GM's best and worst moves

[Joe Vancil]

Don't tell me I'm going to have to defend the Bowie pick AGAIN.

You're acting like the guy selected a complete bum, when he selected the best center available for a team that was just a center away from being a championship contender.

You make it sound like they didn't have Jack Ramsey, who valued skill over athleticism as coach, that they didn't have an All-NBA 2nd Teamer starting at 2-guard, backed up by an athletic young swingman (who never saw the light of day under Ramsey because Ramsey never played guys like that) named Clyde Drexler.

Anybody griping that the Bowie pick was bad because Portland should have selected Jordan needs to stop griping about Isiah Thomas and his power forwards or Toronto and all their power forwards.  After all - you wanted it to be Portland and all their 2-guards.



 

[ziggy]

Kevin O'Conner in Utah

Best - Signing Boozer

Worst - Drafting Raul Lopez



Geoff Petrie

Best move - Trading Richmond and Thorpe for Webber

Worst Move - Trading Webber for Williamson, Skinner and Thomas

 

Kevin O'Conner

Best move was signing Boozer


Worst moves
Right now it was signing Olden Polynice, but tomorrow it will be the trade of Borchardt, Snyder and Lopez for Ostertag.  Cap space is highly overrated, when you get a POS like Ostertag.


Geoff Peitre

Good moves  -  He has made a lot  -  
Selecting Peja with the 14th pick.
Trading Pollard and Turkoglu for Brad Miller
Renounced the rights to Olden Polynice and signed Vlade as a FA to replace him
Signed Bobby Jackson as a FA
Traded Jason Williams for Mike Bibby
Hired Rick Adelman

Worst move  -  hasn't made many
Signing Greg Ostertag

I would say trading for Bonzi Wells, but he got rid of Ostertag in the process in the process, so not so bad.
 

[westkoast]

Don't tell me I'm going to have to defend the Bowie pick AGAIN.

You're acting like the guy selected a complete bum, when he selected the best center available for a team that was just a center away from being a championship contender.

You make it sound like they didn't have Jack Ramsey, who valued skill over athleticism as coach, that they didn't have an All-NBA 2nd Teamer starting at 2-guard, backed up by an athletic young swingman (who never saw the light of day under Ramsey because Ramsey never played guys like that) named Clyde Drexler.

Anybody griping that the Bowie pick was bad because Portland should have selected Jordan needs to stop griping about Isiah Thomas and his power forwards or Toronto and all their power forwards.  After all - you wanted it to be Portland and all their 2-guards.

Im not griping.  Im just saying it was a bad move.  Do you not agree it wasnt a bad move?

Thats like the Clippers getting a pass for drafting Olwakandi.

[ziggy]

Don't tell me I'm going to have to defend the Bowie pick AGAIN.

You're acting like the guy selected a complete bum, when he selected the best center available for a team that was just a center away from being a championship contender.

You make it sound like they didn't have Jack Ramsey, who valued skill over athleticism as coach, that they didn't have an All-NBA 2nd Teamer starting at 2-guard, backed up by an athletic young swingman (who never saw the light of day under Ramsey because Ramsey never played guys like that) named Clyde Drexler.

Anybody griping that the Bowie pick was bad because Portland should have selected Jordan needs to stop griping about Isiah Thomas and his power forwards or Toronto and all their power forwards.  After all - you wanted it to be Portland and all their 2-guards.

Im not griping.  Im just saying it was a bad move.  Do you not agree it wasnt a bad move?

Thats like the Clippers getting a pass for drafting Olwakandi.

Westcoast,
It is all a matter of semantics.  It was not a bad move, but in hindsight it was clearly the wrong move.  At the time, there wasn't this huge outcry that Portland blew it, hardly a word was said.  Bowie was a very good player in college, far and a way better than Olowakandi, not even close.  Jordan was good and everybody knew it, but no one saw him being who he became.  The Bulls wanted Bowie as well, and they got lucky.

Of course, if Sabonis had come over in 1988/89 with Drexler and Porter and Buck Williams, then who knows.  Of course it is all mute, he didn't come over, and Bowie got hurt, and Jordan became the greatest player ever.

[Joe Vancil]

westkoast,

      I can only say it was a "bad move" in retrospect.  At the time, it was a GREAT MOVE.  Portland had plenty of guards.  They needed a center.  They got one.

     The comparison of Bowie to Olowakandi isn't even close.

Rookie years:
Bowie:  10.0 PPG, .537 FG%, 8.6 RPG, 2.8 APG, 2.67 BPG, 29.2 MinPG
Olowakandi:  8.9 PPG, .431 FG%, 7.9 RPB, .6 APG, 1.22 BPG, 28.4 MinPG

Bowie went down with a bad injury his second season - only played 38 games that year, 5 the following year, missed the next season entirely, and played only 20 the next year.

A promising young player - right up until the injury bug bit him - again.

People forget that Bowie was a highly-regarded college player out of Kentucky, averaging 17.4 PPG and 9.1 RPG, shooting 52% from the field before the injury which caused him to miss TWO seasons of college.  He came back from that, averaged 10.5 PPG and 9.2 RPG.

Now we're not talking PACIFIC here...we're talking KENTUCKY - a well-respected, well-known program.  And Bowie was a talent for them.  The only question was COULD HE STAY HEALTHY?  

The answer was "no."  But he was ABSOLUTELY worth the gamble for a team that would have had to start Wayne Cooper or Audie Norris at center without him.

 

[westkoast]

Don't tell me I'm going to have to defend the Bowie pick AGAIN.

You're acting like the guy selected a complete bum, when he selected the best center available for a team that was just a center away from being a championship contender.

You make it sound like they didn't have Jack Ramsey, who valued skill over athleticism as coach, that they didn't have an All-NBA 2nd Teamer starting at 2-guard, backed up by an athletic young swingman (who never saw the light of day under Ramsey because Ramsey never played guys like that) named Clyde Drexler.

Anybody griping that the Bowie pick was bad because Portland should have selected Jordan needs to stop griping about Isiah Thomas and his power forwards or Toronto and all their power forwards.  After all - you wanted it to be Portland and all their 2-guards.

Im not griping.  Im just saying it was a bad move.  Do you not agree it wasnt a bad move?

Thats like the Clippers getting a pass for drafting Olwakandi.

Westcoast,
It is all a matter of semantics.  It was not a bad move, but in hindsight it was clearly the wrong move.  At the time, there wasn't this huge outcry that Portland blew it, hardly a word was said.  Bowie was a very good player in college, far and a way better than Olowakandi, not even close.  Jordan was good and everybody knew it, but no one saw him being who he became.  The Bulls wanted Bowie as well, and they got lucky.

Of course, if Sabonis had come over in 1988/89 with Drexler and Porter and Buck Williams, then who knows.  Of course it is all mute, he didn't come over, and Bowie got hurt, and Jordan became the greatest player ever.

I stand corrected.  It wasnt a bad move but a wrong move.  My only question is wouldn't they have seen Jordan's work ethic if they were scouting him properly?  I guess that is a whole 'nother thread.

I didnt mean to directly compare the two (Olwakrapy/Bowie) in that sense.  Didnt make myself clear, I apologize.  


How about the Bulls getting rid of Brand and Artest one after the other?  If they kept those two they could have had quite the defensive squad.

[Guest]

The Bowie over Jordan draft issue never became one until years later after Jordan led the Bulls to several championships and Bowie's injuries had removed him from having a serious NBA career after such a promising college career.

More accurately, drafting Bowie over Jordan should be looked at as an unlucky choice. Drafting Olowakandi #1 in the draft has proven to be the wrong choice.

Big difference.

[JoMal]

Sorry, that was me.

[westkoast]

The Bowie over Jordan draft issue never became one until years later after Jordan led the Bulls to several championships and Bowie's injuries had removed him from having a serious NBA career after such a promising college career.

More accurately, drafting Bowie over Jordan should be looked at as an unlucky choice. Drafting Olowakandi #1 in the draft has proven to be the wrong choice.

Big difference.

I still dont see how if they scouted Jordan properly how they would not notice his work ethic and his drive for the game of basketball.  Simply asking around the college would have let them know what seperated him from the rest of the basketball players in the NBA.

Ya we got it and I explained myself above.

[JoMal]

As Joe pointed out, Bowie was picked for need. The Blazers needed a center and already had a quality shooting guard.

NOW, everyone thinks they are waxing wise by saying the Blazers should have known Jordan was going to be the bigger impact player, but that just was not the case at the time of that draft.

[westkoast]

As Joe pointed out, Bowie was picked for need. The Blazers needed a center and already had a quality shooting guard.

NOW, everyone thinks they are waxing wise by saying the Blazers should have known Jordan was going to be the bigger impact player, but that just was not the case at the time of that draft.

And im saying how did they not know THEN that there was something much different about Jordan than any other player in the draft that year.  Position aside.  His crazy work ethic and drive were there already.