Rob Hennigan being groomed for GM after Presti

[bigdogdylan5]

I was listening to Bill Simmons podcast, and on the topic of “ if the Celtics inquired about Sam Presti after Ainge stepped down.” Chris Mannix said that OKC is grooming Hennigan to be a possible successor. He added that outside of Presti he is the only one with access to the owner and the plan is in place if Presti decides to move on.

I feel like I am prepared to die on this hill, but I do not think Hennigan was a bad GM. I trust Hammond and Weltman because I think they are more experienced. Most of Hennigan’s mistakes were due to inexperience (Payton trade). I don’t think anyone will ever convince me that the Oladipo and Bismak moves were made by him in a vacuum. Either Martin’s just gave an on high direction or he basically told him you need to make the playoffs this year or your gone. Those moves were too dumb and very out of character. We will see but one of the best run organizations clearly think very highly of him.

[tiderulz]

ehh, you can call it inexperience. but he made plenty of bad moves. Payton and Hezonja were bad draft picks. every GM is going to have hits and misses. i want call him extremely bad, but i wont call him good either.

[bigdogdylan5]

ehh, you can call it inexperience. but he made plenty of bad moves. Payton and Hezonja were bad draft picks. every GM is going to have hits and misses. i want call him extremely bad, but i wont call him good either.

Very true draft can really be a crap shoot. Even our current team looks like they wiffed on Bamba. I feel like Hennigan gets the awful status but he is definitely not in the Otis and Weisbrod level. We were able to use his guys who turned into something to get a great start on this rebuild with Vuc and Gordon. Also I feel like if we keep Oladipo his whole tenure looks different. One reason I want to hold on to Bamba as long as possible is sometimes these guys bloom after 25. Just found it really curious.

[Max Power]

My opinion on Hennigan has changed over the last year or two. Mostly seeing how bad WeLtman and Hammond are opened my eyes a bit. Hennigan made some pretty bad movies, drafting Hejonza and overpaying to draft Payton, and the Oladipo trade. But he also made some good moves as well, drafting Dipo was smart, finding Tobias Harris and Nic Vucevic are two moves that ensure he’ll be a GM again. Look at the ‘15 squad on paper and tell me that team wasn’t loaded with talent. It had Vuc, Dipo, AG, Harris, Payton, and Fournier on it. I think DJ was on that squad too. Don’t tell me that roster doesn’t win 45 games plus if a Steve Clifford coached it instead of bi-polar Skiles. Hennigans going to be a good GM when he takes over OKC eventually.

[tiderulz]

My opinion on Hennigan has changed over the last year or two. Mostly seeing how bad WeLtman and Hammond are opened my eyes a bit. Hennigan made some pretty bad movies, drafting Hejonza and overpaying to draft Payton, and the Oladipo trade. But he also made some good moves as well, drafting Dipo was smart, finding Tobias Harris and Nic Vucevic are two moves that ensure he’ll be a GM again. Look at the ‘15 squad on paper and tell me that team wasn’t loaded with talent. It had Vuc, Dipo, AG, Harris, Payton, and Fournier on it. I think DJ was on that squad too. Don’t tell me that roster doesn’t win 45 games plus if a Steve Clifford coached it instead of bi-polar Skiles. Hennigans going to be a good GM when he takes over OKC eventually.

he found Harris, but then traded him away for a box of skittles. oversigned Biyombo (causing both salary cap issues and team chemistry issues), traded Dipo for aging Ibaka and then broke that team up right away. Also cant really credit finding Vuc, no one would have expected what he became from what they saw of him.

not the worse GM (he didnt trade away multiple picks for KG and Pierce for example) but i wouldnt call him good.

[Kent]

I don't think he's as bad as some say, but I don't want to be the one to give him a second chance.

The draft board social media gaffe is up there on the list of mistakes.

I liked some of his moves though.

I was watching live via the war room web cam feed when he made the Dipo/Ibaka trade, and judging from his reaction, he had a say.

Personally, I want a GM that guys want to work with and have a relationship with.

Not that I want Pat Riley, but he is a guy with a reputation.

I can't think of anyone else who fits the bill, just thought I'd drop that nugget here.

[TDJacksonville]

ehh, you can call it inexperience. but he made plenty of bad moves. Payton and Hezonja were bad draft picks. every GM is going to have hits and misses. i want call him extremely bad, but i wont call him good either.

Very true draft can really be a crap shoot. Even our current team looks like they wiffed on Bamba. I feel like Hennigan gets the awful status but he is definitely not in the Otis and Weisbrod level. We were able to use his guys who turned into something to get a great start on this rebuild with Vuc and Gordon. Also I feel like if we keep Oladipo his whole tenure looks different. One reason I want to hold on to Bamba as long as possible is sometimes these guys bloom after 25. Just found it really curious.

Weisbrod wasn't a bad gm. He just liked hockey more then basketball.

He brought in Dwight, jameer, hedo.

[The Effect]

I dont care what people say, i think he has a great eye for a talent and if he has the support of the owner, i think he can be a very good GM

If martins\devos didnt try to force him to speed up his plan, i can guarantee we would be in a MUCH better place than we've been under weham

His ability to find diamonds like Tobias Harris, Vuc, AG (i know people dont like him, but look at the pics after him, it was right pick) and even being able to flip a washed up afflalo for a 22 year old fournier. He drafted Oladipo and with a little lotto luck, he could of had this team back in contention (the porzingiz pick comes to mind)

Was he perfect? No....I mean the mario pick was bad (but atleast he swung for the home run), as was his first pick, Nicholson, but id say with some patience, he would of been a geat GM, and OKC will be in a very good hands when he takes over

[fendilim]

His real miss was Payton, IMO.

That draft, he was targetting KP for that pick. I think that derailed everything.

[bigdogdylan5]

His real miss was Payton, IMO.

That draft, he was targetting KP for that pick. I think that derailed everything.

It really was Hinkey took him to the damn woodshed

[bigdogdylan5]

My opinion on Hennigan has changed over the last year or two. Mostly seeing how bad WeLtman and Hammond are opened my eyes a bit. Hennigan made some pretty bad movies, drafting Hejonza and overpaying to draft Payton, and the Oladipo trade. But he also made some good moves as well, drafting Dipo was smart, finding Tobias Harris and Nic Vucevic are two moves that ensure he’ll be a GM again. Look at the ‘15 squad on paper and tell me that team wasn’t loaded with talent. It had Vuc, Dipo, AG, Harris, Payton, and Fournier on it. I think DJ was on that squad too. Don’t tell me that roster doesn’t win 45 games plus if a Steve Clifford coached it instead of bi-polar Skiles. Hennigans going to be a good GM when he takes over OKC eventually.

he found Harris, but then traded him away for a box of skittles. oversigned Biyombo (causing both salary cap issues and team chemistry issues), traded Dipo for aging Ibaka and then broke that team up right away. Also cant really credit finding Vuc, no one would have expected what he became from what they saw of him.

not the worse GM (he didnt trade away multiple picks for KG and Pierce for example) but i wouldnt call him good.

I think all inexpensive stuff Harris is in the same boat as the ibaka trade in a vacuum without Skiles he doesn’t do that trade

[rcklsscognition]

Payton was a miss only in retrospect. Hennigan's idea was sound, Payton could have become something very unique, but his shot or his commitment to the game made him a bust. The mistake Hennigan made was holding on too long to Payton. I also don't hate the Hezonja pick, to be honest, it was one of my favorite draft picks of all time, but it just didn't pan out. It's impossible for us to understand if that is something the GM could/should have caught pre-draft. Again, the idea of drafting Hezonja was sound. He just didn't pan out.

[bigdogdylan5]

ehh, you can call it inexperience. but he made plenty of bad moves. Payton and Hezonja were bad draft picks. every GM is going to have hits and misses. i want call him extremely bad, but i wont call him good either.

Very true draft can really be a crap shoot. Even our current team looks like they wiffed on Bamba. I feel like Hennigan gets the awful status but he is definitely not in the Otis and Weisbrod level. We were able to use his guys who turned into something to get a great start on this rebuild with Vuc and Gordon. Also I feel like if we keep Oladipo his whole tenure looks different. One reason I want to hold on to Bamba as long as possible is sometimes these guys bloom after 25. Just found it really curious.

Weisbrod wasn't a bad gm. He just liked hockey more then basketball.

He brought in Dwight, jameer, hedo.

I forgot hedo was his but damn I still can’t believe we hired a hockey GM. He gets points for taking Dwight over Okafor but honestly I have a feeling all his stuff was dumb luck

[TDJacksonville]

Very true draft can really be a crap shoot. Even our current team looks like they wiffed on Bamba. I feel like Hennigan gets the awful status but he is definitely not in the Otis and Weisbrod level. We were able to use his guys who turned into something to get a great start on this rebuild with Vuc and Gordon. Also I feel like if we keep Oladipo his whole tenure looks different. One reason I want to hold on to Bamba as long as possible is sometimes these guys bloom after 25. Just found it really curious.

Weisbrod wasn't a bad gm. He just liked hockey more then basketball.

He brought in Dwight, jameer, hedo.

I forgot hedo was his but damn I still can’t believe we hired a hockey GM. He gets points for taking Dwight over Okafor but honestly I have a feeling all his stuff was dumb luck

Heres a list of his transactions.

April 2, 2004: Signed Derrick Dial as a free agent.

June 24, 2004: Selected Dwight Howard (1st round, 1st pick), Anderson Varejão (2nd round, 30th pick) and Antonio Burks (2nd round, 36th pick) in the 2004 NBA Draft.

June 24, 2004: Traded a 2005 1st round draft pick (Julius Hodge was later selected) to the Denver Nuggets for Jameer Nelson.

June 24, 2004: Sold player rights to Antonio Burks to the Memphis Grizzlies.

June 29, 2004: Traded Reece Gaines, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue and Tracy McGrady to the Houston Rockets for Kelvin Cato, Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley.

July 14, 2004: Signed Hedo Türkoğlu as a free agent.

July 23, 2004: Traded Drew Gooden, Steven Hunter and Anderson Varejão to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Tony Battie, a 2005 2nd round draft pick (Martynas Andriuškevičius was later selected) and a 2007 2nd round draft pick (Brad Newley was later selected).

July 29, 2004: Signed Michael Bradley as a free agent.

August 2, 2004: Signed Stacey Augmon as a free agent.

October 4, 2004: Signed Corsley Edwards as a free agent.

October 4, 2004: Signed Earl Barron as a free agent.

November 1, 2004: Traded Keith Bogans to the Charlotte Bobcats for Brandon Hunter.

January 10, 2005: Traded Michael Bradley and Cuttino Mobley to the Sacramento Kings for Doug Christie.

March 23, 2005: Signed Mark Jones to a 10-day contract, then signed to a contract for the rest of the season.

March 31, 2005: Signed Andre Barrett to a 10-day contract, then signed to a contract for the rest of the season.

Id say he had a pretty good draft history. It seemed to me he could identify talent in the draft.

Wish we could have gotten more for tmac but it wasn't a terrible haul considering he wanted out.

That tony battle trade seems awful. 3 serviceable bigs for a proven big and a couple 2nds who turned into nothing.

Bogans for hunter was trash.

Mobley +bradley for Christie was a push.

Would have loved to see how it looked after a few more years

[MoMM]

Very true draft can really be a crap shoot. Even our current team looks like they wiffed on Bamba. I feel like Hennigan gets the awful status but he is definitely not in the Otis and Weisbrod level. We were able to use his guys who turned into something to get a great start on this rebuild with Vuc and Gordon. Also I feel like if we keep Oladipo his whole tenure looks different. One reason I want to hold on to Bamba as long as possible is sometimes these guys bloom after 25. Just found it really curious.

Weisbrod wasn't a bad gm. He just liked hockey more then basketball.

He brought in Dwight, jameer, hedo.

I forgot hedo was his but damn I still can’t believe we hired a hockey GM. He gets points for taking Dwight over Okafor but honestly I have a feeling all his stuff was dumb luck

My only question is, how our FO decided to hire him? Guy was a NHL guy, managing a 2nd tier hockey team and then he ends up managing a NBA team? Makes no sense.

[RookieStar]

Drafting-wise, good. As other said, he had n eye for talent.

Unfortunately his youth and experience made other GMs low-ball all his trades. IF Rob really wanted a particular player I think other GMs always pushed for the MAX price and more.

[NEM]

ehh, you can call it inexperience. but he made plenty of bad moves. Payton and Hezonja were bad draft picks. every GM is going to have hits and misses. i want call him extremely bad, but i wont call him good either.

Very true draft can really be a crap shoot. Even our current team looks like they wiffed on Bamba. I feel like Hennigan gets the awful status but he is definitely not in the Otis and Weisbrod level. We were able to use his guys who turned into something to get a great start on this rebuild with Vuc and Gordon. Also I feel like if we keep Oladipo his whole tenure looks different. One reason I want to hold on to Bamba as long as possible is sometimes these guys bloom after 25. Just found it really curious.

Otis? The guy who built a championship contender and had a perfectly organized plan in place for when Dwight/CP3/Deron Williams hit free agency? People blame Otis for the teams downfall when in reality he was faced with a tough situation when Dwight wanted out. He tried to salvage it by bringing back hedo and trading for Gil, and it didn’t work. The man did a great job while he was here. Definitely better then hennigan. Were some of hennigans moves direction from Martins? Probably, but he also made plenty of terrible calls himself. Mario sucked. The Frye signing was terrible. The biz signing was terrible. The Tobias trade was horrific. You can pin the oladipo trade on ownership, but the dude was a complete disaster even without that. Good luck to OKC if he has to manage them. He will piss away all of those draft picks.

[Howard Mass]

My take on Hennigan is outside of the lack of accountability this team had under Jacque Vaughn, Hennigan was good player personal wise for his first two years with drafting Aaron Gordon at #4 being his last good move.

The downfall started when he gave into Philly's extortion and dealt a future and a future 2nd with #12 to get Elfrid Payton at #10 who Philadelphia took with the sole purpose of trying to trade down and get a first back they were owed.

After that, it was downhill and pretty bad outside of maybe signing DJ Augustin. I'll give him credit for turning The Serge Ibaka overpay into T-Ross and the pick The Magic traded for Fultz.

Still, it would be a big loss if OKC lost Sam Presti.

[VFX]

And?

[Xatticus]

ehh, you can call it inexperience. but he made plenty of bad moves. Payton and Hezonja were bad draft picks. every GM is going to have hits and misses. i want call him extremely bad, but i wont call him good either.

Very true draft can really be a crap shoot. Even our current team looks like they wiffed on Bamba. I feel like Hennigan gets the awful status but he is definitely not in the Otis and Weisbrod level. We were able to use his guys who turned into something to get a great start on this rebuild with Vuc and Gordon. Also I feel like if we keep Oladipo his whole tenure looks different. One reason I want to hold on to Bamba as long as possible is sometimes these guys bloom after 25. Just found it really curious.

Otis? The guy who built a championship contender and had a perfectly organized plan in place for when Dwight/CP3/Deron Williams hit free agency? People blame Otis for the teams downfall when in reality he was faced with a tough situation when Dwight wanted out. He tried to salvage it by bringing back hedo and trading for Gil, and it didn’t work. The man did a great job while he was here. Definitely better then hennigan. Were some of hennigans moves direction from Martins? Probably, but he also made plenty of terrible calls himself. Mario sucked. The Frye signing was terrible. The biz signing was terrible. The Tobias trade was horrific. You can pin the oladipo trade on ownership, but the dude was a complete disaster even without that. Good luck to OKC if he has to manage them. He will piss away all of those draft picks.

Otis didn't build that team. He inherited a roster that had a 20-year-old Howard, a 23-year-old Jameer, and a 26-year-old Turkoglu making a combined $11M. That team was destined for so much more than it ever ended up accomplishing because Otis had no idea how to do his job and threw a bazillion dollars at Rashard Lewis.