By Kelly Dwyer
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/kelly_dwyer/06/25/gm.rankings/index.html
With but 15 players per roster and five to a lineup, the role of an NBA personnel boss is of paramount importance -- especially when compared to counterparts in the world of major league baseball (which has no salary cap) and the NFL (where a hard salary cap and a host of nonguaranteed contracts allow teams to rebuild on the fly). The NBA is a special breed, as even a three-year run from a GM can make or break a franchise for a decade.
With that fact established, we decided to rank the league's personnel bosses from 1-30, starting from the most promising to the most enervating.
#6
Geoff Petrie, Sacramento Kings
Pluses: Unafraid to make what appear to be risky deals for certain talent, Petrie doesn't think twice before taking advantage of a lopsided offer. Two big ones -- acquiring Chris Webber for fading vets Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe, and getting Mike Bibby for Jason Williams -- turned the Kings into one of the NBA's better teams for the first part of the decade. But big deals alone didn't turn around Sacramento's fortunes. Petrie also persuaded Vlade Divac to come to a 27-win team in 1999, waited patiently as Peja Stojakovic (drafted in '96) developed overseas (he debuted in '99) and consistently rotated a sound cast of seventh and eighth men in and out of Sacramento since '99.
Minuses: Petrie hasn't had luck with coaches. In 1997, he gave Eddie Jordan the reins a little too soon, before Jordan became a Princeton offense devotee. Rick Adelman was an improvement who led the Kings deep into the playoffs soon after, but his shortened rotations never seemed to mesh with Petrie's personnel moves. Worse, the Maloof brothers jumped in last summer and hired Eric Musselman, who was fired after one season.
Bottom line: Petrie knows how to put together a winner, and even last season's 33-win team appeared to have playoff-worthy talent. But without a Finals appearance from the Webber-led squad, Petrie's legacy now depends on his most recent coaching hire (the energetic Reggie Theus) and his own work with a team that needs retooling.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/kelly_dwyer/06/25/gm.rankings/index.html
With but 15 players per roster and five to a lineup, the role of an NBA personnel boss is of paramount importance -- especially when compared to counterparts in the world of major league baseball (which has no salary cap) and the NFL (where a hard salary cap and a host of nonguaranteed contracts allow teams to rebuild on the fly). The NBA is a special breed, as even a three-year run from a GM can make or break a franchise for a decade.
With that fact established, we decided to rank the league's personnel bosses from 1-30, starting from the most promising to the most enervating.
#6
Geoff Petrie, Sacramento Kings
Pluses: Unafraid to make what appear to be risky deals for certain talent, Petrie doesn't think twice before taking advantage of a lopsided offer. Two big ones -- acquiring Chris Webber for fading vets Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe, and getting Mike Bibby for Jason Williams -- turned the Kings into one of the NBA's better teams for the first part of the decade. But big deals alone didn't turn around Sacramento's fortunes. Petrie also persuaded Vlade Divac to come to a 27-win team in 1999, waited patiently as Peja Stojakovic (drafted in '96) developed overseas (he debuted in '99) and consistently rotated a sound cast of seventh and eighth men in and out of Sacramento since '99.
Minuses: Petrie hasn't had luck with coaches. In 1997, he gave Eddie Jordan the reins a little too soon, before Jordan became a Princeton offense devotee. Rick Adelman was an improvement who led the Kings deep into the playoffs soon after, but his shortened rotations never seemed to mesh with Petrie's personnel moves. Worse, the Maloof brothers jumped in last summer and hired Eric Musselman, who was fired after one season.
Bottom line: Petrie knows how to put together a winner, and even last season's 33-win team appeared to have playoff-worthy talent. But without a Finals appearance from the Webber-led squad, Petrie's legacy now depends on his most recent coaching hire (the energetic Reggie Theus) and his own work with a team that needs retooling.
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