Posted on LakersGround.net on 8/08/07.A year and a half ago, I did
a post where I evaluated the drafting of 17 GM's based upon a simple scoring system. It's a crude system, but no one suggested anything better. As there isn't much going on right now, I thought I would update it.
Here's my GM rating (best to worst):
+4.1 - Rod Thorn of New Jersey
+4.0 - Geoff Petrie of Sacramento
+3.9 - Randy Pfund of Miami
+3.8 - John Paxson of Chicago
+3.1 - Bryan Colangelo of Phoenix
+3.0 - Don and Donnie Nelson of Dallas
+2.6 - Mitch Kupchak of the LA Lakers+2.1 - Joe Dumars of Detroit
+1.6 - Indiana
+1.1 - Rick Sund of Seattle
-0.4 - Kevin McHale of Minnesota
-0.7 - RC Buford of San Antonio
-1.6 - Jerry West of Memphis
-2.1 - Carroll Dawson of Houston
-5.2 - Kevin O'Connor of Utah
-8.3 - Elgin Baylor of LA Clippers
I expect for each pick in the draft order to net a certain level of talent. If a GM drafts better talent with lottery picks than another GM does with late first round picks, that GM isn't necessarily doing a better job. So, I defined what level of talent I expect with each pick, then I will give GM credit (positive points) or blame (negative points) if he the player he drafts turns out better or worse than I expected. Here is the scoring chart:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | | | Deep | Never |
Pick |All-Star| Star |Starter |Rotation| Bench | Bench | in NBA |
======|========|========|========|========|========|========|========|
1-2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | -2 | -3 | -4 | -5 |
3-4 | 1.5 | 0.5 | -0.5 | -1.5 | -2.5 | -3.5 | -4.5 |
5-8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | -2 | -3 | -4 |
9-12 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | -0.5 | -1.5 | -2.5 | -3.5 |
13-16 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | -2 | -3 |
17-20 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | -0.5 | -1.5 | -2.5 |
21-24 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | -2 |
25-28 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | -0.5 | -1.5 |
29-32 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -0.6 |
33-40 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | -0.2 |
41+ | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------The columns mean the following:
- All-Star - Selected as an All-Star
- Star - Not an All-Star, but one of the team's two best players
- Starter - Not a star, but starts when not injured
- Rotation - Plays when not injured, gets 15 - 24 mpg
- Bench - Plays 10 - 15 mpg, occasionally has a DNP-CD
- Deep Bench - Gets erratic minutes, will generally play in the NBA three seasons or less
- Never in NBA - Not made it on to to his team's roster or played just a handful of games
My assessment is based upon the player's current year unless he has played more than 4 seasons in the NBA, in which case it is based upon his fourth year. What matters is how the player did on the team that drafted him. The fact that George Lynch went on to be a starter on other teams doesn't change the fact that he didn't do well as a Laker draft pick. If a team trades a player, I assess his value in the trade (which will be based mostly on his performance to date) and then don't evaluate him further. If a team lets a draft pick walk, the draft pick gets a "Deep Bench" rating for the rest of his career. If a player who walked made the rotation for a season for his team before walking, I am going to give the GM a +0.5 bonus. The fourth year cut off is because most players are what they are after their fourth season and the chance of trade, career-ending injury, being beat out by a newer draft pick, etc. greatly increases after that.
Second round picks that make the bench for a year or two don't really matter for a team's fortunes. Also, a second round pick can get playing time one season because of injuries, shortness of bench, etc. and that shouldn't inflate a GM's score. To reflect that, here are some special rules for players picked 33 or later:
1. If the player plays only one season and then is waived, the GM gets a 0.1
2. If the player never played more than 500 minutes, then the GM gets a 0.1
3. If the player is at least a Bench player during his fourth season, the GM gets the full score
4. If the player is at least a Rotation player for two seasons, then GM gets the full score
5. If the player is at least a Starter player, then GM gets the full score
6. If the player doesn't meet #3, #4 or #5, then the GM gets 0.3 if the player is a Bench player and 0.5 if the player is a Rotation player
Alternatives consideredAssessing players for years 2-4 of their careerI tried this but realized it didn't work after I did Atlanta to Indiana. This alternative is considering the years 2-4 of a draft picks career, giving more weight to the most recent years. A draft pick's second year would have a weight of 1, third year a weight of 2, and fourth year a weight of 3. Then, the GM would be credited the weighted rating for the player. For most players, this didn't move the rating that much. For some players, this alternative didn't work. What to do about Eddie Griffin, the #7 pick who was a rotation player his second season, and then released after the season? What to do about Mehmet Okur, who was a rotation player his second season and then left Detroit through free agency? Isn't Orien Greene, who played 15.4 mpg in 80 games his rookie year before being cut a better late second round pick than someone who never played a game for the team?
Rating players how they did regardless of their teamMehmet Okur was an absolute steal at #38. However, Detroit didn't recognize that and let him go as a free agent. Does his stellar play in Utah redeem the pick? Some think yes, but I don't
Adjusting scores for C's, PF' and PG'sCenters are extremely hard to draft. SG's and SF's are relatively easily. I played with the idea of adding a point for Centers that earn at least a Bench rating and 0.5 points for PF's and PG's that make at least a Bench rating. However, I don't know the positions of all NBA players and didn't know what to do with PF/C's and combo guards.
Seeing how each pick rated out of the available talentFor each draft pick, assess all of the players taken after that pick and how well the player ranked relative to the other players. For example, Chris Duhon would have better a pick that Sasha, but Sasha was the second best option. To do this would require evaluate and rank every player drafted for 4 years, which is more work than I want to do.
Known Flaws to This SystemNo adjustment for depth in draftThe 2003 draft has produced 5 All-Stars so far, so drafting one then was much than in the 1997 draft, which produced 2.
GM's of bad, young teams are overratedPhilidelphia, Boston and Atlanta score very high in these rankings because those teams have gotten rid of most of their veteran players and are playing most of their draft picks regardless if their are NBA quality or not. For example, of the 12 players who played the most minutes for Boston last season, 7 were drafted in the last 3 years and one more was drafted the year before. As a consequnce, players like Salim Stoudamire, Ryan Gomes Green and Willie Green get large positive ratings when they aren't NBA quality players. I have moved the rankings for those three teams out of the overall rankings.
EvaluationsMitch's picks and my scoring of them:
2001No picks
2002Kareem Rush (20) - Traded for 2 high second round picks => -1
2003Brian Cook (24) - Bench (0)
Luke Walton (32) - Starter (3)
2004Sasha Vujacic (27) - Bench (0.5)
Marcus Douthit (56) - Never in NBA (0)
2005Andrew Bynum (10) - Rotation (-0.5)
Ronny Turiaf (37) - Rotation (0.5)
Von Wafer (39) - Deep Bench (0.1)
Overall Score+2.6
Tenures to short to evaluateBernie Bickerstaff of Charlotte (3 seasons)
Danny Ferry of Cleveland (2 seasons)
Mark Warkentien of Denver (1 season)
Chris Mullin of Golden State (3 seasons)
Larry Harris of Milwaukee (3 seasons)
Jeff Bower of New Orleans (2 seasons)
Isiah Thomas of New York (3 seasons)
Otis Smith of Orlando (2 seasons)
Kevin Pritchard of Portland (New)
Bryan Colangelo of Toronto (1 season)
Ernie Grunfeld of Washington (3 seasons)
Ratings pulled because they are for bad, young teams+12.0 - Billy King of Philadephia
+10.8 - Danny Ainge of Boston
+3.7 - Billy Knight of Atlanta
Billy Knight's picks (Atlanta) and my scoring of them:
2001Wasn't GM yet
2002Wasn't GM yet
2003Boris Diaw (21) - Rotation then traded => 1
Travis Hansen (37) - Never in NBA (-0.2)
2004Josh Childress (6) - Rotation (-1)
Josh Smith (17) - Star (2.5)
Donta Smith (34) - Deep Bench (0.1)
Royal Ivey (37) - Bench (0.3)
Viktor Sanikidze (42) - Never in NBA (0)
2005Marvin Williams (2) - Starter (-1)
Salim Stoudamire (31) - Rotation (2)
Cenk Ayol (59) - Never in NBA (0)
Overall Score+3.7
Danny Ainge's picks (Boston) and my scoring of them:
2001Wasn't GM yet
2002Wasn't GM yet
2003Marcus Banks (13) - Bench then traded => -1
Kendrick Perkins (27) - Rotation (1.5)
Brandon Hunter (56) - Deep Bench (0.1)
2004Al Jefferson (15) - Star (2)
Delonte West (24) - Starter then traded => 2
Tony Allen (25) - Rotation (1.5)
Justin Reed (40) - Deep Bench then traded => 0.1
2005Gerald Green (18) - Rotation (0.5)
Ryan Gomes (50) - Starter (4)
Orien Greene (53) - Deep Bench => 0.1
Overall Score+10.8
John Paxson's picks (Chicago) and my scoring of them:
2001Wasn't GM yet
2002Wasn't GM yet
2003Kirk Hinrich (7) - Starter (0)
Mario Austin (36) - Never played in NBA (-0.2)
Tommy Smith (53) - Never played in NBA (0)
2004Ben Gordon (3) - Star (0.5)
Luol Deng (7) - Star (1)
Chris Duhon (39) - Rotation (2.5)
2005No picks
Overall Score+3.8
Don and Donnie Nelson's picks (Dallas) and my scoring of them:
2001Kyle Hill (43) - Never in NBA (0)
2002Mladen Sekularac (54) - Never in NBA (0)
2003Josh Howard (29) - All-Star (5)
2004Pavel Podkolzin (21) - Never in NBA (-2) Note: Played 1 game
2005No picks
Overall Score+3.0
Joe Dumars' picks (Detroit) and my scoring of them:
2001Rodney White (9) - Bench then traded => -1.5
Mehmet Okur (38) - Rotation, lost to FA because of CBA, became Star => 4.5
2002Tayshaun Prince (23) - Starter (2)
2003Darko Milicic (2) - Deep Bench then traded => -4
Carlos Delfino (25) - Not signed for a year, Rotation (0.5)
Andreas Glyniadakis (58) - Never in NBA (0)
2004Rickey Paulding (54) - Never in NBA (0)
2005Jason Maxiell (26) - Bench (0.5)
Amir Johnson (56) - Deep Bench (0.1)
Alex Acker (60) - Deep Bench (0)
Overall Score+2.1
Carroll Dawson's picks (Houston) and my scoring of them:
Note: Daryl Morey is now GM for Houston
2001Eddie Griffin (7) - Rotation then released => -2.5
2002Yao Ming (1) - All-Star (0.5)
Bostjan Nachbar (15) - Bench then traded => -1
Tito Maddox (38) - Deep Bench (-0.1)
2003Malick Badiane (44) - Never in NBA (0) => 0
2004Vassilis Spanoulis (50) - Took until '06-'07 to sign
2005Luther Head (24) - Rotation (1)
Overall Score-2.1
Indiana Pacer's picks and my scoring of them:
2001Jamison Brewer (40) - Deep Bench (0.1)
2002Fred Jones (14) - Rotation (0)
2003James Jones (49) - Rotation then traded for 2nd round pick => 1.5
2004David Harrison (29) - Deep Bench (0)
Rashad Wright (59) - Never in NBA (0)
Overall Score+1.6
Elgin Baylor's picks (Clippers) and my scoring of them:
2001Traded away draft rights to Tyson Chandler
2002Chris Wilcox (8) - Bench then traded for Vladimir Radmanovic => -2
Melvin Ely (12) - Deep Bench then traded => -2.5
Traded away rights to Mario Kasun (41)
2003Chris Kaman (6) - Starter (0)
Sofoklis Schortsanitis (34) - Never in NBA (-0.2)
2004Shaun Livingston (4) - Injury prone all career. Estimate: Rotation (-1.5)
Lionel Chalmers (33) - Deep Bench (0.1)
2005Yaroslav Korolev (12) - Deep Bench (-2.5)
Daniel Ewing (32) - Bench (0.3)
Overall Score-8.3
Jerry West's picks (Memphis) and my scoring of them:
Note: Chris Wallace is now the GM of Memphis
2001Wasn't GM yet
2002Drew Gooden (4) - Difficult to evaluate because traded mid-rookie season in a multi-player deal. Estimate: Starter (-0.5)
Robert Archibald (32) - Deep Bench (0)
2003Troy Bell (16) - Deep Bench (-2) Note: Acquired draft day trade
Dahntay Jones (20) - Rotation (0.5) Note: Acquired draft day trade
2004Andre Emmett (35) - Never in NBA (-0.2) Note: Acquired draft day trade and played 8 games
Antonio Burks (36) - Deep Bench (0.1) Note: Acquired draft day trade
Segei Lishouk (49) - Never in NBA (0)
2005Hakim Warrick (19) - Rotation (0.5)
Overall Score-1.6
Randy Pfund's picks (Miami) and my scoring of them:
2001Ken Johnson (49) - Deep Bench (0.1)
2002Caron Butler (10) - Difficult to evaluate because traded twice. Estimate: Starter (0.5)
Rasual Butler (53) - Bench then traded => 2
2003Dwayne Wade (5) - All-Star (2)
Jerome Beasley (33) - Never in NBA (-0.2) Note: Actually played 2 games
2004Dorell Wright (19) - Bench (-0.5)
Albert Miralles (39) - Never in NBA (0) Note: Acquired draft day trade and rights were later traded
Matt Freije (53) - Never in NBA (0) Note: Was waived by Heat before playing
2005Wayne Simien (29) - Deep Bench (0)
Overall Score+3.9
Kevin McHale's picks (Minnesota) and my scoring of them:
2001No draft picks
2002Marcus Taylor (52) - Never in NBA (0)
2003Ndudi Ebi (26) - Deep Bench (-0.5)
Rick Rickert (55) - Never in NBA (0)
2004Blake Stepp (58) - Never in NBA (0)
2005Rashad McCants (14) - Rotation, had microfracture knee surgery => 0
Bracey Wright (47) - Deep Bench (0.1)
Overall Score-0.4
Rod Thorn's picks (New Jersey) and my scoring of them:
2001Richard Jefferson (13) - Star (2)
Jason Collins (18) - Starter (1.5)
Brandon Armstrong (23) - Deep Bench (-1)
Brian Scalabrine (35) - Bench (1.5)
2002Nenad Krstic (24) - Starter (2)
Tamar Slay (54) - Deep Bench (0.1)
2003Zoran Planinic (22) - Deep Bench (-1)
Traded rights to Kyle Korver (51)
2004Traded rights to Viktor Khryapa (22)
Christian Drejer (51) - Never in NBA (0)
2005Antoine Wright (15) - Bench (-1)
Mile Ilic (43) - Not signed until '06-'07 season
Overall Score+4.1
Billy King's picks (Philadephia) and my scoring of them:
2001Samuel Dalembert (26) - Starter (2.5)
Damone Brown (37) - Deep Bench (0.1)
Alvin Jones (57) - Deep Bench (0.1)
2002Traded rights to Jiri Welsch
John Salmons (26) - Rotation (1.5)
Sam Clancy (44) - Never in NBA (0)
Randy Holcomb (56) - Never in NBA (0)
2003Willie Green (41) - Rotation (3)
Traded rights to Paccelis Morlende (50)
Kyle Korver (51) - Rotation (3)
2004Andre Iguodala (9) - Star (1.5)
2005Louis Williams (45) - Bench (0.3)
Overall Score+12.0
Bryan Colangelo's picks (Phoenix) and my scoring of them:
Note: Colangelo is now the GM of Toronto
2001Alton Ford (51) - Deep Bench (0.1)
2002Amare Stoudemire (9) - All-Star (2.5)
Casey Jacobsen (22) - Rotation then traded => 1
2003Zarko Cabarkapa (17) - Deep Bench then traded for 2 second round picks => -1
Leandrinho Barbosa (28) - Rotation (1.5) Note: Acquired draft day trade
2004Jackson Vroman (31) - Deep Bench then traded => 0
2005Dijon Thompson (24) - Deep Bench (-1)
Overall Score+3.1
Geoff Petrie's picks (Sacramento) and my scoring of them:
2001Gerald Wallace (25) - Deep Bench then selected in expansion draft => -0.5
Maurice Jeffers (55) - Never in NBA (0)
2002Corsley Edwards (58) - Never in NBA (0) Note: played 10 games for Hornets in '04-'05 season
2003None
2004Kevin Martin (26) - Star (3.5)
Ricky Minard (47) - Never in NBA (0)
2005Francisco Garcia (23) - Rotation (1)
Overall Score+4.0
RC Buford's picks (San Antonio) and my scoring of them:
2001Wasn't GM yet
2002Wasn't GM yet
2003No Draft Picks
2004Beno Udrih (28) - Bench (0.5)
Romain Sato (52) - Never in NBA (0)
Sergei Karaulov (57) - Never in NBA (0)
2005Ian Mahinmi (28) - Never in NBA (-1.2)
Overall Score-0.7
Rick Sund's picks (Seattle) and my scoring of them:
2001Vladimir Radmanovic (12) - Rotation (-0.5)
Earl Watson (40) - Bench then let go as FA => 0.1
2002Peter Fehse (49) - Never in NBA (0)
2003Nick Collison (12) - Starter (0.5)
Luke Ridnour (14) - Starter (1)
Paccelis Morlende (50) - Never in NBA (0) Note: Acquired draft day trade
2004Robert Swift (12) - Bench (-1.5)
David Young (41) - Never in NBA (0)
[2005]
Johan Petro (25) - Rotation (1.5)
Mickael Gelabale (48) - Didn't play until '06-'07 season
Overall Score+1.1
Kevin O'Connor's picks (Utah) and my scoring of them:
2001Raul Lopez (24) - Two years to sign, Deep Bench, then traded => -1
Jarron Collins (53) - Rotation (3)
2002Curtis Borchardt (18) - Deep Bench then traded => -1.5 Note: Acquired draft day trade
2003Aleksandar Pavlovic (19) - Bench then taken in expansion draft => -1.5
Maurice Williams (47) - Bench then lost to FA => 0.1
2004Kris Humphries (14) - Deep Bench then traded => -2
Kirk Snyder (16) - Deep Bench then traded => -2
2005Deron Williams (3) - Starter (-0.5)
CJ Miles (34) - Deep Bench (0.1)
Robert Whaley (51) - Deep Bench then traded => 0.1
Overall Score-5.2