In-Depth
The NBA’s new breed of GMs
Meet the general managers with the skill sets that could redefine the position
As the NBA’s 2014-15 season tips off on Oct. 28, all eyes are on a new breed of bright-minded NBA general managers who in many ways represent a modern makeover for NBA franchises.
Pete D’Alessandro of the Sacramento Kings, Ryan McDonough of the Phoenix Suns, Sam Hinkie of the Philadelphia 76ers, Rob Hennigan of the Orlando Magic, Tim Connelly of the Denver Nuggets, and Masai Ujiri of the Toronto Raptors stand as the new wave of general managers who come to their jobs with their own unique career paths and distinctive backgrounds.
One is a former political campaign manager, another holds a Stanford MBA, and another has traveled a road that has taken him from his native Nigeria to the top rungs of an NBA franchise. Of the six, none were big-time college basketball players of note and most had humble beginnings in the industry ranging from answering phones to working as unpaid interns.
But all have grown to reflect the changing nature of the NBA, a league now infused with ownership groups headed by Wall Street financiers, business tycoons and high-tech entrepreneurs.
Skills used in those industries, such as advanced analytics and economic modeling, are now an everyday part of the new-breed general manager skill set, tools needed to creatively build rosters under the increasingly harsh demands of the NBA’s collective-bargaining agreement.
“The job now has so many various responsibilities,” said Lon Babby, a former NBA agent and current president of basketball operations for the Phoenix Suns. “There is a breadth of skills that you have to have. It has become more intellectual and much more business-like. That leads you to younger, well-educated folks that are able to be on the vanguard, whether it is in business or basketball.”
The six executives profiled in the pages that follow are hyper-competitive but there is a sense of fraternity among them from their early days on the scouting trail chasing prospective players from small high school gyms to arenas in far-flung countries.
All have had at least one year in running their respective teams with varying levels of success. As they begin the 2014-15 season, the pressure to live up to their promise to build a winning NBA team mounts.
After all, analytics and economic modeling aside, it ultimately comes down to wins and losses.
