Best GM in the league?

There's been a lot of discussion lately about General Managers in the NBA and how good they are at building a competitive team.   Recently, an article on SBNation took a shot at ranking all 30 GMs.  Not an easy task, since, you know, It's not always as simple as looking at the records and drawing a conclusion.  Anyway, I'm not even going to attempt that , but I just wanted to see who people think is the best NBA general manager, taking into account the moves they've made through the years.  I've also included each team's payroll to give you an idea of how much money they have been given to work with.

The "Candidates" 

Sam Presti

Presti has held the position of  Executive Vice President & General Manage of the Seattle Supersonics Oklahoma City Thunder since 2007, when scum of the earth owner Clay Bennett hired him.  Presti was previously the Assistant GM of the Spurs alongside R.C Buford.   One of the first moves he made was trading away Ray Allen and the rights to Glen Davis in the 2007 draft for Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte "Loony" West, the rights to forward Jeff Green and a 2008 second-round pick from the Boston Celtics, while also drafting future superstar Kevin Durant.  During his tenure, he has been able to rebuild the Thunder through the draft and with small contracts.

Notable moves:

-Traded Ray Allen and the 35th overall pick to the Boston Celtics for Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and the 5th overall pick, used to draft Jeff Green.

-Drafted Kevin Durant with the 2nd pick of the 2007 NBA draft.

-Traded Kurt Thomas to the San Antonio Spurs for  Brent Barry, Francisco Elson and a 2009 first-round pick.

-Traded  Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West to the Cleveland Cavaliers for  Donyell Marshall and Ira Newble and  Adrian Griffin from the Chicago Bulls; waived  Brent Barry.

-Named P.J. Carlesimo coach

-Acquired Kurt Thomas (Traitor!  We will never forget!) and 2008 and 2010 first-round picks from the Phoenix Suns for a 2008 second-round pick.

-Drafted Russell Westbrook  with the 4th pick of the 2008 NBA draft, Serge Ibaka with the 24th.

-Traded Luke Ridnour and Adrian Griffin to the Milwaukee Bucks for Desmond Mason from the Milwaukee Bucks and Joe Smith from the Cleveland Cavaliers

-Hired Scott Brooks as coach

-Signed Nenad Kristic to a 3 year, 14 million dollar contract.

-Acquired Tyson Chandler from the New Orleans Hornets for  Chris Wilcox,  Joe Smith and the draft rights to center DeVon Hardin.

-Acquired Malik Rose and cash considerations from the New York Knicks for Chris Wilcox.

-Drafted James Harden with the 3rd pick of the 2009 NBA draft, Byron Mullens with the 24th from Dallas

-Acquired  Eric Maynor from the Utah Jazz for the rights to 2002 draft pick Peter Fehse. Agreed to take on the contract of injured Matt Harpring. Waived Shaun Livingston and Mike Wilks.

-Traded the 32nd overall pick to the Miami Heat for  Daequan Cook and the 18th overall pick in the 2010 draft.

--Traded a future second-round pick to the Miami Heat for the draft rights to Latavious Williams; traded the draft rights to  Erick Bledsoe  to the Los Angeles Clippers for a protected future first-round pick; traded the draft rights to  Magnum Rolle to the Indiana Pacers for the draft rights to Ryan Reid and cash; traded cash to the Atlanta Hawks for the draft rights to Tibor Pleiss

-Re-signed  Kevin Durant to a five-year, 86 million dollar contract. Acquired  Morris Peterson and the draft rights to  Cole Aldrich from New Orleans for the draft rights to  Craig Brackins and  Quincy Poindexter.

Team's Payroll last year: $55,994,78.  (Lowest in the NBA)

Daryl Morey

Daryl Morey became Assistant GM of the Houston Rockets in 2006 after holding the position of Senior Vice President of Operations and Information for the Boston Celtics.   On May 10, 2007, Morey replaced Carroll Dawson as General Manager.  During his tenure, he has become well known for using advance statistical analysis to judge players, rather than traditional scouting.

Notable moves:

-Hired Rick Adelman as head coach

-Signed Steve Francis to a 2 year six million dollar contract

-Acquired a 2007 second-round pick from the Orlando Magic for cash considerations; acquired the rights to Carl Landry from the Zombie Sonics for a future second-round pick and cash considerations.

-Drafted Aaron Brooks with the 26th pick of the 2007 NBA draft.

-Acquired Luis Scola, along with Jackie Butler in return for Vassilis Spanoulis.

-Acquired the draft rights to Donte Greene and a second-round draft pick in 2009 from the Memphis Grizzlies; acquired the draft rights to Joey Dorsey from the Portland Trail Blazers.

-Traded Bobby Jackson, Donte Green, and a future 1st round pick for Sean Singletary, Ron Artest and Patrick Ewing Jr.

-Signed Trevor Ariza to a 5 year, 33 million dollar contract.

-Traded Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey to the Kings, Tracy McGrady to the Knicks, and acquired Kevin Martin from the Kings, Jared Jeffries, Jordan Hill from the Knicks, and the right to swap first-round picks with the Knicks in 2011, and New York's 2012 first-rounder with protection.

-Drafted Patrick Patterson with the 14th pick of the 2010 NBA draft.

-Signed Brad Miller to a 3 year, 15 million dollar contract.

Team's Payroll last year: $69,277,832 (14th highest in the NBA)

Kevin 'O Connor

Kevin O'Connor has held the  title of Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager since 1999.  He took over a team that had two finals appearances, and three conference finals appearances in the last decade.  Under his reign the Jazz have fielded a consistently good team by way of finding players who work into coach Jerry Sloan's system.

Notable moves:

-Selected  DeShawn Stevenson (23rd overall pick) and f Kaniel Dickens (50th overall pick) in the 2000 draft

-Traded guard Howard Eisley to the Dallas Mavericks, forward Adam Keefe to the Golden State Warriors and a first-round pick to the Boston Celtics for forward Donyell Marshall from the Golden State Warriors and center Bruno Sundov from the Dallas Mavericks.

-Re-signed Carlos Arroyo.

-Signed  Matt Harpring.

-Signed Corey Maggette The Shot Burglar to an offer sheet.

-Drafted Maurice Williams with the 47th pick of the 2003 NBA draft.

-Traded DeShawn Stevenson and a conditional second-round pick to the Orlando Magic for  Gordan Giricek; traded  Keon Clark and  Ben Handlogten to the Phoenix Suns for Tom Gugliotta, two conditional first-round picks, a 2005 second-round pick and cash.

-Re-Signed Andrei Kirilenko to a six year, 83 million dollar contract.

-Signed Mehmet Okur to a six year, 50 million dollar contract.

-Signed Carlos Boozer to a six year 70 million dollar contract.

-Drafted Deron Williams and C.J Miles

-Drafted Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap

-Matched Millsap 4 year 32 million dollar offer sheet from Portland

-Re-signed Mehmet Okur to a 2 year 20 million dollar contract.

-Traded Ronnie Brewer to the Memphis Grizzlies for a protected future first-round draft pick.

-Traded Eric Maynor and  Matt Harpring to the Oklahoma City Thunder for the draft rights to Peter Fehse.

-Drafted Gordon Hayward with the 9th pick of the 2010 NBA draft.

-Traded Kosta Koufos, a protected 2011 first-round pick and another future protected first-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Al Jefferson.

Team's Payroll last year: $72,026,817 (12th highest in the NBA)

Mitch Kupchak

Mitch Kupchak has been emperor of the evil empire General manager of the Los Angeles Lakers since 2003, replacing Jerry West.  Like his predecessor, Kupchak's  teams have been constant contenders, appearing in 4 NBA championships and winning 2.

Notable Moves:

-Extended Shaquille O'Neal's contract

-Drafted Luke Walton with the 32nd pick of the 2003 NBA draft.

-Signed Gary Payton to a 2 year 10 million dollar contract and Karl Malone.

-Traded Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat for  Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant and a first-round pick.

-Traded Gary Payton, Rick Fox, a conditional first-round pick and cash to the Boston Celtics for guards Chucky Atkins. Jumaine Jones, and Chris Mihm.

-Named Phil Jackson coach

-Drafted Andrew Bynum with the 10th pick of the 2005 NBA draft.

-Drafted Jordan Farmar with the 26th pick of the 2006 NBA draft.

-Signed Vladimir Radmanovic to a 5 year, 31 million dollar contract

-Re-signed Aaron McKie and traded him with Javaris Crittenton, Kwame Brown, the draft rights to Marc Gasol, first-round picks in 2008 and 2010 and cash to the Memphis Grizzlies for  Pau Gasol

-Signed Ron Artest to a five year 33 million dollar contract.

-Signed Kobe Bryant to a contract extension, 3 years 90 million.

-Signed Steve Blake to a four year, 16 million dollar contract.

-Signed Matt Barnes to a 2 year 2 million dollar contract.

Team's Payroll last year: 91,346,449 (Highest in the NBA)

R.C. Buford

R.C Buford has been Senior Vice President and General Manager of the San Antonio Spurs since July of 2002, when he was given the position by  predecessor and current Spurs coach Greg Popovich.  The Spurs during his time have a been an extremely successful organization, winning three championships being in contention nearly every year with the core group of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli, and Tony Parker.

Notable Moves:

-Signed Manu Ginobili to a 2 year 3 million dollar contract

-Re-signed Bruce Bowen

-Signed Tony Parker to a 6 year 56 million dollar contract extension

-Signed Radoslav Nesterovic to a 6 year 40 million dollar contract.

-Drafted Beno Udrih with the 28th pick in the 2004 NBA draft.

- Traded  Malik Rose and conditional first-round picks in 2005 and 2006 to the New York Knicks
for  Jamison Brewer and  Nazr Mohammed

-Re-signed Robert Horry and signed Fabricio Oberto to a 2 year 5 million dollar contract.

-Traded  Radoslav Nesterovic and cash to the Toronto Raptors for  Matt Bonner and Eric Williams and a 2009 second-round draft pick.

-Drafted Tiago Splitter in 2007; Signed in 2010

-Traded Jackie Butler and the draft rights to Luis Scola to the Houston Rockets for  Vassilis Spanoulis, a 2009 second-round pick and future considerations.

-Drafted George Hill with the 26th pick in the 2008 NBA draft.

-Traded the draft rights to  Goran Dragic to the Phoenix Suns for the draft rights to Malik Hairston, a second-round pick in 2009 that would become DeJuan Blair and cash considerations.

-Signed Drew Gooden for rest of season.

-Traded Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas and  Fabricio Oberto to the Milwaukee Bucks for Richard Jefferson

-Signed Manu Ginobili to a 3 year 39 million dollar contract extension

-Re-Signed Richard Jefferson to a 4 year 38 million dollar contract.

-Drafted James Anderson.

Team's Payroll last year: $78,550,329 (7th highest in the NBA)

Mark Warkentien

Note: His contract wasn't renewed by the Nuggets, but I decided to leave him in here.

Mark Warkentien started his NBA career as Director of Player Personnel with the Cleveland Cavaliers.  He also served as interim General Manager when the spot was not filled. He would fill the same role with the Denver Nuggets as Director of Player Personnel in 2005.  He was eventually promoted to Vice President of Basketball Operations in 2006.  Backed by the success of star Carmelo Anthony, The Nuggets have been a playoff team during his entire tenure, and have even came close to the NBA title game.  Warkentien was awarded the Executive of the Year award in 2009 for his efforts

Notable Moves:

-Traded  Andre Miller,  Joe Smith and two 2007 first-round picks to the Philadelphia 76ers for  Allen Iverson and  Ivan McFarlin.

-Traded  Earl Boykins and Julius Hodge and cash to the Milwaukee Bucks for  Steve Blake.

-Signed J.R Smith

- Traded Marcus Camby to the Los Angeles Clippers for the option to exchange second-round picks in 2010.

-Signed Chris Andersen to a five year 24 million dollar contract.

-Traded Taurean Green,  Bobby Jones and a 2010 second-round draft pick to the New York Knicks for  Renaldo Balkman and cash considerations.

-Traded Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb; waived  Juwan Howard.

-Traded Chucky Atkins to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Johan Petro and a second-round pick.

-Traded a 2010 conditional first-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the draft rights to  Ty Lawson.

-Signed Al Harrington to a 5 year 34 million dollar contract.

Team's Payroll last year: $75,320,657 (8th highest in the NBA)

Pat Riley 

Riley has been Mr.President of the Miami Heat since 1995.  He has a long career in basketball, most  notably coaching the Lakers co-dynasty in the 80's, and the Knicks in the 90's.  As President of the Heat, he has led them to their first and only NBA title in 2006, also slipping in and out of the head coach position.

Notable Moves:

You know.

Team's Payroll last year: $72,881,306 (10th in the NBA)

Geoff Petrie

Geoff Petrie has been President of Basketball operations for the Sacramento Kings since 1995.  Once a two time all star for the Portland Trailblazers, Petrie had his playing days cut short after six seasons with a career ending knee injury.  In 1985, he began working with the Blazers as a commentator for radio broadcasts and later holding the title of Senior Vice president for Operations.  In 1994 he left Portland and was hired as the Kings' President of Basketball operations.  He took over a struggling franchise long  associated with losing and was able to turn them into contenders, even making it to the Western Conference Finals before being Stern'd defeated by the Lakers.  He is known for his exceptional success  in the draft, and has been named Executive of the year twice..  The Kings are currently in rebuild mode, but are on the rise.

Notable moves:

-Drafted Corliss Williamson with the 13th pick of the 1995 NBA draft.

-Drafted Peja Stojakovic with the 14th pick in the 1996 NBA draft

-Traded Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe to the Washington Wizards for Chris Webber

-Drafted Tariq Abdul-Wahad with the 11th pick of the 1997 NBA draft

-Signed Lawrence Funderburke

-Drafted Jason Williams with the 7th pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Jerome James with the 36th pick.

-Named Rick Adelman head coach

-Signed Vlade Divac to a six year, 60 million dollar contract.

-Signed Scott Pollard

- Traded Tariq Abdul-Wahad to the Orlando Magic for  Nick Anderson; re-signed free agent  Jon Barry and free agent Scot Pollard to multi-year contracts

-Drafted Hedo Turkoglu with the 16th pick of the 2000 NBA draft.

-Signed free agent Bobby Jackson

-Traded  Corliss Williamson to the Toronto Raptors for  Doug Christie

-Drafted Gerald Wallace with the 25th pick of the 2001 NBA draft.

-Traded Jason Williams and Brent Price to the Memphis Grizzlies for Mike Bibby and Nick Anderson

-Re-signed Chris Webber to a seven-year 91 million dollar contract.

-Signed Mike Bibby to a seven year 81 million dollar contract

-Traded Scot Pollard to the Indiana Pacers and Hedo Turkoglu to the San Antonio Spurs for Brad Miller from the Indiana Pacers

-Drafted Kevin Martin with the 26th pick of the 2004 NBA draft

-Traded Chris Webber, Michael Bradley and Matt Barnes to the Philadelphia 76ers for Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner.

-Drafted Francisco Garcia with the 23rd pick of the 2005 NBA draft.

-Traded Bobby Jackson and  Greg Ostertag to the Memphis Grizzlies for guard Bonzi Wells

-Traded Peja Stojakovic to the Indiana Pacers for Ron Artest.

-Named Eric Musselman head coach

-Named Reggie Theus head coach.

-Drafted Spencer Hawes with the 10th pick of the 2007 NBA Draft

-Signed Beno Udrih to a 1 year 1 million dollar contract

-Resigned Beno Udrih to a five year 30 million dollar contract

-Traded Mike Bibby to Atlanta for Anthony Johnson and Tyronn Lue,  Shelden Williams and Lorenzen Wright and a second-round pick.

-Named Paul Westphal coach,

-Drafted Tyreke Evans with the 4th pick of the 2009 NBA draft, Drafted Omri Casspi with the 16th pick,Traded the draft rights to Jeff Pendergraph to the Portland Trail Blazers for  Sergio Rodriguez, the draft rights to  Jon Brockman and cash.

-Traded Kevin Martin and  Hilton Armstrong to the Houston Rockets for Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey; traded  Sergio Rodriguez to the New York Knicks for Larry Hughes; traded a future second-round pick and cash to the Washington Wizards for forward Dominic McGuire; waived forward Kenny Thomas.

-Drafted DeMarcus Cousins with the 5th pick of the 2010 NBA draft, Hassan Whiteside with the 33rd.

Team's Payroll last year: $63,012,026 (22nd highest in the NBA)

John Hammond

And last but not least, some guy named John Hammond.  Hammond has been general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks since 2008, taking over the directionless organization that had previously been managed by Larry Harris.  The team had been held down by big and bad contracts for mediocre players,  bad team chemistry, meddling ownership, and inexperienced coaches that culminated in a very poor on the court product that for years  played third fiddle to the Packers and Brewers in Wisconsin pro sports  In only his second year as GM, he has managed to get rid of many of the bad contracts and at the same time take the Bucks back to the playoffs with coach Scott Skiles, winning the Executive of the Year award.  He has continued to work on improving the Bucks this offseason.  Before becoming the Bucks GM, he served as Assistant GM  in Detroit with Joe Dumars, helping to build a championship team, and as a scout for the Clippers.

Notable Moves:

-Hired Scott Skiles as coach

-Traded Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons to the New Jersey Nets for  Richard Jefferson.

-Drafted Joe Alexander with the 8th pick of the 2008 NBA draft, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute with the 37th pick.

- Traded Maurice Williams to the Cleveland Cavaliers and  Desmond Mason to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Damon Jones from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Luke Ridnour and  Adrian Griffin from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

-Traded Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs for  Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto. Then traded  Fabricio Oberto to the Detroit Pistons for  Amir Johnson.

-Drafted Brandon Jennings with the 10th pick of the 2009 NBA draft

-Signed  Ersan Ilyasova to a 3 year 7 million dollar contract

-Traded Amir Johnson and  Sonny Weems to the Toronto Raptors for  Carlos Delfino and Roko Ukic.

-Traded Malik Allen to the Denver Nuggets for  Sonny Weems, Walter Sharpe and cash; signed Hakim Warrick to a 1 year 3 million dollar contract

-Signed Jerry Stackhouse for rest of season

-Traded  Hakim Warrick and Joe Alexander to the Chicago Bulls for  John Salmons and 2011 and 2012 second-round picks.

-Traded  Charlie Bell and  Dan Gadzuric to the Golden State Warriors for Corey Maggette and the 44th overall pick in the 2010 draft.

-Drafted Larry Sanders with the 15th pick of the 2010 NBA draft, Darington Hobson with the 37th, and Tiny Gallon with the 47th.

-Traded a 2012 second-round pick to the New Jersey Nets for Chris Douglas-Roberts

-Re-signed John Salmons to a 5 year 39 million contract and signed Drew Gooden to a five year 32 million dollar contract

-Signed Keyon Dooling to a 2 year 4 million dollar contract.

-Traded Darnell Jackson and a 2011 second-round pick to the Sacramento Kings for Jon Brockman.

Team's Payroll last year:$69,068,873 (15th highest in the NBA)

David Kahn

Kidding, kidding.

Thanks to Hoopshype for transaction details,  Shamsports and Basketball Reference for salary details.

So, who's your pick?