Post by duce on Jul 3, 2007 16:31:14 GMT -5
GM Report Cards: The Contenders
GM: Andy, 3 seasons, 1 championship, 2 conference titles.
Grade: A, Great trading and activity; just shy of perfection.
The Good: The list here could go on forever. San Antonio has been an elite team, whether in the regular season or in the playoffs. Their front line of Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal is as good as anyone has ever seen. Throw in the fiery Manu Ginobili and you have a team that is a top contender for the championship every single year. The Spurs are a great example of how to build a winner and Andy has done an excellent job of building up this roster.
The Bad: Unfortunately the franchise is not in a good position to upgrade at point guard. Shaquille O’Neal’s reluctance to retire has sabotaged the Spurs’ cap situation. The team did not come through in two of their three playoff runs. In a recent interview a frustrated Andy went off on his team, "Fuck Duncan. Fuck Shaq for coming back. Fuck my whole team for playing like little bitches throughout.”
The Future: Sometimes it is hard to put your finger on the future of a team of veterans. Therefore I went straight to the source: “As for my team's future, we're going for one more ring then rebuilding,” said the team’s general manager, “Oh, and fuck Songalia.”[/color]
GM: DB, 3 seasons, 1 championship.
Grade: A, great philosophy and activity.
The Good: The defending champion Lakers have more recent greatness than anyone. It takes heart to trade a player like Kobe Bryant to commit to defense. Basone did just that though, and was soon rewarded by the breakout of Shawn Marion as a superstar. Emeka Okafor and Jason Terry proved to be superb additions, as did Leandro Barbosa. The Lakers are a model of greatness and should continue to win. “I’m looking to stay young and competitive,” says DB.
The Bad: Two of their better players are in their 30s. They have virtually left any possibility of rebuilding through the draft impossible by trading future draft picks. They’ll have to trade for younger players at some point, and they’re not without work. According the DB, “We need to improve our front court defense, I want to deal Okur.” Either way the Lakers are looking pretty good at this point.
The Future: As eluded to, the Lakers will have to rely on trading for the most part. They’re more than likely focused on the near-future rather than seasons from now.
GM: Bizzle, 3 seasons, 3 quarter-finals appearances.
Grade: A-, great trading, philosophy and managing.
The Good: The good has been consistent with GM boss playa. He simply knows how to build a team, and then he knows how to use it. Not too many are consistent in both areas. The Raptors have a team with very little weakness. They have all the elements you need to win and are always in the middle of a serious playoff run. Vince Carter, Lamar Odom and Ben Wallace have been their biggest additions. Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon were wisely held onto. They may not have the rings yet but this is a great franchise.
The Bad: The good one’s have weaknesses too. Bizzle has acknowledged the team’s flaws, admitting a new roster may be on the horizon. “Basically it’s time to make some big changes, we’re extremely close to the hard cap and it’s time to restructure, not rebuild though.” After blowing a 3-1 lead in the playoffs, it’s easy to see why. The Raptors have not been able to get over the hump in 3 years.
The Future: Look for Toronto to have a different look by the end of next season. They‘re not badly aging, which may make it easier to deal pieces away.
GM: Outlawz, 3 seasons, 1 finals appearance.
Grade: A-, great trading.
The Good: After one season of a decent playoff run, Outlawz decided to turn it up a few notches. The last two seasons have been a major improvement as the Bulls have been a championship threat. Acquiring Tracy McGrady, Elton Brand and Paul Pierce, Chicago has to keep the winning mentality. “The time to win is now. Right now (we’re) just basically looking to get that ring,” said the Bulls’ GM. This team was built very nicely and Kirk Hinrich ensures this offense’s success.
The Bad: Two thirds of the roster is over 30 years of age. Chicago has one choice, though a good one. "I have a team of stars so there’s no turning back at the moment,” commented Outlawz who has a clear perspective of the team. The Bulls still lack a championship and their GM will always provide activity but will never be the most active. Still, it is what it is and the team has a great chance next season.
The Future: The Bulls have wisely held onto draft picks and even acquired others’ picks. They will be able to build the franchise at their own leisure. You have to give credit to the fact that this franchise is in great shape.
GM: James, 3 seasons, 2 conference finals appearances.
Grade: B+, great winning, good trading.
The Good: Houston has been on the brink of greatness but has never quite been there. James is aware of the success, “We have the leagues second best all-time (season and playoff) record behind San Antonio, have been to the WCF twice in the last 3 years and want a championship next year.” Since acquiring Dwyane Wade, the team has held onto he and Yao. The two have been great and led this team in playoff runs. What James has done well is surround those guys with solid role players.
The Bad: They have come up short, as mentioned. They have never really had a great third wheel, and though it may not seem necessary, the Spurs prove that it is. Such situations will cause a GM to feel obligated to make a move, and should. “Wade is about to be dealt. Yao is staying, he will never be traded. We are still looking to win. We have made a serious bid for Jason Kidd and will only look to improve for the new year,” said GM James, regarding the team’s off season.
The Future: The Rockets will ride Yao as far as he takes them. They should look to add more, and at the moment project to be a top 4 team in their conference once again.
GM: Beasley, 3 seasons, best regular season team.
Grade: B+, good balance of trading and winning.
The Good: LeBron James is as “good” as is gets. Beasley did a great job of getting Baron Davis last past off-season and made the Cavaliers a more serious threat. Rodney Stuckey was a clutch draft pick two years ago. The Cavs have been dominant in regular season games. With Baron and LeBron, their offense is impossible to defend. Their GM did a good job building it up, and should look to take it to the next level soon.
The Bad: Playoff chokers. They’re a .500 team in the post-season because of their weaknesses. Before the arrival of Baron, the offense was all James. Though the offense has been fixed, the team lacks rebounding now. It nearly cost them against Toronto, and eventually did against Boston. Beasley’s activity is almost confusing at times, due to his drunken nights and lack of PM responses. At the same time he’s had success, however.
The Future: As long as LeBron James is here, this team can win many, many games. The Cavaliers need to win a championship. They‘ll need to add.
GM: Spencer, 3 seasons, 1 finals appearance.
Grade: B+, great trading, philosophy.
The Good: The Celtics were just one win away from winning it all before they choked it away. Regardless, they have been a solid playoff team and improved a little each year. They always featured a lot of talent to work with, and cashed in by trading for Kevin Garnett two seasons ago. Since then, Boston has been on a championship level and has owned the Atlantic division. Spencer’s patience in keeping Gerald Green will soon pay off - if all goes right - next season and this team will be even more dangerous.
The Bad: Not many complaints. They have failed to finish the deal, but their playoff run was incredibly wild to begin with. There is a possibility they could lose Garnett this off-season. That would truly handicap this team as their GM put many eggs in that one basket. They’ve been unable to acquire an ideal center.
The Future: Re-signing Garnett means the world for this franchise. They‘re fortunate Gerald Green was re-signed for them, actually. The team is in good cap shape. If Green and Garnett are aboard next season, Boston might be the team to beat.
GM: Nova, 3 seasons, 2 quarter-finals appearances.
Grade: B, great trading, philosophy, activity.
The Good: The good should be better. Whether it be due to unfortunate circumstances or just being beaten by the best, Utah has not met expectations. However, Nova has been making good deals from the start. From day one the Jazz have been competitive. The roster has always been filled with great talent. Currently Nova has begun to rebuild, and with a bang. From an injured Kobe and missing the playoffs to Derrick Rose, Patrick Patterson and Rudy Gay, this team has the potential to be very dangerous. Activity always pays off.
The Bad: They’ve come up short, and Nova knows it. “I didn't do enough transaction-wise to make this team better.” He also commented about possible team directions, which have now been made obvious. Utah’s overall win-loss record and playoff success just haven’t cut it, at any rate.
The Future: The Jazz have gone very young. It may take a couple seasons to win but their team is potentially similar to the current Lakers; maybe even better.
GM: Hype, 3 seasons, 1 quarter-finals appearance.
Grade: B, great trading.
The Good: The Bucks have improved their team with every move they’ve made. Trading for Jermaine O’Neal, Chris Paul, and Boris Diaw have all helped greatly. The team had an outstanding 2008 season. Holding onto Michael Redd has paid off. The bottom line is that as long as Chris Paul is leading this team, they will always be competitive. Hype has done a nice job building a Milwaukee team from poor to good.
The Bad: ‘07 should have been better. Redd, O’Neal and no pick, should have resulted in more wins. Nonetheless they rebounded greatly in 08, with a good training camp and of course acquiring Chris Paul. The other knock on Milwaukee is overall success when it counts. In their first playoff attempt, the team did not appear ready at all, and in their second they ran into a tough Raptors team. It’s hard to say what their GM can do to improve the team.
The Future: “Nothing is certain except for one thing; Paul will be leading this team for a long time,” says GM Hype. And that‘s the right thing to do. The question is do they rebuild around Paul to improve in the long run? Or do they try to make moves to win now? It‘s a tough call but there are options.
GM: MaarinX, 3 seasons, 1 championship.
Grade: B, good trading, philosophy.
The Good: The Wizards were the class of the league in its inaugural season. They went on to win the championship in an amazing run, beating 3 great teams on the way. MaarinX became an innovator in my eyes in this season. In an era of basketball where teams are starting to play small, he went huge, placing Antawn Jamison and Dirk Nowitzki at shooting guard and small forward. The formula proved to be perfect.
The Bad: It’s quite clear that the team wasn’t the same the following season. Maarin became bored and made trades that were arguably counter-productive. While the team has good talent to work with, it’s going to be a challenge to get that Washington squad back to greatness. We can say what we want but the Wizards’ overall record speaks for itself.
The Future: There is major re-signing work to be done this off-season. If they don‘t get guys back, it will be a clear sign that the Wizards have begun to rebuild. That is probably the best route for them for now.
GM: Saga, 1 season; preceded by Ducky.
Grade: B-
The Good: Saga has just gotten his feet wet in UOSL. It’s hard to judge based on a year when Steve Nash was out for half of the season. What can be said is that he acquired Pau Gasol, and with he Nash and Carmelo Anthony this team is potentially dangerous. Recently Saga was quoted, “Well the Nuggets hope to add to the roster we have, a C is our most pressing need at the moment, followed by a SG.. We have serviceable vets but would like to blood in some young stars to balance out our ageing lineup.. Nash will retire a Nugget along with Gasol and Anthony!!!”
The Bad: Missing the playoffs was pretty much unacceptable but excusable still. 2010 is going to be a big season for Denver to prove they’re able to compete. It’s going to be very tough to improve this team without dealing one of the team’s big three.
The Future: With Nash inching toward retirement, there will have to be a plan to surround Carmelo Anthony with talent. Just like LeBron, Anthony thrives with a great point guard. We‘ll see what happens.
GM: Pig, 3 seasons, 2 playoff appearances.
Grade: B-, great trading.
The Good: Pig has made good deals from the beginning. He’s settled on a group of good players in Charlie Villanueva, Josh Howard and Ron Artest, rather than being dependant on one star. The Hornets are an established, good team with an identity. They have a solid future.
The Bad: Is solid the limit for this team? It’s going to be hard for New Orleans to really make noise without a great center or point guard. They’ve traded away Jason Terry, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard. While they got full value for them, maybe those players should have been off limits in the first place. They’ve yet to have any playoff success.
The Future: Look for this team to be different soon. As much as Pig loves depth and wing-power, there‘s no way this team is going anywhere without a point guard.
GM: Allstar, 3 seasons, 2 playoff appearances.
Grade: B-, good trading, great philosophy.
The Good: The Mavericks are easily the most underachieving team in the entire league. While it’s clear Allstar has a good plan and knows how to get the players for it, his lack of activity ultimately doesn’t put the plan into action. The team doesn’t have many weaknesses. They are a defensive team and a rebounding team and that’s the way it was meant to be.
The Bad: They don’t win. They had a good season in 08, but nobody really believed they were going to win it all. They are far too talented up front to lose games. They have the stars as well. And while they’ve had some bad luck with player development, this is still a disappointment. “If we have another TC like last season’s then this team is being blown to hell!," said the team’s GM.
The Future: This team was so well-built that the players are pretty much entering their primes for the most part. You can never count Dallas out. But the team is going nowhere if activity doesn‘t pick up big time.
GM: CC, 3 seasons, 1 playoff appearance.
Grade: B-, great trading.
The Good: CC made some gutsy moves in the first couple of seasons to acquire Marcus Camby and Chauncey Billups, thus abandoning any thoughts of fully rebuilding. Add Jason Richardson’s veteran presence and Memphis has a great balance. The Grizzlies broke out in a big way this past season, winning 17 games in a row before collapsing in the playoffs. Their team is clearly legitimate, and if Brandan Wright and Kevin Durant can improve a lot, you might be looking at the best team in UOSL.
The Bad: As important as it is to have a PG and C of the caliber that Memphis does, and as smart as it was to get them, they’re still old. If they decline, it could be bad. It might have taken a tad too long for this team to become a playoff team. There hasn’t been much wrong with anything CC has done though, despite my nitpicking.
The Future: While this team looks to be a championship contender this year, you have to wonder what happens when Camby and Billups call it quits. They‘ll still have talent but they‘ll need to fill those slots to stay competitive.
GM: Scott, 2 seasons; preceded by a big douche bag, 3 playoff appearances.
Grade: B-, good trading, activity.
The Good: In his short time here, Scott has taken an overachieving rebuilding team and turned them into a serious contender. Even though they came up short with the Brandon Roy injury in the playoffs, they still had a good year. “We feel like we're right where we want to be as a team. We have a solid mix of youth and veteran leadership.” And I’d have to agree. This team has been put into position to win both now and later. Over time it will probably be a cycle of this situation if Portland drafts well.
The Bad: They don’t quite have a championship mold. They don’t have the tools to create that either. There might be too much content with just being “good”. Still, the Blazers have improved each year, and anyone is better than that douche bag who had the team before.
The Future: “We feel like we have some good years ahead of us with Aldridge and Roy still having room to grow. At the same time however, we also feel like this could have been a year to advance into the playoffs but an injury to Roy prior to the post-season really hurt our chances.,” said the Blazer GM. That said, this will be the year to get over that hump.
GM: Basketface, 3 seasons, 2 playoff appearances.
Grade: C+, good trading, activity.
The Good: The Pistons have been above average. While basketface has made good trades, the team needs more. For now, they’ve been competitive, and you have to give them credit for not tanking. Detroit has had a couple of good seasons and has been on the bubble each year. Allen Iverson, Tayshaun Prince, and Mike Miller make for a nice combination of wings.
The Bad: It wasn’t until recently that they went out and got a real center. They did get him cheap though. The Pistons finally have a complete roster but is it good enough? There will need to be an improvement.
The Future: For Detroit to get into the top half of the playoffs, they‘re doing to need to get better players on the interior and good development from Kyle Lowry. Regardless this will probably be the Pistons best season in 2010.
GM: J, 2 seasons; preceded by Lumley, 1 playoff appearance.
Grade: C+, beginner, improving trading, great activity.
The Good: Good, young nucleus. Budinger and Wright are overlooked and good players. Andrew Bogut and Joe Johnson make good options. Roy Hibbert’s progression will be critical.
The Bad: Before last year, Orlando was easily the worst franchise in the league. Went away from rebuilding for a mere playoff spot, rookie move, ironic. Still young. Too much stock in Bogut. This team won’t get much better. Trading will be necessary.
The Future: Making the playoffs was a big deal last year but this year it won‘t mean as much. There needs to be major improvement with player development and roster talent to get any farther.
... stellar article though. 
