The Larry Bird era has been underway for 4 seasons now. I have sometimes thought that Larry would be great but then there have been times where I go WTF and wonder about his decision making. (but hey I guess he is just unproven)
But thus far, how would you rate Bird as a GM? Are you comfortable with him leading this franchise?
Lets look at what he has done since becoming the President of Basketball Operations. And i'll note it is kind of hard to judge due to the presence of Donnie Walsh.
2003-2004
- S&T Brad Miller, Ron Mercer for Scot Pollard and Danny Ferry.
Many were upset with this move it seemed. I was not. Brad was going to walk to Utah or Denver but instead we got something for him. I just wish Scot would have been healthy. Even though he struggled for a little bit he was a really good team defender for us. No star but I really liked the big man tandem of Jeff and Scot, I just wish both would have been healthy.
I liked this move. The only complament I have is that we let Hedo get sent to San Antonio and I would have liked to have him. But I guess getting Danny was cutting salary.
Good move to make. Better getting something instead of nothing.
- Fired Isiah Thomas, named Rick Carlise the new head coach.
Loved the move. Easy one to make. IT was not good in the win column. I just keep thinking of what might have been those first two years with Rick as our coach. What if Detroit hadn't gotten Rasheed? What if Jamaal and Jermaine weren't playing hurt against the Pistons in the Conference Finals? What if Taysan Prince never blocked Reggie's layup? For some reason that was a key play that series to me. What if the brawl never happened? Anyhow good move by Bird here.
- Signed Kenny Anderson, Anthony Johnson
Both were solid for us. They played better under Rick than Jamaal. Nice backups. I guess Kenny ended up starting.
2004-2005
- Drafted David Harrison
Wasn't a terrible pick. Although DH hasn't worked out thus far there wasn't much picked after him. Anderson Vareajo maybe. Although I will say I was hoping for Chris Duhon Bird didn't miss out on anyone to good.
Not a good pick. But I can't say I think it was a bad one either.
- Traded Al Harrington for Stephen Jackson
Good move. We needed outside shooting and Al didn't want to be the 6th man. Stephen had just won a championship with the Spurs the year before he signed with Atlanta and was known for hitting big shots.
This really was the season of hell. With the brawl and all. It's to bad.
2005-2006
- Drafted Danny Granger, Erazem Lorbek
Drafting Danny was an easy pick. So good job by Bird for not doing anything stupid. Still waiting to see if Erazem works out or not.
- Signed Sarunas Jasikevecius
I had high hopes for Sarunas. He was bad in the NBA though. I was dead wrong about him and so was Larry. Bad signing.
- Traded James Jones to Phoenix for a 2nd round draft pick
I really liked James, still like him. But we had/have enough forwards so it's always nice to get something instead of letting a player walk for nothing.
- Traded Ron Artest for Peja Stojakovic
Not a good trade talent wise. Ron is much more complete. But so much turmoil surronded him and this team. Peja was equal to him in terms of talent and production but injuries had already taken a toll on Peja. A trade that had to be made though.
2006-2007
- Drafted Shawne Williams and James White
Well I wanted a point guard so bad. Still think that Lowry or Rondo would be nice but it has worked out for the best. Great pick by Bird to take Shawne. Trading up for James pissed me off. Stupid to trade up for a guy that you end up waiving a few months later. Just thankful it was only for a couple of second round picks.
- Traded Austin Croshere for Marquis Daniels
Good move. Austin was a nice veteran but heading downhill. Marquis is very talented and versatile.
- Traded Anthony Johnson for Darrell Armstrong, Rawle Marshall, and Josh Powell.
I like the move. I am dissappointed it didn't work out as well as I had hoped. DA didn't really work out. He played well but never had the impact on the locker room it seemed that I had hoped for. Rawle and Josh were cheap and had some talent.
- Signed Maceo Baston
Good move. I like what Maceo gave us when he played. I would like to see him play 20 minutes for the team we have now. Cheap, solid backup.
- Traded a 1rst round pick for Al Harrington
To me this showed that we wanted to win. We had to add talent after losing Peja for nothing but cash basically. Al didn't really complament Jermaine well when he was here the first time and we should have known this but I think Al was the best opition avaliable.
- Traded Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Josh Powell, for Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, and Ike Diogu
Kind of like the Ron for Peja deal, it had to be made. This looked like an awful trade for us after we miss the playoffs and the Warriors make it as the 8th seed and knock off the number 1 seeded Mavericks. However after naming Jim O'Brien as coach I think it's been a great trade for us.
I think this was a very interesting off season. Pretty much everything we did we wanted to get more athletic. This was obvious which after the trade with the Warriors it made me question Bird.
2007-2008
- Fired Rick Carlise, named Jim O'Brien as head coach
Usually I feel that coaches in the NBA get blamed and fired way to much but this was one that needed to be made. Rick lost the team. It's as simple as that.
However Bird couldn't just go out and hire any head coach. He hired Jim. Who just personality wise does not seem the same as Rick at all. With the players that we have this is a good thing. Now if Larry had hired say Eric Musselman (don't know how you spell his last name) I would have been pissed. But Jim seems like a great hire. And I really like having Dick Harter and Lester Conner as assistant coaches.
- Traded for draft rights to Stanko Barac
We will see if this guy ever contributes for us.
- Signed Kareem Rush, Andre Owens, Stephen Graham, and Travis Diener
I like these signings. One thing I feel this team has lacked is pure shooters. Kareem and Travis can give us some pure shooting. And they are cheap. They have struggled but I feel they will find their shots. Andre is alright, just a 3rd stringer. Same with Stephen. You can't expect to much from third stringers.
I will say that I like what Larry has done. After this past off season I will say that naming Jim as our new coach has been a great hire. And no it's not because we are winning because we are .500 or not even. But Jim is just a fresh approach to the game. I think he is having a real positive impact. I think that the hiring of Jim can make the trade with Golden State work out good for us if Mike Dunleavy can keep up his play and if Ike Diogu can produce for us when he gets back.
Larry had some tough times to deal with. The brawl, the trouble surronding this team. But I like what Larry has done with this team. Sure signing Saras was bad, and trading some second round picks for James White was not very smart I would say that is probably the worst thing that Larry has done.
I'm more comfortable with Larry making the decisions for this team more so then I was before. I just hope he can build on this team and put a winning team together.
But thus far, how would you rate Bird as a GM? Are you comfortable with him leading this franchise?
Lets look at what he has done since becoming the President of Basketball Operations. And i'll note it is kind of hard to judge due to the presence of Donnie Walsh.
2003-2004
- S&T Brad Miller, Ron Mercer for Scot Pollard and Danny Ferry.
Many were upset with this move it seemed. I was not. Brad was going to walk to Utah or Denver but instead we got something for him. I just wish Scot would have been healthy. Even though he struggled for a little bit he was a really good team defender for us. No star but I really liked the big man tandem of Jeff and Scot, I just wish both would have been healthy.
I liked this move. The only complament I have is that we let Hedo get sent to San Antonio and I would have liked to have him. But I guess getting Danny was cutting salary.
Good move to make. Better getting something instead of nothing.
- Fired Isiah Thomas, named Rick Carlise the new head coach.
Loved the move. Easy one to make. IT was not good in the win column. I just keep thinking of what might have been those first two years with Rick as our coach. What if Detroit hadn't gotten Rasheed? What if Jamaal and Jermaine weren't playing hurt against the Pistons in the Conference Finals? What if Taysan Prince never blocked Reggie's layup? For some reason that was a key play that series to me. What if the brawl never happened? Anyhow good move by Bird here.
- Signed Kenny Anderson, Anthony Johnson
Both were solid for us. They played better under Rick than Jamaal. Nice backups. I guess Kenny ended up starting.
2004-2005
- Drafted David Harrison
Wasn't a terrible pick. Although DH hasn't worked out thus far there wasn't much picked after him. Anderson Vareajo maybe. Although I will say I was hoping for Chris Duhon Bird didn't miss out on anyone to good.
Not a good pick. But I can't say I think it was a bad one either.
- Traded Al Harrington for Stephen Jackson
Good move. We needed outside shooting and Al didn't want to be the 6th man. Stephen had just won a championship with the Spurs the year before he signed with Atlanta and was known for hitting big shots.
This really was the season of hell. With the brawl and all. It's to bad.
2005-2006
- Drafted Danny Granger, Erazem Lorbek
Drafting Danny was an easy pick. So good job by Bird for not doing anything stupid. Still waiting to see if Erazem works out or not.
- Signed Sarunas Jasikevecius
I had high hopes for Sarunas. He was bad in the NBA though. I was dead wrong about him and so was Larry. Bad signing.
- Traded James Jones to Phoenix for a 2nd round draft pick
I really liked James, still like him. But we had/have enough forwards so it's always nice to get something instead of letting a player walk for nothing.
- Traded Ron Artest for Peja Stojakovic
Not a good trade talent wise. Ron is much more complete. But so much turmoil surronded him and this team. Peja was equal to him in terms of talent and production but injuries had already taken a toll on Peja. A trade that had to be made though.
2006-2007
- Drafted Shawne Williams and James White
Well I wanted a point guard so bad. Still think that Lowry or Rondo would be nice but it has worked out for the best. Great pick by Bird to take Shawne. Trading up for James pissed me off. Stupid to trade up for a guy that you end up waiving a few months later. Just thankful it was only for a couple of second round picks.
- Traded Austin Croshere for Marquis Daniels
Good move. Austin was a nice veteran but heading downhill. Marquis is very talented and versatile.
- Traded Anthony Johnson for Darrell Armstrong, Rawle Marshall, and Josh Powell.
I like the move. I am dissappointed it didn't work out as well as I had hoped. DA didn't really work out. He played well but never had the impact on the locker room it seemed that I had hoped for. Rawle and Josh were cheap and had some talent.
- Signed Maceo Baston
Good move. I like what Maceo gave us when he played. I would like to see him play 20 minutes for the team we have now. Cheap, solid backup.
- Traded a 1rst round pick for Al Harrington
To me this showed that we wanted to win. We had to add talent after losing Peja for nothing but cash basically. Al didn't really complament Jermaine well when he was here the first time and we should have known this but I think Al was the best opition avaliable.
- Traded Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Josh Powell, for Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, and Ike Diogu
Kind of like the Ron for Peja deal, it had to be made. This looked like an awful trade for us after we miss the playoffs and the Warriors make it as the 8th seed and knock off the number 1 seeded Mavericks. However after naming Jim O'Brien as coach I think it's been a great trade for us.
I think this was a very interesting off season. Pretty much everything we did we wanted to get more athletic. This was obvious which after the trade with the Warriors it made me question Bird.
2007-2008
- Fired Rick Carlise, named Jim O'Brien as head coach
Usually I feel that coaches in the NBA get blamed and fired way to much but this was one that needed to be made. Rick lost the team. It's as simple as that.
However Bird couldn't just go out and hire any head coach. He hired Jim. Who just personality wise does not seem the same as Rick at all. With the players that we have this is a good thing. Now if Larry had hired say Eric Musselman (don't know how you spell his last name) I would have been pissed. But Jim seems like a great hire. And I really like having Dick Harter and Lester Conner as assistant coaches.
- Traded for draft rights to Stanko Barac
We will see if this guy ever contributes for us.
- Signed Kareem Rush, Andre Owens, Stephen Graham, and Travis Diener
I like these signings. One thing I feel this team has lacked is pure shooters. Kareem and Travis can give us some pure shooting. And they are cheap. They have struggled but I feel they will find their shots. Andre is alright, just a 3rd stringer. Same with Stephen. You can't expect to much from third stringers.
I will say that I like what Larry has done. After this past off season I will say that naming Jim as our new coach has been a great hire. And no it's not because we are winning because we are .500 or not even. But Jim is just a fresh approach to the game. I think he is having a real positive impact. I think that the hiring of Jim can make the trade with Golden State work out good for us if Mike Dunleavy can keep up his play and if Ike Diogu can produce for us when he gets back.
Larry had some tough times to deal with. The brawl, the trouble surronding this team. But I like what Larry has done with this team. Sure signing Saras was bad, and trading some second round picks for James White was not very smart I would say that is probably the worst thing that Larry has done.
I'm more comfortable with Larry making the decisions for this team more so then I was before. I just hope he can build on this team and put a winning team together.
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