We hit you with the highlights of the annual NBA GM survey already — they think LeBron James is a really good player, and his Cavaliers will face the Spurs in the Finals. Really going out on a limb there.
But as always there is more interesting stuff farther down the survey and buried in some of the answers. These are the other things that jumped out at me.
• Oddest vote of the survey — 10.7 percent of GMs thought Chicago had the best offseason of any team. Hey, I love the Pau Gasol pickup too, but did those guys notice what happened in Cleveland? One GM also said Gasol was the best addition to any team this offseason… again, did he see Cleveland?
• Speaking of odd votes, one GM picked the Wizards to come out of the East this season.
• Another GM predicted the Rockets would win the Southwest division (everyone else was same and picked the Spurs).
• What player will make the best coach when he retires? GMs said Chris Paul, who got 24 percent of the vote and certainly has a great basketball mind. Who came in second was more interesting — Steve Blake. Kirk Hinrich of the Bulls was third. Jarrett Jack tied for fourth with six percent of the vote.
• When asked what one player they would want to start a franchise with of course half the GMs chose LeBron James, but more interesting is that Anthony Davis was tied with Kevin Durant in second place, each receiving 25 percent of the vote. That tells you how much people are starting to expect out of Davis. (Davis was also voted player to most likely have a breakout year.)
• James Harden was voted best shooting guard in the league with 63 percent of the vote, no surprise there. Klay Thompson was second (18.5 percent), followed by Kobe Bryant tying Stephen Curry for third even though Curry plays primarily the point (both got 7.4 percent). Then one GM voted Kevin Durant as the best two guard.
• Best power forward was a tie between LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin, each getting 25 percent of the vote. Anthony Davis was third (21.4 percent) followed by LeBron (10.7 percent). The real surprise to me was Kevin Love was fifth (7.1 percent).
• Atlanta’s Kyle Korver was picked as the player best at moving off the ball (53.6 percent), followed by the Clippers J.J. Redick (Doc Rivers loves to run him off multiple screens).
• Dallas picking up Tyson Chandler was considered the most underrated move of the offseason (17,9 percent of the vote). The Pelicans getting Omer Asik and the Clippers getting Spencer Hawes tied for second at 14.3 percent.
• Biggest steal of the draft? GMs chose Utah getting Rodney Hood at 23 (he has looked good at Summer League and in their system). The Bulls getting Doug McDermott at 11 came in second.
• Best international player not in the NBA? Tie between former NBA player Rudy Fernandez and Dario Saric, who belongs to Philadelphia and will join the NBA in a few seasons.
• Best assistant coach? Golden State’s Alvin Gentry come on down, you’re the big winner. Sort of.
