Armchair GM: What Should These 13 Ringless GMs Do?

[garbageman]

There are 25 GMs in the PBSL universe right now, and of those 25, 13 (more than half for anyone counting) have yet to win the whole dang thing. That's down one from last year now that K100's brought his Philidelphia 76ers to the promised land by knowingly spending more than they could pay off to guarantee that they had the deepest team around--with a full 2nd unit that could have likely made the playoffs as starters.

But K100's one of the bolder GMs in terms of not only thinking, but doing outside of the box. Going to tax jail for a while isn't going to be an acceptable strategy for a lot of GMs, but fear not, the Armchair GM is here to tell each nude-fingered GM how to bling up those knucks.


Sacramento Kings

The main thing that the Sacramento Kings have going for them is Killian Hayes, who I'd venture to say, is on the precipice of taking over the mantle of best player in the league. Hayes is like a taller Dort, and he's just coming into his prime at 28 years old. As we've seen in the past, sometimes having the best player in the league in their prime is enough to win a championship, but as championship rosters get more stacked every season, I would want more around Hayes to feel safe.

Right now, though, the Kings are 90mm over the tax in a third year repeater bracket with only 20 points in the bank. I'm going to see how the team does up to day 60, but unless I've got a clear hold on the championship, I might try to cash in where I can to set up for a tax reset year next season and then a build around Hayes for the season after that. That means I'm shop Morley for vet mins and 10 points, declining options on Fleenor and Norton before sim 1, and shopping Addington for blue pot rookie contract guys and expiring salary--even if he's age appropriate.

Why? I want my books clear as they can be (except for Hayes) next season. If I get a decent haul for Addington, I hold onto those guys, prepare reasonable one year offers to anyone I have bird (or early bird) rights on (Hunt, Cain, Lewis) to keep them around, and decline any RFA offers on Giles or any other g/g. While doing that, I take swings on win now guys who would mesh well with Hayes in UFA while making sure I reset the tax.

Then, the following offseason, I trade the Addington return and a resign of one of my rolling bird year guys (ideally one rookie and necessary S&T salary per trade) for a couple more win now pieces. The championship window would start then, in season 57, and probably have a decent 3 year run.



PHOENIX SUNS

After a phenomenal offseason last season that warranted an owner-vote GMOY nod, the Suns hit some major snafus that set them back. Their big win was nailing down Brandon Boston, Jr., who's at potential following a good camp...but they lost Ronnie Reynolds and Chadwick Dangerfield. Black Superman is a relatively new GM, and I respect that he's giving this a go without leaning much at all on his referrer, but UFA is a tricky phase to master, so first and foremost, I'd still recommend seeking whatever advice I could from Roberto--or anyone in the league who's been around a while. A setback like low-balling your two best expiring win now players is going to take seasons to fix.

With the team weaker than last season, I flip BBJ as quick as possible. He should fetch a decent price, even if that may not happen until the offseason. At this point, I'm probably only tied to Asher by RFA, so you can build around him or let him go, too. Since I'm armchair GMing, I say boldly go fire sale to maximize your return, take a couple UFAs without a lot of contract obligations in order to scope out the market and try to make some good--possibly short-term--deals, and see what kind of core you can build. It's never fun NOT to compete, but generally, if you don't sell high and buy low, you can spend decades with a team build where the ceiling is too low to make it out of the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs.

With the Suns, I'd advise patience. It'll be a few seasons before it's even worth surveying the landscape to find the right window...so maybe in a few seasons, it'll be a few seasons.


OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER

I don't think I need to say much here. OKC could win it this season with this team if they do nothing. However, if I've got championship aspirations and the requisite salary, I'm going to sacrifice points to make my team better at any juncture I can, especially to win that first ring...especially especially after my protege beat me to it (don't worry AB, Andy won a championship before I ever did, Roberto won one faster, and Dr. Kavarga was gifted one in his first full season).

The Thunder also probably have enough in their point bank to pay their tax at the end of this season with the points they'll accumulate for being such a monster team in such a weak conference, so I'm turning those vet mins into an even beefier team if I'm him.



LOS ANGELES LAKERS

I know greeple_airport is a competitive guy, and he's put together competitive teams that have come close, but it might be time to go back to the drawing board. His win now talent is kind of all over the map. Caruso is probably a bit away from his peak, Campbell is probably there, and a true third is not on the roster. Sure, Heard, Olney Connell, and Blakemore have the right colors, but none of them scream out big 3 to me. The conference is weak and the Lakers are deep enough to be a top 2 or 3 team in Omega, so maybe I let this team run this season, but with Caruso expiring after one more year, I might consider shopping him in the offseason (and trying to offload contracts like Connell, Olney, and Heard to teams looking to stock up on talent) and getting a player or two he can really build around. Do the same with Campbell to get a future big 3, and then see what you can add around that.

Or...get rid of everyone BUT Caruso if you can get a good enough return for Campbell (he's worth one for sure), then take some home run swings in UFA, and do about the same thing as the Kings were advised with more expeertise.

Or don't...if there's a way to get a big third without destroying your cast of role players, by all means, but it's been a while since the Lakers have really cleared the cabinets (though with the handful of teams in the league that are perennially garbage, it's kind of hard to tank, so as one of the more experienced GMs on this list, why ever tank?).


BROOKLYN NETS

Picking up James Andrews and Richie Cuevas last year was the first step in a rebuild, and I think there are still a few steps left to go. With Andrews impending RFA and Shank and Antetokounmpo expiring, I think it's time to consider trying to put Shuo on the market.

I know that Ed drives a hard bargain and is loyal to his players, but that leads to guys like Sydney Shank on the block while trade value has already started to decline. The sweetheart deals like he got for Olney last year aren't going to come around often enough to rely on, so I'd loosen the grip, get what I could for Antetokounmpo, and focus on shopping Shuo to get maximum return for him and go from there. Might take until the offseason, but if a good enough deal comes along during the season, seems like it makes a lot of sense to take.


HOUSTON ROCKETS

The Rockets have some pretty open books, so it's hard to tell what they need to do to become title contenders in any kind of time frame, but I'd lean into it. Tank this season...get rid of Jordan Johnson for whatever you can pay, and then go into the offseason next season with a surefire lotto pick and another pick that might go lotto, and just go wild in free agency to see what hits.

They could've done that this season, too, but they didn't, so next season, I'd do that with a mix of long contracts to longshots and 1 and 1s for guys who can get the team some wins now so that the Rockets reputation isn't tarnished. After all, bad teams stay bad by staying bad. If you're out of it too long, FAs are going to want to play for the better team, and the Rockets risk being stuck in a loop like that.


MIAMI HEAT

If I were the GM of the Miami Heat, my focus would be on finding a permanent GM. If we're force signing and watching young and talented players walk without offers, it's just a dead weight team now. And without someone that Doug wants, nobody's going to be hunting logpmess down to force him to participate.


ATLANTA HAWKS

If I were the GM of the Hawks, I'd tally up my points, figure out how close I was to getting out of the tax, and grind those points out. Be around to take on contracts, and put out the best lineups you can to eke out those points. WHen you go so long without tallying up, you're undoubtedly making it easier to leave points on the table.

Either that, or petition the new, more lenient GMs to forgive your delinquency. Now that K100 is in tax jail, that complicates the fairness of forgiveness now, but honestly, the Hawks could've been forgiven already if I believed it would mean that Louie would be a lot more active than he was in the tax. Give the new brass some evidence that you would be, and it might get that conversation started again, because it's for the good of the league that more teams are participating.


PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS

There's no getting rid of that Mitchell contract, but there are plenty of teams out there who could make a strong move at Dort, and this season, there's a big chance one or two of them will come knocking midseason. Dort's the reigning MVP, and he deserves a king's ransom, so don't accept anything less. The longer you hold out, though, the more his value wanes. He'll be great long after he loses his purple, but at 6'0", his color is more delicate since height is such a big tick against that. Since he's not gone now, monitor who has the pieces you want, who's off to a better start than expected, and who's not jelling as expected to see how the market on Dort changes and possibly brings forth new suitors that you didn't have in the offseason.

You got your picks again, and Sneed's gone, so it's high time to get bad. A 3-3 preseason with that many red players on your team isn't going to be a reflection of the regular season, but you'll never be that bad without Dort, and you're one move away from having at least 2 important pieces for the future and a great draft pick next season.



UTAH JAZZ

The Jazz have a few good pieces for the future, open books, they're out of tax prison, and a more patient-sounding Wildcard is at the helm. If I were Gary, I'd try to keep that patience going. Angelo Romero looks fantastic, and he's definitely a guy worth building around. Of course, if the Jazz are going to build naturally, it'll be a long road, because they don't have much to send out to speed up the process of stockpiling prospects aside from cap space.

The key for Gary is to be careful on the trade market and not give up on his players if they advance too fast. If I'm the Jazz, I'm keeping my prospects for at least a few seasons, and showing up a little harder on future UFA days. It's been a while since he's been able to bid more than a vet min, so time to open up those pursestrings and take advantage of cap flexibility next season.



CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

The Kings have Killian Hayes, but the Cavs don't have a player to immediately focus on. Though both came into the league at the same time, they're in very different roster situations. The first thing I'd do as the Cavs GM would be to stray away from K100 and AB as trade partners and instead use them as trade evaluaters with other teams in the league. I'd put AB on a no-trade list for that Oturu deal, and that was seasons ago.

For now, I wouldn't even focus on championship windows, I'd be looking towards the playoffs. They could get there this season, but it's not a sure thing. I'd just say be active during the season, look for cheap improvements, and take a swing this season to get some playoff experience.



DALLAS MAVERICKS

It's insane to me that the Mavs didn't finish with a winning record or even make the playoffs last season. They should be there this season with the addition of Zeke Nnaji, but to be really competitive, they'll need to make more than one move every few offseasons.

Step one...I wouldn't be discouraged by Pearson popping purple after a training. Everyone's purple now. Who gives a shit?

Second, I'd try to move on from Carner...at least at PG. Just because the dude has a B- in pass doesn't mean he should be playing point guard. What this team is lacking is perimeter defense. This might not be the year, but I'd at least knock on Dangerfield. If you had Dangerfield (or a better PG than you got now), Nnaji, and Kuykendall, you'd have a solid set of dudes and would just need the right roleplayers. Look at where you're lacking in terms of attributes and such, and try to field a more balanced team on both ends of the court.


INDIANA PACERS

Looking at this roster, I don't see a lot I'm excited about, but Pauly's able to juice teams like this for decent records. However, if I was in the driver's seat, I'd probably fire sale everything and start from scratch. Gamez is their most valuable player, though he's not going to get a future franchise player. Maybe hit up the Mavs to sell him off for some draft capital, cap relief, points, and a cheaper guy you can flip down the road.

The Pacers could really use another Deron Williams type player who they can build their team around for a long time. I'd focuse more on doing that before pivoting to championship hopes once that's done. Once Pauly has that guy, he can build around him just fine and use his strengths of finding role players and coming up with winning game plans to go from there.

[MexicanMamba]

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