Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports recently ranked 25 of the NBA’s top decision-makers in terms of how successful they’ve been at drafting, making trades, and signing free agents over the course of their respective careers. The other five lead executives were not evaluated due to a small sample size.
As Rohrbach writes, with how his system is set up, having a high score over a long career is more impressive than an executive who performed similarly with fewer years of experience. Still, there’s an obvious caveat: his evaluation process is subjective.
Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison is ranked No. 25, followed by Hornets president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak and Bulls executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas. The top three executives in Rohrbach’s system are Jazz CEO Danny Ainge (No. 1), Raptors president Masai Ujiri, and Spurs GM Brian Wright.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype created three all-contract-value teams comprised of players at each of the five positions. Players on rookie deals and those with maximum salaries were excluded from consideration. Gozlan’s first team features four members of the United States’ World Cup roster — Jalen Brunson, Austin Reaves, Mikal Bridges and Jaren Jackson Jr. Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen takes the final spot.
- Signing players to a Designated Veteran contract, also known as the “super-max,” is a polarizing topic among NBA executives, according to Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. “Super-max isn’t a guarantee of the result you’re looking for,” one general manager told Heavy Sports. “Just because you qualify doesn’t make you that guy. Inflated contracts are even harder to move. The additional penalties in the new CBA should slow the roll of everybody giving out a super-max deal the first time a guy qualifies for it. Just because a guy qualifies for it doesn’t necessarily make him entitled to it. That’s become the issue in the league. If you’re going to call yourself a franchise-level player, which is what I think the super-max number says, you’ve got to have more than just putting up numbers.”
- ESPN.com lists some noteworthy milestones and anniversaries to watch for the 2023/24 season, noting that Lakers superstar LeBron James is on track to surpass 40,000 career points if he maintains his stellar production and stays healthy. James became the league’s all-time leading scorer last season.
They need a BCS style ranking. Top-10 or Top-15 ranked players are the only ones that qualify for the Super Max. Maybe you put a provision kicker in the regular max contracts that if a player jumps into that ranking he gets a 10 or 15% jump on his contract the following year, if it is a contract year, he gets that bonus that same year. Need to figure out how that would work with the cap structure and luxury taxes. Easiest way i think is you take the VORP + BPM + WS = X and you’ve got your ranking. Usually the guy that has the highest total of those is the MVP. This year I believe Joker was higher tho. LBJ also fell victim to someone else taking MVP while being top of these before.
But still its like everyone somehow thinks the are a max guy then they think they are a super max guy it’s kinda ridiculous. I want teams with multiple high level players not 1 super max guy and 11 mid guys.
The BCS ranking system is pretty lame, why would we want to bring it over as a ranking system for individual NBA players?
More like what baseball has with the 2 year rollover. Two hot years to qualify for the top level is hard to do.
It truncates the body of work factor really well.
Danny Ainge is a very nice executive but I won’t put him number one. He’s not better than Pat Riley!!!
If we truly rank basketball execs then Pops is number one, we all know Brian Wright doesn’t really run the show.
LeBron James!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have had such a magnificent career it’s a crying shame all these haters be hating on greatness in the way they do. He’s the most talented player I ever seen step out on the basketball floor and the second best player I ever seen play in the NBA. I love the fact that me and LeBron James is the same age and I can tell my son and daughters and future grandkids I seen a generational talent from start to finish and how I got a chance to witness greatness. It’s truly been a pleasure. I’m not sure how many years left in the NBA he has but I would love to see him win one more NBA championship and go out with 5 chips. I would love to see him play a season with Bronny James. Bronny James will definitely fit this Los Angeles Lakers roster well!!!
I’d be willing to put LeBron over Kareem and say he’s the best basketball player I’ve ever seen in 40+ years of watching the NBA.
Sorry taco lenny bias was the best pure basketball player I ever saw on the court.