What separates these GM's is their ability to win multiple non-consecutive titles while maintaining long-term success. The two toughest things to do as a GM are getting over the hump to win a title and recovering from the championship hangover without resorting to desperation.
It's not a fluke. I've got multiple titles with different rosters.
2. Kupchak LAL
Began in 2000, so he's credited with multiple titles including successfully recruiting Shaq, then navigating the loss of Shaq and a lot of Kobe drama before getting Pau Gasol. Unearthed good players later in the draft including M.Gasol, Turiaf, Bynum. Stole Ariza from Orlando but also has consistently overpaid for weak players and gave away Caron Butler. Benefits from a great situation, and has been far from perfect, but you can't argue with the decade of success. Underrated job managing all the egos and personalities involved (including Phil Jackson). Still well off #1 because he was so bad for a while; Kobe almost left.
1. Buford SAS
Began in 2002 as GM though he's been with the Spurs since '88 and part of the brain-trust since at '97. Continuous excellence here, building multiple champion caliber teams. As GM, besides the obvious stuff (resigning the core players), he's managed to find talent from free agents (Devin Brown) and late draft picks (Barbosa, Udrih, Hill, Blair). Has somehow never won executive of the year. It'll be interesting to see how he responds to Duncan aging - more misteps like the addition of Richard Jefferson or will they rebuild? Like the Montana/Rice/Walsh 49ers, the only issue here is how to distribute the credit between Buford/Popovich/Duncan. They can't ALL be the greatest ever can they?
Monday, March 1, 2010
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4 comments:
You must be kidding with Kupchak at #2. Unless of course you got your facts wrong, which you did. Jerry West's went to the Lakers in 2002. Kupchak's first move as GM was trading for Malone and Payton. He nearly screwed up the easiest GM job on the planet. Joe is a far better GM.
Assigning credit in to any manager is somewhat unclear. According to hoopshype Kupchak was GM since 2000 (the Shaq signing). If you're going to credit West for that then Kupchak drops of course, but I'm giving him credit.
Malone and Payton were signed for cheap. Those weren't bad moves. That team did make the finals, right?
Besides trading away Caron Butler, Kupchak doesn't have many bad moves over a decade of running the franchise. Thats pretty impressive. Dumars on the other hand...
The Payton/Malone comment was to set your facts straight on years. Kupchak's first move as a GM was for Payton/Malone. Kupchak was an assistant to Jerry West before that, but if you watched basketball during the three Lakers championships, you'd know that at some point during every Lakers game the announcers would sing the praises of Jerry West, the undisputed #1 GM at the time. More on him later.
Payton/Malone was a good move, but ,as I said, easiest job on the planet. Everyone wants to play for LA. Kupchak turned Shaq into Odom and Kwame via two separate trades. He made several questionable minor moves and failed to make other moves which ultimately led Kobe to ask to be traded. Then he made one move (Gasol) which led to everyone changing from regarding him as a bad GM to regarding him as one of the best.
But that's how GMs and the sports media analysis works. It's like if a few blackjack players were sitting at a table and every time a player lost three hands in a row they were removed from the table. Every time a player won three hands in a row they were lauded as the greatest blackjack player of the moment.
I hear what you're saying now. If you're going to credit West with getting Shaq and the '02 and '03 titles, then I'd agree that Kupchak is overrated. Still, at worst, Kupchak should be lumped in with the Ainge/Smith/Ferry group.
I also agree with (and already acknowledged) the difficulty after the Shaq departure. It should be noted that that was a difficult position to be in. In hindsight, the Lakers did well in the Shaq deal. They got Odom and Butler (who they unfortunately gave away later but still). Probably couldn't have done better than that. The heat got a title out of Shaq but are paying for it in the last several years. Kupchak had to sell Shaq for 50 cents on the dollar and got three quarters.
As for being the easiest job in the planet...far from it. The Shaq/Kobe feud, your coach dating your owners daughter, managing Kobe's ego, along with Odom, Bynum, etc. all before Gasol arrived on the scene. While LA IS a prime destination for players, I'm not sure Kupchack has benefited much from it. He's gotten people to re-up with the Lakers for below market value, but no big time free agents have come at a discount since Payton/Malone. This isn't a team built by free agency.
I realize most people think West gets the credit (and for Kobe he certainly does.) I remember all the adulation he got, but I think the job Kupchak has done, beyond the Gasol deal which should have been obvious, is really good. Keeping everyone happy is a very underrated ability. (It's one of Dumars' good traits too.) Kupchak shrewdly dodged overpaying Ariza and Odom. He's drafted well. Very underrated GM job.
I think you have a point with the poker analogy. Obviously, there is some luck involved like with anything else. Thats why the guys with sustained success and no major blunders got rated so high.
Joe Dumars moves over the last 6 years are far from being dealt a couple bad hands. At what point does accountability become appropriate?
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