The amazing generic reporters of Minneapolis have once again done extensive work, going to every organization and finding out exactly which owners are happy with their GMs, which are not, and if that attitude is trending positively or negatively. They got this information by interviewing front office personnel (and by using Teamviewer to remote into the index). Let’s separate this into three categories: Jed Bartlet (good/great), The Sultan (average), and Superintendent Chalmers (poor/bad).
JED BARTLET
These teams have an owner that trusts, respects, and supports their every move. With an environment like this, success is bound to follow, if it hasn’t already. 
APPROVAL: GREAT
TREND: NONE
The team finally got rid of star player Rashard Lewis, and they’re struggling for a playoff spot, but ownership is very happy with GM J2, who has consistently put out a competitive product in his time in DC. Part of that great approval rating probably has to deal with midseason profits of $45M, which would be considerably lower if Lewis was still sucking salary in Washington.
APPROVAL: GOOD
TREND: UPWARD
After years of first round exits, the GM of the Wolves was determined to reset. So he traded away their best wing player for bits and pieces…and they’re better than they have been in the past couple of years. Clearly this is impressing the owner, who went into the season being told by JNR “Don’t expect a good team.” Looks like the GM being wrong is finally working in his favor.
APPROVAL: GREAT
TREND: NONE
No surprise here. The Kings have been dominant for half a decade, and they have a title to show for it. Some people may have thought the owner wasn’t happy with losing to the Nuggets the past two years, or for losing ground to the Sonics this season. But bottom line, the owner knows he has the most winning GM in PBSL history, and he’s pretty happy with that.
APPROVAL: GOOD
TREND: DOWNWARD
Things are great in Atlanta. The team has the best record in the league, a championship pedigree GM, and a front court that any other team would salivate over. And the owner is clearly happy with the job Wig Nosy is doing. But he is a little less happy than he was at the start of the season, and it seems like the main reason is attendance: the owner believes the best offense in the league should sell out every game. But the Hawks are only at 96.2% capacity on average.
APPROVAL: GOOD
TREND: NONE
Now this is interesting. The fans in Utah rioted after the Jazz traded Tim Duncan for peanuts. The GM is under constant scrutiny from other GMs around the league. But if you ask Myles King, the owner of the Jazz, he’s thrilled with the job C Prej is doing. It’s hard to tell exactly why that is – he’s a greedy owner and the Jazz aren’t exactly raking in the profits – but Prej has his backing, and that’s all that matters.
APPROVAL: GOOD
TREND: NONE
Top five offense, top five defense, and a GM who is known for getting his teams to the playoffs? Not a bad situation for the owner of the Bucks, who seems very pleased with Quailman at the helm. You would think an owner so focused on winning and greed would be annoyed with a GM who hasn’t gotten a ring yet and a team that is actually in the red this year (plus paying the luxury tax), but Quail is such a nice guy that no one can really be unhappy with him.
APPROVAL: GOOD
TREND: UPWARD
The Celtics didn’t look great earlier in the year, and a lot of GMs said that the end was near for the Eastern Conference Champions’ window. But they’ve gone 20-11 since and are knocking on the door of the division, which is clearly making owner Richard Rego happy. Of course, this owner isn’t that hard to please, not caring about profits or winning, so GM Con Roy is pretty lucky there.
APPROVAL: GREAT
TREND: UPWARD
They keep losing and the owner keeps grinning. The Sixers are in prime position to get a great player in the draft, and that’s probably what is keeping the GM’s job secure. Of course, Ballsohard has also proven he can win with little talent, so the owner is probably banking on this being a one-and-done rebuilding year.
APPROVAL: GREAT
TREND: UPWARD
When you’ve won back to back rings, a bad season gets a little easier to swallow. The Nuggets are building for the future with acquiring Rondo, and they’re still going to get a shot in the playoffs, where anything can happen. It will have to take a long string of losing seasons for the approval rating to drop off.
APPROVAL: GOOD
TREND: DOWNWARD
The owner in Toronto is a patient man. He accepted the rebuild plan in Toronto because they had recently won a championship, and GM Soundwave had built up trust. That trust is still there, but it’s starting to depreciate a little. This will be the third straight playoff miss for the Raptors, and 2002 is seeming further and further away.
THE SULTAN
These teams have an owner that isn’t exactly happy with their performance, but he isn’t trying to fire him as well. Basically these teams are Jafar, and even though they’re not praised and lauded, they can get away with doing some things because the owner isn’t really paying that much attention.
APPROVAL: AVERAGE
TREND: NONE
A little surprising that the owner isn’t unhappy with a GM that doesn’t even appear to be there. Especially since that GM has never shown much promise for the team. The owner seems content to play with his high profits and get a top draft pick, but that doesn’t mean the GM should feel safe.
APPROVAL: AVERAGE
TREND: UPWARD
Things weren’t so rosy in LA for a few years there, with GM aburns only making the playoffs twice since 1999. It was understandable that the owner wasn’t happy with his performance. But in the past two years, the mostly quiet GM has put a ton of effort into facelifting this squad, starting with drafting Durant and adding talent through FA and trades. The owner hasn’t gone overboard with jubilation, but aburns is safe for now.
APPROVAL: AVERAGE
TREND: NONE
Even with a division lead and the best team out of New York since the Robinson days, the owner hasn’t really started to trust newish GM Inner GI. He had some really good sims before this past one, so maybe a few more of those and the Knicks can be in Bartlet territory.
APPROVAL: AVERAGE
TREND: NONE
This is very much a wait and see approach from owner Cliff Ramsey. LHamilton has not had much time to make an impact, so any judgment from either direction would be premature.
APPROVAL: AVERAGE
TREND: NONE
The Hornets made the Finals two years ago, and seem poised for a sixth straight playoff appearance, but the owner isn’t ready to forget the old Nick Malone, the one who made trades for no reason and bankrupted his team’s future on more than one occasion. Is that GM still lurking somewhere inside this confident, successful GM? Maybe, and that’s why the approval is tepid for now.
APPROVAL: AVERAGE
TREND: DOWN
The Spurs were very good for a long time, and ownership was very happy with Eazy’s performance. But expectations are created when your team makes the conference finals four years in a row, and it seems like those expectations are finally starting to harm Eazy’s reputation with ownership. They may break the two year playoff drought this year, but it’s unclear if that will be enough to get more support from Delmar Seville.
APPROVAL: AVERAGE
TREND: NONE
At least it’s not worse? The Mavs have been bad since trading away their star player to New Orleans, and even Brook Lopez’s great rookie campaign can’t erase the sting the owner must feel: in 2001 they were in the finals. In 2009, they’ll be lucky to get to 25 wins.
APPROVAL: AVERAGE
TREND: UPWARD
Hard to know why TrayWithanA was in the doghouse with ownership before. After all, the past two years have been pretty good in LA. But things are getting more stable for the GM, and if he keeps up this winning, it’ll likely get better from here.
SUPERINTENDENT CHALMERS
This category represents the bosses who are breathing down the GM’s neck, who don’t like the way the show is being run and have no problems letting everyone know about it. These GMs better be careful, because if they don’t make the owners happy soon, they may be looking for a new job.
APPROVAL: POOR
TREND: DOWNWARD
The owner has finally had enough. He was satiated by a few years of contending, but GM 78 is back up to his old tricks again, losing games and continuing to preach about his formula. There are some bright spots, but the owner is tired of waiting.
APPROVAL: POOR
TREND: DOWNWARD
When we found out that owner Brian Fitzpatrick was not happy with GM LoCo, it confused us at first. Yes, the team is in the red financially, but Fitzpatrick has never shown that he cares about that. Plus, the team is running away with the Midwest. Whatever the reason, the owner doesn’t trust or like the job LoCo is doing, and the relationship isn’t getting better.
APPROVAL: POOR
TREND: DOWNWARD
This one isn’t as surprising. The Blazers have been directionless for years now, and the front office/owner relationship is nearly severed. They have a young stud in Rose, and could get another star in the draft. Kucoach better hope for that, because the owner isn’t happy.
APPROVAL: POOR
TREND: DOWNWARD
Another one that doesn’t shock anyone. Ever since the Lux Tax Penny Era, the Magic have been wallowing in losses. There’s no hope for this year because they don’t have their own pick, and the owner has been watching this steady decline with clear disapproval.
APPROVAL: BAD
TREND: NONE
They should be better. Everyone knows it, including owner Gerald Brooks. A team with Dwight Howard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Rip Hamilton and Kevin Martin should be blowing the doors off the division. But they aren’t, and the owner is pretty sure GM RunningBack15 is to blame.
APPROVAL: BAD
TREND: NONE
This may be an expectation problem. Maybe the owner thought drafting Kevin Love would be an automatic playoff berth, but the fact is he’s young and growing. The Suns aren’t going to be good for another year as Love develops, but the owner’s impatience and need to win may cause issues with that timeline.
APPROVAL: POOR
TREND: NONE
The team is actually doing decently this deep into the season, which hasn’t happened in a while for the Pacers. But there have been too many disappointments recently for owner Joshua Fields’s liking. Pauly P will likely have to make the playoffs for the 2nd time since 2001 to feel a little breathing room from ownership.
APPROVAL: POOR
TREND: NONE
The Nets have been on the come-up for the past few years, but the owner expected more than a middle of the pack team once these pieces started coming together. He looks at a weakened Atlantic division and wonders why they aren’t the runaway favorites, and the only answer he can think of is the man sitting in the GM office.
APPROVAL: BAD
TREND: DOWNWARD
This is another case of expectation. Sure, 7 games above .500 is pretty good. But when you’ve been bad for years, and you’re running out a lineup with LeBron and Baron Davis, “pretty good” doesn’t cut it. The Heat probably need to win the division to appease this owner.
APPROVAL: BAD
TREND: NONE
The Kemp years have been dead for a while, and ownership knows that. Still, they probably expected the rebuild to go a little quicker than it has. Deandre Jordan is a complementary piece, and without a star this rebuild could be done before it begins. And that doesn’t sit well with Brian Turner.
APPROVAL: BAD
TREND: NONE
The Sonics are first in the division. They have a Top 2 player playing at an MVP level. They have nearly sold out every game in a city with poor fan loyalty. But the owner, much like the GM, is a very, very impatient man. He wants to win yesterday. And just like the GM, he is motivated by rubbing it in the face of his owner friends. That sort of motivation causes anger and distrust, which is what DarthVegito needs to deal with right now. Only a ring will make this owner happy.
