Following up on my post about the best young NBA teams, I decided to analyze the best drafters of these teams, NBA GM’s.  My criteria is simple, and the same as the one I used to rank young NBA players.

I have analyzed and ranked all NBA players who are still on their rookie deals.  This includes all players drafted in 2008 and beyond.  To keep the rankings objective, I ranked the players based on trade value.  Would team A trade player A to team B for player B.  If the answer is yes, than player B has more trade value than player A.

The reason I’ve done this is simple.  Stats can be a bit deceiving.  Michael Beasley has great stats, and was drafted 2nd in the 2008 NBA draft.  But would Washington trade Javale McGee for him?  Not in a million.  Beasley, for whatever reason, is considered a head case who may not reach his vast potential.  His trade value is quite low, as evident in the fact that the TWolves only gave up a few second rounders for him.  McGee is an up and coming legitimate 5.

The major assumption for this analysis is that 2nd round picks have little value.  Players are stashed and most guys get cut.  For this post, points are awarded for GM’s who find talent in the second round.  However, if you strike out or stash a player, a penalty is not given.  It just doesn’t make sense to give negative ratings to GM’s for drafting players who are going to spend the next few years in Europe.

I will add a new NBA GM each day.  The end result will be a simple +/- for each GM.  The plus/minus will determine what value a specific GM will get for each pick given.  If a GM has a +5 rating, and he has the 10th pick in the draft, the analysis tells us that he will get the 5th best player in the draft.