Is TWolves Connelly overrated?

[tamaraw08]

As I have long said, Connelly has an argument for the best drafter in the league, he is below average on trades, and bad on free agency. The thing is with draft picks he has always managed to keep the talent level going, but I think he is heading for big trouble in Minny since they traded so many picks.

Greatly described as best drafter but not necessarily a great overall Executive. Those 5 draft picks might go down as one of the worst trades.

[tamaraw08]

How the heck would any of us, as mere fans, have any idea whether Connelly (or any GM) deserves direct credit for the things that happen under his watch. You could also say this about every coach. Is Popovic any good actually, or does he just hire the best assistants? Again how tf would any of us even begin speculation on that. What makes Connelly particularly worthy of this exercise?

Coaches loses assistants, players etc during their tenure, same with Execs. Drafting players based on scouts evaluations is just ONE aspect management of a team. Then there’s also luck like other teams passing on good players they like. Deciding who you let go, trade and who you go after to improve your team etc.

[dockingsched]

Also, he gave a max extension to bad-backed Michael Porter Jr., 1 year before it was necessary. That's a move that could prevent the Nuggets from ever winning a championship.

Unless the owner was literally forcing him to give MPJ extension, this move is completely inexcusable and should haunt a GM for his entire career. Even if it works out fine, it was a completely unnecessary risk with zero benefit.

[dockingsched]

GMs who’s reputation is mostly dependent on their draft success are almost always overrated. Draft is such a crapshoot and the credit should fall on the scouting dept, not the guy sitting at the team’s HQ.

[Richard Miller]

GMs who’s reputation is mostly dependent on their draft success are almost always overrated. Draft is such a crapshoot and the credit should fall on the scouting dept, not the guy sitting at the team’s HQ.

He's a scout himself though, not just someone sitting at the HQ

[brutalitops]

GMs who’s reputation is mostly dependent on their draft success are almost always overrated. Draft is such a crapshoot and the credit should fall on the scouting dept, not the guy sitting at the team’s HQ.

He spent 13 of his 23 year career in the NBA offices as a Scout, Plus his 4 brothers are all Scouts.

So, I think he may be a *little* involved

[floppymoose]

Is Popovic any good actually, or does he just hire the best assistants?

If he is winning because he hires the best assistants, then he is very very good.

[nomansland]

Every time I read that "he traded Gobert and Mitchell" I want to throw coffee at my computer. So annoying and it ignores the context of those moves.

GM's build organizations. So if he hired good scouts and was part of the drafting process, yes he gets credit for that. The Nuggets are also good at player development. If some of those picks had gone to lesser organizations they might be playing in Israel right now. He also gets credit for that. In those areas I'd say he's among the best in the NBA.

He's not very adept when it comes to trades and salary negotiations though. The Gobert trade is an example of that. And Minnesota probably overpaid him, but that's what small market teams have to do sometimes.

The crazy thing is that they hired one of the best GM's when it comes to drafting and then traded a bunch of their draft picks, essentially playing away from his greatest strengths. Whatever though, I always liked Connelly and wish him well.

[Alatan]

More on draft:
1. Monte Morris 51st pick
2. Jarred Vanderbilt 41st pick
3. 2014 draft - traded 11 pick to Chicago (Doug McDermott) for 16th Jusuf Nurkic and 19th Gary Harris

You cant give him credit for drafting Vanderbilt when he barely played in Denver and then Connelly traded him away for nothing.

[Alatan]

Every time I read that "he traded Gobert and Mitchell" I want to throw coffee at my computer. So annoying and it ignores the context of those moves.

GM's build organizations. So if he hired good scouts and was part of the drafting process, yes he gets credit for that. The Nuggets are also good at player development. If some of those picks had gone to lesser organizations they might be playing in Israel right now. He also gets credit for that. In those areas I'd say he's among the best in the NBA.

He's not very adept when it comes to trades and salary negotiations though. The Gobert trade is an example of that. And Minnesota probably overpaid him, but that's what small market teams have to do sometimes.

The crazy thing is that they hired one of the best GM's when it comes to drafting and then traded a bunch of their draft picks, essentially playing away from his greatest strengths. Whatever though, I always liked Connelly and wish him well.

He didnt trade Gobert of Mitchell in the usual sense but the argument is very valid. He had the opportunity to pick Gobert and Mitchell for himself and passed it in favor of terrible selections. That proves he his talent evaluation is terrible and his draft successes are mostly luck.

In the 2014 draft he selected Jokic with the 41st pick while having TWO 1st round picks available. He literally passed on Jokic TWICE before selecting him with a throwaway pick. Was he so confident that Jokic would be there all the way in the mid 2nd round if he thought that he had the potential to be what he is today? Or was it just dumb luck? I call the later.

[Crazy-Canuck]

For a guy who was known for having an eye for the draft in Denver he sure abandoned that quickly in minnesota.

[moss_is_1]

More on draft:
1. Monte Morris 51st pick
2. Jarred Vanderbilt 41st pick
3. 2014 draft - traded 11 pick to Chicago (Doug McDermott) for 16th Jusuf Nurkic and 19th Gary Harris

You cant give him credit for drafting Vanderbilt when he barely played in Denver and then Connelly traded him away for nothing.

? That makes no sense.

[Blacksheep25]

I have a really hard time judging GMs. It takes a lot of years of being good or bad to make a judgment. The draft is the best barometer, but still imperfect. Usually those rooms are full of guys with opinions and if you listen to the right one more often than the wrong one, you’re doing good.

Plus each owner is unique. Some are meddlesome. Some hands off. What town do you work in? Often it’s just luck of being bad the right year.

Really hard to evaluate who Is the best. After a decade, you know if they suck. Sometimes sooner. Which one is a genius or lucky is a much longer evaluation.

[OmniDEN]

Some of your examples are "off". You're insinuating trading guys like Lawson who had a drinking/physical shape problem and Faried who was well past his prime and game passed him were bad moves, they werent

[Richard Miller]

Faried who was well past his prime and game passed him were bad moves, they werent

Yes they were because they had to attach a FRP just to dump Farried, not to mention giving a big contract to Farried in the first place and counting on his development which never happened. So basically made two big mistakes with just one player. Granted, dumping him was probably driven by the owners who wanted to save money.

[cuyuna]

For a guy who was known for having an eye for the draft in Denver he sure abandoned that quickly in minnesota.

Wolves still have picks every other year for the next 7 years which will be towards the end of the 1st round. Nothing that late is a sure thing. They traded most like long shot draft picks for the best defensive big man in the league. Easily worth the risk. If Gobert and KAT don’t work out, you can easily trade them for assets and build around Edwards. Connelly has a lot of flexibility with this roster. It’s exciting as a fan to see that Minnesota probably has the best starting 5 in the league right now.

[nomansland]

Every time I read that "he traded Gobert and Mitchell" I want to throw coffee at my computer. So annoying and it ignores the context of those moves.

GM's build organizations. So if he hired good scouts and was part of the drafting process, yes he gets credit for that. The Nuggets are also good at player development. If some of those picks had gone to lesser organizations they might be playing in Israel right now. He also gets credit for that. In those areas I'd say he's among the best in the NBA.

He's not very adept when it comes to trades and salary negotiations though. The Gobert trade is an example of that. And Minnesota probably overpaid him, but that's what small market teams have to do sometimes.

The crazy thing is that they hired one of the best GM's when it comes to drafting and then traded a bunch of their draft picks, essentially playing away from his greatest strengths. Whatever though, I always liked Connelly and wish him well.

He didnt trade Gobert of Mitchell in the usual sense but the argument is very valid. He had the opportunity to pick Gobert and Mitchell for himself and passed it in favor of terrible selections. That proves he his talent evaluation is terrible and his draft successes are mostly luck.

In the 2014 draft he selected Jokic with the 41st pick while having TWO 1st round picks available. He literally passed on Jokic TWICE before selecting him with a throwaway pick. Was he so confident that Jokic would be there all the way in the mid 2nd round if he thought that he had the potential to be what he is today? Or was it just dumb luck? I call the later.

No, it isn't very valid, unless you're going to throw the same shade at the 11 other teams that passed on Mitchell and the other 27 teams that passed on Gobert.

Also remember that in the Mitchell situation, Denver already had Murray. They didn't need another SG and were trying to parlay that pick into OG and Lyles. Where TC screwed up was not just taking OG with the 13th pick. He got a little too cute and it backfired.

Utah took chances on those guys and it paid off for them. They get the credit, but the fact that TC didn't take those guys is not really that grave of an error.

[D1SGRUNTL3D]

As I have long said, Connelly has an argument for the best drafter in the league, he is below average on trades, and bad on free agency. The thing is with draft picks he has always managed to keep the talent level going, but I think he is heading for big trouble in Minny since they traded so many picks.

If any franchise know how unlikely it is to hit on lottery picks it’s the wolves. Once people realize they’re lottery tickets then they’ll come around. Less than 5% of wolves fan think it’s a bad deal because they know how unlikely the draft pick would have the same impact of Rudy gobert.

[D1SGRUNTL3D]

For a guy who was known for having an eye for the draft in Denver he sure abandoned that quickly in minnesota.

$8million a year to be a POBO is tough to turn down

[Klomp]

A lot of people aren't taking into consideration the affect ownership has on GM. Connelly built what he did while being handcuffed by the Kroenkes and their penny-pinching. That's why a number of those "bad moves" happened, because he was told to cut costs in order to avoid the luxury tax.