The Great Equalizers: Ranking the NBA's Five Best GMs

As I sat down to write this column, I realized that the best thing about the 2007-2008 NBA season is the fact that it took me about five seconds to pick five GM’s that have done a really excellent job this year, whereas I had a much harder time thinking of three GM’s to round out my bottom five (the top two, Presti and Wallace, were NOT hard to think of. And yes, Billy King isn’t even a real GM anymore. Good times). In fact, arguments that could only be described as ‘good problems’ even began to surface between me and my friends, such as, how can you narrow down your list to only five? Believe me, I never thought I would see the day where I had trouble deciding on only five GM’s for a BEST OF list. In fact, I had such a hard time deciding, I technically came up with six. Sue me. I now present to you my Tim Glaze’s Top Five GM’s of 2007-2008. Please note that this list was made based on current happenings up to today, March 10th, 2008.

5. Billy Knight (Atlanta)/Paul Allen (Portland)

I know. It shocks even me. Billy Knight and Paul Allen in a best-of list? And the list ISN’T ‘Best of the Worst’ or ‘Best at Making People Hate Their Team’ or ‘Best of Saturday Night Live?’ On a side note, if either one of these guys were scheduled to host the now atrocious SNL, I would watch in a heartbeat.

See, Knight has been stuck in the group of Bad GM’s ever since he took the reigns in Atlanta, and rightfully so. The Hawks have made the playoffs exactly zero times since he became GM back in 2002 and have been the laughingstock of the NBA since (and even before) then. The arena is usually half-empty, and the team’s best player, Joe Johnson, acquired for two first round picks AND Boris Diaw, is so selfish, he didn’t like playing with Steve Nash, which is like saying you don’t enjoy video games (or, if video games aren’t your cup of tea, action movies. If that doesn’t float your boat either, you probably won’t like any of my columns).

So what propelled Knight into my Top Five? Two words: Mike Bibby. Actually, four words: Mike Bibby for Sheldon Williams.

It’s no secret that the Hawks have misfired on every draft that comes to mind (see: Chris Paul) prior to 2007, where they actually did well. What have NBA fans been saying for years? If only the Hawks had a point guard, they would be pretty good! Well, Knight did it. He got a point guard, and an above-average one at that. Now, after trading Williams to the Kings (along with other assets, but Williams was the significant piece), the Hawks trot out an uber-athletic top-eight of Bibby, Johnson, Josh Smith (a poor man’s Tracy McGrady), Marvin Williams (no Chris Paul, but turning into one of those nice, long athletic-types that Knight loves so much), Al Horford (Rookie of the Year in any other draft that didn’t feature Kevin Durant), Acie Law, Josh Childress, and Salim Stoudamire. Thinking about playing that team in the playoffs terrifies me. If they make it, which they should, they could be this year’s Golden State.

If you were to ask me to write this column right before the year started, Paul Allen would hold this spot all by himself; his draft-day workings were nothing short of spectacular. Selected Greg Oden, a no-brainer who STILL has yet to play a game for a team that will probably win forty games. Not bad. Traded Zach Randolph, a move that basically said ‘we choose character over skill’ for Channing Frye and Steve Francis—then immediately bought out the moody Francis. Bought another first-rounder and picked Rudy Fernandez, who could have been a lottery pick if he went in the draft a year earlier. Not a bad day at all.

The Blazers have since fallen out of the top-heavy West’s playoff contention, but for a while there, after stringing together a 13-game winning streak without Oden, Allen led the early voting for Executive of the Year. His future is ridiculously bright, with a nucleus of Oden, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Frye, Fernandez, and Jarrett Jack. Expect this team to make the playoffs as a scary seven-seed next year, and repeatedly contend for a top-six spot for a good ten years after that.

One more note: the Oden pick was probably smart for the long-run; seven-foot centers with his skill only come along once every ten years, it seems. But imagine this team THIS YEAR if they had taken Durant. Wow.

(I lied. One more note: what would Saturday Night Live be like if Billy Knight was the owner/CEO? My guess is he would look at the show’s strongest skit—sadly, the title has to go to ‘Weekend Update’—and choose to infuse seven hundred other skits just like ‘Weekend Update’ into the regular routine, even though the show doesn’t need ANOTHER ‘Weekend Update’, ESPECIALLY with so many other options so readily available to CEO Knight, like a hilarious, but attractive, blonde who can do Steve Earkle impersonations. I don’t know. That’s just my guess. If Paul Allen were in charge, he’d probably just build another $2394873 billion football stadium to rehearse in.)

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4. Mitch Kupchak (Lakers)

About 75% of the credit belongs to Chris Wallace (see: my column on the NBA’s worst GM’s) for Kupchak’s rise into Glaze’s Top Five. I have an easier time mentioning Kupchak’s failures as a GM than I do his pat-on-the-backs. He can’t NOT get Top-Five credit, though, not after the way the Basketball Gods have recently smiled on him. Honestly, can you think of any GM in ANY sport that has received as much good fortune in the last two years as Kupchak? I think that’s what happens when you sign/draft Kwame Brown; you get unstoppable Basketball Karma for the rest of your life. Look at Washington: the Wizards drafted Kwame Brown—now, they have a nucleus for years that are made up of three perennial All-Stars (Arenas, Butler, Jamison) and young blue-chips that will either help the team or fetch a veteran star down the road (Nick Young, Andray Blatche). The Lakers signed Kwame Brown as a free agent and used him AS THE CENTER PIECE to attain Pau Gasol. Now, Kupchak is sitting pretty with a starting five that has no excuse not to win the title this year, next year, and the year after that.

What many people have declined to bring up this year, while discussing Kupchak’s brilliance in stealing Gasol from the Grizzlies, is that Kupchak was a whisker away from getting Jason Kidd from the Nets for Andrew Bynum. At the time, the Lakers were in the seventh or eighth seed in the West, and Bryant was openly lobbying for more help. Kupchak stayed put, didn’t trade Bynum, and NOW Bynum, as we saw before he got injured, is almost a guaranteed 20-12 every night. And he’s barely legal. Kupchak stuck to his guns, and now he has the best frontcourt in basketball.

Or maybe he was just too much of a wuss to trade Bynum for Kidd. Who knows? All we do know is THE LAKERS TRADED KWAME BROWN FOR PAU GASOL.

3. Danny Ainge (Celtics)

Too often, we see GM’s pull a John Paxson—fresh off a respectable run of winning seasons, age catches up to a team and they begin to fall. The GM notices, begins shopping the veteran stars of the team for prospects and draft picks, and begins looking to the future. When the team hits the absolute bottom, they acquire high draft picks, and they start over. They hoard things called ‘assets,’ things that can be used down the line to acquire a NEW star for your team, or use the actual assets in the formation of your franchise. Paxson did everything perfectly; he had a nucleus of young talent and draft picks that actually ADVANCED in the playoffs and, at the beginning of the following season, was poised to land the best player in basketball, Kobe Bryant, for his ‘young assets.’

But Paxson chickened out, didn’t pull a deal for Kobe, and the young Bulls, too immature to handle something like that, began looking over their shoulders and, well, now they’re the biggest disappointment in basketball.

Danny Ainge was on the same road in 2006-2007; at the one-fourth mark of the season, the Celtics were suffering through a seventeen-game losing streak and the season was lost. The Celtics then started playing their young guys, hoping for development. One guy, Al Jefferson, emerged as a legit, low-post, 25-15 guy. Their last place finish in the Atlantic Division earned them the number five overall pick. Everything was in place for a major trade; the assets, the stars were on the market (Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen)…AND AINGE GOT BOTH OF THEM! HE GOT RAY ALLEN AND KEVIN GARNETT WITHOUT HAVING TO GIVE UP PAUL PIERCE! Now, of course, Jeff Green and Al Jefferson (with others…explained below) for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett seems like a no-brainer, but the NBA is so terrified of taking risks, it was seen as a shocker.

As mentioned, the Celts traded the number five overall to the Sonics for Ray Allen, then traded Al Jefferson, picks, and some other players (I say ‘some other players’ because that’s really the only preceding adjective I can give for a group of players that consists of Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, and, um…well, at least Minnesota got Jefferson) for Kevin Garnett. I know, I know! It’s weird, isn’t it? A GM doing whatever it takes to win a title? Shocking!

2. Joe Dumars (Pistons)

Like the team, there’s not much to say about Dumars. He’s kept his starting lineup together for 238947234 years. He re-signed everyone. He hired a coach who lets his defensive-minded team have offensive freedom. He drafts talented character guys. Detroit will be in the top two in the Eastern Conference for as long as Dumars continues to do the exact same thing: nothing.

And the award for Best GM of 2007-2008 goes to:

1. R.C. Buford (Spurs)

Championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007. Need I say more?

by Tim Glaze
Pro Basketball Fans Staff Writer

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