The NBA’s official website released its annual general manager survey two weeks ago, and there was plenty to unpack for people who are both fascinated by numbers and easily outraged over snubs. Most notably, almost every GM believes that the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors will win their respective conferences en route to a Finals rematch. As for the predicted winner, an overwhelming and certainly nice percentage of GMs predict that the Warriors will not blow a 3-1 lead to the Cavs in the NBA Finals this season, while 46.7 percent still give MVP honors to LeBron James.
Obviously, it’s business as usual for the parity-starved NBA.
The real fun, however, is to be had with the player and position rankings, as we could plan hours of First Take programming around Karl-Anthony Towns being the top pick for a new franchise, or Anthony Davis being the top power forward over James. At the very least, we could ask players how they feel about their names missing from the survey. Like Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside, who wiped his dirty feet all over the GMs’ opinions after he was snubbed.
“I don’t really care what those GMs say,” Whiteside said. “99 percent of them said no to me anyway, so I don’t expect them to come back and say, ‘No, he’s good,’ after we said no.
“If I listened to what everybody said about me, I would probably be in the YMCA still. I never got any just due in my career but I don’t steer away from what I’m going to do with the Heat.” (Via the Miami Herald)
The irony is that there wasn’t a team in the league that would have said no to Whiteside as a free agent this past offseason, and that includes the Lakers, Mavericks, and even the predicted champions. But for all the criticism that Whiteside faces, be it his nuclear temper or his poor shot selection, the guy seems motivated as hell in proving that the Heat were right to pay him $98 million and those GMs are wrong to discount his potential.
“I’ve got a lot I want to earn,” Whiteside said before Wednesday’s game. “I have awards I want to win, stuff I’ve got to earn. I want to be an All-Star. I think it just shows how much hard work you put in.” (Via the Miami Herald)
We’re also guessing he’d like to correct the GMs on one very notable snub: They don’t even have the Heat making the playoffs.
