2017 Executive of the Year
Jul 28, 2017 12:49:11 GMT
Walt Frazier, Allen Iverson, and 10 more like this
Post by Ian Noble on Jul 28, 2017 12:49:11 GMT
2017 Executive of the Year
Introduction: Commissioner's 2017 Address to the League
2017 Executive of the Year
JAMES KAY
Charlotte Hornets
Second Place
Toronto Raptors - Bryan Colangelo
Third Tier
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Jeremiah Hill
Andrei Kirilenko
@riogho
Each candidate will be announced from last to first over the next few days to see who has won the most prestigious award in the league!
Introduction: Commissioner's 2017 Address to the League
Season Six has already been cut adrift and the swift flow of time has led us all the way up to the shores of our Seventh Season of Dynasty Five! D5 has been around so long that on some rosters you can feel that the tides are changing - ageing squads like the Mavericks, Clippers and Heat, once dominant, are trying to adapt and re-tool, whilst former rebuilders like Milwaukee, or even cellar-dwellers like Orlando, are taking their place in the playoffs as the rookies they've had since they were drafted finally hit free agency and returned home!
It was the busiest season of all time according to Google Analytics! Pageviews are currently up on last year by 17,786 to a total of 346,656 in 8 months! Last season there were 70 of 81 trades accepted, this year there are currently 89 of 103 accepted! This year's countdown unexpectedly took on a Nets flavour and, during the countdown, we received the first post of Walt Frazier's record-breaking level of player creations and rating changes for this year! I don't even need to check the numbers, it's a guarantee that Walt's productivity possibly doubled that of any previous years! The man was a machine! All-in-all 11 batches covering the changes and creations of a total of 219 players were completed by Walt!! I know for a fact there is no way I would be able to cover that much work on top of what I do. Walt and the Ratings Committee perform an absolutely indispensable service to the league and it's only when I went bursting in and screwed things up that things got messy!
Season Six was the season in which James Kay broke the James Kay rule, last season's Trade of the Year turned sour on Portland, and it was the year that good players on not-so-good teams personally excelled: Lillard, KAT, Kristaps, Whiteside, Fournier and Jabari all found themselves atop the league leaders charts! Season Six also proved the Miracle Cavs weren't so miracle afterall when they finished as 6th Seed in the East for the second straight year despite only one player rated above 80! It's difficult to entirely know what's going on with the sim engine when the Cavs out-perform so many other higher rated teams but this year, by unlocking some of the sim engine, we at least might be coming closer to understanding whilst unleashing yet more possibilities for the league as a whole!
GM turnover was higher this year but not through lack of activity, none of the GMs were fired due to violating any objectively enforced rules, they were fired because their levels of activity weren't good enough for D5 standards! Whether that's good or whether that's bad is a subjective thing, but Vlade Divac in Detroit has put the Pistons on a much surer path than Ghazny had done, Jared Montini has contributed more in seven months than Dan Majerle did his entire 3 year career and newly arrived Chauncey Billups has arrived on the scene with a splash this off season!
The Executive of the Year race this year had more potential names than any other since D5 started: the process has involved working through the repertoires of 12 different GMs and will take into consideration more of the past than any other year, partly because we've been going for so long now, but also because some GMs need to be properly rewarded for taking short steps each year that have led to bigger and better longer term successes.
The first runner up for Dynasty Five Executive of the Year 2017 will soon be announced!
2017 Executive of the Year
JAMES KAY
Charlotte Hornets
In 2015 he was 3rd Place in the running for EOTY. Last year he moved up to 2nd Place. Was there really any debate about who would be here after Paul George was signed this off season? The 2017 Dynasty Five Executive of the Year Award goes to James Kay of the Charlotte Hornets!
The fate of the Hornets has become intertwined with their small forwards. As I wrote in the EOTY thread last year: "... if a [franchise small forward] ended up joining forces with Westbrook and the rest of [the Hornets] then the Executive of the Year Award is all over before it begins!" But Mr Kay had to wait an extra year, and go through the rigours of the Off Season Free Agency battle again, before the most lengthy free agent negotiations of all time concluded with a contentious trade and, after 10 pages, 271 replies, 1192 views, there finally came the arrival of Paul George into Charlotte on the 18th July 2017. Charlotte won a championship with almost the same team and a young Andrew Wiggins at small forward, they swung for the fences to acquire Brandon Ingram in the hopes of striking it big in free agency but fell flat for a year, still reached the Conference Semi Finals, and this year it took the departure of Brandon Ingram to make it all possible in a trade that I, as commissioner, have learned I shouldn't get involved in since prestigious awards like these sometimes depend upon them!
Time will tell who won the Brandon Ingram for Josh Jackson trade but voices were seemingly unanimous that James convincingly won the trade which simultaneously and crucially cleared the cap space to make a final push for Paul George. It was a deal reminiscent of the famous 2015 trade that propelled Glenn Robinson to win EOTY - when both GMs were pressed against the ropes, they didn't just get a fair return on a trade they were forced into making, they went above and beyond and still found the ability to win their trades!
There's been a legacy of good trading from Mr Kay throughout his tenure at D5 though and that record was spotlessly maintained this season as well. Prior to clearing cap by sending Brandon Ingram to Boston more cap space had been acquired with the departures of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, for a Dallas 2018 1st that at the moment looks a lottery lock, and Darrell Arthur. Hijacking Phoenix's need for roster space James Kay managed to work Malik Beasley into a deal in which they gave up almost nothing of value, and possibly one of the best trades this season occurred when Goran Dragic, prior to his stellar season in Miami in real life, was brought in for what can maybe best be described as fluff and 2nd Rounders.
One thing that stands out about James Kay throughout his tenure at D5 though is his effort levels and single minded tenacity to improve his team, especially during free agency! This is an approach that has seen him neglect the rookie draft to trade picks, but it's an approach that has obviously paid off! In my experience as a player agent and overseer there is only one other GM in the league who has reached the same plateau of effort during free agency and that was James's sparring partner during the Paul Goerge negotiations, Charles Barkley, who no doubt would himself have been featured here for the EOTY award if things had gone differently, and no doubt will in future if he continues to make the same efforts to surround Giannis with talent in Houston.
After two marquee small forwards heading East in two years it's clear there's now two teams to beat in the East - Chicago and Charlotte, both of whom barring injury could stand toe-to-toe with the giants of the West in the Finals. One worry resulting from the newly established dominance of lineups such as Charlotte, Chicago and Golden State is the polarisation of talent between the top and the bottom, and one method to judge greatness is for a GMs actions to change the very functioning and rules of the league as a whole. The introduction of Bird Rights for all rookie-contract players to help rebuilding teams came directly as a result of the dominance of some GMs over others and James Kay takes his place today, amongst the most accomplished and decorated GMs in the league, by winning this award. Congratulations James Kay, 2017 Dynasty Five Executive of the Year!
Trading:
Signing:
Drafting:
Planning:2016 Team
Nerlens Noel
Serge Ibaka
Brandon Ingram
Khris Middleton
Russell Westbrook
2017 Team
Nerlens Noel
Serge Ibaka
Paul George
Khris Middleton
Russell Westbrook
Second Place
Toronto Raptors - Bryan Colangelo
In second place this year is a GM who has never even been mentioned in the race for Executive of the Year despite a starting lineup featuring four All Stars who are all in their prime! Please welcome to the podium Mr Bryan Colangelo with possibly the quietest build of a championship contender in the league!
One of the reasons for the lack of recognition for Mr Colangelo so far is the slow pace of accrual in Toronto of a solid roster of excellent players and a deep bench over four years of tenure, the achievements are often spaced by a year of waiting! Taking a look at how the team has improved over time, using this copy/paste from the Raptors team section, it's an extremely admirable haul:
12 - 13 (84) J. Wall (81) E. Gordon (77) R. Fernandez (83) Z. Randolph (74) J. Valanciunas 26 - 56 13 - 14 (80) C. Billups (84) M. Ellis (83) R. Gay (82) S. Ibaka (81) R. Hibbert 43 - 39 14 - 15 (86) K. Lowry (84) D. DeRozan (78) K. Korver (83) Z.Randolph (79) R. Hibbert 45 - 37 15 - 16 (87) K. Lowry (85) D. DeRozan (78) K. Korver (85) D. Green (86) A. Horford 53 - 29
16 - 17 (89) K. Lowry (87) D. DeRozan (88) D. Green (80) Z. Randolph (86) A. Horford 53 - 29
Although Bryan Colangelo would rather we forgot that he traded John Wall to Portland to start his tenure the record since those initial weeks has been extremely impressive and it's why Toronto are universally regarded as one of the top teams in the East! It's time Mr Colangelo was officially recognised for his efforts, and to be fair to him - it only took Ty Lawson and Lamar Odom to get John Wall back in 2012 anyway!
Plenty of trades have historically smiled on the Raptors over the years and there's one unfolding story that can illustrate this point which centers around the journeys of Paul Millsap. Back in 2014 Paul Millsap joined the Raptors in exchange for a soon-to-be expired Danny Granger, soon-to-be AWOL Larry Sanders, Alex Len and two picks that would be Skal Labissiere and Nikola Milutinov! That's an awful lot of talent that's not yet panned-out in exchange for an All Star! Millsap left town a year later in exchange for Kyle Lowry who's now rated an 89! Whilst that was happening Al Horford, who was acquired for Roy Hibbert and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, left town last week to get Paul Millsap back in town. To surmise: after a three-year-arc the Raptors have acquired Paul Millsap and Kyle Lowry and the only player/s currently of significant value they relinquished were Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (and Isaiah Thomas, back before anybody knew he would become the IT4 we know)!
A more recent "trading-arc" centered around Zach Randolph shows that, over the course of the past six months, the Raptors essentially traded only this year's draft pick, Terrance Ferguson, and Kyle Korver for Nikola Vucevic after 1, 2 and 3 trades show Bryan Colangelo pulling a masterful trading switcheroo this season to give himself a solid and proven young big-man.
Looking through the history of D5 Bryan Colangelo has always placed his team in a position to succeed in free agency and it's a strategy that has paid dividends: the real-life Raptor backcourt that leads Toronto first began to take shape after DeMar DeRozan joined in 2014, back when he was only rated 78, he's now rated an 87 and by cap-clearing a little space in 2015 one of the most versatile players in the league in Draymond Green also took his talents to Canada! Year on year the Win/Loss record has never fallen for Bryan Colangelo!
After some reflection here, even with Chicago and Charlotte possibly headlining in the East after this off season, it does seem that it's a bit premature to count out a Raptors squad who, to the surprise of many, fell in the first round this year to the Heat. With a team possessed of both an All Star starting cast and a deep bench it's clear that, thanks to Bryan Colangelo's guidance, there'll be plenty of contending years to come! Overall it's been perhaps the most underrated and unnoticed build of a championship calibre team in D5!
Trading:
Signing:
Drafting:
Planning:2016 Team
Al Horford
Zach Randolph
Draymond Green
DeMar DeRozan
Kyle Lowry
2017 Team
Nikola Vucevic
Paul Millsap
Draymond Green
DeMar DeRozan
Kyle Lowry
Third Tier
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The Wizards GM post had been a revolving door until Kareem arrived, after the devastation wrought by the inaugural Hall of Shamer Tracey McGrady, and with the patience of a saint, I think he's done extremely well considering.
A while back Kareem picked up Brandon Knight in exchange for two second rounders, then turned Brandon Knight into JR Smith and Iman Shumpert right before Knight got a ratings decrease and a career threatening injury. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar also managed to turn Andre Iguodala into some weird pieces that nevertheless sped up their rebuild.
In the draft this year he wanted Jonathan Isaac and managed to move down twice and pick up some other pieces he wanted along the way completely for free. In the draft in 2015 he picked up D'Angelo Russell, who's going to be The Man in Brooklyn in real life, and he also grabbed Jahlil Okafor for his 2019 1st earlier this year. Regardless of what you may think of Jahlil he still has a good deal of potential and value.
The reason why I see Kareem as sitting this high though is because he's taken on the repair of a sunken ship and somehow made it float again, the ability and patience that requires should not be discounted, give this man his due - well done Kareem!
Trading:
Signing:
Drafting:
Planning:
2014 Team
Andray Blatche
Al Horford
Jordan Hill
Mike Dunleavy
Mo Williams
2017 Team
Jahlil Okafor
Larry Nance
Jonathan Isaac
JR Smith
D'Angelo Russell
Andray Blatche
Al Horford
Jordan Hill
Mike Dunleavy
Mo Williams
2017 Team
Jahlil Okafor
Larry Nance
Jonathan Isaac
JR Smith
D'Angelo Russell
Jeremiah Hill
Here you are Jeremiah!
The Grizzlies are packing the sexiest, quickest, most potent rebuild in D5 at the moment but before we get onto KAT and Jokic there were some impressive draft-trades made this year where Mr Hill managed to turn the 8th pick into the 10th, 29th and 30th picks, which ended up being Zach Collins for the guy Jeremiah was targeting; Donovan Mitchell, and Jonah Bolden and Jawun Evans on top of that - which may look like an insane steal in a few years time!
However obviously the immense factor for Memphis is that this year they secured the position of being the first team in D5 to host two consecutive Rookie of the Years! Back in 2014 the Grizzlies made the solid choice to pick Marcus Smart, and he continues to be the floor general in Memphis, but they also had a set of four second rounders that year and picked almost unknown big-man Nikola Jokic at #39! Fast-forward to 2017 and he's the best rookie in the league and, for the second straight year, we have a Rookie of the Year in a Memphis Grizzlies outfit!
Re-signing Jokic as a rebuilding team was no small feat either and the twin towers in Memphis, 2015 1st overall pick Karl Anthony Towns and Nikola Jokic, is looking like a regular fixture at D5 for the foreseeable future! The only reason this didn't launch @jjill001 into major contention was the fact that it was done via the draft - Towns was consensus #1 and no reach, and like most second rounders Jokic was a bit of an unknown and could've gone either way... although! in favour to Jeremiah, it did look like he might have had something awesome on his mind back in 2014, he just couldn't find a video of it!
The work that Jeremiah's put in every single day and the contributions he's made to the league as a whole are paying dividends. A few years ago I felt sorry for any Grizz GM with what lay ahead of them but now, thanks to the choices that lay before him, Jeremiah Hill has turned heads right across the league. I look forward to awarding Donovan Mitchell the Rookie of the Year Award next season.
Trading:
Signing:
Drafting:
Planning:
2016 Team
Karl Anthony Towns
Kevin Garnett
Omri Casspi
Marcus Smart
Matthew Dellavedova
2017 Team
Karl Anthony Towns
Nikola Jokic
Ersan Ilyasova
Marco Belinelli
Marcus Smart
Karl Anthony Towns
Kevin Garnett
Omri Casspi
Marcus Smart
Matthew Dellavedova
2017 Team
Karl Anthony Towns
Nikola Jokic
Ersan Ilyasova
Marco Belinelli
Marcus Smart
Andrei Kirilenko
To me it seems like Mr Barber is, put simply, a very solid trader, and that always earns you respect for the EOTY, just as it did for him last year in 3rd Place.
This year was no different as the Nets continued their post-Blake-Griffin rebuildathon by bringing in a guy who could be the next franchise face of the Chicago Bulls, Zach LaVine, at the opportune time whilst his trade value was rock bottom, and he got him for two mid-1sts. LaVine's got a question mark above his head obviously but I'm looking forward to looking back with this one, give it a few years!
Josh targeted a guy who looked like Dwight 2.0 in the Summer League and somehow got Bam Adebayo in exchange for Alex Len, only having to take on the contract of Jordan Hill to get it done, and Jordan Hill later left town for cash considerations anyways. Jahlil Okafor is on everybody's overvalued list at the moment and he left town for what might be a lottery pick in a few years. The cherry on top of this year's trading came when Rudy Gay made way for Jrue Holiday and then, in what might be the most expertly planned trade of the year, Jrue would've been sent back to San Antonio for a free 1st Round Pick if the deal weren't rejected for being too unfair! Andrei Kirilenko had to settle for the follow-up deal and shed some cap instead.
Overall it's been a very prolific accrual of exciting talent for Brooklyn. It seems like every deal, regardless of whether you think it was a win or lose, nets them a player that is at least more promising and makes their roster look more vibrant and special than it did before and a lot of those players are likely to pan out and become even more valuable with time! That's exactly what happened when Blake Griffin left town and now you might not even trade Devin Booker straight up for Blake!
Trading:
Signing:
Drafting:
Planning:
2016 Team
Karl Anthony Towns
Kevin Garnett
Omri Casspi
Marcus Smart
Matthew Dellavedova
2017 Team
Willie Cauley-Stein
Domantas Sabonis
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Devin Booker
Zach LaVine
Karl Anthony Towns
Kevin Garnett
Omri Casspi
Marcus Smart
Matthew Dellavedova
2017 Team
Willie Cauley-Stein
Domantas Sabonis
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Devin Booker
Zach LaVine
@riogho
It's been a bit of a bumpy ride for @riogho over the years but he dominated the draft this year and you can't count out a team with this much potential on its roster, not only that but there's plenty of good trades to point towards.
This deal from the start of the season was essentially fluff in exchange for fluff with potential and the potential won-out - Tyler Ulis joined the Jazz for technically nothing at all in the deal. Again early in the season and Mason Plumlee, despite his obvious solid play, somehow netted two first rounders for the Jazz as well. Looking through the archives we have last year's trade in which Detroit's 2020 1st and 2nd Rounders both joined the Jazz in exchange for literally nothing at all - in retrospect that trade really shouldn't have passed the Trade Committee!
But it's Utah's blitzing of the 2017 Draft that should earn them a mention here. Kareem wanted Jonathan Isaac and traded down, and you've got to admire his conviction in pursuing that goal, but star of the Summer League Jayson Tatum who looks absolutely amazing so far in his early career, was picked up by moving up and losing only Justin Anderson. Zach Collins joined in the deal with Memphis and, even though I'm lauding Jeremiah Hill earlier in these breakdowns for what he achieved with those picks afterwards, Zach Collins also looks like one of the most exciting rookies this year with a huge upside. Further down the draft @riogho's swung for the fences with Isaiah Hartenstein, and why not since he looks like an exciting prospect, and lastly the pretty much consensus #1 pick Markelle Fultz joined the Jazz this year and he obviously looks like an All Star as well.
BK loves his rebuilding but after this year it looks like he wont have much rebuilding to do any more. He's got Hassan Whiteside still on one of the best contracts in the league this year and a cast of young guys and big contracts that could lead to @riogho taking the next step with the Jazz this coming year. He's set it all up, it's ready to go and looks like an excellent job has been done to achieve it.
Trading:
Signing:
Drafting:
Planning:
2016 Team
Hassan Whiteside
Nikola Mirotic
Shabazz Muhammad
Justise Winslow
Emmanuel Mudiay
2017 Team
Hassan Whiteside
Jordan Mickey
Jayson Tatum
Denzel Valentine
Markelle Fultz
Hassan Whiteside
Nikola Mirotic
Shabazz Muhammad
Justise Winslow
Emmanuel Mudiay
2017 Team
Hassan Whiteside
Jordan Mickey
Jayson Tatum
Denzel Valentine
Markelle Fultz