Official: Stefanski VP of Basketball Operations (#116)

stefanski no, other 2 sure.

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ATT wrote:

when did talks of a new GM start?

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Phew .... I thought I was the only one who was thinking that. ;)

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Doc Naismith wrote:

Phew .... I thought I was the only one who was thinking that. ;)

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This was not quite the homerun that Jeter hit for his 3000th... congrats none the less for 3000 posts!

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ebrian wrote:

Bryan Colangelo has been in this situation for, although the role was reversed. In Phoenix, his dad called all the shots even though young Bryan was the "GM".

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So in other words, this job posting should read:

Who wants me to be their daddy?!

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sleepz wrote:

In the Toronto Sun article you've posted it mentions that:

"That wouldn’t mean the new addition would have final say though. While a fan of a consensus, brainstorming approach, Colangelo has always been an executive who gets the final word and that would not change."

Is this a joke? You're hiring a GM that wouldn't have the final say on player personnel? What are you hiring a GM for, as precedence has indicted that is EXACTLY the job of the GM on the other 31 teams in the league.

LOL. This is getting to be comical and it amazes me why no one calls Colangelo out on this kind of stuff. To me it's a way of insualting oneself so when things are good (if they become good) they can take credit, but if things go awry they can blame the new guy, who in essence is an "idea contributor". lol

If Colangelo is the final word he should wear and continue to wear the GM hat and be responsible for this roster he has assembled. Bring in a consultant if you want more "brain storming". Hiring a GM who wouldn't have final say makes no sense to me and reeks of political posturing.

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As Matt said, this isn't anything unique. There are several teams with a different president and GM. The fact that they are two different job titles tells you something right there. This is only good news as it would hopefully bring in someone who has different strengths that Colangelo. There's far, far more to running a club than making trades and drafting.

For the record, Danny Ferry did a great job as GM with Cleveland. He left over creative differences.

There are also many gm's who have to run every trade by ownership. I read in an other post that BC had to do this too and was vetoed on at least one occassion? In general I think already calling this scapegoating etc. is a bit ill faithed.

Matt52 alluded to this earlier...advertising the gm position not only opens up the interest level in the position but also permits a current holder of asst. gm with another team take the job (it is an unwritten understanding that personnel are not held back from a promotion elsewhere). At this point it would be naive to think the new hiree would have final say in all basketball matters with BC around. Another reason for such a hire may possibly be a condition of the extension given BC. Maybe BC cares not to hang around beyond the current contract. Abscribing all manner of negative and machiavellian reasoning is amusing.

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sleepz wrote:

What is Bryan Colangelo if not President and GM of this team?

If he's looking to hire a GM, why is he making any comments or decisions on player personnel when a new GM would (should) have the autonomy to build this team as they see fit?

Why did he hire a new coach if he's looking for a new GM? Wouldn't that have been their first order of business?

What are we currently paying BC? I have heard no news of the financial details of his extension, but was he extended to be Presidnet/GM or just President of the team?

What GM in their right mind would want the challenge of taking over this roster Colangelo has put together?

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Well, lots of people were petitioning for diety status for Bryan, and this is as close as Tanenbaum could get it.


This way, they just jettison a lackey from the GM seat when things go wrong.

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Halifax Raps Fan wrote:

For the record, Danny Ferry did a great job as GM with Cleveland. He left over creative differences.

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For the record, Ferry did a horrible job in Cleveland and should have been fired for incompetence long before he finally was. If you want a list of reasons he was horrible, I'm more than willing to give them.

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Tim W. wrote:

For the record, Ferry did a horrible job in Cleveland and should have been fired for incompetence long before he finally was. If you want a list of reasons he was horrible, I'm more than willing to give them.

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I mostly agree with you, although I wouldn't say horrible. To his credit, every trade and draft was to the idea of keeping Lebron happy. Didn't Ferry pretty much ask Lebron for his approval before any big trade?

A lot of people say that he should have got younger players to grow with Lebron like they're doing in OKC with Durant. The problem with that is they would have to be getting those young players through FA or trades cause I soon as Lebron was a Cav they weren't getting any more high draft picks.

Danny Ferry may well have been a decent gm without the Lebron factor. There is no question in my mind that LBJ was suggesting and approving personnel decisions for at least the last 3 years he was in Cleveland. BC to an extent suffered from that malady with the Raptors...trying the quick and expensive additions to appease the star without the long term in view.

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Employee wrote:

I mostly agree with you, although I wouldn't say horrible. To his credit, every trade and draft was to the idea of keeping Lebron happy. Didn't Ferry pretty much ask Lebron for his approval before any big trade?

A lot of people say that he should have got younger players to grow with Lebron like they're doing in OKC with Durant. The problem with that is they would have to be getting those young players through FA or trades cause I soon as Lebron was a Cav they weren't getting any more high draft picks.

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Whether or not he ask for LeBron's approval of every acquisition, it's ultimately Ferry's responsibility. I'm renovating our house at the moment and I have two young kids. If I ask them for their approval on everything, and it ends up being a disaster, it's not their fault. It's mine for giving two kids the final say on renovations.

The big problem I had was that Ferry built a team that simply wasn't sustainable since he kept getting veterans who were past their prime and with massive contracts. Ben Wallace, Shaq, Antwan Jamison. And the only "All-Star" he could surround LeBron with was Mo Williams, who wouldn't have been an All-Star on any other team. And acquiring him was probably his best move. There are a lot of things he did wrong, but probably his worst was giving a kid in his early 20's the final say on how to build the team.

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Tim W. wrote:

Whether or not he ask for LeBron's approval of every acquisition, it's ultimately Ferry's responsibility. I'm renovating our house at the moment and I have two young kids. If I ask them for their approval on everything, and it ends up being a disaster, it's not their fault. It's mine for giving two kids the final say on renovations.

The big problem I had was that Ferry built a team that simply wasn't sustainable since he kept getting veterans who were past their prime and with massive contracts. Ben Wallace, Shaq, Antwan Jamison. And the only "All-Star" he could surround LeBron with was Mo Williams, who wouldn't have been an All-Star on any other team. And acquiring him was probably his best move. There are a lot of things he did wrong, but probably his worst was giving a kid in his early 20's the final say on how to build the team.

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Well hindsight is 20/20 but if I was in his shoes I would do anything to keep the best player in the NBA happy. Of course it didn't work anyway...but yknow. They came pretty damn close more than a couple times to winning a championship. Pretty much all his moves were "win now or bust." He was prob thinkin "I'll show LBJ we can win a ring and deal with this mess later." Which is actually what a lot of teams try to do.

That being said, I sure as hell wouldn't want him as the Raptors GM.

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Employee wrote:

Well hindsight is 20/20 but if I was in his shoes I would do anything to keep the best player in the NBA happy. Of course it didn't work anyway...but yknow. They came pretty damn close more than a couple times to winning a championship. Pretty much all his moves were "win now or bust." He was prob thinkin "I'll show LBJ we can win a ring and deal with this mess later." Which is actually what a lot of teams try to do.

That being said, I sure as hell wouldn't want him as the Raptors GM.

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Hindsight is 20/20, but I never thought he was doing a good job, ever, and said so at numerous times during his tenure. Here and here, for example.

None of the successful GMs in charge of teams with Hall of Fame players gave final say to them. In fact, I know Jordan disagreed with Jerry Krause several times. Pat Riley would never ask his stars for approval, yet he was able to get LeBron from a team that did.

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Source confirms Stefanski to interview for GM job with Toronto

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The source also said Stefanski is on a short list of candidates to become president of the Knicks.

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Stefanski had been president and GM since being hired by the club in December 2007, but was relegated to GM duties when Rod Thorn was brought in as president last summer.

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http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/...#ixzz1SGvifpuf

Does this count as Colangelo firing himself or promoting himself?

The plan all along has been to remove himself from the General Manager position, so he can more fully focus on his position as President and CEO of the Organization. I don't think its either 'Firing' or 'Promoting'. It's simply better management.

But being President and CEO is better than being GM. So I guuess its a Promotion; but he already held the position.

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joey_hesketh wrote:

The plan all along has been to remove himself from the General Manager position, so he can more fully focus on his position as President and CEO of the Organization. I don't think its either 'Firing' or 'Promoting'. It's simply better management.

But being President and CEO is better than being GM. So I guuess its a Promotion; but he already held the position.

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i dunno about 'better' management. it's a different, and in keeping with what we see around the league. i'll look at it from a 'glass is half-full' perspective, and conclude that it's a matter of BC recognizing that he's not as brilliant a GM as he'd like to believe, and deciding that he needs 'help.'

of course, the 'glass-half-empty' part of me says, 'duh, but why does he - after what's been a futile 1/2-decade - now get MORE power/responsibility? i guess it pretty much eliminates embarassing power-plays from the board, now that he's in line to be a CEO. yip-fucking-eee

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yertu damkule wrote:

i dunno about 'better' management. it's a different, and in keeping with what we see around the league. i'll look at it from a 'glass is half-full' perspective, and conclude that it's a matter of BC recognizing that he's not as brilliant a GM as he'd like to believe, and deciding that he needs 'help.'

of course, the 'glass-half-empty' part of me says, 'duh, but why does he - after what's been a futile 1/2-decade - now get MORE power/responsibility? i guess it pretty much eliminates embarassing power-plays from the board, now that he's in line to be a CEO. yip-fucking-eee

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He's always been the CEO.

Only now he realizes that perhaps having 2 heads is better than one.

Rarely does it matter whether someone is GM or President, or even owner, when it comes to making deals.
Colangelo's name will still be the one attached to any trades or moves the club makes.
Just like in Dallas, where Mark Cuban is given ALL credit for deals, when Donnie Nelson is President and GM.
Or in other teams when the GM is given all credit, and the President and Owner just sit back and watch.

BC has got that itch to make moves, and you can be sure that he'll still be the one making them. Only now he'll have someone to answer the phones for him. ;) haha