Is Donnie Walsh a canidate for GM of The Year?

He drafts a rookie of the year canidate in Laundry Feilds

He signs MVP canidate Amare Stoudamire

He also signs Raymond Felton who is a strong All Star and Most Improved player Canidate


So the frontrunner is naturally Pat Riley, but most will discredit him getting the Big 3 since most believe/know that they have been planning playing together for awhile, so some skeptics will say he did not put together a Big 3 the same way Ainge did with Boston....plus Mia's supporting cast sucks! unlike what Ainge was able to put around Paul, Ray and KG.


Otis Smith is a strong canidate if his recent moves pan out.....but one of the major acqusitions to Smith's big trade was Gilbert Arenas and frankly there is always the potential for disaster, if not off the court (which to be fair there is only one such example of that) on the court with injuries and possible bad chemistry. '
Plus trading back for a player (Hedo) who you let walk for nothing is pretty poor managment, I mean if he plays his hand right he does not lose Gortat and Pietris and the team is complete....even more, he signs both Chris Duhon and Q Rich to contracts no other NBA team wouldve given them and neither has contributed to Orl. consistently (we know that all too well). Not to mention JJ Reddick is having a great season so trading for two more scoring guards (Gilbert and Richardson) is highly questionable.

So lets say The Knicks win 47 games this year that would represent and 18 game difference, now plus all the before mentioned possible individual acheivements of the players Donnie brung in this summer (although none of them are likely to win those awards) then Donnie has to get serious consideration. And you have to love how he managed to keep cap space for this summer too and unlike the past two years we actually have a competitive team to coincide with our spending flexability. Thats Great managment.


So maybe like Felton, Amare and Feilds Walsh does not win the award he is up for but it is fair to say he should be mentioned as a canidate moving forward.

Honestly he should win it hands down.

But the way the NBA works the MVP will be LeBron and Pat will get GMOTY

la2ny said:

Honestly he should win it hands down.

But the way the NBA works the MVP will be LeBron and Pat will get GMOTY

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The media would never allow it to be hands down victory if he did win, there is way too much invested in hating our franchise.

I could deal with Lebron (or whoever) getting the nod over Amare for MVP, but Riley's "accomplishment" was mindless, he didnt even have the heart to publically support his coach when things got a little hectic (the way Walsh did Dantoni at 3-8) plus Mike Miller money shouldve been spent on Raymond Felton who wouldve been the perfect type of PG for them rather than adding a player who plays the position of your two Mega Stars just because he can shoot when players like James Jones and Eddie House who can stretch the floor were added for league minimum salaries.

I have always respected Riley as an agressive GM who is never afraid to shake up the roster and years past I have seen him as the best GM in the league, namely when he pimped The Lakers in the Shaq deal when he did not surrender Wade, but he does not deserve the nod this year.

Otis Smith should not win GM of the Year because he's pretty much killed Orlando's long-term salary prospects.

If they don't win a title in the next two years then the franchise is doomed to mediocrity and overpaying for talent for the next 4 years because of how big some of those contracts are. With the new CBA and lower player salaries odds are the Magic are going to have to wait a LONG time before they can sign another player or add to that roster.

SSj4Wingzero said:

Otis Smith should not win GM of the Year because he's pretty much killed Orlando's long-term salary prospects.

If they don't win a title in the next two years then the franchise is doomed to mediocrity and overpaying for talent for the next 4 years because of how big some of those contracts are. With the new CBA and lower player salaries odds are the Magic are going to have to wait a LONG time before they can sign another player or add to that roster.

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Yeah, they better win a title soon or they for sure lose Dwight!

I would say yes. He has a vision and is slowly and methodically executing it. Just look at where he's brought the franchise in the time that he's been there and look at the results this year. Most certainly a strong candidate and most deserving at this point.

Pat Riley had nothing to do with LeBron, Wade, Bosh. that was all wade's doing....... anyway yes, hands down.

cathaytrader said:

I would say yes. He has a vision and is slowly and methodically executing it. Just look at where he's brought the franchise in the time that he's been there and look at the results this year. Most certainly a strong candidate and most deserving at this point.

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very well put....but remember the media has habitually tried to down play any Knick success, so I can see them trying to put some sort of spin on it to make it seem as if Donnie is undeserving.

Otis smith pretty much took a huge risk with that trade,and left it as championship or bust.Pat Riley didn't do anything,it was all wade that got lebron+bosh to take their talents to south beach(lol).I think donnie walsh does deserve it.He has a good eye for talent :gony:

donnie walsh is antifraud, turned this team around and now we have like over half the wins we had last season.dwalsh and dantoni haters need to face the truth.

:gony:

Donnie Walsh took over 2 years ago( maybe a little more ) and this team was in cap hell we were to be tied into our long term deal till this season and he managed to get us out of cap problems merely months after taking over. We didnt get LeBron and people thought it was the end of the world, but we needed to draft a stud this offseason and we did in Fields dudes the real deal and i could see him being our 2 for a long time to come. then he signs an MVP candidate who's just entering his prime and playing at an all world level let alone all-nba. then he signs an allstar point guard who also has a chip on his shoulder and left with something to prove, he hit 3 homeruns this offseason, and i think a triple by not trading Chandler, yes, he's the hands down favorite for GM of the year

When Walsh took over 2 years ago we were the worst-run franchise in the league.

We had the highest payroll, one of the worst records, and probably the highest payroll-per-win ratio in the league.

Now we're on the way to the playoffs with cap room for the future and solid young players in Chandler/Gallo/Fields/Douglas. Talk about a turnaround...Walsh got rid of every Isiah player except for Curry...