Post by DERRENMATTS on Sept 29, 2017 20:26:08 GMT -5
Many of you may have watched TNT's Open Court sessions with former NBA players sitting among each other, just free chatting on whatever topic the mediator brings forth. It's a real good listen, and sometimes you hear some interesting things. Well, last night I watched Open Court, but instead of players, this time they had on NBA GM's (though not all are called GM, so thus it's called Executives). Again, a real good listen.
Andy Elisburg, Miami Heat's GM, said something that, while not earth shattering, caught my attention about how hard it is to be a successful GM. He said when the Heat won in '06, with Wade and Shaq, he had big decisions to make. He knew that he had to look down the road and anticipate the 2010 free agency, so he didn't want to be tied down with big hefty contracts. But at the same time, he had Dwayne Wade in his prime, and had to field a competitive team in the meantime.
To field a competitive team, trying to find the right players with the right sized contracts, who will not hinder your main objective (which is to go after the big free agents a few years down the line), and still not reveal your hand to your home fans (who will be wondering why we didn't go after so and so when they were available) -- that's a lot of moving parts and things to juggle.
So, in looking at what Ainge has done, and is doing, we don't (fully) know what his end goal is. Why didn't he get Paul George? Why didn't he get Jimmy Butler? I'm sure if he unloaded the entire U-Haul of assets, he could have had either of them. I mean, there are reasons why he traded away IT, Crowder, Avery, and let Olynyk, Gerald, Jerebko and Amir go. Good GM's like Ainge, they have many cards at play at the same time -- all the while, they have their eye set on something down the road that they're angle at. We question their moves, and debate whether we could have done a better job if we were GM, as if we know better.
Ainge has proven to be a master at cap and contract flexibility. Seems we are always in position to make a huge move. But it takes a really good, really smart, and hard working GM (with some luck) to put a team in a position like that, and to navigate a team through the rough times, and collaborate a championship roster.
Andy Elisburg, Miami Heat's GM, said something that, while not earth shattering, caught my attention about how hard it is to be a successful GM. He said when the Heat won in '06, with Wade and Shaq, he had big decisions to make. He knew that he had to look down the road and anticipate the 2010 free agency, so he didn't want to be tied down with big hefty contracts. But at the same time, he had Dwayne Wade in his prime, and had to field a competitive team in the meantime.
To field a competitive team, trying to find the right players with the right sized contracts, who will not hinder your main objective (which is to go after the big free agents a few years down the line), and still not reveal your hand to your home fans (who will be wondering why we didn't go after so and so when they were available) -- that's a lot of moving parts and things to juggle.
So, in looking at what Ainge has done, and is doing, we don't (fully) know what his end goal is. Why didn't he get Paul George? Why didn't he get Jimmy Butler? I'm sure if he unloaded the entire U-Haul of assets, he could have had either of them. I mean, there are reasons why he traded away IT, Crowder, Avery, and let Olynyk, Gerald, Jerebko and Amir go. Good GM's like Ainge, they have many cards at play at the same time -- all the while, they have their eye set on something down the road that they're angle at. We question their moves, and debate whether we could have done a better job if we were GM, as if we know better.
Ainge has proven to be a master at cap and contract flexibility. Seems we are always in position to make a huge move. But it takes a really good, really smart, and hard working GM (with some luck) to put a team in a position like that, and to navigate a team through the rough times, and collaborate a championship roster.
