Every year the NBA takes a survey of the general managers in the league and every year we make a big deal about it but in the end they are just predictions and they are virtually meaningless. Having said that, it is still an interesting exercise to look at so I will give you a few of my thoughts on this year's version of the survey which you can find here.
1. The Golden State Warriors Are Being Underappreciated: The Warriors won 67 games last year and will go down as one of the greatest NBA teams ever after winning the title as well. This season they bring back basically everybody (except for David Lee) and they also have another year of experience under their belts, championship experience at that, yet only 17.9 percent of the GM's think they will win the 2016 NBA Finals. That percentage is third behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (53.6 percent) and the San Antonio Spurs (25 percent.) In the GM's defense it is extremely hard to win back-to-back NBA Championship's and the Western Conference is a gauntlet but this team is loaded and still hungry. Many people think that Cleveland would have won the title last year if they were fully healthy but that is disrespectful to a Warriors team that was easily the best in the NBA all season long and very much deserved the championship. The Warriors may not win the championship but it's hard to fathom that they are third in line right now.
2. Why is LeBron James Considered The Favorite For MVP?: Every year the GM's pick LeBron James to win the MVP award and it is understandable because he is the best player in the world but this year he wouldn't top my list. James' percentage in the poll dropped from 67.9 percent last year to 39.3 percent this year but the second place player (Anthony Davis) is still pretty far away (25 percent.) LeBron is very likely to put up great numbers again and be in the mix like he always is but the problem is the way the Cavaliers plan to use him. LeBron has already said he wants to play less minutes this season so that his body is healthy entering the playoffs so that could hurt his MVP case. Also LeBron dealt with back issues last season and has already had an injection in the back this preseason so his health could also be a factor. LeBron used to be invincible but over the past couple of years he has shown that he is human and can get hurt. A hungry Kevin Durant and a vengeful James Harden should probably be ahead of James on this list this season.
5. Karl-Anthony Towns Over Jahlil Okafor Long-Term?: The GM's voted that Okafor is the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award by a slight margin over Towns which is probably the right choice. Okafor will likely be the focal point of the 76ers offense right away while Towns will be more of a defensive presence as a rookie for the Timberwolves. Long-term though the GM's expect Towns to be better than Okafor by a long shot. Towns got 62.1 percent of the vote for which rookie will be the best in five years while Okafor only got 10.3 percent. In fact, Okafor isn't even in second place by himself in this category as Emmanuel Mudiay got an identical number of votes. This is certainly a good argument between Okafor and Towns long-term but it is hard to blame the GM's here as Towns will likely be a very good defender in the NBA right away and has shown signs of developing an offensive game. Towns also will be getting mentored by Kevin Garnett as a rookie which will be invaluable for him and his future. Okafor already has a polished offensive game but his defense leaves something to be desired at the moment. Both players are extremely young and talented with a great chance to have very successful NBA careers so it's tough to argue with Towns being picked as the better long-term prospect, I just don't know that it should have been by such a wide margin especially when you consider the fact that they think Okafor will win Rookie of the Year.
