General manager

But I do think it's worth, before we dive into where they have the Heat finishing in the Eastern Conference, what they think about Miami's off-season moves, what they think about Giannis at this point in Giannis' career, as well as what they think about Eric Spoelstra and Bam Adebayo.

The, the GMs weighed in on all of this stuff.

Uh, but did they, right? 'Cause I do think this GM survey is sort of interesting in that you...

I, I'm very rarely surprised by what we see in the GM survey, although, uh, I think they're worthy and interesting talking points.

But I just don't know that the general managers' survey, um...

It, it, it kind of also feels like it's influenced by the media narratives that have already been put out there throughout the off-season.

In other words, I don't really see the GMs in the league diverging a lot from sort of general consensus that we've already been talking about.

And so in that respect, the GM survey, to me, is kind of pointless.

I don't I'm not walking away with the preseason having that conversation about the Lakers, but we'll we'll spend some time on that.

NBA GM survey.

This comes out every year.

The survey NBA GM survey predicts it makes a bunch of predictions.

And obviously, this is the the 25th annual GM survey, which had 48 different questions.

And they'll ask.

rank the Western Conference, where are the Lakers ranked on that list, best offenses, the team's level of success that's toughest to predict, who's going to be MVP, who's the best small forward in the NBA.

So anything that's more kind of Laker-centric and Laker-related, I'll hit on.

The number one thing that sticks out to me is the category of most improved team where the Wizards finish second with 23% of the votes.

That means GMs around the league think the Wizards are going to be one of the most improved teams in the entire NBA, and it's honestly pretty easy to see why when you add Trey Young and Anthony Davis, now number one overall pick in A.J. DeBasa, but The GMs are recognizing that, Abdul.

Higher than the Utah Jazz, Ben.

That's something that I took note of when I saw that.

The Wizards are going to play 50-plus games against a team in the Eastern Conference.

And when there's a lot of talent in the conference, as we've mentioned – it's kind of indicative of the Wizards if they're able to compete with some of those teams.

And if GMs around the league view them as someone that can actually compete with a lot of the teams in the Eastern Conference and take that step forward, then I think that is a good sign of hopefully a year where the Wizards can find themselves in the postseason, whether it is in the play-in tournament or all the way as a top-six seed.

I feel like the play-in tournament is a very achievable goal for this team.

There's not even a question.

Now, it is interesting because that GM thing just came out, and there, uh, the Celtics are getting like a mix.

But-

So I didn't, I didn't see any of this.

You have to fill me in on this thing.

Okay.

So every year the GMs end up doing this poll, and they kind of, you know-

Mm-hmm

It's the Lunch Break on Matt and Kayla.

Every single year, the NBA does a GM survey.

This is put on by nba.com.

This is very different from, like, when The Athletic does their anonymous player survey.

Like, typically you can kinda tap into the minds of a lot of general managers and who they think is the best, who they wish they had.

Uh, but there's always a section called rookies and international.

And so I open this G- this, uh, NBA GM survey and the first thing I do is scroll down to this section 'cause I know the Kings are not gonna be mentioned in anything other than maybe what Darius Bacof Jr. puts them in.

Sure.

But look, I mean, that just start, uh...

Doesn't that start to speak to desperation times there for probably both the GM and, who knows, maybe even DeMeco Ryans?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't think, I don't think so yet.

He's done so much winning.

So it's probably more the GM's spot, right?

Yeah, I...