The Tuurrible Ten: Who Are The Worst NBA General Managers?

Last Thursday’s Tuurrible Ten examined the worst off-season decisions and this week’s list will look at the decision makers.  On Tuesday one of my colleagues wrote a thought provoking post about the five best GM’s in the league.  Something I found interesting about the post was that I could make a pretty good argument that two of the people on the list were actually in the bottom ten.  

Otis Smith was one of the two, but I’m going to let him slide because of two factors: 1) the success achieved by the Orlando Magic last year and 2) the role luck played in Stan Van Gundy being named head coach.  I don’t think Billy Donovan would have had the Magic anywhere near the NBA finals had he opted to remain as the Orlando head coach.

Otis dodged a bullet this time, but one of the other four is definitely on the firing line today:

10) Sam Presti – During the past two seasons, Presti has been in charge of a team that has an overall record of 43-121.  This is a winning percentage of .262.  Has a general manager ever received more accolades for accomplishing so little?  The decision to hire P.J. Carlisimo was catastrophic and in year three of Presti’s reign, Oklahoma City will be hardpressed to win 40% of  its games.  Is this really one of the top GM’s in the NBA?   

9)   Joe Dumars – Pistons fans aren’t going to like this, but Dumars has made a lot of head scratching decisions recently (Chauncey Billups trade, Rip Hamilton extension, Ben Gordon contract and bringing Chris Wilcox in to presumably start at center to name four).  Is Joe living on borrowed time in Detroit?     

8)   Danny Ferry –  Danny deserves credit for trying to make the Cavs better. However, the pieces that he has added likely won’t be enough to get LeBron James a ring.  The deal Anderson Varejao inked this summer was likely $10-12 million more than any other team in the league would have paid. 

7)   Jeff Bower – I’m somewhat reluctant to include Bower because he has made a number of solid acquisitions over the past couple of years.  However, his failure to secure a suitable backcourt mate for Chris Paul is simply inexcusable.    

6)   Geoff Petrie – Last off-season it was Beno Udrih.  This off-season it’s Sean May.  Needless to say, Sacramento fans won’t have to worry about buying playoff tickets for a few more years.    

5)   Ed Stefanski –Throwing $80+ million at Elton Brand will plague the 76ers for years and letting Andre Miller leave without any compensation was questionable to say the least.  Maybe Stefanski thinks that recent acquisition Primoz Brezec will lead the Sixers to the promised land.  As far as I’m concerned, Brezec is just Dwayne Schintzius minus the mullet.

4)   John Hammond –  Hiring Sourpuss Scott Skiles, drafting Joe Alexander, dumping Richard Jefferson for eighteen cents on the dollar and failing to extend a qualifying offer to Charlie Villanueva are just four of the dubious decisions Hammonds has made as GM of the Bucks in a span of less than two years.  

3)   Mike Dunleavy –  Yaroslav Korolev.  I could expound for another five-hundred words, but I’ll just go ahead and rest my case.

2)   David Kahn – Only Michael Jackson’s summer has been worse.   The bottom line with Kahn is that he really needs Ricky Rubio to be wearing a Timberwolves jersey by October.  Has any GM ever had a more disastrous first eight weeks on the job?

1)   Chris Wallace – Just keeping the spot warm for David Kahn.  Although Memphis Grizzlies fans won’t have much to cheer about again this season, at least Wallace will be able to take pride in his Lakers championship ring.    

Drew is a featured blogger at Sir Charles In Charge and the lead blogger of Pacman Jonesin’.