Post by Skillz on May 13, 2020 16:10:03 GMT -8
2000 GM Season Grades
No preface needed. Let’s get to it. By conference:
Brian H – D+
Reminder: these are grades based on year1 GM performance, not your value to the league. Brian H has brought a lot to BBS from an activity standpoint and is a valuable member but this was a …. tough debut. This team has Allen Iverson and not much else. It’s hard to see who was even the 2nd or 3rd round pick on this team, as Bibby and Joe Smith are pedestrian and the rest of the roster looks like the Leftover FA list. When you compound that with a ill-informed move to trade his 2002 1st, and it was not a successful initial year.
Kobe – A
I mean (almost) everything I say and was just as honest when I called Kobe an insufferable guy who at times makes BBS an annoying place to visit as I am when I say he has done a very good job at the GM part. He did a better job than anyone at maximizing his late-round picks and did a nice job turning some average assets into stars. Ricky Davis was one of the 5 best picks in the draft. He now has T-Mac. This was a great first yet.
Greeme – B+
Greme characteristically built a team that succeeded in exploiting all of the advantages that we know about FBB. He has a bunch of defensive savants and the best rebounding squad in the league. He doesn’t get an “A” because he never addressed his “2nd star problem” and didn’t cash in the 2002 1st round pick to improve the team. When your title odds are above that 10-20% area, you need to push that chip in to ensure you give yourself the best shot. Not sure that he did that.
Skillz – B+
Will keep this short. Thought we rebounded well from the Russian Roulette draft debacle. Team is very good. Team is very old. Yeah.
Break – D
Has he done anything? I don’t know. His team sucks. Whatever.
Steve – C-
Steve is my boy and a really good GM, but he tells it like it is and I will here: this was not his finest work. He’s done a nice job with his DC’s and giving himself a shot at 42 and the playoffs, but I absolutely would have kept Jason Kidd. I don’t think he or Marbury on the same stratosphere as players. Jamison wasn’t a bad pick at the time. His test sim was great. I think there’s still hope for him. The 76ers did an otherwise poor job at finding decent frontcourt pieces who could fit.
Jah – B-
Not a lot to report here. Peja was a great pick and Jason Terry looks like a keeper. JAH had a clear strategy during the draft and executed. This team is mid-pack in terms of medium-term and long-term outlook. Solid job. Solid first season.
LoasingLife – B
This is a nice first year for a rebuilding team. Francis and S-Jax are bother keepers and good potentially form an elite backcourt. The rest is just noise. This team is well-positioned to make a move in 2002-2003 to contend.
Pig – B
I think Pig would have deserved an “A” for his fantastic draft, but hasn’t really done a lot during the regular season to backup what he did during the early days. Alonzo Mourning is fantastic and he is milking Karl Malone for all he is worth, but the Jerry Stackhouse pick backfired and there isn’t a whole lot else to write home about. This team has a puncher’s chance at the title but are not favorites and are not well-built to compete over the long haul.
Play/Insane – B+
Smooth sailing. The Bulls enjoyed a year atop the Eastern Conference and saw the value of most of their players trend upwards. The team benefited from some unprecedented FBB luck to get there, but who cares? This team also has a younger core than other contenders. Two small gripes: this team still doesn’t have a real star upon to which to build, and the Rose/Bowen deal was odd. Bowen is cool and useful. Rose is bad.
Svedda – B
I probably give a higher grade here than some others would, but I like this team. Trading Shaq for KG and Webber was an A+ move, but drafting Shaq in the first place was probably the right call. Keith Van Horn was one of bests picks in the draft. Spree and LaFrentz was a wash, but looks worse given what Spree was subsequently traded for. I like Grant Hill a lot more than Webber. The Cavs are well-positioned and could be a darkhorse contender in the East.
Galo – C+
I was lukewarm on the majority of Galo’s moves, even though some others may have been quite a bit higher. Hill for Webber was a good value move (I guess), I just think it’s much harder to build around players like Webber. I like Anfernee Hardaway but his ratings are better than his production. Bonzi Wells is another difficult player to win with. He overpaid a bit for Kukoc. Meh. This is a solid team but I’m not sure if I loved any of these moves much in a vacuum.
Sargo – C-
I mean, where to start? There are so many trades. Each move vacillated between an “A” and an “F.” The good stuff: Sargo essentially got Hakeem for free, then proceeded to trade him for a lottery pick and Raef LaFrentz. He made a smart, buy-low move for Kenny Thomas. He got picks for some dudes that really weren’t worth much. The bad stuff: He dealt Steve Nash for a package that the league clearly did not value to the extent he did, then compounded that deal by trading that package for tertiary pieces and mid-round picks. Elton Brand also has not reached the heights that he maybe would have liked.
Bucks – D
I don’t know who the Bucks GM is. Is this bad? I think it’s Chipper and we just replaced the old guy. Yeah, this team is in very bad shape. I don’t really like any of the players. Woops.
Raptors – C-
Hi, Game! We’ve got a new GM in town. This is exciting. Casper did OK. I didn’t really understand the Stockton or Pippen picks since Ray Allen isn’t even in his prime yet. Game made a decent move for Shawn Bradley. Not much else sticks out. It’s going to be a gun fight in the East.
Habes – B
This was a characteristically active season for Habes. He was the beneficiary of the Russian roulette deal and parlayed Tmac into a number of interesting pieces. He sold high on Steve Smith and was able to eak out value from Bonzi Wells. I don’t think he was the “winner” in the Tmac trade and I think he would have been better served to try competing in Y1 given the state of the West, but he’s best positioned out of any team in the West to make a run next year and has a lot of appetizing pieces.
Covid – C
This team is “all-in,” having acquired Stockton and Pippen in a massive move at the deadline. This was probably smart. It’s the only time an average team really has a shot at winning the title and now was the right time to strike. I think the Shaq move was a debacle and that he’ll be a tough superstar upon which to build. He’ll either trade Shaq next year or the following season to get his picks back. This team doesn’t have many other options.
Cactus Jack - F
This team went all-in on a tank, is about to make the playoffs and doesn’t have any valuable players or a surplus of picks to show for this effort. Marion will be good but making him a # 1 option neutered his value because of the turnovers. Bo Outlaw suffers from this same dynamic. There are no secondary players who have a chance or have any value at all. This was a fail on every single level.
Jucy Lucy – B-
Really liked the Latrell Sprewell move. Don’t really like much else. VC is a future star, but he picked him over Steve Nash and some other better players. Shareef is a gimmick starter. The rest of the team is just average. Fine first season, and positioned OK to succeed in the West over the medium-term.
UkFanJohn – D
The number one decision everyone made this season was their # 1 pick in the draft. The Spurs picked 15th and selected a player who turns the ball over 4 times at SF and shoots awful percentages. Odom is legitimately bad. The Spurs GM is a smart guy but this pick will haunt the franchise for a while.
JR – A
Wins across the board. JR parlayed the 26th pick into Allan Houston – a star player where almost zero star players remained. He made the right decision to push his chips in for BIG DOG. He picked Bobby Jackson at the right place in the draft. He made nice moves around the margins. One of the only GM’s who didn’t make any mistakes this season.
Erbes – A-
I’m grading on a curve here because part of this grade takes into account the absolutely boneheaded moves Erbes made before the draft started and how he subsequently came back from those moves. After dealing himself a bad hand, he played it perfectly. He hit on every pick and has a valuable, young team that will do more than survive until he gets his picks back. This was pretty impressive on every level.
Manas – B
The Warriors suffered from a weak Western Conference and the poor performance of some other GMs. In a normal year, Manas would have been able to tank with Billups and Dirk and add another elite young player to this core. Not the case. Those guys are too good in a conference that is truly awful. Still: points for putting together one of my favorite young 1-2 punches in the game.
Darrell / Frangie – C
Hard to give out a grade here because there is a non-trivial chance that the Clippers win the championship. Duncan is that good. The team drafted pretty well. Najera and Williamson were excellent moves on the margins. Jones and Payton are fine. Still: this team made two of the worst trades of the season. Hard to give them anything more than a C.
Nanz – C
I haven’t looked at the Lakers roster once this season. Nanz is in the tank!!! Respect. C is the generic grade. My man didn’t do anything.
Atscott – C-
This was a D+ that gets upgraded marginally to C- for milking the Mark Blount train and getting something out of nothing. But Baron Davis at 14 was one of the worst picks of the draft and there isn’t much else here for the time being. Big draft coming!
DB – B+
This was one of the more successful tank and rebuild jobs. Rip Hamilton is one of the best enticing $6.5M pieces in the league and the Blazers have a zillion picks. This team is SET UP. Fun to watch from Basone.
Ashes – A+
He drafted Jamal Crawford in the 3rd round. Nothing else matters at this point. The amount of surplus value that will payoff from getting a top 10 guy at pick 70 is hard to overstate.
Sonics – D+
Is it bad I don’t know the Sonics GM yet? It must be bad. This was not a good draft. Paul Pierce would not go top 20 in a redraft. No one else is worth much. Not a ton of surplus picks here. Very bland. Sorry!
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