Larry Bird, Pat Riley, Greg Popovich, Jerry West

[90sgoat]

How to make a franchise be consistently great?

Find a proven winner and stick with them, first as coach, then as GM. Let them run the ballclub, create the culture.

With how well the Heat have been this season and for basically 20 years, it made me realize how important someone like Pat Riley is.

An old school alpha NBA guy, who has the respect of everyone, like Jerry West, Larry Bird, Greg Popovich.

Larry Bird is not given enough credit for basically having the Pacers be a competitive team for 20 years as well. People forget Larry was the coach for the Pacers in 1997 and the 7 game series against Bulls.

The he consistently had the Pacers be a competitive team in the East for another 15 years including as the Hibbert/George dynasty.

Is it a coincidence that the team has been faltering since he stepped down in 2017? Larry would not have let Sabonis go.

In short, teams just don't want to give guys like Bird, Riley enough power to actually create dynasties. Either that or there aren't enough of these old dinosaurs to go around.

[WhiteKyrie]

Bird and West, the only all time great players who were also great GM’s. Can you see a common denominator ?

[sdot_thadon]

Bird and West, the only all time great players who were also great GM’s. Can you see a common denominator ?

Yeah they both shot 3s and dribbled a basketball.

[90sgoat]

Bird and West, the only all time great players who were also great GM’s. Can you see a common denominator ?

Yes, most players are not cut out for management.

Pop was not an NBA player either.

The point is that it's not rocket science that letting a former player, prove themselves as a coach, then give them the GM, instead of constantly shuffling all these wise guys and analydids idiots.