All due respect to Denver’s Mark Warkentien, who won the 2009 NBA Executive of the Year Award, but Orlando GM Otis Smith deserves the honor. This is the problem with how the league hands out these awards at the end of the regular season — there’s no way to take the playoffs into account. Granted, it’s a regular season award, but in that case, wouldn’t Danny Ferry deserve it for pulling the trigger on the Mo Williams trade, which led to an All-Star nod for the guard and a 66-win season? Mitch Kupchak also deserves mention for his theft of Pau Gasol (now a year and a half old) along with mining Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown from other team’s benches.

Of course, Warkentien pulled arguably the best in-season move by sending Allen Iverson to Detroit for Chauncey Billups, which gave the Nuggets the toughness and defensive intensity to go from a Western Conference also-ran to a legitimate contender. I didn’t like his decision to give away Marcus Camby last summer in a salary dump, but in his defense, his signing of Chris Andersen offset that loss. Still, it would have been nice to have Camby on the roster against the Lakers, but there probably wouldn’t have been enough minutes for three centers. Warkentien rolled the dice that Nene was ready to explode and that Andersen could bring energy, rebounding and shotblocking off the bench, and it worked out, for the most part. Warkentien also signed Dahntay Jones, who eventually turned into (sort of) a starter for George Karl, and re-signed J.R. Smith.

Now let’s take a look at the job Otis Smith has done (from HoopsHype):

June 7 2007
Released head coach Billy Donovan and named Stan Van Gundy head coach.

February 19 2009
Traded forward Brian Cook to the Houston Rockets for guard Rafer Alston. Traded center Adonal Foyle and guard Mike Wilks to the Memphis Grizzlies.

So, in the last two years, Smith has 1) locked up his two cornerstones (Howard and Nelson) to long term contracts, 2) traded for the versatile Lewis, who wreaked havoc in the Cleveland series, 3) found two starter-quality perimeter players in the draft (Lee) and free agency (Pietrus), 4) found a couple of hard-nosed rotation guys in the draft (Gortat) and free agency (Johnson), 5) pulled off a deal for Rafer Alston when Nelson went down, and 6) found a guy to coach them all up (SVG) after Billy Donovan left the franchise at the altar.

Smith might be a victim of his own reputation. Prior to Lee, he didn’t do well in the draft (Fran Vasquez and Travis Diener in 2005; J.J. Redick and James Augustine in 2006; Reyshawn Terry in 2007), fell for Darko Milicic’s potential in 2006, and traded away Trevor Ariza in 2007.

Bill Simmons writes:

Did Otis Smith plan on this? When he overpaid Lewis, was he thinking, “I need to find a shooter to spread the floor for Dwight?” Was he thinking, “I am going to revolutionize basketball and I need Lewis to help me do it?” Or was he just like a drunk guy at an auction throwing out some insane dollars to make sure he won? I am leaning toward the third scenario, and here’s why: Smith basically gave away Trevor Ariza for Brian Cook and Mo Evans last year. Does Cook make any sense for this ’09 Magic team? Of course not. Does Ariza? Of course. That’s what makes me think Smith stumbled into it. Revolutionary basketball geniuses don’t throw cap space away or give up building blocks for no reason.

I think I’ve written this about fifty times over the past three weeks, but the Magic are built in the same mold as the Hakeem Olajuwon-era Houston Rockets in that they have a dominant big man (who is good enough to command a double team) and have surrounded him with a bunch of shooters. Where the Magic lineup differs from those Houston teams is at power forward, where Lewis’ sharpshooting has replaced Otis Thorpe’s strength and rebounding. The Rockets surrounded Olajuwon with three shooters, while the Magic have gone one step further and have surrounded Howard with four.

Orlando can get away with this because the league is getting smaller. True centers are a rare breed, and power forwards are going from 6’10″ or 6’11″ rebounding/post-up beasts to 6’8″ or 6’9″ versatile forwards with a face-up game. Simmons says this is a result of expansion (and a dilution of the overall talent), but it has more to do with the infusion of international players (who prefer to face up) and a tightening of the amount of contact that defenders can lay on the dribbler. In short, the power forward has become a perimeter player, and other than Dirk Nowitzki, Lewis is about as good of a perimeter power forward as there is in the NBA. (Kevin Garnett, David West, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Antawn Jamison and LaMarcus Aldridge are all power forwards with face-up games, but none of them stretch a defense quite like Nowitzki and Lewis can.)

In all honesty, I still think Smith overpaid for Lewis. I don’t know that there was another team in the running, but at that price tag ($110 million), I doubt it. Lewis should be getting $11-$13 million a season, not the $16-$21 million he’ll be making over the next five years. Still, you can’t argue with the results. The Magic are in the Finals and Lewis is a big reason why.

As for Ariza, which is Simmons’ trump card, let’s not forget — the guy couldn’t shoot a lick when he was in Orlando. He developed his long ball in L.A. and that is one reason why he’s flourishing there. Smith knew he needed shooters at every position other than center, so he wanted a swingman who could play some defense, get to the rim, and be a threat from long range. Ariza was capable in the first two areas, but while in Orlando he showed no signs of becoming a decent three point shooter. Smith went out and signed Pietrus, who was able to (sort of) cover LeBron one-on-one and nail 47% of his threes in the series (and 35% on the year). He’s also athletic enough to get to the rim when he’s crowded on the perimeter. Pietrus is what Smith wanted Ariza to be.

Besides, Simmons should take it easy on Smith. Remember when his favorite GM, Danny Ainge, passed on Brandon Roy in the ’06 Draft so he could acquire Sebastian Telfair from the Blazers? They can’t all be beauties. Ainge went on to win this award in the 2007-08 season. And Cook…on the surface, he didn’t look to be as bad of a fit as he turned out to be. He has size and can shoot it, so Smith might have seen a potential Lewis, Jr. on the horizon. Besides, he turned Cook into Alston after Nelson went down, which was key in getting the Magic to the Finals.

So, even though he didn’t have a splashy move like Iverson-for-Billups, Smith deserves this honor, at least in my book.

We’re down to four teams…Cavs/Magic…Lakers/Nuggets…

What do they have in common? Star power, efficient offense, pretty solid defense, good coaching…check, check, check and check.

But how about an aggressive front office?

Each of these four teams made a major trade in the last two years.

July 11, 2007: The Magic sign Rashard Lewis
This was a sign-and-trade, not a straight free agent signing, but the Magic only had to give up a conditional second round pick. The upside for the then-Seattle Supersonics was a trade exception worth $9 million. The contract (six years, $110 million) seemed outlandish at the time, and Lewis is still overpaid, but the Magic did what they had to do to get him. He’s a great fit for what Orlando is trying to do. They are built like the Rockets were in the Hakeem Olajuwon era — find a big man who commands a double-team, and surround him with great shooters. Lewis is the Magic’s version of Robert Horry in that he’s a lanky, versatile, sharpshooting big man. Strength-wise, he’s not built like a typical power forward, but since the NBA has gotten smaller and quicker over the past few years, he can get by against most teams. Offensively, he creates all sorts of problems for opposing power forwards as he can drill the long ball (career 39% from 3PT) or take it to the rack. He’s also pretty good in the post when teams try to defend him with a smaller player.

Sure, the Magic overpaid on that contract, but I think it’s safe to say that if they hadn’t, they wouldn’t be in the Eastern Conference Finals right now. Lewis is a big, big part of Orlando’s recent success. GM Otis Smith deserves a lot of credit for having the cojones to pull the trigger on this deal.

February 1, 2008: The Lakers trade for Pau Gasol
Also known as “the trade heard ’round the world,” this was the date when the Lakers went from being a Western Conference also-ran to one of the elite teams in the NBA. For Gasol, the Lakers traded Kwame Brown’s expiring contract, point guard Javaris Crittenton (now with Washington, I think), Aaron McKie (to balance the trade out financially), two first round picks and the rights to second round pick (and Pau’s brother), Marc Gasol. Memphis used one of those first round picks to acquire Darrell Arthur, who had a decent if unspectacular rookie season. Marc Gasol turned out to be a pretty good center, though time will tell if he’s really a starter-caliber big man on a playoff team. No matter what Memphis GM Chris Wallace said at the time, this was a straight salary dump for the Grizzlies.

For the Lakers, Gasol gave Kobe a high-IQ sidekick at the PF/C position. He picked up the triangle offense quickly (which is no easy feat) and seemed revitalized by the trade. His scoring and rebounding has remained unchanged, but his FG% took a big jump in the right direction. The Lakers essentially added an All-Star caliber player without losing any of their top eight or nine players. The only knock on Gasol is that he plays soft at times, and that came back to bite the Lakers in the Finals last year. For Laker GM Mitch Kupchak, the trade represented redemption. He (justifiably) took a lot of flack over trading away Caron Butler for Kwame Brown three years earlier, and it was sweet justice that it was Brown’s expiring contract that was the key cog in Wallace’s desire to cut salary.

August 13, 2008: The Cavs acquire Mo Williams
As a Bucks fan, I thought Milwaukee got fleeced in this deal, but given the reports that Williams and All-Star guard Michael Redd simply could not get along, I guess it’s understandable. There were also some salary cap benefits for the Bucks, and without Williams there, Ramon Sessions has had a chance to emerge as a future star at point guard. (Now, if only the Bucks can hold onto him. Sigh.)

For the Cavs, this seems to be the move that put the team over the top, talent-wise. They gave up Damon Jones (big deal) and Joe Smith (who later returned), so like the Lakers did with Pau Gasol, they added an All-Star talent for basically nothing. And just like the Lakers, this has more to do with having an owner that’s willing to spend than it is with any great strategy or tactics in the front office. But I give GM Danny Ferry credit — Williams turned out to be a very nice fit. He had no problem deferring to LeBron (but who would, really) and is given the offensive reins when James hits the bench. He averaged 17.8 points and 4.1 assists this season, but the improvement in his offensive efficiency is the bigger deal. He shot almost 47% from the field and almost 44% from long range, which means his defender can’t spend any time in the lane digging at LeBron’s drives without paying a serious price.

It’s funny that the Cavs were thisclose to adding Redd a few seasons ago and it was the lefty’s relationship with Williams that drove him out of town. The Cavs got their guy in the end.

November 3, 2008: The Nuggets acquire Chauncey Billups
At the time, this trade was considered by many (but not me, I’m happy to say) to be pretty even from a talent standpoint, but it turned out great for the Nuggets and not-so-great for the Pistons. Nuggets GM Mark Warkentien saw that the Allen Iverson/Carmelo Anthony experiment wasn’t working, so he used AI’s monster expiring salary to wrestle one of the best point guards in the league away from the Pistons. Much has been written about what Billups has meant to the Nuggets this season, but I think it’s safe to say that his leadership and commitment to defense are the two biggest factors in Denver’s rise. He’s not threatened by ‘Melo (and vice versa), and the two are able to co-exist in a way that the Iverson/Anthony combination simply couldn’t. Along with the emergence of a finally healthy Nene, the Nuggets truly are the second-best team in the West (at least).

For the Pistons, this move backfired. GM Joe Dumars was trying to clear cap space for this summer (and next), while still keeping the Pistons competitive. Iverson didn’t fit in well, and was a bad match for the personnel already on the roster. By trading away Billups, Dumars essentially gave up any hope of a deep run this postseason. We’ll see how he’s able to rebuild now that he has all of this cap space.