What does a general manager do??
Being a general manager in the NBA contains one major requirement: be well-rounded. Depending on a team's situation, the general manager is the account, the play personnel , the counselor , the scout, and the negotiator.
Accounting
For most NBA managers, this is their main focus. The general manager must make sure that the team is financially in good shape. In doing so , the balance between spending money now on current players and saving money for future potential players is something that a general manager must constantly be thinking about. Based on the money, the general manager is forced to make contract decisions for both staff and the players.
Sign, Release, & Trade
Everyone wants the best players on their team, and everyone are almost willing to do whatever it takes in order for them to get those players. Example: A team that may be nowhere near a position to content for a championship in the near future may for a strategy to get rid of the higher paid older players and trade them for draft picks. If this is not possible, another strategy is able to simply try to get better each year and build through the NBA Draft. In recent time, teams such as the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors used this strategy to become as successful as they currently are. Then there are cases such as the Boston Celtics in 2007 and what the Miami Heat did in 2010. These teams performed trades that got three great players to join together in order to contend immediately.
Psychology
This category has to be one of the most underrated in sports. It's one thing to get a group of good players together , and it's another to get a group of players that WORK TOGETHER WELL. Earlier this year, the Dallas Mavericks traded for Rajon Rondo. On paper, this is a really good fit for the Mavericks. Rondo brings solid defense and a great ability to make plays for people, and with scorers such as Monte Ellis and Dirk, one would thing that he can take the Mavs to another level. However, this season did not go as planned for the Mavs. Rondo and the Mavs management were bumping heads, in which Rondo was just not happy playing in Dallas. The unhappiness was clear, and his performance on the court was proof of that. This is one example displaying that chemistry is something that GM's must think about before adding/removing a player from a team. How will they fit with the other guys in the locker room? Do they represent what the organization stands for?
As we can see, general managers have to deal with a number of things. Would you be able to handle the pressure?