[knicksfreakParticipant]

I will probably lose 50 points for this but I think Isiah Thomas is one of the best drafters of all time. Whats everybody elses thoughts on who could be in the conversation.

[Knicksboy34Participant]

Agreed…he makes alot of Solid picks.

How about our Current Gm? Donnie Basketball makes some good picks.

[d-grizzlyParticipant]

i liked how the bulls were put together. but outta sheer luck though…

[fliptonnParticipant]

the blazers gm. hes turned that whole team around from the jail blazers. hes basically drafted the whole team and everyone wants to know what the blazers are gunna do on draft night now. hes drafted the likes of…

roy
aldridge
oden
fernandez
batum
bayless
etc.

basically the whole team. and theyre potential contenders next year

[nepaliman_7Participant]

the blazers gm didn’t draft fernandez, roy, batum, bayless, or aldridge. he traded for them

[mmichnowicz1Participant]

they may have traded for them, but a draft day trade is almost like picking a player, and it should count for just as much, and in some cases more, because if your trading the lower rankings player for the higher one, and you get picks, and the lower one is better that is a great deal.

[maravich44Participant]

Didn’t take a genious to draft Jordan. Did to get Pippen at the time. Assembled and ruined best team of the 90’s. Like him or hate him, Krause was the best and worst if that’s possible.

Jerry West was great. Red Aurbach was best of all time!

[Knicksboy34Participant]

No.

He takes the hot guy in the draft….He missed on KD and I think he takes Solid players not future all-star players

[Knicksboy34Participant]

Krause is a genius man…He build the Bulls in the late 80’s and by the 91 they won titles.

Then after MJ retired, He blew up and rebuilded the team again….

[knicksfreakParticipant]

Pritchard has also had alot of high draft picks. Isiah makes alot of great picks with low first or second rounders.

[d-grizzlyParticipant]

i’m talking about the bulls now…

[fliptonnParticipant]

traded on draft day. everyone thought oden was money in that draft man you can blame him for Durant. all im saying is they were on a steady downward pace for a long time before he took control and turned them around specifically through the NBA draft.

[DeRozanfan11]

Kevin O’Connor is one of the best Malone, Stockton, and Williams.

[knicksfreakParticipant]

He made some good moves and made out like a bandit on draft day trades. But he still has had plenty of high draft picks. I think Isiah has done “more with less”. Isiah is one of the worst traders ever too though. The knicks had Scott Layden then Isiah Thomas. Ouch.

[maravich44Participant]

Portland fleased the Bulls in the draft day deal they got Tyrus Thomas. Bulls should have had Aldrige or Roy. Bulls also got burned when Jay Williams (2nd pick in draft) had motorcycle accident after rookie year……..and when they traded Brand…..and Artest……..and when they wouldn’t part with fringe player whose name escapes me to get rights to draft Wade. I could go on and on, but I’m getting depressed.

[dwat4444Participant]

Durant was an easy pick but westbrook and green? those were some ballsy choices that really paid off.

[fastdanParticipant]

Sam Presti is the GM of OKC…he’s pretty awesome, but he didn’t draft Green..the celtics had already taken him then he did the trade with Ray Allen.

[j1232eParticipant]

only drafted williams. O connor was phillys gm before comming to utah.Hence is why utah and philly always trade with each other. horny. big fez. korver. If I am not mistaken i think he also traded the draft rights of nazr muhamad to philly also.

[Ch13f23Participant]

i think Kevin Pritchard is one of the best if not the best GM right now. just look at the picks, acquisition and trades he made especially during Draft night. Just look at the Portland team right now from the troubled talented Jailblazers to the young talented nucleus they have right now and they pretty look scary in the future.
And regarding about the pick up of Oden instead of Durant i think its still a good pick cause they have B.Roy as a go-to-guy during crunch time comes. While Oden gives them another cornerstone with Aldridge and Roy on their team for the future. Just imagine him(ODEN) Worst case Scenario: Oden becoming a solid defender just like Pryzbilla Portland team would still benefit from him cause they could win games without needing Oden to score. Best case Scenario: Oden becoming a dominant bigman in the game lets say David Robinson Stats at least then Portland is set to win at the very least 2 championship.

[illinimanmarkParticipant]

I could be wrong but I think Rod Thorn was the GM when Chicago drafted Jordan. And if we are getting picky about Kevin Pritchard not drafting some players then Presti can’t get credit for drafting Green since Boston technically did that.

[dose2100Participant]

its a stupid argument to say someone didn’t draft someone when they did a draft night trade to acquire that pick… i’m pretty sure pritchard told those teams who to draft after he traded for their picks… its a just a technical point to say those players where drafted by the other team then traded…

and yes, pritchard has had a lot of higher picks in the draft, but you can’t say that he has really messed up any of the picks… he got the best two players in the 2006 draft, he took the better fit for portland in oden (who is definitely going to become a great big man), and his picks of fernandez, batum and sergio were all great late picks by pritchard, so you can’t say he’s only done well because he’s had high lottery picks…

btw, other than chandler and lee (who is super overrated), what other good pick has thomas made? i don’t understand at all how someone could even mention him as a good drafter…

[xbadgerhustlerParticipant]

I think that the “Best GM Drafter” definitely has to include draft trades… That just means that you know who you want and you do what you have to do to get them at their exact market value. I mean, he turned, Tyrus Thomas into LaMarcus Aldridge, Randy Foye into Brandon Roy… you just have to have a goal in mind for your team and then go after guys who fit that style. Nicholas Batum is guy that I think they basically outplayed the Spurs for. SA was picking 26 and was going to pick Batum so Portland traded for the 25th pick and got their guy.

You have to know each player’s value in every other GM’s mind and then maneuver your way to your guy

[maravich44Participant]

At the time I would have taken Oden over Durant and I’m still not sure in the long run that Durant will have a better career. If he’s ever healthy, Oden still could turn out to be one of the best centers in the league, and he has the good fortune of not having to carry the whole weight of the team on his shoulders.

I agree trading for a draftable player on draft night is as good as drafting him as far as getting credit is concerned. Portland should be solid for years, and I still see Mike Conley coming soon!

[blackflash234Participant]

Kevin Pritchard and Sam Presti are the best in the game when it comes to GM’s. Look at Portland for example. They’re a dynasty in the making and so is Oklahoma City but they aren’t at the level of Portland just yet.

[maravich44Participant]

It must really suck for fans in Seattle. 30 years since championship team. Now they are turning it around and just left town.

[Mr. BasketballParticipant]

dunleavy: only drafted 3 times. those 3 times: thornton at #14. gordon at #7. Deandre Jordan at #35. Mike Taylor at #55. And now Blake Griffin at #1. thats pretty impressive and u can’t argue against it.

[piratejpParticipant]

As a Kings fan I have to throw in Geoff Petrie. Since returning to the lottery two years ago, he’s taken Hawes at 10 & Thompson at 11. The jury is still way out on both, but early results are promising & I think it safe to say that it’s maybe likely – certainly possible – that each will be in the top 10 players (in terms of career production) from each of those drafts.

Prior to that, he has mostly drafted late, but nabbed gems such as Hedo Turkoglu, Peja Stojakovich, Kevin Martin & Francisco Garcia. There were a few duds too, but no one hits 100% outside the lottery (heck, no one hits 100% in the lottery), but his track record with the picks he’s made is good. In fact, I think one of his worst picks was his first. He took Jason Williams ahead of Paul Pierce, which absolutely freaking killed me at the time. Of course they unloaded Williams for Bibby, so even a borderline bad pick worked out okay in the end.

I think as an overall strategist, I’d give Petrie a C+. But as a talent evaluator & drafter (at least as far as making picks, not manipulating the draft), his name should be in there with the best.

[CorningKingsFan31Participant]

got steals with peja and hedo. and look what g-wall turned into. sad we had to let him go to charlotte for expansion draft. yeah, cisco is solid. kevmart was a steal, jt and spence are turning out very nice. i am still upset we took douby. we didnt need him at the time. i really wanted rondo in that spot……imagine that. oh well.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

All-time, Jerry West. Currently, gotta go with Pop/RC Buford, those Spurs scouts have eyes for talent. Pritchard is solid, but all of those were trades, albeit trades that involved picks on draft day.

[Knicksboy34Participant]

Man…I honestly think that we need to throw in trades in as well. IMO, we need to look at the bad picks as well.

[maravich44Participant]

Red was the best of all time. He created and maintained Celtic dynasty, outsmarted the league on Larry Bird and continued working his magic prolonging the run getting McHale and Parrish. West was incredible, but Aurbach easily beats him out in my opinion, I think draft day trades such as Portland’s work the same as draft picks.

I also wonder how Isiah could be considered one of the best drafting gm’s of all time. Compared to his trading, he was a genious, but compared to the average gm, I don’t think he was that spectacular. David Lee and Wilson Chandler were nice picks, but Isiah has done nothing special.

[Knicksboy34Participant]

Isiah picked Damon Stoudemire and Tracy McGrady…..

I like the Red Auberbach pick but i give you two teams…..

Early-mid 80s Pistons GM..Thomas, Agurrie (by trade), Dumars, Rodman, Salley

and

mid to late Blazers GM..Drexler, Duckworth, Robinson, Elie…

I wish i could find there names

[maravich44Participant]

Agree the Pistons GM did an awesome job putting together that team. Dumars, Rodman and others came from small schools before it was fashionable to draft small school players.

If Portland GM was the same guy that drafted Bowie over Jordan, I think he could be left out of the conversation of great GM’s.

Isiah picked those 2, but Stoudemire was highly regarded at AZ and McGrady was a highly coveted high school player. Bulls were very high on him too. They weren’t ral sleeper type picks though they were solid. It will be interesting how Isiah does in his new career. Can’t do worse than he did in N.Y.!

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I know the name of one of the people involved with some of the Blazers players you named, it is Harry Glickman, a good friend of my grandfathers who I have played poker with a few times. Harry is a rad dude, and he did not make those picks necessarily, but he was VP and part owner, so he had some influence. But, would I say the Blazers during that period were the best drafters? I doubt it, those guys had some big time flops, though you are right about those steals too.

I believe I have gone on my rant about Isiah before, but the dude is not really as great as people say. His one real find was Damon, which was dope, but McGrady dropped into the Raptors laps. I remember Isiah saying “he would have taken T-Mac 2 or 3”, but dude is full of shit, and I honestly believe he would have taken Adonal Foyle had the Warriors not scooped him. He drafted Marcus Camby, which seemed like the good move at the time, but all 3 guys after Marcus were better, plus of course a lot of other players in that draft. Also, Isiah had no say in drafting Jamison and trading for VC. What did he do in Indiana? I honestly do not know, other than coach badly after All-Star breaks and in the play-offs. Than lets take New York, Wilson Chandler really make people that happy? Ronaldo Balkman really did very little to prove he was worthy of the 22.

Isiah is weak sauce, he was an awful coach and everything he touches turns to garbage. Meanwhile, Pop and RC Buford drafted Tony Parker 28 and Manu Ginobili 57, and they became pillars on 3 championship teams. I would take Manu and Tony over Damon and T-Mac, who barely even had a chance to play together. The Spurs make some other nice late round picks, I think George Hill looks solid and that Mahinmi and Splitter could both eventually contribute. Plus, look at Sam Presti and I know he is not the only one, but the Spurs straight up breed GMs in the league. I think Jerry West is one of the better talent evaluators of all-time, and his 8 rings as a Lakers GM seem to prove that. He traded for Kobe, but his late round picks of Derek Fisher and Devean George were pretty damn nice. He drafted Divac at 26, Elden Campbell at 27, both had pretty nice careers considering. Hooked up Nicky V at 37, and Reuben Patterson at 31, both Bearcats who were damn good second round picks. Jerry did not exactly kill it in Memphis, but the fact that he lead them to the play-offs in his years there is impressive enough to me. Also, if you are going to exclude people who have gotten traded on draft day as picks, than, that is a hell of a lot of GMs out of the picture. Pritchard forecasted the hell out of his picks a few years ago, but in the end, he still traded for the right guys draft day despite what Stephen A(wful commentator) Smith said that day. I would not count out Oden yet either, and have to mention that every GM in the draft most likely would have taken Oden one as well. I at least know that if Seattle at the time picked 1, Oden is in OKC today 🙂

[rvirsalParticipant]

i don’t know his name but he’s pretty good. (parker, ginobili, duncan, george hill, scola, -> if he did draft these guys)

isiah thomas was pretty good at drafting also. his “questionable” picks are doing okay in the league now. balkman, mardy collins, david lee, ariza, frye, wilson chandler. he did screw up his trades and fa signings but he had the eye for talent. who would’ve thought that balkman would go as high as 20 when he wasn’t even in the top 300? nbadraft.net had like a 73 player ranking on him. lol

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