Ian Thomsen>INSIDE THE NBA
• Freakonomics. To understand how Thunder general manager Sam Presti has steadily assembled a low-cost, high-upside roster that is the envy of other small-market teams, give credit to two factors that are out of reach for most franchises. First is the presence of Kevin Durant, who arrived as the No. 2 pick in 2007 and is fast developing the talents and leadership skills of a league MVP. Second is the discipline of Presti, who continues to develop -- and most importantly, stick with -- a long-term plan to develop young players according to the team-first demands of the Thunder program while keeping costs low. It's fine for franchises to envy OKC now, but how many owners would have the foresight and patience to adhere to the plan a couple of years ago when the Thunder were struggling?
The third factor, which may be available to other teams: Assistant GM Rich Cho, the Swiss army knife of the Thunder's front office. Cho is a lawyer and capologist who also knows a player when he sees one. "He's so smart with numbers and negotiations and the cap," said Hawks GM Rick Sund, who worked with Cho with the old Sonics in Seattle, "and he's an attorney and he's brilliant in finance and he's a good people person."
Most fans (and many NBA owners) have never heard of Cho, but people in the league view him as a prototype for the next NBA era, an executive who draws on a number of backgrounds to come up with solutions. "Rich is incredibly talented," said Presti. "He has great versatility in his approach and skills and is someone that consistently thinks of the long-term interest of the organization."
• The law. Former Sonics president Wally Walker used to employ Cho in both the basketball and business offices in Seattle, where Cho would work on sponsorships and other business deals in addition to helping Walker and Sund structure their basketball payroll. When Presti took over, he focused Cho entirely on basketball and has turned him into a scout as well as a numbers-crunching salary-cap expert.
Someday, Cho will be a GM or team president in the NBA, and as such he'll be able to draw on his experience in the business office while not needing to hire legal counsel or a capologist -- he'll fill both roles himself. "The combination of all of those things gives him a really good future," said Sund. "Going back over my career of 30 some years in the NBA, I wish I'd picked up a law or business degree along with my understanding of basketball. I've been in basketball all my life, but the different dimensions Rich has -- I wish I had them."
• The analysis. Cho is not the only executive who applies an unusual point of view to assembling NBA talent. Nuggets VP Mark Warkentien and Bucks assistant GM Jeff Weltman -- both reportedly on the short list of candidates to take over as GM of the Suns -- are both highly regarded as outside-the-box thinkers. Rockets GM Daryl Morey uses data analysis in an unprecedented way with the help of his VP Sam Hinkie, a brilliant number-cruncher who previously worked in private equity and venture capital. Nets VP Bobby Marks is another promising capologist.
Crucial to all of these planners is their ability to translate a player's strengths and weaknesses into a salary. What is the player's value in the current market? The Thunder's success has depended on making the difficult decisions of knowing when to spend on certain players -- like the three-year, $15.6 million deal they gave to center Nenad Krstic -- and when to walk away from others who aren't worth big money. "I always felt I was a half-step ahead with Rich," said Sund. "When I was with Seattle he'd already developed a software package of evaluating every player in the league, it was all done by numbers and all I had to do was type in the name or the value. Plus he's one of those lucky guys who has a photographic memory -- he can remember everything that happened from when you were trying to do a trade four years earlier or when you were looking at a guy in the draft."
"This game has become a numbers game," said Hawks director of pro personnel/college scouting Steve Rosenberry, who worked with Cho in Seattle. "It's easier to assess the talent than it is to assess to attach a number to that talent. You can inherit a bad contract and you can trade for one, but you damn sure don't want to give one."
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/ian_thomsen/07/02/free.agency/1.html#ixzz0sdLwDeUQ
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