Re: Bird as GM (fwd)

["Caleb J. McArthur" <cmcarthu@umich.edu>]

On Thu, 27 Mar 1997, Theresa Lee wrote:

> Ok, this might sound like a stupid question, but I'll fire away
> anyway...what exactly does a general manager do?  I know it's different
> with each team's org. structure, but I don't know what the general
> responsibilities are. Is any part of it actually "managing" people or the
> organization? Or are there "chiefs of staff" who handle the business
> affairs and day-to-day business of the internal organization?

Not stupid at all.  Jan Volk handles the legal and fiscal matters with
respect to the basketball part of the organization and he may (I am not
sure) handle such matters with respect to the other aspects of the org
(eg.  the tv station deals, merchandizing, etc.)

I suspect that Bird would be head of basketball operations and would be in
charge of deciding who to draft and what trades to make and what free
agents to sign.  You are correct that he would need advice on how to work
within the cap.  Would he heed that advice?  I am not sure.  On the one
hand he has said that he realizes the need to confer with others, on the
other hand he has said that if after such a conferral, he wanted a player
he would want to deal done.  It is a tricky business as we all know.  I
think bird can recognize talent and has a good sense of what kind of a
team you need to win the championship, but does he have the saavy to
assemble such a team within the restrictions of the cap rules?  Probably
not.  So it all comes down to what kind of help we give him and how well
he accepts that help.

CJM