Sachin Gupta article on The Athletic

[WildWolf2813]

Seems like a nice guy. Don't give a damn. We'll see how he does.

[Lipoli390]

Here's my favorite excerpt from the article on Gupta:

From a philosophy standpoint, Gupta said he will be nimble. Rosas, who had more of a traditional scouting background on his way to the top job, had a more defined system built on playing small and fast and shooting a lot of 3s and layups. He was so committed to that system that the Wolves ran it in the first year of his tenure even though they did not have the shooters to do it properly.

Gupta plans to be more flexible and play to the roster's strengths. He said with Finch as the head coach and the roster they have assembled, the Wolves will continue to focus on pace and space and emphasize defensive improvement as the keys to being competitive this season. But if they need to pivot, they will.

"I'm not dogmatic about anything," he said. "I want to find the best answers based the information in front of me. As variables change, as information changes, as rules change, I want to reassess those philosophies. They're not rigid. They're not written in stone."

Begin nimble and adapting decision-making to reflect changing variables and information. That's what good organizations do.

Good stuff. It did feel like Rosas sort of forced a system down Ryan's throat that didn't fit the players much at all at the time. Listening and humility - two of the most valuable qualities in people that ultimately end up being the best long-term managers and leaders. It seems like Gupta is the real deal.

Amen to that for everyone, especially leaders.

There's some encouraging evidence in this article, but I want to see it play out over time. I get the sense that people are often quick with anecdotal praise of colleagues for various reasons. I know I've done it and then later found out the person wasn't so great after all. Hopefully, the evidence in the article isn't going to turn out like that!

I agree, Drew. The praise and anecdotes are encouraging. I'll also mention the obvious - i.e., Gupta's impressive educational credentials. The guy is obviously really smart. I mean, he REALLY IS the smartest guy in the room. But I'd be more interested in knowing what specific front-office basketball decisions or recommendations he's made. Some questions come to mind: What was his role in drafting Embiid and Simmons in 2014 and 2016 respectively? What was his role, if any, in drafting Okafor instead of Porzingis in 2015? Did he recommend for or against that decision? Did he lobby Hinkie to draft Porzingis, Booker or even Myles Turner instead? It looks like he wasn't in the Sixers' front office in 2017 for their biggest blunder, namely trading up for Fultz, so that's good news. I don't think the Pistons did anything noteworthy the one season Gupta was in their front office. They don't think they even had a 1st-round pick that year.

If I owned an NBA team and were hiring a PBO, I'd focus primarily on each candidate's track record and I'd be looking for examples of good or bad judgment in player-personnel decisions. I'd want to know more than the ultimate draft and trade decisions each candidate's team made during their tenure. I'd due my due diligence to discern each candidate's role in those decisions. I'd also be interested in knowing each candidate's role in hiring coaches and scouts to get a sense of their judgment in those areas as well. Other things matter too, including people skills - i.e., the ability to forge good relationships with your own staff, executives of other teams and player agents. Intelligence in the form of strategic and tactical thinking is important when it comes to mapping out overall team-building strategy. Negotiating savvy is important when it comes to executing and the overall plan with trades and free agent maneuvers.

A guy like Gupta is going to stand out intellectually among his front office peers because, honestly, I wouldn't expect to find American's best and brightest minds in NBA front office positions. It also appears that Gupta is skilled in developing relationships and that he's the sort of leader who will get the most out of his own staff and relate well to his peers and player agents. But at the end of the day, being a good NBA PBO is primarily about judgment when it comes to selecting/hiring players, coaches and other staff. I'd be looking for someone with a track record that suggests they'll be another Larry Riley, who drafted Curry, Thompson and Green at 7, 11 and 35. I'd be looking to avoid someone with a track record like Thibodeau who drafted Dunn over Hield and Murray and drafted Justin Patton over John Collins, Anunoby, Jarrett Allen, Kyle Kuzma, Derrick White and Josh Hart.

Right now, I'm feeling good about Gupta, but there's a lot we don't know.

[Monster]

Here's my favorite excerpt from the article on Gupta:

From a philosophy standpoint, Gupta said he will be nimble. Rosas, who had more of a traditional scouting background on his way to the top job, had a more defined system built on playing small and fast and shooting a lot of 3s and layups. He was so committed to that system that the Wolves ran it in the first year of his tenure even though they did not have the shooters to do it properly.

Gupta plans to be more flexible and play to the roster's strengths. He said with Finch as the head coach and the roster they have assembled, the Wolves will continue to focus on pace and space and emphasize defensive improvement as the keys to being competitive this season. But if they need to pivot, they will.

"I'm not dogmatic about anything," he said. "I want to find the best answers based the information in front of me. As variables change, as information changes, as rules change, I want to reassess those philosophies. They're not rigid. They're not written in stone."

Begin nimble and adapting decision-making to reflect changing variables and information. That's what good organizations do.

Good stuff. It did feel like Rosas sort of forced a system down Ryan's throat that didn't fit the players much at all at the time. Listening and humility - two of the most valuable qualities in people that ultimately end up being the best long-term managers and leaders. It seems like Gupta is the real deal.

Amen to that for everyone, especially leaders.

There's some encouraging evidence in this article, but I want to see it play out over time. I get the sense that people are often quick with anecdotal praise of colleagues for various reasons. I know I've done it and then later found out the person wasn't so great after all. Hopefully, the evidence in the article isn't going to turn out like that!

I agree, Drew. The praise and anecdotes are encouraging. I'll also mention the obvious - i.e., Gupta's impressive educational credentials. The guy is obviously really smart. I mean, he REALLY IS the smartest guy in the room. But I'd be more interested in knowing what specific front-office basketball decisions or recommendations he's made. Some questions come to mind: What was his role in drafting Embiid and Simmons in 2014 and 2016 respectively? What was his role, if any, in drafting Okafor instead of Porzingis in 2015? Did he recommend for or against that decision? Did he lobby Hinkie to draft Porzingis, Booker or even Myles Turner instead? It looks like he wasn't in the Sixers' front office in 2017 for their biggest blunder, namely trading up for Fultz, so that's good news. I don't think the Pistons did anything noteworthy the one season Gupta was in their front office. They don't think they even had a 1st-round pick that year.

If I owned an NBA team and were hiring a PBO, I'd focus primarily on each candidate's track record and I'd be looking for examples of good or bad judgment in player-personnel decisions. I'd want to know more than the ultimate draft and trade decisions each candidate's team made during their tenure. I'd due my due diligence to discern each candidate's role in those decisions. I'd also be interested in knowing each candidate's role in hiring coaches and scouts to get a sense of their judgment in those areas as well. Other things matter too, including people skills - i.e., the ability to forge good relationships with your own staff, executives of other teams and player agents. Intelligence in the form of strategic and tactical thinking is important when it comes to mapping out overall team-building strategy. Negotiating savvy is important when it comes to executing and the overall plan with trades and free agent maneuvers.

A guy like Gupta is going to stand out intellectually among his front office peers because, honestly, I wouldn't expect to find American's best and brightest minds in NBA front office positions. It also appears that Gupta is skilled in developing relationships and that he's the sort of leader who will get the most out of his own staff and relate well to his peers and player agents. But at the end of the day, being a good NBA PBO is primarily about judgment when it comes to selecting/hiring players, coaches and other staff. I'd be looking for someone with a track record that suggests they'll be another Larry Riley, who drafted Curry, Thompson and Green at 7, 11 and 35. I'd be looking to avoid someone with a track record like Thibodeau who drafted Dunn over Hield and Murray and drafted Justin Patton over John Collins, Anunoby, Jarrett Allen, Kyle Kuzma, Derrick White and Josh Hart.

Right now, I'm feeling good about Gupta, but there's a lot we don't know.

Below is a breakdown of the moves Detroit made in 2019 draft while Gupta was waiting to be able to join the Wolves.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.freep.com/amp/1521091001

[Lipoli390]

Here's my favorite excerpt from the article on Gupta:

From a philosophy standpoint, Gupta said he will be nimble. Rosas, who had more of a traditional scouting background on his way to the top job, had a more defined system built on playing small and fast and shooting a lot of 3s and layups. He was so committed to that system that the Wolves ran it in the first year of his tenure even though they did not have the shooters to do it properly.

Gupta plans to be more flexible and play to the roster's strengths. He said with Finch as the head coach and the roster they have assembled, the Wolves will continue to focus on pace and space and emphasize defensive improvement as the keys to being competitive this season. But if they need to pivot, they will.

"I'm not dogmatic about anything," he said. "I want to find the best answers based the information in front of me. As variables change, as information changes, as rules change, I want to reassess those philosophies. They're not rigid. They're not written in stone."

Begin nimble and adapting decision-making to reflect changing variables and information. That's what good organizations do.

Good stuff. It did feel like Rosas sort of forced a system down Ryan's throat that didn't fit the players much at all at the time. Listening and humility - two of the most valuable qualities in people that ultimately end up being the best long-term managers and leaders. It seems like Gupta is the real deal.

Amen to that for everyone, especially leaders.

There's some encouraging evidence in this article, but I want to see it play out over time. I get the sense that people are often quick with anecdotal praise of colleagues for various reasons. I know I've done it and then later found out the person wasn't so great after all. Hopefully, the evidence in the article isn't going to turn out like that!

I agree, Drew. The praise and anecdotes are encouraging. I'll also mention the obvious - i.e., Gupta's impressive educational credentials. The guy is obviously really smart. I mean, he REALLY IS the smartest guy in the room. But I'd be more interested in knowing what specific front-office basketball decisions or recommendations he's made. Some questions come to mind: What was his role in drafting Embiid and Simmons in 2014 and 2016 respectively? What was his role, if any, in drafting Okafor instead of Porzingis in 2015? Did he recommend for or against that decision? Did he lobby Hinkie to draft Porzingis, Booker or even Myles Turner instead? It looks like he wasn't in the Sixers' front office in 2017 for their biggest blunder, namely trading up for Fultz, so that's good news. I don't think the Pistons did anything noteworthy the one season Gupta was in their front office. They don't think they even had a 1st-round pick that year.

If I owned an NBA team and were hiring a PBO, I'd focus primarily on each candidate's track record and I'd be looking for examples of good or bad judgment in player-personnel decisions. I'd want to know more than the ultimate draft and trade decisions each candidate's team made during their tenure. I'd due my due diligence to discern each candidate's role in those decisions. I'd also be interested in knowing each candidate's role in hiring coaches and scouts to get a sense of their judgment in those areas as well. Other things matter too, including people skills - i.e., the ability to forge good relationships with your own staff, executives of other teams and player agents. Intelligence in the form of strategic and tactical thinking is important when it comes to mapping out overall team-building strategy. Negotiating savvy is important when it comes to executing and the overall plan with trades and free agent maneuvers.

A guy like Gupta is going to stand out intellectually among his front office peers because, honestly, I wouldn't expect to find American's best and brightest minds in NBA front office positions. It also appears that Gupta is skilled in developing relationships and that he's the sort of leader who will get the most out of his own staff and relate well to his peers and player agents. But at the end of the day, being a good NBA PBO is primarily about judgment when it comes to selecting/hiring players, coaches and other staff. I'd be looking for someone with a track record that suggests they'll be another Larry Riley, who drafted Curry, Thompson and Green at 7, 11 and 35. I'd be looking to avoid someone with a track record like Thibodeau who drafted Dunn over Hield and Murray and drafted Justin Patton over John Collins, Anunoby, Jarrett Allen, Kyle Kuzma, Derrick White and Josh Hart.

Right now, I'm feeling good about Gupta, but there's a lot we don't know.

Below is a breakdown of the moves Detroit made in 2019 draft while Gupta was waiting to be able to join the Wolves.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.freep.com/amp/1521091001

Interesting, Monster. I thought Gupta came to the Wolves in May of that year before the draft so I wasn't sure he had anything to do with those decisions. If he was involved in those decisions as Detroit's #2, I'd love to know whether he supported or opposed them. At the time I thought the Doumbouya pick was pretty good, but in retrospect, it was obviously a really bad one. Trading #30 for future 2nd-round picks and then acquiring Sirvydis at #37 seemed like a bad move to me at the time and it looks even worse now. Detroit could have drafted one of two guys I really liked at the time in Kevin Porter Jr. or Nic Claxton at #30. In retrospect, Detroit really made a big mistake passing on either one of those two, especially Kevin Porter. I think Detroit erred again taking Sirvydis over Paschall, Terance Mann, Bol Bol or Nowell at #37.

Again, I had no idea how involved, if at all, Gupta was in any of those decisions. And it's only one offseason, so it's a limited sample. I don't see any decisions by the Pistons in 2019 that would give me reason to hire Gupta. But there's a lot more to know in assessing Gupta.

[Monster]

Here's my favorite excerpt from the article on Gupta:

From a philosophy standpoint, Gupta said he will be nimble. Rosas, who had more of a traditional scouting background on his way to the top job, had a more defined system built on playing small and fast and shooting a lot of 3s and layups. He was so committed to that system that the Wolves ran it in the first year of his tenure even though they did not have the shooters to do it properly.

Gupta plans to be more flexible and play to the roster's strengths. He said with Finch as the head coach and the roster they have assembled, the Wolves will continue to focus on pace and space and emphasize defensive improvement as the keys to being competitive this season. But if they need to pivot, they will.

"I'm not dogmatic about anything," he said. "I want to find the best answers based the information in front of me. As variables change, as information changes, as rules change, I want to reassess those philosophies. They're not rigid. They're not written in stone."

Begin nimble and adapting decision-making to reflect changing variables and information. That's what good organizations do.

Good stuff. It did feel like Rosas sort of forced a system down Ryan's throat that didn't fit the players much at all at the time. Listening and humility - two of the most valuable qualities in people that ultimately end up being the best long-term managers and leaders. It seems like Gupta is the real deal.

Amen to that for everyone, especially leaders.

There's some encouraging evidence in this article, but I want to see it play out over time. I get the sense that people are often quick with anecdotal praise of colleagues for various reasons. I know I've done it and then later found out the person wasn't so great after all. Hopefully, the evidence in the article isn't going to turn out like that!

I agree, Drew. The praise and anecdotes are encouraging. I'll also mention the obvious - i.e., Gupta's impressive educational credentials. The guy is obviously really smart. I mean, he REALLY IS the smartest guy in the room. But I'd be more interested in knowing what specific front-office basketball decisions or recommendations he's made. Some questions come to mind: What was his role in drafting Embiid and Simmons in 2014 and 2016 respectively? What was his role, if any, in drafting Okafor instead of Porzingis in 2015? Did he recommend for or against that decision? Did he lobby Hinkie to draft Porzingis, Booker or even Myles Turner instead? It looks like he wasn't in the Sixers' front office in 2017 for their biggest blunder, namely trading up for Fultz, so that's good news. I don't think the Pistons did anything noteworthy the one season Gupta was in their front office. They don't think they even had a 1st-round pick that year.

If I owned an NBA team and were hiring a PBO, I'd focus primarily on each candidate's track record and I'd be looking for examples of good or bad judgment in player-personnel decisions. I'd want to know more than the ultimate draft and trade decisions each candidate's team made during their tenure. I'd due my due diligence to discern each candidate's role in those decisions. I'd also be interested in knowing each candidate's role in hiring coaches and scouts to get a sense of their judgment in those areas as well. Other things matter too, including people skills - i.e., the ability to forge good relationships with your own staff, executives of other teams and player agents. Intelligence in the form of strategic and tactical thinking is important when it comes to mapping out overall team-building strategy. Negotiating savvy is important when it comes to executing and the overall plan with trades and free agent maneuvers.

A guy like Gupta is going to stand out intellectually among his front office peers because, honestly, I wouldn't expect to find American's best and brightest minds in NBA front office positions. It also appears that Gupta is skilled in developing relationships and that he's the sort of leader who will get the most out of his own staff and relate well to his peers and player agents. But at the end of the day, being a good NBA PBO is primarily about judgment when it comes to selecting/hiring players, coaches and other staff. I'd be looking for someone with a track record that suggests they'll be another Larry Riley, who drafted Curry, Thompson and Green at 7, 11 and 35. I'd be looking to avoid someone with a track record like Thibodeau who drafted Dunn over Hield and Murray and drafted Justin Patton over John Collins, Anunoby, Jarrett Allen, Kyle Kuzma, Derrick White and Josh Hart.

Right now, I'm feeling good about Gupta, but there's a lot we don't know.

Below is a breakdown of the moves Detroit made in 2019 draft while Gupta was waiting to be able to join the Wolves.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.freep.com/amp/1521091001

Interesting, Monster. I thought Gupta came to the Wolves in May of that year before the draft so I wasn't sure he had anything to do with those decisions. If he was involved in those decisions as Detroit's #2, I'd love to know whether he supported or opposed them. At the time I thought the Doumbouya pick was pretty good, but in retrospect, it was obviously a really bad one. Trading #30 for future 2nd-round picks and then acquiring Sirvydis at #37 seemed like a bad move to me at the time and it looks even worse now. Detroit could have drafted one of two guys I really liked at the time in Kevin Porter Jr. or Nic Claxton at #30. In retrospect, Detroit really made a big mistake passing on either one of those two, especially Kevin Porter. I think Detroit erred again taking Sirvydis over Paschall, Terance Mann, Bol Bol or Nowell at #37.

Again, I had no idea how involved, if at all, Gupta was in any of those decisions. And it's only one offseason, so it's a limited sample. I don't see any decisions by the Pistons in 2019 that would give me reason to hire Gupta. But there's a lot more to know in assessing Gupta.

Both of us liked Seko although I like to think I would have taken Herro because ai would have still had Saric at PF even if I wasn't sold on him being the guy going forward.

Like you said we don't know if Gupta had his hand in these moves or not. They did move around a lot which does seem Gupta like but ultimately unless we find out he did have a hand in that draft I wouldn't be likely to give to much credit to him or have much blame considering the circumstances. Ed Stefanski was running the basketball operations at that time and Malik Rose was the assistant GM. This article mentions telling was the guy that contacted Gupta about the job and there were a lot of guys with assistant GM titles in the kitchen. No idea how things broke down in terms of pecking order although Gupta had the title of VP of basketball operations. I think one benefit of Gupta is that he has worked for more than one organization after working for Houston for a while. He has some things he can take and utilize and also knows some things that probably don't work.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2018/08/12/detroit-pistons-sachin-gupta-trade-machine-creator/938160002/