The authors of this Forbes study are just messing with us right? Kevin McHale? Arguably one of the 5 worst GMs in the NBA?
We’ve always thought that the best measure of a GM is the number of wins he can muster with the payroll that he has. (It’s actually something we track for baseball called the MLB Cost Index.) However, the authors of this Forbes article are using criteria where they compare wins and payroll but relative to the current GM’s predecessor. And that’s where the flaw is. It’s all about how good you are relative to the person who had the job before you. That’s like saying Steve McNair was the best QB in the NFL last year because of his drastic improvement over Kyle Boller.
Listen, when you have Kevin McHale and Billy King as your #1 and #3 GMs in sports, you have to go back and really look at your methodology. Kevin McHale has done nothing with that franchise except retard Kevin Garnett and make dumb trades with his buddy Danny Ainge. Billy King on the other hand has managed to throw money away at guys like Chris Webber, Samuel Dalembert, and numerous head coaches. Meanwhile his “high winning percentage” is relative to a guy named Brad Greenberg who lasted one year and was what Pat Croce called his biggest mistake as a rookie owner. And on top of that, Larry Brown was calling the shots when Billy King “won” those games.
Oh and it’s probably a good idea to remove Bobby Clarke from your list. Sorry Forbes, back to the drawing board.
Links:
[Forbes]: Best General Managers In Sports
