Tag: executive of the year

Sam Presti finishes 2nd in 2023-24 Executive of the Year award

Sam Presti finish 2nd in 2023-24 Executive of the Year award.

The NBA announced Boston Celtics’ Brad Stevens is the 2023-24 Executive of the Year award winner on Tuesday. Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti finished second in voting.

Stevens won by a healthy margin with 101 voting points. He collected 16 first-place votes, six second-place votes and three third-place votes. Meanwhile, Presti had 47 voting points. He had four first-place votes, seven second-place votes and six third-place votes.

The full voting results can be read below:

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Since being named the GM in 2007, Presti has been one of the best executives in the league, turning the Thunder into a perennial contender for most of his tenure.

This past season the Thunder jumped to the top seed in the West with a 57-25 record. The trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams headline one of the best cores in the league. Mark Daigneault is also one of the best head coaches in the league, winning Coach of the Year.

Considering the type of success the Thunder have enjoyed this season thus far, it’s not a shocker to see Presti get recognition for the work he’s done to assemble this roster over the last few years.

The 46-year-old has set up the Thunder for another lengthy contention window. A first-round sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans was the first of likely many successful playoff moments for this group.

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Rockets GM Rafael Stone finishes fifth in NBA Executive of the Year voting

After a 19-win improvement from last season, Rockets GM Rafael Stone finished fifth in the NBA’s 2023-24 Executive of the Year voting.

By virtually any objective measure, 2023-24 was a very successful season for the young and rebuilding Houston Rockets.

After averaging fewer than 20 wins per season over the previous three years, the 2023-24 Rockets (41-41) became just the 10th NBA team in history — and the fifth in the last 30 years — to immediately follow a season of 60 or more losses with a non-losing season.

Houston’s 19-win improvement from 2022-23 (when they finished 22-60) was the largest year-on-year increase in the NBA this season, and the second-biggest annual jump in franchise history.

General manager Rafael Stone played a key role. In the preceding offseason, Stone hired Ime Udoka as head coach; drafted promising rookies Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore in the first round; and signed an impactful free agency class featuring Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, Jeff Green, Aaron Holiday and Jock Landale.

With that in mind, Stone finished in a tie for fifth place in the league’s 2023-24 Executive of the Year voting (won by Boston’s Brad Stevens). Unlike other end-of-season awards, which are voted on by media members, the voting panel for the league’s top executive award consists of team basketball executives from around the NBA.

Voting results are available below. Stone, who recently had his contract extended by the Rockets, finished with two first-place votes (fourth-most of any NBA executive) and one third-place vote.

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Boston’s Brad Stevens projected as NBA’s 2023-24 Executive of the Year in new analysis

We’re confident in saying that this race was never a close one. Will it play out that way in real life?

Despite being the team in the NBA with the best record for the 2023-24 regular season by far, the Boston Celtics have been surprisingly absent from the discussion of season-long hardware. A lot of this is due to the fact that most of the players taking the floor with any regularity have been making sacrifices to their individual games.

But the intellectual author behind that juggernaut, Celtics team president Brad Stevens, is a popular candidate to win the league’s Executive of the Year award for 2023-24. And Bleacher Report’s staff collectively elected Stevens as their winner for the award in a recent article. 

Pointing to the major moves made by Boston in the 2024 offseason, Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus notes that even “unheralded players like Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta contributed to what was one of the Celtics’ all-time best regular seasons.”

“Leon Rose of the New York Knicks would be the standout runner-up after a 50-win season and No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference,” adds the B/R analyst.

And while what Rose has done for a team with a reputation for being one of the worst-run for many, many years is by no means unimpressive, we’re confident in saying that this race was never a close one. Will it play out that way in real life?

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Rockets GM Rafael Stone draws second-place NBA Executive of the Year prediction

Bleacher Report predicts Rockets GM Rafael Stone to finish second in Executive of the Year voting, trailing only Boston’s Brad Stevens.

By any objective measures, 2023-24 was a very successful season for the young and rebuilding Houston Rockets.

After averaging fewer than 20 wins per season over the previous three years, the Rockets (41-41) became the 10th NBA team in history — and the fifth in the last 30 years — to immediately follow a season of 60 or more losses with a non-losing season.

General manager Rafael Stone played a key role. In the preceding offseason, Stone hired Ime Udoka as head coach; drafted promising rookies Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore in the first round; and signed an impactful free agency class of Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, Jeff Green, Aaron Holiday and Jock Landale.

Given that, Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes predicts Stone to finish second (behind Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics, who own the league’s best record) in 2024 NBA Executive of the Year voting.

His analysis:

It’s worth wondering whether Stone deserves a demerit for making a huge offer to Brook Lopez that the veteran center walked away from. If that deal had been consummated, Alperen Şengün might not have broken out in a larger role, and much may have been different for the Rockets.

With that said, Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks were shrewd signings who brought experience and toughness, redefining the Rockets overnight. Perhaps even more critical in shedding Houston’s loose and unserious image of the last three years: new head coach Ime Udoka.

Throw in Amen Thompson at No. 4 and Cam Whitmore at No. 20 in the draft, and Stone nailed the signing, drafting and hiring trifecta.

Hughes’ complete awards prediction piece can be read here, and it lists three other Rockets as being “worth a mention” in 2023-24 awards voting. Those are Udoka for Coach of the Year, Thompson for Rookie of the Year and Sengun for Most Improved Player.

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Celtics Lab 236: Projecting season-long hardware at 2023-24’s midpoint with Kwani Lunis

We cover everything from Most Valuable Player to Executive of the Year and everything in-between,

Most of the teams in the NBA have played around half of their 82-game schedule, giving us enough of a sample size to get an idea of which players might be taking home some full-season hardware come April and onward.

And with the Boston Celtics currently the owners of the league’s best record, it is not unfair to expect the franchise to have at least a little bling headed their way at season’s end. To try to predict what awards Boston players and front office employees might be taking home come spring, the hosts of the CLNS Media “Celtics Lab” podcast got together with NBC Boston 10’s and  “The Big 3 NBA” podcast cohost Kwani A. Lunis to sort out which Celtics might be adding to their trophy case.

We cover everything from Most Valuable Player to Executive of the Year and everything in-between, and even come up with some of our own, team-specific awards for Boston’s 2023-24 season.

We also get caught up on all the latest news, and look back at an intense week of Celtics games.

The Celtics Lab podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Boston Celtics team president Brad Stevens is making a case for NBA Executive of the Year

Stevens has made a number of shrewd moves since transitioning from head coach to the front office.

The Boston Celtics are off to a very strong start this NBA season, sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference standings. While Boston’s stars like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown deserve the lion’s share of the credit for their All-NBA play, much of the praise is also rightfully going to Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens for the work he has done to assemble the supporting cast that has helped the Jays ascend to such heights.

On a recent episode of their eponymous CLNS Media podcast, Bob Ryan and Gary Tanguay discussed how Stevens ought to be in consideration for the NBA’s 2024 Executive of the Year award given the wagon he has put together for Boston.

Stevens has made a number of shrewd moves since transitioning from head coach to the front office.

Check it out above!

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Brad Holmes noted as top-5 candidate for NFL executive of the year

Lions GM Brad Holmes noted as top-5 candidate for NFL executive of the year

Lions GM Brad Holmes is the architect of a team on the verge of hosting the franchise’s first home playoff game in over 30 years. His savvy drafting and shrewd moves have Holmes recognized as one of the leading candidates to be the NFL Executive of the Year, according to NFL.com.

The list, compiled by former NFL GM Scott Pioli, cites a lot of what Lions fans already know and love about Holmes in constructing the 2023 team. Pioli spotlights a couple of difficult decisions Holmes made that have paid off handsomely for Detroit,

Replacing Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift in the backfield with David Montgomery and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs has proven to be quite savvy. The Lions have also received key contributions from free-agent signings Graham Glasgow and Cameron Sutton, as well as the re-signing of Alex Anzalone, who leads the team with 108 tackles. I have always emphasized the importance of re-signing your own top players — that’s a critical part of free agency.

Of course, the impactful draft class gets its due attention, too.

The other GMs noted include Nick Caserio of the Texans, Miami’s Chris Grier, Eric DeCosta of the Ravens and Howie Roseman of the Eagles.

Thunder GM Sam Presti finishes No. 12 in 2022-23 Executive of the Year voting

The full voting results can be viewed here:

The league announced its winner for Executive of the Year for the 2022-23 regular season on Wednesday: Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair.

McNair finished with 98 total points and 16 first-place votes. Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman finished second with 63 total points and seven first-place votes.

McNair helped sculpt the Kings’ first playoff roster since 2006. They finished 48-34 to earn the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They lost in the first round to the Golden State Warriors in seven games.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City Thunder GM Sam Presti finished 12th in voting; he collected four third-place votes for four points. Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka also finished with four points. In total, 15 executives had at least one vote.

The full voting results can be viewed below:

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The Thunder (40-42) exceeded expectations. They finished a win short of entering the playoffs with the youngest roster in the league.

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Rockets GM Rafael Stone earns third-place NBA Executive of the Year votes

With Houston’s rebuilding plan showing signs of progress, Rockets general manager Rafael Stone picked up multiple third-place votes for NBA Executive of the Year in the 2021-22 season.

Though the rebuilding Houston Rockets finished with the league’s worst record in the 2021-22 NBA season, it was in many ways a very successful year for second-year general manager Rafael Stone.

For starters, that 20-62 record guarantees the Rockets another top-five draft pick in 2022 to add to their stockpile of young talent. In many ways, that lowly record was by design to help achieve a longer-term goal.

But in terms of Houston’s roster today, there are already promising signs of development. All four of the first-round rookies acquired by Stone in the first round of the 2021  draft (Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Josh Christopher, and Usman Garuba) improved as last season went along, and Green finished with a historic scoring burst in becoming the easy choice for Western Conference Rookie of the Month in March/April games.

That’s likely one of the many reasons why two of Stone’s GM peers gave him third-place votes for 2021-22 Executive of the Year. The award is voted on by each team’s top basketball decision maker.

Stone also had success at lower levels of the organization, with undrafted rookie signing Daishen Nix and two-way contract addition Trevelin Queen leading the Rio Grande Valley Vipers — Houston’s NBA G League affiliate — to its fourth championship in club history. Garrison Mathews proved to be an astute waiver claim after his preseason release from Boston and quickly became an important rotation player in Houston.

Stone also had success in negotiating a unique non-playing arrangement with veteran star John Wall — which contributed to Houston’s lofty draft status while simultaneously allowing promising young talent Kevin Porter Jr. to get the majority of reps and experience at point guard.

Finally, while Stone’s decision to trade James Harden to Brooklyn was technically a move from the 2020-21 season, that transaction is grading out much more favorably in hindsight — with the 2022 first-round draft selection acquired from the Nets coming in much higher in the order (No. 17 overall) than many had anticipated when the deal was made. The fact that Harden already forced his way out of town helps.

Even so, Stone isn’t likely to win such a prestigious award until the club’s on-court results start to match that optimism. The only time his Rockets predecessor, Daryl Morey, won the award was in 2018, and that came after Houston finished 2017-18 with the NBA’s best record.

Ultimately, broader perspective is important. But what the 2022 voting does show is that Stone already has admirers for his rebuilding efforts.

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Lakers news: LeBron James congratulates Suns’ James Jones for winning Executive of the Year

LeBron James congratulated Phoenix Suns’ James Jones as his former teammate won Executive of the Year.

The Phoenix Suns had one of the best years in franchise history this season.

After trading for Chris Paul and signing gritty veterans like Jae Crowder, the Suns ended a decade-long drought to finally qualify for the NBA playoffs.

The Suns finished the regular season with a 51-21 record to claim the second seed in the Western Conference. The Utah Jazz narrowly edged Phoenix for the first seed.

Phoenix took on the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the NBA playoffs and advanced in six games.

The Suns went on to play the Denver Nuggets and defeated them in a 4-0 sweep. As of now, the Suns are in the Western Conference Finals against the L.A. Clippers.

Just before Game 1 between the Suns and Clippers began, James Jones, general manager of the Suns, was named the league’s Executive of the Year after leading the way in building Phoenix’s roster.

James took to Twitter to congratulate Jones:

James and Jones were teammates for seven seasons during their times with the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Both players won three rings together — two with the Heat and one with Cleveland.

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