Danny rates as 4th best drafting GM

[mcshane41]

Danny Ainge was rated as the 4th best drafting GM by a recent CBS sports formula. Not super scientific but it must have something right b/c Sam Presti is #1.

Here is a link to the article: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/draft/gm-ratings

and to Celtics breakdown: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/draft/gm-ratings/atlantic

Sorry if this was already posted I searched and didn't find it. I think it is interesting, DA has made his share of stinkers, Marcus Banks was his worst rated pick on this breakdown but that just shows the flaws in this system, how much talent is even available each year and that pick to me isn't as bad as the JR Giddens over DeAndre Jordan blunder. I trust Danny's drafting overall, he has found some good players. With such a deep draft he had better add two quality assets this year, or a game changer if he trades up.

[clover]

Sam's particularly good at early 1st round picks.

Apparently not very good at communicating with his cardiologists.

[Celtic#9]

The real question was why was KG in the all star list and not in the elite level. Come on! He was an MVP! That is as elite as you can get.

[Cman]

Ugh.

Why did I look. I keep hoping someone will really put in the effort to do a good job ranking how GMs draft. That is the job of these sports writers, isn't it?

Sam Presti is the best because... his team sucked for so long that he drafted high picks!

All around best team when it comes to the draft is the San Antonio Spurs. I don't think any other team is close. Perennial playoff team, always picking at the end of the draft, almost always hit winners.

[get_banners]

yeah, not to say presti isn't smart...but it isn't that hard to draft well if you have a few straight years of top 5 picks, including a can't-miss #2 pick. danny being this high despite a lack of high picks says something.

[Lucky17]

Geoff Petrie and Billy King are #2 and #3?

[TripleOT]

Any ranking scheme that has Charlotte's GM 6th is a flawed system. 

[Django]

Danny does a great job.

However, imagine if he took Chalmers or DeAndre Jordan that one year...

Cant get em all right though..

[Celtic#9]

Any ranking scheme that has Charlotte's GM 6th is a flawed system. 

Why? It's not like they had any top picks. Draft-wise, they have done fine.

[kgiessler]

The scales they are using are terrible.  They do not value the high picks enough.  For instance, picking a quality reserve with the first pick counts the same as being out of league with the 35th (minus 1 point).

But I think it would go without argument that getting a quality reserve for the first pick would be a blunder of unacceptable proportions.

[LarBrd33]

Sam's particularly good at early 1st round picks.

Apparently not very good at communicating with his cardiologists.

I know Presti is a fine GM and all, but I think he's slightly overrated. 

The Sonics already had the 2nd pick in 2007 when Presti was hired.  KEvin Durant was as no brainer as no brainer gets.  That wasn't Presti... that was common sense.  His first move was trading Ray Allen for Jeff Green.  Not so sure that was a great move in retrospect.  I'm talking about the trade... not the pick.  Jeff Green was an alright pick at #5.  A lot of people would have taken Yi Jianlian or Corey Brewer.  I don't anyone expected Joakim Noah (#9) to be as good as he is.

In 2008 everyone raves about how he found a gem in Russell WEstbrook at at #4.  I mean... I guess?... Sure... ok... whatever.  He took Westbrook 4th.   Kevin Love went 5th.  Love would have been the better pick.  There were other solid players later in that draft like Danilo Gallinari, Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez, Roy Hibbert, JaVale McGee.  He took Ibaka 24th ahead of George Hill and Nicolas Batum.  I mean... he did a solid job... I just think taking Kevin Love would have been an "ace".

In 2009 he took James Harden 3rd.  Another "hidden gem" everyone raves about.  Really?  I think Tyreke Evans (4th) is a better player.  Rubio went 5th.  Say he had taken Kevin Love the previous year and Rubio the year after... does anyone doubt that Durant/Love/Rubio has just as bright a future (if not brighter) than Durant, Westbrook and Harden?  Comeonnn...  Steph Curry went 7th in that draft.  I'd FAR prefer Steph Curry over James Harden.  Curry and Durant together... forget it... they'd be raining threes on everyone for 15 years.  Jennings went 10th.  I mean... Harden was a solid pick, but... overrated if you ask me.

When Clay Bennett took over the Sonics the objective was clear... make this team as uncompetitive as possible short-term so we can quietly steal this team and take it to Oklahoma.  So it was about trading players like Ray Allen, letting Rashard Lewis walk... benching Delonte West despite the fact he was one of the key pieces in the Ray trade, etc... and just build a young core that could compete 3-5 years down the line.  If I was a GM and my objective was "tank for 3 years and build around this phenom Kevin Durant", I think I would have done just as well.  I think I could have ended up with Brandon Jennings and JaVale McGee and still my team would be a "contender" thanks to otherworldly Durant.

[BballTim]

Geoff Petrie and Billy King are #2 and #3?

  I took a quick look at Danny's picks, the reason he's 4th and not 2nd is Marcus Banks, who's listed as overseas/out of league (-5 points).  The fact that Banks played in the nba for 8 years or so should be taken into account.

[shiggins]

This is honestly one of the laziest articles I've ever seen.  Their rating system prob took all of 20 seconds to think up...and is brutally terrible on top of that.

[bdm860]

Geoff Petrie and Billy King are #2 and #3?

  I took a quick look at Danny's picks, the reason he's 4th and not 2nd is Marcus Banks, who's listed as overseas/out of league (-5 points).  The fact that Banks played in the nba for 8 years or so should be taken into account.

At the same time, he gets credit for Gerald Green being in the league (-1) instead of overseas/out-of-league (-4) like he was for the last  2 years.

The whole thing is pretty subjective and faulty if you ask me, because it's all how you rate the players, and Marcus Banks was a perfect example.  He's ranked as out of league, while Jonathon Bender, who played less games and less minutes in the same amount of seasons, and was drafted much higher, gets ranked as bench.

Ainge gets credit for Al Jefferson being an occasional All-Star, even though he's never made one (though I see why he could be ranked there), but guys like Caron Butler, Gerald Wallace, Kenyon Martin, you know guys who actually MADE an All-Star team, are only ranked as starters, and Mehmet Okur another guy who made an All-Star team and started the majority of his career is only labeled as a quality reserve.  Deshawn Stevenson, who started 66% of his games over a 12 year career is only labeled a quality reserve, while Tony Allen and Delonte West who started a smaller % of games over shorter careers, get labeled as starters/quality reserves.  Nenad Krstic, who is overseas but started 89% of his games while playing in the NBA, is only listed as a quality reserve?  It's either starter or out of league for him.  And Ainge gets credit for Leon Powe ranked as a rotation/quality reserve even though he's out of the league.  Steve Nash as elite?  Not when Dwyane Wade and Kevin Garnett are only perennial All-Stars (along with Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups).

His whole formula/ranking system is pretty faulty if you ask me.

[snively]

Sloppy system - has Hudson, Erden and Harangody as "out of the league" a bit prematurely.