Hoops Rumors Polls

The NBA hierarchy has undergone a shakeup this season, but it’s tough to identify a front-runner for the Executive of the Year award. There’s still about a month to go before the end of the regular season, and the extra time might make the choice somewhat easier, but the outcome seems destined to be too close to call until the winner is revealed. Here’s a look at five strong candidates, in alphabetical order:

• Danny Ferry, Hawks: Ferry would probably be the clear-cut favorite if not for his racially charged remarks about Luol Deng that prompted him to take an indefinite leave of absence in September, one from which he’s yet to return. The roster that Ferry constructed is running away with the Eastern Conference, though much of the credit for that belongs to coach Mike Budenholzer, who’s running the front office in Ferry’s absence. Ferry nonetheless built the Hawks in the mold of the Spurs, where he’d previously served as an executive, and perhaps no one outside of San Antonio has had as much success with the formula as this Atlanta team has. It’s happened on the cheap, too, as the Hawks are below the salary cap.
• Gar Forman, Bulls: Forman shares front office responsibilities with executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson, but Forman seems to handle most of the day-to-day duties. Chicago’s title hopes still largely live and die with the health of Derrick Rose, but the Bulls are less dependent on their point guard than in years past after amnestying Carlos Boozer, a move that cleared the way for Pau Gasol‘s three-year, $22.346MM deal, one that looks like a bargain. Forman and company also brought over Nikola Mirotic, who’s fit right into the team’s rotation, and watched as Jimmy Butler, the last pick of the first round in the 2011 draft, has outplayed many former first overall picks this year.
• David Griffin, Cavs: The widespread perception is that LeBron James is the one who really pulls the strings in Cleveland, but they don’t hand out the Executive of the Year award to players. Even if LeBron was the catalyst for or at least had input on the team’s moves since he rejoined this past July, Griffin deserves credit for acquiring just about every target the team has sought this season. The Cavs wanted Kevin Love, and they got him. They wanted Timofey Mozgov, and they got him, too. The same is true of Kendrick Perkins. They sought an upgrade on the wing, and they traded for both Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith. The only major miss was on Ray Allen, but he’s not playing for anyone else.
• Bob Myers, Warriors: Golden State’s front office takes a collaborative approach, and the roster is largely intact from last season. Still, the Warriors have earned praise for their decision not to give up Thompson for Love and to give Thompson an extension that secured him for four more years. The hiring of new coach Steve Kerr has also paid dividends. One of the first moves the Warriors made after promoting Myers to GM was to draft Draymond Green 35th overall in 2012, and he’s proven a steal both for his draft position and his minimum salary.
• Neil Olshey, Trail Blazers: Portland was coming off a 28-38 season when Olshey arrived from the Clippers, and the first major move on Olshey’s Blazers resume was perhaps his most impressive, drafting Damian Lillard. The GM has gradually built around Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge, turning the team into a winning outfit that convinced Aldridge to stay after it seemed he was on his way out two years ago. Olshey didn’t make many earth-shattering moves this year, but he should receive consideration based on the sum of his achievements in Portland.

Let us know who you think should win the Executive of the Year award, and feel free to elaborate on your choice in the comments.

Any time that the best player in the game changes teams, that’s usually going to be the top story of the year on Hoops Rumors. That’s even more true when that player turns the heartbreak of four years prior into a heartwarming return home. The choice LeBron James made to leave the Heat and go back to the Cavaliers, his original NBA team, had wide-reaching consequences that changed the balance of power in the league. The Heat, finalists all four years that James was there, have only the eighth-best record in the Eastern Conference this season even though Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are still in Miami. The Cavs became title favorites in their stead, and the arrival of James helped spur their acquisition of Kevin Love, whom Timberwolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders insists would still be in Minnesota had it not been for Cleveland’s offer.

The 2014/15 season hasn’t gone as planned for James and his new team, however. The Cavs are just 18-13, and rumors have begun to dog coach David Blatt just six months after Cleveland made the unprecedented hiring of a coach tested only in overseas competition. James figures to be at the center of some of 2015’s top stories, too.

Still, there were several other attention-grabbing headlines on Hoops Rumors this past year, and while a few, like the Love trade, were somehow tied to LeBron, most of them stand on their own. Here’s a look at some of the most noteworthy events of 2014:

• The Clippers and the Donald Sterling saga: Accusations of racism had swirled around Clippers owner Donald Sterling for decades, but none of them stuck until an audio recording became public in the midst of the team’s playoff run this spring. New commissioner Adam Silver acted swiftly, banning the league’s longest-tenured owner for life, even as he still legally clung to the team. Wife Shelley Sterling helped cut the final tie between her husband and the Clippers, agreeing to a record $2 billion sale to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and a judge later cleared the way for the transfer to become official.
• The Hawks, Bruce Levenson, and Danny Ferry: Racism again became an issue later in the year when Hawks controlling owner Bruce Levenson announced he would sell his stake in the team amid regret over a racially charged email that he sent in 2012. Soon, racially insensitive remarks from GM Danny Ferry became public, and for the first time, someone from the basketball operations side of a team was swept up in the controversy. Ferry took an indefinite leave of absence, which he still remains on as the team’s sale process forges ahead slowly.
• Carmelo Anthony re-signs with the Knicks: Had it not been for LeBron, Carmelo Anthony would have had the spotlight of free agency mostly to himself. Just one year removed from a scoring title, the star of the Knicks visited with the Bulls, the Mavs, the Rockets and the Lakers before finally inking a massive deal worth more than $124MM with the Knicks and new team president Phil Jackson. As large as the deal is, it’s still over $5MM less valuable than it could have been if he’d signed for the max.
• The NBA’s new TV deal: Soon, more players will be cashing in like Anthony did. The NBA and its television partners agreed to new contracts that will give the league $24 billion over nine years. It’s a nearly three-fold increase on the TV revenues from the last arrangement, and the players are entitled to roughly half of that money. It’ll come by way of a profoundly higher salary cap, though just how swiftly the cap will escalate is still a matter of negotiation between Silver and new union executive director Michele Roberts.
• The Kevin Love trade: It’s true that this move is intricately connected to LeBron, since the conditions that set it in motion wouldn’t have been in place if LeBron hadn’t returned to Cleveland. Yet the deal is still a massive story on its own, given that nearly half the league was trying to acquire Love, who’d made it clear he wasn’t long for Minnesota. The Cavs gave up quite a package in the three-team deal that also involved the Sixers, relinquishing 2014 No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins as well as 2013 top draft choice Anthony Bennett.
• The Rajon Rondo trade: The Celtics were one of the teams that tried and failed to deal for Love, and that shortcoming helped lead to another star changing hands. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge dodged Rajon Rondo rumors for more than a year before finally sending the point guard to the Mavericks. The Celtics came away with a return that little resembles the kind of haul that Minnesota received for Love, aside from the $12,909,090 trade exception that the move allowed Boston to create.
• Paul George‘s injury and the implosion of the Pacers: The sudden decline of the Pacers is even more profound than that of the Heat, who beat them in the last two Eastern Conference Finals. Indiana’s core first started to crumble when the Pacers played hardball with Lance Stephenson, failing to make him an offer to his liking before watching him sign with the Hornets for salaries similar to what they had put on the table. Indiana’s season then came crashing apart when Paul George broke his leg in gruesome fashion during a Team USA exhibition game that was promptly stopped. The injury is likely to keep him out all season. The Pacers, last year’s No. 1 seed in the East, are 11-21.
• Pistons waive Josh Smith: A late entry to the conversation, the Pistons pulled a stunner last week when they released Josh Smith rather than accept trade offers that weren’t to their liking or continue to allow him to take up space on the roster. Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy used the stretch provision to take the $13.5MM that Smith was set to receive in each of the next two seasons and spread it over the next five years instead, and set-off rights will likely allow the Pistons further financial cushion. Still, it’s a stunning move for the team’s prize free agent acquisition of 2013.

So, which non-LeBron story was the most compelling of the year? Let us know, and feel free to mention any write-in candidates you might support in the comments.