I think Meyers gets a lot of credit for what West helped create. After West left, Meyers really mismanaged assets along with having 3 lottery picks, which range from bust to mediocre role player

Honestly a lot of reporting on front offices feels like the flirting/slander meme where the only difference is whether you hit on enough of your moves

It’s much easier to do when you’ve built a team. Or when it goes right.

For a lot of GMs, maybe you do spend a few years trying to build this way. But eventually, you have to just take the players you believe are the most talented.

I mean to be fair all of the GMs you listed are the best of the best

Spurs leadership never really failed, though. They stayed competitive until the fallout with Kawhi. And they then started to rebuild, made plenty of goods trades for draft capital, while losing, then got the major coup with Wemby and now we’re here.

Let’s be real - this Spurs team would still be very competitive without Wemby. Probably not championship level, but a 2nd round exit. They’ve just drafted really well, just like OKC.

I kind of agree with your premise, like there were plenty ‘Morey is a money-ball big brain’ articles until things fell apart.

These articles are pretty reactionary and are basically working backwards from winning > novel quirk > this novel quirk must make them a basketball genius…..but there is a lot with Presti that’s pretty unique.

Like I don’t think people realize how hands on he is. A while back there was another one of these type of articles and had a quote from a lower ranking person in a different front office talking about when you are dealing with OKC, you’re dealing with Presti directly, which is pretty different. Basically most trades and things start as front office underlings making calls back and forth, getting a basic framework and bubbling it up to the top where the final negotiations happen. With OKC, Presti is taking that initial call and the deals get done pretty quick and that’s why all of our trades come out of the blue.

Players and former players have also talked about how hands on he is and meets with guys regularly, one-on-one basically. I remember Vit Krejci talking about how after he was drafted and still rehabbing in Europe, Presti would call him regularly to see how he was doing and would talk about the fit on the team and what skills he wanted him to develop. In other front offices, that’s not the GM. He even flew out to Minnesota to meet with Muscala at his parents home to recruit him.

There are definitely other GMs that are more or less hands on but from what it sounds like Presti is that to unique degree.

Every GM absolutely does not have this type of discussion. Yes, some GMs (the really good ones) think hard about culture fits - but I’d say at least 50% of the league is basically saying we need this type of player , at this position - and the secondary conversations are pretty simplistic (are we drafting a criminal, does he like basketball, is he coachable)

There’s only a few GMs out there that would be going as deep as this.

Yeah this. These are the kind of takes are either fluffs or takedowns depending on whether you are winning or losing respectively.

hes had more than enough successful picks to justify the love he gets but like everyone hes not perfect. still got a much of misses in the 1st round tho it seems like every single 2nd round/undrafted is a hit lol

ainge used to have a personality mind specialist lol

RC Buford had a 70% win percentage as GM. Over 16 years. Crazy I don’t think a lot of people even know his name.

the Spurs leadership

He likely would have still been with the Spurs had RC moved on or moved up in his role sooner. It was a great marriage of smart young talent + a team that empowered him to do what he believed in already. Happy to see the Pop/RC teachings strong in Sam.

yeah if you replace Presti with Morey or another GM on the outs, this would be a huge negative anecdote

Sure, every GM could have these sorts of conversations. The defining trait is the ability to be correct in the evaluation.

Bob Myers was riding Jerry West’s coattails

Yeah, the process listed in the article is just what good managers in all industries do. Evaluating culture fit with your current team is critical.

It genuinely is a blend of picking good talent and good personalities that makes for a great GM. You can be great at finding one or the other, but you need to be great at both to be an elite GM. This mindset applies to managerial roles at all levels; mixing talent with likability makes for a strong work environment.

True but how many of those guys had their 13-deep championship squad AND like 12 first-round draft picks over the next 6 seasons just warming their pockets

Success changes perspectives, as it should.

Nobody said that about Mitch Kupchak. Give me a fucking break

Or maybe it’s that the guys who are winning are the ones who are doing it right?

There’s smart ways to hire for personality, and dumb ways to hire for personality.

A lot of this is just luck lol

“One time he said ‘I dunno about this guy’ and then we didn’t pick that guy. So yeah, he’s brilliant ig.”

Presti learned it all straight from the source

The trick is to be able to trade those players for good value when your evaluation differs a lot from mainstream (or one sucker who will offer you over market value.). That’s the only way to make it work being picky about fit and team culture. 

Ok I say this respectfully. But these articles about vibe check are bullshit.

Spurs drafted that predator Joshua Primo.

You complete me!

Dude’s passing on guys in the draft based on their Letterboxd

What does he think of the cinematic masterpiece called “The Town”?

ALLEGEDLY. Allegedly.

He did go to Emerson College

Pretty much the best type of -phile to be these days.

I was once accused of being a cinephile

When I just grabbed an apple at the grocery without checking for bruises, imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw Presti writing “no attention to detail” on a nearby whiteboard

Could be sengun when the thunder traded out of that spot

Jalen Duren, 100%

Could be Bouknight in 2021? We were in a wierd spot at 6 and Giddey happened out of nowhere.

I heard Presti actually recommended the name LaOne to LaMelo and supplied the mop bucket to throw at Kon

You joke but this could very well be about Yaxel this year.

The word ‘student’ should never be used to describe LaMelo

He just dabbles in kitchen appliances

Sam Prestidigitation

Fwiw the article talks about presti traveling to watch Chet at practice at Gonzaga. Chet didn’t know that presti wasn’t there at all to watch him play. Presti was there to see how he interacted with his teammates and his coaches and so on. So a bit different from a formal interview setting

Dillon Brooks has always been an absolute dog for his teammates dating back to Oregon. Unless I’m forgetting some locker room scandal. Only way I see Brooks not being a glue guy is if someone isn’t working hard and in that case Brooks is still helping the team by calling them out

There’s an absurd amount of Luck involved in being a GM.

No doubt presti is good at his job but just a few things go differently and suddenly it wouldn’t look like he’s the clear best GM anymore

It was real greaseball shit

J mac is NOT quiet

Needs to be a healthy combination of it all. OKC from what I understand are also very much data driven and obviously have a great player evaluation team. But knowing what kind of personality will fit with your roster is definitely a valuable tool and presti pretty consistently nails it on that front

I just think it does prospects like Ant dirty

It depends on the team, i think. Presti (probably) and the Spurs do extensive research. For example Spurs (RC/Wright) were watching Castle since high school days. And teams that have big networking definitely get insider information.

the wise man bowed his head solemnly and spoke: “theres actually zero difference between good & bad things. you imbecile. you fucking moron”

I mean this is less about gut feeling and more about him trying to analyse wether or not someone would fi in the specific environment and culture Presti’s looking to build

Like, if you met a kid and thought “yeah I don’t see him sitting down to watch movie with this already established team I have, he doesn’t come across as the type who likes to just chill at home and watch tape” you obviously wouldn’t want to draft them

It works on your 7th man down. If you’re good enough to be an NBA player and you have the right mentality, then you’ll be in the rotation.

It also helps when everyone in the building things/acts the same way

“I see you aren’t playing McCain. I’ll give you some draft picks for him.”

Hasn’t figured out the lottery luck yet 🥀

We’ll see if he’s able to pull off the Shai for Kawhi trade in the offseason

Can’t blame him.

Some teams don’t really have an established way of doing things, which sort of obviates the ‘does this guy fit with our roster/culture’ conversation.

This is particularly relevant if your team just got through tearing it all down and has all-new management. They have a vision they want to implement, one would certainly hope. But they may not have the best idea how to get there.

…And yes, a lot of NBA GMs are not very good at being an NBA GM. It’s a tough job to really get right.

Every team considers team dynamics. The question is how much they value them vs skills, measurements, production etc.

You’d think so, but the history of the NBA argues that GMs get too focused on stars or raw stats and not the psychological aspects. And that’s understandable because it’s hard to do.

I definitely don’t think this is the ENTIRETY of their player evaluation process of course. But presti does seem to consistently nail the “drafting the person not just the player” front. It’s just one ingredient in pot for okcs evals, even if it’s an important ingredient