Presti

How badly do you wish the Mariners had a GM like Presti of the Sonics running them right now...

1) He got the Magic to do a sign-and-trade for Rashard last summer. That meant Rashard got more money, and the Sonics got a "trade exception", whatever that is. He gave up nothing that he wasn't already going to lose.

2) He used the trade exception to get Kurt Thomas and two first round picks (2008 and 2010) from Phoenix. He gave up nothing. Phoenix was over the salary cap, and didn't want Thomas, so it gave to (likely late) first round picks to save money.

3) He traded Thomas to San Antonio for a first round pick (2009) and two players. One he cut, the other will barely play.

4) He traded two players for three players, who he will pay less and whose money comes off the books earlier.

He is working the system, as opposed to making dumb, short-term moves. He will have a top five pick in the 2008 draft, which is stockpiled. He can trade a Collison/Ridnour/Swift, etc., plus their other first rounder from 2008 and their own pick from 2009, and likely get another early first round pick in the 2008 draft.

That would give them Durant, Green, and two top-10 guys from a stockpiled draft, along with three first round picks in the next two years. That is a ridiculous haul, and the exact things all fans of a team should be excited to see their GM doing.

Unless they are the Sonics, and they are owned by buffoons from another city ready to steal a team on the rise, and they are backed by an a-hole commissioner hellbent on moving a team to a much smaller market.

At least the Mariners aren't threatening moving, but their moves themselves are bad enough.