Hunt B recently wrote up a long post trying to defend Joe D. I admired his effort and optimism, but I think most of us realize that his view is at least a little short sighted. But his post did force me to at least reconsider how I feel about Joe. Back in the “Going to Work” era I was incredibly impressed with the way Joe built the team; we all were. But then that era ended and Joe has sucked ever since. What the hell happened? How did my hero of a GM suddenly forget how to do his job? It didn't make any sense. But then I started analyzing his moves and I think I figured it out. At least partially.

Compare how 2004’s team was built to how last year’s team was built:

2004:

Starters:

Rip- acquired via trade

Ben-acquired via trade

Sheed- trade

Tay-Drafted

Chauncey- Signed as a free agent (given the absolute max we could have given him BTW.)

Bench:

Memo- Drafted

Corliss- Trade

Mike James- Trade

Darko- Drafted

Elden Campbell- signed on the cheap

Lindsey Hunter- traded

2012

Starters:

Knight- drafted

Monroe- drafted

Max-drafted (but given a larger than deserved contract extension)

Tay- drafted (but then given an indefensibly large contract extension)

Stuckey-drafted (given a large {but possibly defensible?} contract extension)

Bench:

Ben- signed on the cheap

CV- signed massive contract

BG- signed even massiver contract

Jonas- drafted

Bynum- signed to reasonable contract

Macklin- drafted

See the difference? A GM can use three different methods to change his team. Trades, signings, and the draft. Joe’s best team was constructed mainly with trades with a handful of draft picks tossed in along with a single meaningful free agent. Joe’s most recent team was constructed without using a single meaningful trade, just a bunch of draft picks and really over priced free agents.

Trades, drafts, and free agents. Joe has made mistakes in the draft, sure, but overall I would say he is an average GM in this regard. Joe’s ability in free agency is pretty bad, possibly awful. Joe has made three types of free agency moves: cheapies (Elden, Kwame, Benaissance) that have been largely positive; MLE deals (pretty much just Chauncey unless I’m forgetting someone) which were awesome; and massive contracts to completely undeserving players. And consider this: before 2004 Joe never had any real cap space. The few free agents he did sign were for the absolute maximum he was allowed under the MLE and Veteran's Exceptions. Also before 2004, Joe never gave any of his players contract extensions. He didn't overpay any of his players because he was never given the chance to.

Joe’s ability in trades seems up and down—Sheed trade= great; Afflalo trade= horrible—but what if we consider the reasons behind those trades. When Joe was trading players for other players and draft picks—i.e. meaningful assets—he has been amazing. His only real failures (at least that I can remember) have been when trading useful players for nothing more than cap space which he then use to spend on crappy players. (For this I am consider the AI a strictly financial move—I refuse to believe that anyone could consider AI a useful player at that point in his career).

So Joe is an awesome trader (when not trying to clear cap space), a decent drafter, and terrible at signing free agents. Pre-2004 Joe was all about the trades and our team flourished. Since then he has focused only on drafting and free agents and our team has tanked.

In short, Joe is neither a great GM nor a terrible GM. He is a one sided GM who has spent way too much time focusing on the wrong side of his job