If You Were the GM

[military_irish]

This just came to mind with all of the Dwight Howard talk lately on TV but if you were the GM of your favorite team and (for make believe reasons) every team had to start from scratch. You are given the first pick in "The Draft" who would you build your team around, for every league?

NFL

Colts- I would stick with Andrew Luck, he just seems well put together from a mechanics stand point and a mental stand point. I would almost go with Tom Brady but his career is on the down swing where as Luck's career is on an upswing.

Bulls- As much as I strongly dislike LeBron I would have to go with him, when it comes to a GM stand point.

Cubs- I really don't have a clue who would be that guy because I am a very, very casual watcher of baseball but for the fun of it I would go with Puig. Hot name that would bring tickets to the ball park.


For kicks, if you were a AD of your favorite college team.

ND Football, I would have to stay with BK. Myer, Saban, Miles, etc may be a "hotter" name but they are scum to me, with no values.

ND basketball- Sorry but would have to go with Coach K if he would come here. He just wins.

Just something fun to do with the season still a couple months away.

 

[KPENN]

Ok. Let me try this, even though i don't have a favorite team in all sports.

NHL- Sidney Crosby. I hate him but he's the best in the world
NFL- RGIII- It was between him and Luck but i'll go RGIII
NBA- LBJ- Best player in the game
MLB- Trout- Young, dynamic player,

NCAAFB- I'd go BK, just cause
NCAABB- Brad Stevens

 

[GreenSox04]

NFL - RGIII

NHL- Stamkos

NBA- Durant

MLB- trout


NCAAB- Shaka smart

NCAAF- Charlie strong

 

[NDPhilly]

NHL: Jonathan Quick - Best Goalie in Hockey IMO and because **** Crosby
NFL: Andrew Luck - Don't trust RG3 to stay healthy
MLB: Yasiel Puig - Because he looks like fricken Bo Jackson
NBA: LBJ - still relatively young. By far best player in the game

NCAAF: BK - Got a team I thought was gonna go 8-4 to the NC
NCAAB: Calipari - Just cause he can recruit so damn well.

 

[NDWorld247]

Patriots - Andrew Luck. I wouldn't think twice about it. He is going to be on par with Brady, Manning and the greats of all-time when it's said and done.

Celtics - I would trade back to the #2 spot and pick up at least a 1st rounder in next year's draft. I would then select Kevin Durant. My city would never forgive me for selecting LeBron #1.

Red Sox - Stephen Strasburg, Mike Trout or Bryce Harper.

Bruins - No clue.

Notre Dame Football - Brian Kelly. I think he is the perfect fit at the perfect time. I would pay Diaco a shitload of money to stay and I'd give BK a blank check to sign the OC he wanted (maybe Martin, maybe not). If BK bolted to the NFL, my first phone call would be Chris Peterson (Boise State).

 

[irishfan]

NFL: Andrew Luck. QB-league and what he did with all those rookie WRs and TEs last year was amazing.

NBA: Lebron. Not happy with typing that.

MLB: Kershaw. Best pitcher in baseball and its not even close.

NHL: Don't know enough to even guess.

NCAAF: Saban

NCAAB: Cal. Its a players game more than a coaches game, and he'd bring the 5 stars.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

NFL: Andrew Luck
MLB: Mike Trout
NBA: LeBron
Soccer: Lionel Messi

NCAAB: Tom Izzo
NCAAF: Nick Saban

 

[JT_IRISH]

NFL: Packers. I'd stick with Rodgers. He is the man with plenty of gas still in the tank and I expect him only to get better now with a running game.

NBA: Pistons. Dumb question. Obviously LBJ.

MLB: Tigers. Cabrera. Triple crown speaks for itself.
Cubs. Verlander. An ace will take you places.

NHL: Red Wings. Bob Probert

NCAAF: BK and Clowney. Guy is explosive and BK can become legendary if he wants to.

 

[irishff1014]

Nfl Redskins- RGIII Not just because of his ability on the field but listening people talk about the way he is off the field makes him even that much more respectable.

MLB Braves- Manny Machado THE best young baseball player in the game.

ND- BK was a great signing for this team.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Best chance to win behind:

NFL- franchise QB (Luck or Rodgers)
NBA- scorer with good defense (LBJ)
MLB- 4 or 5 tool stud (Trout or Harper)
NHL- stud goalie (Quick)

NCAAF- scumbag (Meyer)
NCAAB- bigger scumbag (Calipari)

 

[IrishLax]

Fact: in a "start from scratch" draft Brady wouldn't even be a first round pick.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Agree. In a start from scratch draft, any football player over 30 would have a hard time cracking the top 50.

QBs guaranteed to go ahead of Brady:

Luck
Rodgers
RG III
Ryan
Newton
Flacco
Kapernick

*then you could argue guys like Dalton, Cutler, etc.

Not knocking Brady. Manning would be in same boat.

 

[NDWorld247]

Fact: in a "start from scratch" draft Brady wouldn't even be a first round pick.

I believe this to be fiction. In a start from scratch draft, QBs would fly off the board. If you're sitting at #32 and lets say 12 QBs have been taken, are you passing on Brady and taking a 2nd or 3rd tier QB in a later round? Not me. I'm taking the best QB in the NFL )) and making him the face of my franchise for 4 years until he retires. If I didn't, I'd be stuck with someone like Chad Henne, Josh Freeman or Ryan Tannehill and a different GM (after I was fired) would be selecting my team's QB of the future in 2-3 years.

I don't think I'm being a homer. Brady is the 11th QB I'd select. I just think more than that would go in the 1st round and any team that doesn't land a top 16 or so QB will face an uphill battle to compete right away.

Some questions that came to mind thinking about this....

Who would be the first non-QB to be selected? I think JJ Watt would be my top non-QB pick.

At what point would the run on franchise QBs (Luck, RGIII, Rodgers, etc) end and other positions start to get selected? It's a QB driven league...I think QBs get taken with the top 10 picks and maybe somewhere between 11-15 other position players start to be selected.

Here's the NFL's Top 100 for 2013 for reference in case anyone wants to try answering these questions: NFL.com - Top 100 Players of 2013

 

[BurningRiver]

NFL: RGIII has the chance to be more of a game-changer than Luck, but because of the injury concerns I can't pick him. Luck.

MLB: Matt Harvey

NBA: Kyrie Irving, but I'm incredibly biased

NHL: Yeah, right, as if I knew anything about hockey

NCAAF: Player? Johnny Football. Coach? Has to be Saban.

NCAAB: Calipari. Hate him, but the man can recruit.

 

[IrishLax]

I believe this to be fiction. In a start from scratch draft, QBs would fly off the board. If you're sitting at #32 and lets say 12 QBs have been taken, are you passing on Brady and taking a 2nd or 3rd tier QB in a later round? Not me. I'm taking the best QB in the NFL )) and making him the face of my franchise for 4 years until he retires. If I didn't, I'd be stuck with someone like Chad Henne, Josh Freeman or Ryan Tannehill and a different GM (after I was fired) would be selecting my team's QB of the future in 2-3 years.

I'll preface this whole thing with a big IN MY OPINION. Yes, QBs would fly off the board. And obviously he is a top QB. But here's effectively the question you'd be asking:
1. Is my team better off with an elite QB for ~3 years and then searching for a future in a later draft... or is my team better off with a #1 player at another position and grabbing an up-and-coming QB later?
2. Will Tom Brady be elite for my team or did Belichik mask his weaknesses (remember, Belichik had freaking Matt Cassel play at a prolific level).

So to #1... you're probably looking at taking an elite DE/WR/CB/OL versus Brady. Probably a Julio Jones/AJ Green type player with a long career ahead of them. So at first blush, I think it just comes down to preference... build for long term or try to win now? To #2... this is why I think you'd see a lot of teams sour on Brady and draft a young all-pro caliber player at another position. No one has any idea how Brady would perform in a different scheme from Belichik's and with different coaching.

I don't think I'm being a homer. Brady is the 11th QB I'd select. I just think more than that would go in the 1st round and any team that doesn't land a top 16 or so QB will face an uphill battle to compete right away.

Agreed to the second part, I think there are ~20 QBs who you can win with and Brady is one of them. For "win this season" he'd be near the top, for "overall projected value" I'd put him... probably somewhere around 14th to 16th looking at the list of all QBs. So I don't think you're being a huge homer. And I could definitely see him going in the late first the more I think about it. Especially if a team took a Calvin Johnson mid-first and wanted to trade back into the 1st round with a monster deal that included like a 2nd + 3rd + 4th or something crazy like that... remember, this draft would be like 60-65 rounds and you'd be getting quality 2-deep players all the way up in to the 40s.

Some questions that came to mind thinking about this....

Who would be the first non-QB to be selected? I think JJ Watt would be my top non-QB pick.

I think JJ Watt or Calvin Johnson would be the first guy off the board after QBs.

At what point would the run on franchise QBs (Luck, RGIII, Rodgers, etc) end and other positions start to get selected? It's a QB driven league...I think QBs get taken with the top 10 picks and maybe somewhere between 11-15 other position players start to be selected.

Here's the NFL's Top 100 for 2013 for reference in case anyone wants to try answering these questions: NFL.com - Top 100 Players of 2013

Really good question. I have no idea. My gut says about ~12 QBs would go before you run out of "sure things" with a lot of tread left on the tires or "proven" young guns and someone thinks a JJ Watt or Calvin Johnson would be a bigger game changer than an unreliable Tony Romo/Jay Cutler or old Manning/Brady... and then you might start seeing lots of trades to teams that are interested in one of those guys or a run other positions.

 

[kmoose]

Who would be the first non-QB to be selected?]

Adrian Peterson

 

[anarin]

Bears - I'd draft Bill Belichek to coach my team. Players mean dick in his system.
Hawks - Durant, I hate Lebron.
Reds - Cabrera

NCAAB - Pitino
NCAAF - BK (because I can)

 

[Calabrese's People]

NFL: Andrew Luck. Makes everyone around him better
NBA: Lebron. It aint even close.
MLB: Bryce Harper.
NCAAF: Brian Kelly. Knows how to build a quality and balanced staff.
NCAAB: Coach K.