MAVS NEWS:

[KillerLeft]

Sure Presti is great...probably the best.  Masai use to be in this range.   I wouldn't bet against Brad Stevens though.   His late first Hugo Gonzalez put up 18 and 16 last night.   Queta may be in the running for most improved.  He just doesn't have any misses.  He even gets off contracts which most teams would have trouble getting off and finds away to not need to give up much....and sometimes gets something back.  What Boston is doing this year is pretty incredible.    I was thinking there run was over after last year and would need a few years and good luck to make another run.   They are almost all the way back.  If Tatum can resemble the player he was prior to injury, they could be the favorite in the East next year.

I agree - all names mentioned are great GMs, or at least were for stretches. 

Interestingly, Stevens is the guy the Mavs had to outmaneuver to draft O-Max, and the Celtics were pretty disappointed they weren't able to get him on that draft night. 

All GM's are going to have misses. The best are going to have enough hits to distract from their misses and prevent them from stinging so much. The biggest indictment of the Mavs front office is how often (for a variety of reasons) they find themselves in a situation wherein they MUST hit on a pick and an exception to move the team forward with the alternative being disastrous. They routinely operate with almost no margin for error, asset wise, and that never seems to get better. This past 10-15 years, that has been about them not valuing draft capital enough. The good GM's have been hoarding it, not spending it like it's burning holes in their pockets. 

The thing is, depending on how the upcoming anti-tanking measures end up, the league's approach might be changing. Who knows. But, what's needed is a plan that doesn't change on a month to month basis, imo.