2019 Executive of the Year
Dec 8, 2019 19:38:45 GMT
Walt Frazier, Mike Krzyzewski, and 7 more like this
Post by Ian Noble on Dec 8, 2019 19:38:45 GMT
2019 Executive of the Year
Introduction: Commissioner's 2019 Address to the League
2019 Executive of the Year
JOSH BARBER
Brooklyn Nets
Second Place
Indiana Pacers - Larry Bird
Introduction: Commissioner's 2019 Address to the League
Welcome to the presentation thread for the eighth annual Executive of the Year award! It's been a long time coming this year, for the first time since 2012 the Off Season was delayed after some fairly hefty bumps in the road for your humble commissioner. It's been good to get us back on track since the start of November with Off Season Free Agency, the regular season also tipped off as planned a week ago on Saturday 7th December, my man Walt Frazier is already getting swamped with stock watch threads, I guess things are getting back to normal in the world of D5!
Despite only 67 trades passed this year, a record low, activity has been at its highest with 485k pageviews across the full 12 months! There were actually more D5PN articles than trades throughout the 2018/19 season! Our media centre was brilliantly active: there was an early trend for GM Interviews ** that really should be picked up again, newcomer Jerry West gave us power rankings throughout, Andrei Kirilenko was immensely prolific as ever *******, Julius Erving gave us the first sight of Zion Williamson in a D5 Cavs jersey, Alex English created his own method of draft analysis, as did George Gervin with his series on D5's Brightest Futures, there's also been fascinating submissions from James Kay **, Jeremiah Hill *, Amare Stoudemire **, the list goes on and on, we really have the greatest sim league community in the world. D5PN articles really feel like the cherry on top of Dynasty Five, they provide the insights and analyses that led us here in the first place, it's another facet that makes D5 a very special place and community of which to be a part.
As the seasons change we see the tides roll back and forth. Golden State's five year dynasty looked mortal this year in the face of the Denver Nuggets regular season dominance, and in 2020 Golden State are staring down the barrel of their first season in the lottery since 2013, although with three Top 20 players on their roster injured it's hard to not see them bouncing back next year. 3rd Seed battles seemed to be a thing as the Big 4 (DEN, GSW, CHA, MIL) kept everyone else catching up. The impending Hard Cap began to bite for the first time this season, robbing Orlando and Charlotte of their draft picks and forcing Denver to revolve a different carousel of supporting players around their MVP James Harden ****.
Amongst other notables, veteran pest Vlade Divac gave us the worst thread in the history of the league, people found out dynastyfive.com exists, Ian Noble and Andrei Kirilenko posted a legendarily disappointing April Fool's joke trade, and post of the year has to go to Mr Kevin Hollis for this terrifyingly accurate portrayal of the league's commissioner. More than anything however, 2019 was the year that we all bought our stocks and invested in some quality, deep fried, D5 memes!
Trade of the Year should probably go to Shane Battier and Amare Stoudemire for making a deal in which Jimmy Butler, John Wall, Damian Lillard changed hands, although one could argue that Kyrie Irving joining the Nets was a much bigger deal in terms of changes to a team's direction and status, as Brooklyn made the late season transition to establish themselves as a certain playoff presence when April/May rolls around next year!
We've now had eight seasons of Dynasty Five! Back in 2012 the world seemed like a far different place compared to now and throughout it all, even with off season delays added into the mix, we've stuck with the process and been a place of continuity and community that grows and evolves year by year. It's been a labour of love for me and I don't see it ending any time soon.
It's my reckoning so far that there are possibly three, maybe four contending GMs for the most prestigious prize in the league this year. I'll be writing up my analyses as usual and maybe, if I get the timing right, we might even have a Christmas Day announcement of the winner as one GM's present on Christmas morning! I'll do my best because that would be pretty cool! Keep checking back to find out as the results come in!
2019 Executive of the Year
JOSH BARBER
Brooklyn Nets
Merry Christmas Andrei Kirilenko!! I said "one day you'll hear your name called last" and here you are! 2019 Executive of the Year! He's been waiting since 2007, he's been a contender every year for the past four years running, and today we finally induct Mr Andrei Kirilenko into the pantheon after a blistering year of GMing turning a team that was tanking two years ago into the newest powerhouse in the East!
This is the GM who brought you Greg Monroe, Batum, Bargnani and Papagiannis in exchange for Devin Booker and Domantas Sabonis in 2016, the same guy who picked up Jrue Holiday for Rudy Gay in 2017, Bam Adebayo for Alex Len the same year. Every year it's the same: five stars for trading skill, and that's not just coming from me but all of his contemporaries as Andrei Kirilenko is easily recognised as the best trader in the history of D5 amongst his peers in both last year's survey and this year's.
To start the season, already facing a year without Kristaps Porzingis due to injury, 2018/19 was going to be the year that the Nets would be taken as far as Devin Booker could take them, and despite a 25.9/4.4/6.8 season from "Book", the Nets could only muster 18 wins in total. Consolidation of talent, however, was the name of the game from February onwards when Bam and Domantas Sabonis left town in exchange for 21 year old John Collins who immediately paired with Kristaps Porzingis to create what looks like it will be the best young bigman duo in the league after Towns/Jokic. Collins soon after received a bump up to an 86 rating and it was only another four months wait until Josh landed what is arguably the trade of the season, capitalising on the Toronto Raptors firesale, bringing home Kyrie Irving to Brooklyn in exchange for Justise Winslow, Markelle Fultz and two picks, one of which turned out to be this year's #6 DeAndre Hunter. The Nets, coming off an 18W/64L travesty of a season, had catapulted themselves into the stratosphere of Eastern contenders with just one move, constructively using Kristaps's injury and their subsequent high draft pick to great success.
Once Off Season Free Agency finally rolled around in November the Brooklyn Nets were ready, with help from an early season Cody Zeller salary dump, Josh's free agent game tipped off and he snapped up real-life championship x-factors Kyle Korver and Javale McGee on sensible and affordable one-year deals. Then recognising there was one starting spot not rated over 80+ Andrei Kirilenko paid out big on a $27.3m one-year deal for TJ Warren which not only cemented his team as one of the elite in the East for the 2019/20 season but also kept the cap flexibility needed to still be a player in the loaded 2020 free agent class! So now only a few months later we look upon the latest standings, with the Nets jostling amongst the East's elite, and it's clear that not since winning the championship in 2008, with Jason Kidd and Ray Allen leading the way, has a Josh Barber team looked so good!
In the D5 Universe there's been a balancing of power between the conferences thanks to GMs like Andrei Kirilenko representing Eastern teams, and even if there's some bumps down the road, some unexpected twists and turns, you can't help but get the sense that Barber will continue to adapt and overcome when those curveballs get thrown. In a draft day trade two years ago Trae Young and a pick were given up for Marvin Bagley, who was then traded for Markelle Fultz which Josh mentally thrashed himself about for months, but then eighteen months later Fultz was a cornerstone player in the deal that brought Kyrie to Brooklyn, so the miss-step came full circle and the team came out on top in the end.
Kyrie can already be considered a franchise player, Booker has pretty much already reached that tier this season, Kristaps and Collins aren't far off those heights themselves and it looks like the ratings boosts are going to keep coming for these youngsters. Set up and ready for 2020 free agency with only $47million on the books come July 1st, it might be safe to say that Andrei Kirilenko has built a team that's ready to reach a height never seen before in D5 history, which seems almost an impossibility in the D5 Hard Cap era. Moreover we have here a General Manager who is genuinely one of the greatest assets to the league as a whole, with his constant stream of fascinating and diligently crafted analytics and other D5PN articles, his role as a player agent and former role on the trade committee, an original founding member of the league from May 2007, I'm absolutely thrilled to be able to announce this award for him today.
He's a good mate, he's a legendary GM, and he can finally take his rightful place amongst the greatest of all time and wear the gold wreaths! Congratulations and thanks Andrei Kirilenko, Dynasty Five Executive of the Year 2019!
Trading:
Signing:
Drafting:
Planning:2018 Team
Kristaps Porzingis
Domantas Sabonis
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Devin Booker
Yogi Ferrell
2019 Team
John Collins
Kristaps Porzingis
TJ Warren
Devin Booker
Kyrie Irving
Second Place
Indiana Pacers - Larry Bird
Coming one short of the prize this year we have a GM who has been with us for 13 years and who hasn't been a contender for EOTY since 2012, take a bow Mr Larry Bird!
It would be fascinating to see the statistics but I'd be willing to bet that nobody in the history of D5 has traded more often than Larry Bird and, I'll be honest, there's been many occasion when I've been left scratching my head after seeing a new Pacers trade posted. Not so this year though! Larry was labelled most likely to win EOTY this year in the GM Survey and I've got to admit it was tough to drop him to 2nd place!
The big story with the Pacers? Cap space and flexibility! This time last year the Pacers were on the tab to pay out an eye-watering sum of $255million in player contracts over this season and next. In one year they've managed to reduce that number by a staggering $75million, most of which will fall off in nine months time, leaving them with $40million of cap space to spend in the most stacked free agent class in D5 history. The cap clearing trades **** gained the Pacers a few interesting pieces along the way, but the freedom it provides in the near future really goes to show how much of a difference can be made in just one season with the right level of enthusiasm and tinkering.
Larry Bird managed to shed the pounds this year whilst simultaneously retaining a roster of talented veterans, maturing youth, intriguing prospects and a keen eye focused firmly on the tsunami of young talent arriving in 2022. Here the Pacers essentially received Portland's 2022 1st and cap space in exchange for not much at all, here again another coveted 2022 draft pick arrives for seemingly no reason in a trade with last year's EOTY, Shane Battier. The trade wins just kept stacking up all season long for Indiana: here a pre-ratings boost Bojan Bogdanovic and Denver's 2019 draft pick arrive in exchange for... what exactly? Willie Cauley-Stein? Or how about yet another 2022 pick and Draymond Green from the Toronto firesale in exchange for some fluff and an elastic band he found in the car park on his way to the office? When it comes to the Executive of the Year award - trading is key! Larry Bird was on a roll all year long!
To top it all off Larry Bird poached Julius Randle from the Thunder during OSFA, possibly the biggest name team change of the off season, whilst re-signing Marcus Smart and Draymond Green. These vets now lead the charge for Indiana whilst a host of promising youngsters fill out the bench in the form of Jarrett Allen, Donte DiVincenzo, Landry Shamet, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Eric Paschall.
Thanks to Larry Bird, and not to forget his former assistant Jerry West, the Pacers now look poised to make a splash in the East at any moment. It might not happen this year, it might not even happen next year, but this is the kind of turnaround the team has needed for a while and it must have taken a hell of an effort all season long.
Trading:
Signing:
Drafting:
Planning:2018 Team
Jonas Valanciunas
Marcus Morris
Danilo Gallinari
Isaiah Thomas
Patrick Beverley
2019 Team
Jarrett Allen
Julius Randle
Draymond Green
Bojan Bogdanovic
Marcus Smart
Third Place
Atlanta Hawks - Jay ZIf you came here looking for single-season turnarounds then you came to the right place! Allow him to reintroduce himself, his name is Jay Z! and what he's done for the Hawks this season is breathtaking.
There he was, quietly GMing since February 2014 like no big deal, when all of a sudden in the space of just a few weeks this off season he decides to completely revolutionise the Hawks roster and single-handedly turn them into one of the elite young teams in the league! I've historically known Jay Z to be one of the unluckier GMs in the league, he never had enough in the tank to reach the playoffs and never had any lottery luck either, and when he finally did get some luck in 2017 and got to pick #2 it was the Markelle Fultz/Lonzo Ball Draft - no surprises then that Lonzo was shipped during this EOTY contending campaign!
An early season cap clear gave no real indication of what was to come, and even though the streets is watching Jay Z held his nerve whilst youngster DeAaron Fox blitzed it for the Kings in real life and received his ratings boost to become the go-to choice at point guard for ATL. Can I get a round of applause though for the trades that followed: in late June, capitalising on the Bucks power foward glut, Jay Z brought in young Bulls big man Lauri Markkanen in exchange for the draft pick which became Darius Garland and then followed that up less than 3 weeks later by bringing in all star Jimmy Butler in a move which completely redefined the entire makeup of Atlanta's roster! In real life Butler has found a home in Miami, who look like they might really give some trouble to the East's elite this year, whilst Markkanen has regressed but still gives ATL so much to look forward to!
To top it all off this off season, Jusuf Nurkic was poached from the Knicks and Aron Baynes, a contender for Most Improved Player in real life, also joined the roster. In addition to this season, taking a look across the body of work from Jay Z since he started, there's been some quite key additions via the Draft from DeAaron Fox in 2017, Dario Saric, Spencer Dinwiddie and Bogdan Bogdanovic in 2014 - despite being perennially unlucky when the ping pong balls bounce Jay Z has made solid picks throughout.
Imagine being a Hawks fan and seeing your team go from treadmill underachievers, with Nikola Mirotic being the biggest draw, to the real-life Miami Heat on steroids across such a short span of time! Congratulations to Jay Z and the Hawks organisation!
Trading:
Signing:
Drafting:
Planning:2018 Team
Cody Zeller
Nikola Mirotic
Dario Saric
Mario Hezonja
Elfrid Payton
2019 Team
Jusuf Nurkic
Lauri Markkanen
Kelly Oubre
Jimmy Butler
DeAaron Fox
Fourth Place
Houston Rockets - Charles BarkleyComing in at fourth place we have a bittersweet entry, his first and probably last time as contender for Executive of the Year, Mr Charles Barkley! Charles has been with us for nearly six years but, in dramatic fashion, it's here in the EOTY thread that I'm announcing his imminent departure from the D5 Rockets despite a 2018/19 season in which he turned the Rockets into a contending force that only fell short when it unluckily faced Golden State in the first round of the playoffs.
Everything was taking off in Houston for Charles this season, right up until he disappeared for a month once Off Season Free Agency started and never returned, leaving his team to require a record six league minimum signings just to make the roster limits deadline! Despite all his excellent work with Houston, Charles was officially fired on Friday 13th December and the process to replace him is in progress. If it weren't for his off season disappearance he could no doubt be much higher on this list, but alas it is with a heavy heart that we must say goodbye, after six good years, to a great GM who contributed so much to this league for so long.
Charles Barkley must be given huge credit for steadfastly holding to his franchise centrepiece, Giannis Antetokounmpo. I know for a fact that Charles has turned down offers from me ever since 2015, back when Giannis was rated extremely lowly, and it's a strategy of patience that has worked out for the Rockets with Giannis grabbing league MVP honours in real life, now rated a 97 and clearly one of the best players in the world.
Chuck had done a decent job of surrounding Giannis with talent until this season when he really stepped it up a notch and filled out a roster with highly rated veteran players that would've been destined for playoff success if they hadn't come up against a juggernaut in the first round. Two trades with the LA Lakers over the course of two seasons firstly brought Kemba Walker to Houston in March 2018, followed by TJ Warren and Mike Conley in April 2019, to complete a roster which, with Kevin Love and Giannis included, were all 80+ rated guys! This was a team which really should have given even Golden State more problems in the playoffs, and looked like it might do when it won Game 2 to even the series, history took a different turn but Charles Barkley should be given all the credit for putting together the pieces. As an aside I'm also giving Chuck 4 stars for signings, because I only know maybe two or three GMs in this league who have put a similar amount of effort into free agency as him.
In the end though, after all things are considered, I'm sorry to announce that Charles's six year reign is over, we will sorely miss his passionate, outspoken nature and the D5 Rockets will miss his impressive GM credentials, shown in no better way than across recent years in the lead up to this award - but then again it's always better to burn out than fade away! Thanks for everything Chuck, hope you come back some day.
Trading:
Signing:
Drafting:
Planning:2018 Team
John Henson
Kevin Love
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Eric Gordon
Kemba Walker
2019 Team
Kevin Love
Giannis Antetokounmpo
TJ Warren
Kemba Walker
Mike Conley