Bill Simmons: Atrocious GM Summt (great read on terrible GM's)

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http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/060224


snippet

Simmons: So if you don't want to kill your team with bad drafting, what other recourses are there besides trades?


Isaiah Thomas: Keep changing the roster -- you don't want any semblance of continuity. Once guys get used to playing with one another, they might start winning. Look at the teams that have done well over the last 25 years -- it's always been the teams that built around a nucleus. I even played for one in Detroit. That's why I like to keep mixing things up every six to seven weeks. Why chance it?


Billy King: I'm also a big fan of giving out absurd contracts that tie up your cap space, for three reasons. First, it drives the fans crazy and gets them talking about the team. Second, your fans won't complain that you aren't making any big moves, simply because you can't make any big moves, your lack of cap space prohibits you from getting quality guys unless they have baggage. And third, when people look back and try to put your reign in some sort of historical context, those salary numbers will jump out even more.


Just look at what I've done in Philly: Since we made the 2001 Finals, I gave Mutombo a $68 million extension even though he could have been, like, 48 years old for all we knew. I gave $35.5 million to Aaron McKie. I gave $29 million to Eric Snow. I gave $18 million to Greg Buckner. I gave $40 million to Kenny Thomas and $25 million to Brian Skinner. I gave $25 million to Kyle Korver and $60 million to Sam Dalembert last summer. That's $300 million of contracts to guys who were either on the decline or never that good in the first place. Plus, I traded for other bad contracts, guys like Keith Van Horn, Glenn Robinson, Kevin Ollie, you name it. And then, last February, the pinnacle -- dumping three bad contracts for C-Webb, who everyone thought couldn't be traded because of his contract and because he ran with a limp. Now we have an aging team built around two past-their-prime stars and our cap space is killed through 2008. And we completely wasted Iverson's prime, when he was one of the best players of his generation.


(The crowd applauds.)

[J.R. Locke]

Re: Bill Simmons: Atrocious GM Summt (great read on terrible GM's)

Dumb article from awhile ago.

Contracts should only matter to the persons paying said contract (ie the owners). In reality most of these bad contracts yield something great in a few years when they can be leveraged for young talent. Being under the cap has rarely led to anything good.....Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Orlando.....to me all this talk about terrible GM's is pretty pointless. At the end of the year there are 29 failures and one successful GM.

[tenth]

Re: Bill Simmons: Atrocious GM Summt (great read on terrible GM's)

Dumb article from awhile ago.

Contracts should only matter to the persons paying said contract (ie the owners). In reality most of these bad contracts yield something great in a few years when they can be leveraged for young talent. Being under the cap has rarely led to anything good.....Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Orlando.....to me all this talk about terrible GM's is pretty pointless. At the end of the year there are 29 failures and one successful GM.

contracts matter to more than just the owners because the GM has to manage the cap in order to bring in free agents and ensure they aren't grossly overpaying for the ones they do bring in (sometiems it's tough to help.).

you also neglected to mention Utah, who spent a ton of cash a few years back bringing in Okur and Boozer, as well as resigning AK47, and they're now reaping the benefits. Of course it took solid drafting as well, but that franchise has been on a great track.