7 Most Outlandish Things We Learned from 2012-13 NBA GM Survey

Absurdities make the NBA world go round.

In the 2012-13 edition of the Association's general manager survey, there was plenty to agree with, but there was also a bevy of head-scratching results as well.

Though the league's general managers are supposed to be some of the best and brightest minds out there—they are responsible for building contenders after all—there's no denying that the general consensus missed the mark on more than one occasion.

From Metta World Peace being tougher than LeBron James to the Golden State Warriors being more fun to watch than the Los Angeles Lakers, this year's poll was anything but short on illogical selections.

What were the other outlandish lessons we learned from this season's front office analysis?

I'm not so sure you're going to be glad you asked.

Golden State Warriors Are Extremely 'Fun' to Watch

According this year's rendition of the general manager survey, the Warriors are in a three-way tie for the fourth most "fun" NBA team to watch.

And I'm inclined to disagree.

It's not that Golden State is boring—I love monitoring Stephen Curry's ankle as much as the next person—nor is it that the team was tied with the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs. It's that the Warriors, and even the Clippers and Spurs, were considered more "fun" to watch then the Lakers.

Yes, the same Lakers who acquired both Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, and yes, the same Lakers whose offense has undergone extensive cosmetic surgery. How is that not more "fun", more compelling to watch than the league's third-worst defense and middle-of-the-pack rated offense?

Hell, I'd rather watch the New York Knicks attempt to outmaneuver the inescapable Father Time than stand idly by waiting for Curry and Andrew Bogut to maybe, one day, quite possibly reach full-strength.

I get that the Warriors may have an outside chance at clinching a playoff berth this year, I really do. But the Lakers have an opportunity to contend for a title, to become the biggest roadblock standing between the Miami Heat and a second-straight championship.

That's what I consider "fun."

Austin Rivers Has Outside Chance at Winning Rookie of the Year

I almost choked when I saw this one.

Even before Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported that Austin Rivers had suffered a sprained ankle, the rookie had much less than a 3.3 percent chance of winning Rookie of the Year.

Let's be clear, Rivers is a fantastic scorer, who may one day develop into a heralded facilitator, but he has absolutely no chance of even contending for Rookie of the Year honors.

Not only is the volume-shooter-turned-playmaker learning a new craft, but he's playing alongside Anthony Davis, the same player general managers voted 76.7 percent likely to win the award himself.

How is Rivers supposed to distinguish himself next to him, especially when it will be his job to feed Davis the ball?

Better yet—though 3.3 percent doesn't seem like much—how is Rivers more likely to win the honors than Bradley Beal or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist?

Clearly, logic here was waning.

Or maybe someone should give Jim Rome a call. Two members of the New Orleans Hornets as top-three Rookie of the Year candidates?

Even in the post-NBA-owning-the-Hornets era, I smell a David Stern-led conspiracy theory. 

Lakers and Spurs Are Top-Five Defensive Teams

According to some of the NBA's finest, both the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs are two of the league's top-five defensive teams.

Needless to say, I have a problem with this.

Though the Lakers have the potential to become a premiere defensive team, could we at least see how they fair with Dwight Howard before we hand over a top-four crown to a team that allowed 95.9 points per contest last season? 

Los Angeles defended its way to a top-15 finish with Andrew Bynum, but now, with Howard, it suddenly jumps 11 spots. That's a little premature.

But the Spurs are worse. They allowed 96.5 points per contest, putting them in the bottom half of points allowed per game. And after making no substantial offseason acquisitions, San Antonio is also supposed to make an 11-spot jump.

That's a heavy dose of insane. Because while I could have lived with the Lakers prediction, the Spurs sent me over the top. 

And subsequently, you can color me surprised if either of these two teams, especially the Spurs, finish amongst the five most stingiest defenses in the league. 

OKC Thunder Coach Scott Brooks Only Runs Fourth Best Offense

This one is absolutely absurd.

I'm all about handing out credit where credit is due, and George Karl of the Denver Nuggets and Gregg Popovich of the Spurs both deserve credit, perhaps even more than Scott Brooks of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Rick Adelman of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Alvin Gentry of the Phoenix Suns, however, do not.

Adelman coached the Timberwolves to a top-10 offensive finish last year, but Brooks coached the Thunder to a top-three mark. And yet, Adelman received more votes, over 20 percent more, in fact.

And as for Gentry, he too coached the Suns to a top-10 offensive finish, but the blueprints of Mike D'Antoni and Steve Nash are all over that one. Come talk to me in January after Goran Dragic and Kendall Marshall have been running the show.

I understand offensive sets go beyond points per game, but at the same time, shouldn't running the best offense entail running the most effective offense?

Brooks' Thunder averaged 103.1 points per game last season, 5.2 points more than the Timberwolves and 4.7 than Suns.

Plus, how did Minnesota and Phoenix beat out Erik Spoelstra of the Heat? Sure, Spoelstra's system called for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade merely doing whatever they wanted, but it was effective—good for 98.5 points per game—was it not?

Needless to say, I'd like a recount. 

Miami Heat's Home-Court Advantage

The Heat finished tied for second with the Utah Jazz in the voting for which team has the best home-court advantage.

Confused? So am I.

Miami is fresh off a championship campaign and its fans have a right to be ecstatic, but the Heat do not have the second-best home-court advantage in the NBA.

Home-court advantage comes down to the fans, their loyalty and their ability to never jump off the bandwagon. That hardly describes the Heat's fanbase.

Before you accuse me of being an antagonizer, I recognize that there are plenty of loyal Miami fans who have been there through thick and thin—I myself even know some.

But where was a majority of this fanbase prior to the Big Three? Last season, the Heat finished fourth in average attendance in terms of fans per game and fifth in percentage, the latter of which is important because all arenas don't boast the same number of seats.

By comparison, though, during the 2009-2010 campaign, before LeBron James absconded to South Beach, Miami finished 15th in average fans per contest and 16th in percentage.

Teams always experience drops in attendance, though, right?

Sure, but they don't fluctuate like that. The Heat made the playoffs that year, while their rival, the Knicks, went 29-53 and still managed to finish eighth in percentage.

Yes, some of it comes down to market size, yet the Thunder are living proof that ultimately doesn't matter.

And personally, if I'm coming to South Beach, I'm far more worried about facing LeBron and Dwyane Wade than I am about their "home-court advantage." 

Metta World Peace Tougher Than LeBron James

Had this been "Who is the most eccentric or unstable player in the NBA," Metta World Peace's top-two finish would have been right on the nose.

But alas, it wasn't.

Toughness could come down to World Peace's elbow to James Harden's face, but Kobe Bryant came out on top in this category, which proves it doesn't.

This should have to do with durability, mental toughness and the ability to be out on the floor making the grind with your teammates every night.

And that hardly describes World Peace, whose name change serves as a reminder as to how mentally tough he isn't.

Yet if the general managers want to consider him one of the toughest players in the league, that's up to them, we'll have to accept it.

But not if they're deeming him tougher than LeBron James, who outside of Bryant, is easily the most durable, physically and mentally sound athlete in the NBA.

Carmelo Anthony Third Most Viable MVP Candidate

I'm one of Carmelo Anthony's biggest critics, but as a New York native, I also understand he is unjustly held accountable for certain realities all the time.

That said, he is not the third-most likely MVP candidate heading into the 2012-13 season.

Whether or not you believe that 'Melo had a hand in both Mike D'Antoni and Jeremy Lin's exits is irrelevant. The fact is such a theory exists, and it's downright impossible for Anthony to escape that stigma in a matter of months, regardless of how impartial the voters may remain.

This is the same Anthony whose return prompted the Knicks to lose eight of 10 and nearly kill Linsanity. This is the same Anthony who was accused of, and ultimately admitted to, slowing down New York's offense.

Most importantly, though, this is the same Anthony that prompted Howard Beck of The New York Times to write:

"

The Knicks are not a unified team. On one side is Anthony. On the other is everyone else.

"

True or not, justified or not, this means 'Melo's campaign is more about proving he belongs as a teammate, not emerging as the unquestioned fuel that will drive the Knicks championship cause.

Because before he can be deemed an MVP candidate, he must first officially prove, once and for all, that a team dynamic is valuable to him.

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