2014 - 2015 General Manager of the Year Campaigning.... Ends Friday 6/9 @ 11:59 pm

[Eazy P]

NEW RULE FOR THREADS: You are allowed to make one post about yourself (edits of your original post will be allowed) or another GM. There will NOT be any goading or attacking other candidates to create nonsense drama like previous years. Any additional BS posted in threads will be deleted. The campaigning period officially ends at the deadline listed below.

Campaigning begins now until 11:59 pm Friday. Voting period starts Monday 6/12 when ballots are sent out and will be due by 8PM on Saturday 6/17. No exceptions

[Soundwave]

Am I in the right spot?

Are there no other nominees?


Well then, I will nominate myself for the really awesome job I did this season.

As it stands I have the 2nd best record in the league. I'm already at 10 more wins than last season, in which I was a 6th seed in the playoffs.

I had a core last season but I significantly strengthened my supporting cast by making a very shrewd addition of Evan Turner in RFA who then proceeded to go from g/g to B/B under my astute guidance. Also traded for soon to be 6th man of the year Kevin Martin who has been lighting teams up from the bench. Let us no forget my very intuitive salary cap manipulation that allowed me to sign Evan Turner while re-signing Hassan Whiteside (who is purple now btw) and then giving Kyle Lowry the contract he very much deserved.

This is a no brainer since I am, in fact, the only one here.

[Inner_GI]

I will put this as a placeholder for garbageman if no one else nominates.

[MESSI_2.0]

Messi_2.0- I'll throw my name in the hat for GMOY.

Accomplishments:
Western Conference #1 seed (1st time for me), I was a 5 seed last year.
Won Division (1st time for me) after finishing 4th in the division last year.
Tied for 2nd best record in the league
13 more wins than last year
22-8 (.733 win %) against the East


What changed?
I flipped Michael Beasley for Marcus Thornton and Demarre Carroll
Gave up Marcin Gortat and Thaddeus Young for Steven Hunter
This put 3 new starters in my lineup while only giving up 2 starters and my 6th man.
Increased my point differential from 1.4 to 8.3 with these moves. (Tied for 2nd best point differential this year)
Changed my game plan from an outside focus to an inside focus because I wanted to get Kevin Love in his best spot, but I knew I love the 3 ball, so I surrounded him with better shooters in Thornton and Carroll. I also made sure to give him help on the inside with Steven Hunter.

[TheSyndicate]

Alright - I'll throw a nomination out there.

What you can't give me credit for: Lucking into LaMarcus Aldridge. That being said, I only made a bid of that amount for one player, it WAS a tactical decision, and I got lucky that it worked. Though I think the strategy was sound.

I still think what you can give me credit for outweighs the above...

After getting LaMarcus, I had a 3-headed front-court of Perkins, LMA, and Amare. I knew at least one of the three would have to go, so I flipped Perkins for Deng. I figured I was trading defense for defense, but in addition to lock-down D, I've gotten the most efficient year in Deng's history (TS% .20 points higher than any other season). Even with that addition, I struggled out of the gate to a 5-10 record. Mostly due to a lack of defensive balance and rebounding prowess, I think. Lining up LMA/Amare/Deng/Klay/Rondo was awesome, but I had no depth (like last year) and 3/5 of my starters were average defensively, and none of them voracious on the boards.

So I made 2 big trades.

1: Scrubs for Biedrins. Biedrins helped solidify my front court, and gobbled up rebounds since his arrival. He played amazing in a starting role while LMA was out for a month, and I gave up basically nothing for him.

2: Amare for Livingston and Pekovic: Livingston, I think, has been the key to my big second-half run. He plays 3 or 4 positions, defends well, scores efficiently, and fits right in my lineup. Between these two trades, I gained a WHOLE lot of depth, to the point where every DC I submit, I need to try to figure out who I have to reduce minutes for. That's a good problem to have, and especially good in the playoffs.

Did I go way over the cap? Damn right, but this was part of my strategy last season. Knowing I would have to pay rondo this season, and Klay next season, I dodged the cap last year so I wouldn't be a repeater and could afford my bill for the next two years. Then after next year, I'll reset again.

I have no idea how I'll do in the playoffs, but I think I'm well positioned. After a 5-10 start, I went 50-17 - or the exact same record the super-Hawks had over the last 67 games. My moves have paid off in the regular season, and I believe they will in the playoffs as well. There are a couple of really great candidates for this award this year, but I think my year stands out because I identified the weaknesses in a great team to make it even greater. Plus there wouldn't have been as much tanking drama, if NOLa. didn't have Amare...you're WELCOME, SLOE.

Oh - and I did it all without a player that made any of the All-NBA teams, I don't have an OP like Durant, Love, or Bosh, all my wins are earned from team-building and gameplanning.

[garbageman]

I will put this as a placeholder for garbageman if no one else nominates.

Thanks much, Logan! I'll take it from here.

First, I just want to say what an honor it is to have been mentioned as a potential candidate for this award by not only Logan, but the PBSL podcast media throughout the season. There are plenty of dedicated GMs who put in a lot of work to keep PBSL fun and exciting, and a lot of GMs who have invested a lot of time and thought into having competitive teams.

That being said, I am very happy with the season the Chicago Bulls have had. The team has not had the most stable or successful history, and in the handful of seasons I've been here, I've been able to turn that ship around and gain more fan support. With 58 wins, the Bulls not only locked up the #3 seed in the division, but we had our best season in PBSL history by 8 games in a division with 3 other 50 win teams and 5 other playoff teams. At 58-24, the Bulls are in a tie for the 2nd best overall record in PBSL.

Another thing you'll notice...while guys like James Harden and Danilo Gallinari are marvelous players and all stars, you don't see any Bulls players gracing any of the All-NBA teams...not even a single weekly award! I think this speaks volumes to the care it took to craft this team as a complete unit rather than building around a superstar.

We finished with the 4th seed last year, and to gain that extra spot and 10 extra wins, here are the improvements we made this year:

1. Traded Gary Harris for Taj Gibson and Zach LaVine: Gary had a tremendous season in Philadelphia, but he wouldn't have seen nearly as many minutes in Chicago. Taj bolstered are defense, and Zach LaVine had a tremendous training camp. While he didn't play much next year, having LaVine under contract means that we've got pieces in place for the future beyond this current iteration of a contending team.

2. Traded Nikola Mirotic and our 2015 1st round pick for Patrick Beverley: Beverley, who is on a rookie contract this year and next, had a solid, efficient year off the bench. He brings a highly developed 3 and D game to our team and gives us depth at the PG spot. We didn't have much of a need for Niko, who's potentials declined in TC, and while we'd love to participate in this draft, our 1st round pick is so late that it adds value to the Beverley deal.

3. Had a solid TC: Everyone showed good gains in Training Camp except for a few vet mins we were testing. Dwight Howard appears fully rehabilitated from his Hornets curse.

4. Resigned Paul Millsap at a good value. Though we were locked in on Taj at the starting spot, Paul Millsap provides us with a more offensive weapon at the 4, and at roughly 10 million a year, he leads our 2nd unit and gives us plenty of versatility heading into this year's playoffs.

Thank you for your consideration in naming garbageman the GMOY!

[logpmess]

MIAMI HEAT

Coming into this season, as it was said by Ballsohard on my preseason presser,

I'd just say regret after not winning a ring and pretty much having no shot at winning one in the near future as we all slowly watch your team fade into the abyss of nothingness.

I was in cap hell. I was about $50 million dollars over the cap bill, which would have gotten me a luxury tax close to 200 points. I had two first round picks over the next three years with no real future in sight. I had to unload cap somewhere along the way, and either completely rebuild without this years first round pick, or go all in and be unable to compete once the players contracts ended.

Key departures from last year:
OJ Mayo
Brandon Jennings
Al Jefferson
Celtics 2014 1st round pick
Heat 2017 1st round pick

Key additions from last year:
Jonas Valancunias
Goran Dragic
Heat 2015 1st round pick
Cavs 2015 1st round pick
Cavs 2017 1st round pick

Through numerous trades, I revamped my roster completely. I, also, added future draft picks to where I have one 1st round draft pick in all upcoming drafts. Additionally, I added 21 points! Most importantly, my salary dropped to a $98,994,719 with my luxury tax being only 41 points. I went from that team that was destined to "fade into the abyss of nothingness" to a team that can easily pay the salary cap and has future picks and pieces (valancunias) to have a future in this league.

All of this is great, but what about production this year. For the first time since I joined this league, I won the Atlantic division. My total wins increased by 7. Throughout the season, I had to adjust my game plans to adapt with all of the trades. My star player Lebron James started at point guard, shooting guard, and small forward. With game planning and roster management, I became a better team than I have ever been.






TL;DR - The Miami Heat cut the owed luxury tax by approximately 150 points, while creating a visible plan for the future. Nonetheless, they increased the win total by 7 and won the Atlantic for the first time ever.

[Eazy P]

End of Campaigning period