Armchair GM's.
r/NBAMockTourney
[OC] Who is the best player in the NBA right now? The primary field is here to help you decide which candidate to endorse
For much of the last decade, LeBron James has been the clear best player in the NBA. In fact, there wasn’t much need to debate it all.
Over the last year or two, I would argue that Kevin Durant recently slipped past the aging James. Durant has always been a historically efficient volume scorer, but he’s become a better playmaker (averaging a career high 5.9 assists this year), and a more willing and capable defender (averaging a career high 1.8 blocks the year prior.) He's also stepped up his game to unstoppable heights in the playoffs.
But then... he got hurt. And chances are, he won’t be playing next season at all. In a way, it feels like the heavyweight championship of the world has been vacated, leaving a debate for that top spot.
So what now? Do we default back to James? Do we give the nod to reigning NBA champ Kawhi Leonard? Super scorers James Harden or Seth Curry? MVP Giannis? Or a total darkhorse?
In some ways, there are so many candidates that it’s starting to feel like the crowded primary field for the Democratic nomination. So naturally, we have to find a political comp for each candidate to help you decide where to place your vote.
LeBRON JAMES, L.A. LAKERS
candidate comp : Joe Biden, former Vice President, Delaware
Executive Precision: the Brooklyn Nets prove the magic of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (technically New Zealand)
With the NBA offseason mostly settled (?), we have started a series where we look back and gauge some of the best and worst offseasons of the summer.
Today is a positive outlook. In fact, it's so rosy that we can hear Judy Garland and Sean Marks signing in harmony "Somewhere over the rainbow -- bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow. Why then, oh, why can't I?""
PART ONE: THE WIZARD OF OZ
There's no (M)GM lionized like Sam Hinkie on this sub, and he deserves a lot of that acclaim. After all, he took a mediocre team, blew it up, and rebuilt a winner from the ground up.
That said, Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks may have had an even more difficult challenge on his hands. Born in New Zealand (which is close to Australia's "Oz"), Marks inherited a franchise that had less basketball talent than Munchkinland. Previous GM Billy King cashed in the entire future for a chance to build a veteran winner, but that roster imploded faster than a wicked witch.
As ill-advised as the deal may have been, no one could have known just how badly it'd end up. In his last season in Boston, Kevin Garnett averaged a respectable 14.8 points with a true shooting percentage of 53.5%. The very next year in Brooklyn? He averaged 6.5 points with a true shooting percentage of 46.7%. Similarly, Paul Pierce dropped like a rock, going from 18.6 PPG in Boston to 13.5 PPG in his first year in Brooklyn. The fact that his new Celtics started to age as gracefully as fruit flies ruined what was (on paper) a good collection of vets: Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez, plus KG and Pierce. And as a result, all those sacrificed R1 picks turned into pure gold for Boston.
Enter Sean Marks. He took over a roster that finished 21-61, and had a bare cupboard when it came to the draft (after King had sacrificed 4 first round picks.) Despite that impossible challenge, Marks has done a brilliant job of replenishing the soil from that scorched earth. He nailed the coaching hire (with anonymous Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson), and utilized his remaining cap space in smart ways (using it to draw in assets.) Moreover, he demonstrated an astute eye for talent. He bought low on D'Angelo Russell, gave an opportunity to "scrubs" like Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris, and drafted sleepers like Caris LeVert (pick # 20), and Jarrett Allen (pick # 22.)