you are paying. And the "he'll prove his worth in this off-season" is to establish himself as the consensus best GM.

What he's done already is fantastic. The value for the TMac trade, drafting Brooks, Budinger, acquiring Landry, acquiring Artest/Ariza, getting Scola for cash from the Spurs. The only questionable move he's done is the Artest one cause Artest didn't fit, but we got Ariza out of it.

Besides that questionable move, he's done everything right while also managing to keep the owner happy. Any GM you put up against Morey, and you'll see in short tenure he has had, he's done MUCH more. Morey's been GMing for 4-5 years, there's not a single GM in their first 4-5 years that have done as well.

[DraftBoy10]

You're wayyyyy wayyyyyy off base for saying Morey was the mastermind behind Ainge's success. Complete fabrication. Rondo was 100% an Ainge pick, Jefferson was, and West was Mike Zarren's baby. Morey was only one of the many people in Ainge's ear giving him help. From what I hear, the brain doctor Niednagel and Ainge's own scouting trump everything else. I want to hear one thing that Morey was directly responsible for.

Morey brought the statistical analysis that, along with the "brain' guy, helped make everyone of those moves Danny AInge did.

[Banks2Pierce]

You're wayyyyy wayyyyyy off base for saying Morey was the mastermind behind Ainge's success. Complete fabrication. Rondo was 100% an Ainge pick, Jefferson was, and West was Mike Zarren's baby. Morey was only one of the many people in Ainge's ear giving him help. From what I hear, the brain doctor Niednagel and Ainge's own scouting trump everything else. I want to hear one thing that Morey was directly responsible for.

Morey brought the statistical analysis that, along with the "brain' guy, helped make everyone of those moves Danny AInge did.

Great explanation. You obviously have a real feel for the inner workings of the Celtics organization. Did he do statistical analysis on Al jefferson's high school numbers? I'm sure Ainge couldn't understand those 45 points and 18 rebounds a game. And what about kendrick perkins? Just do yourself a favor and stop posting ridiculous theories and posting them as facts.

[DraftBoy10]

You're wayyyyy wayyyyyy off base for saying Morey was the mastermind behind Ainge's success. Complete fabrication. Rondo was 100% an Ainge pick, Jefferson was, and West was Mike Zarren's baby. Morey was only one of the many people in Ainge's ear giving him help. From what I hear, the brain doctor Niednagel and Ainge's own scouting trump everything else. I want to hear one thing that Morey was directly responsible for.

Morey brought the statistical analysis that, along with the "brain' guy, helped make everyone of those moves Danny AInge did.

Great explanation. You obviously have a real feel for the inner workings of the Celtics organization. Did he do statistical analysis on Al jefferson's high school numbers? I'm sure Ainge couldn't understand those 45 points and 18 rebounds a game. And what about kendrick perkins? Just do yourself a favor and stop posting ridiculous theories and posting them as facts.

Oh right, like you can also depict what Morey's true moneyball strategy is. And can also depict what the "brain' dude's business was, plus the Mavericks upper level statistical department can formulate. You know as much as I do on how Morey's REAL strategies are formulated and executed...NOTHING.

I gave a vague answer, because guess what? I don't know how Morey runs things, if I did, that'd be the answer. But you can bet your life that Morey's MIT/Northwestern abilities played a pivotal role in how Ainge constructed these championship caliber Celtics, why else would they hire him?

If you choose to believe Ainge was behind every single one of his moves, then there really is nothing to discuss.

[Doctor MJ]

You're wayyyyy wayyyyyy off base for saying Morey was the mastermind behind Ainge's success. Complete fabrication. Rondo was 100% an Ainge pick, Jefferson was, and West was Mike Zarren's baby. Morey was only one of the many people in Ainge's ear giving him help. From what I hear, the brain doctor Niednagel and Ainge's own scouting trump everything else. I want to hear one thing that Morey was directly responsible for.

Morey brought the statistical analysis that, along with the "brain' guy, helped make everyone of those moves Danny AInge did.

I think people've gone overboard here. Ainge is a star GM because of the Garnett trade - and the idea that acquiring Garnett would be good is not anything Ainge needs a statistician for. It's fine to knock Ainge a bit for having good luck, but whoever persuaded McHale to give up Garnett is the one who deserves the credit, and I can't imagine that that was anyone other than former teammate Ainge.

The hesitation on deifying Morey is not unreasonable - though neither is the statement that Morey looks like one of the best GMs in the league. The moves he's done thus far are impressive, but they aren't anything that set his legend in stone. If the Rockets never become title contenders, then he won't go down as a great GM - simple as that.

[Jimmy76]

No gm is literally perfect with every move but I think Presti has been as close as you can get

he got a bottomfeeder and turned them into a perenial playoff team and possibly perenial contender (to be determined) when msot bottomfeeders get stuck down there

and even with the Durant gift look at what Lebron had to look forward to with his supporting cast his third year compared to the up and coming young players presti has put next to Durant

[KF10]

The coaching changes were more the fault of the Maloofs than Petrie. I think Petrie would've held on to Adelman, and some of our bad moves were made under pressure from again the Maloofs to keep us competitive. It's hard to do a good job when your bosses are telling you to do otherwise. Picking Douby was 100% on Petrie though.

Anyway, Petrie has us set up well for the future, and the two-time exec of the year is in the running for his third, in my opinion.

Yep.

That's true. I agree.