10 most interesting things in the annual NBA GM survey

Memphis Grizzlies big man Marc Gasol earned the top spot among NBA centers with an up-and-coming DeMarcus Cousins ranking second on the list. Anthony Davis, Tim Duncan and DeAndre Jordan rounded out the top five. It's hard to argue with any of this.

Andrew Wiggins is the player most likely to have a breakout season

Yes, it would appear that NBA general managers might know what they are talking about here. Wiggins received 17.2 percent of the vote here with Giannis Antetokounmpo coming in second at 13.8 percent.

The No. 1 pick of the 2014 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Wiggins was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the deal that sent Kevin Love to the defending Eastern Conference champions. Acting as the face of the Wolves franchise in his first season, Wiggins averaged 16.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting 44 percent from the field.

One of the best young wing players in the game, it's not a surprise to see Wiggins top the list here. He had stardom written all over himself at Kansas and made a rather seamless transition to the NBA game. Coming off a Rookie of the Year performance, it wouldn't be surprising to see Wiggins compete for a spot on the All-Star team in 2015-16.

Dario Šarić is the best international player not in the NBA

Nearly 29 percent of NBA GM's believe that this 6-foot-10 big man is the best international player not currently suiting up in the states.

This Croatian basketball phenom was selected by the Orlando Magic with the 12th pick in the 2014 NBA draft. He was then immediately traded to Philadelphia on draft night. And while Šarić will not play for the Sixers this season, he does figure into the team's future — a future that is about as bright as any in the Association.

Currently under a three-year contract with Turkish professional league team Anadolu Efes, Philadelphia attempted to buy Šarić out of his contract — an attempt that failed because the price was too high.

Serbian Miloš Teodosić came in second in the survey at just under 22 percent. The 28-year-old has played for Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscow for the past four years.

He's so highly regarded in NBA circles that multiple teams have made a play for him over the past several years. However, the combo-guard is said to want in excess of $3 million to make the jump to the states — an indication that he's also pretty darn high on himself.

Marc Gasol is the best international player in the NBA

Gasol received over 62 percent of the vote with his brother coming in second on the list. The interesting thing here is that Dirk Nowitzki received just 10 percent of the vote after topping the list last year.

Marc Gasol may be a darn good basketball player, but he didn't do a whole bunch to elevate the Memphis Grizzlies performance in the playoffs last year. With Mike Conley dealing with an injury in the Western Conference Semifinals, Gasol averaged less than 20 points per game while shooting just 38 percent from the field and playing under 38 minutes per game. Memphis desperately needed Gasol to step his game up, and he pretty much failed at every turn.

It's a good thing a certain scribe wasn't tasked with taking part in this survey. If that were the case, Gasol wouldn't have finished any better than third on this list. While Dirk's game did take a step back last season, he still led an otherwise average Dallas Mavericks team to 50 wins and a playoff spot. Gasol had more help, and wasn't able to do much with it.

Karl-Anthony Towns will be the best player from this rookie class five years from now

Apparently, Minnesota wasn't the only organization that thought Towns was the best college prospect heading into the 2015 NBA draft. A total of 62 percent of the GM's surveyed believe Towns will be the best player from this draft class five years down the road.

A defensive stud, the only issue here is whether Towns will find his way to a strong enough offensive game to be more than a one-dimensional player at the NBA level. Through five preseason games, Towns is averaging 11.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per outing while shooting 50 percent from the field.

Following Towns in the survey was Denver Nuggets guard Emmanuel Mudiay, who has jumped on to the scene during his team's exhibition slate. Mudiay spurned college ball to play overseas in China last year. And thus far, his professional experience is paying off. Replacing Ty Lawson in the Nuggets lineup, Mudiay is averaging 15 points and 5.4 assists per game in the preseason. And while he's still about as raw as it comes, the upside here has to be higher than that of Towns.

Other rookie predictions

While GM's have Towns as the best player from this class a half decade down the road, nearly 45 percent of them picked Jahlil Okafor to earn Rookie of the Year honors. If we are looking at basic stats, Okafor stands the best chance to put up some eye-opening numbers on a bad Philadelphia 76ers team.

Playing less than 19 minutes per game in the preseason, the Duke product has still found a way to average double-digit points. This one seems like a good bet.

When Justise Winslow fell to the Miami Heat with the 10th pick in June's draft, most people were thrown for a loop. He was a darn good wing player for Duke in his only collegiate season and had top-five pick written all over him.

With an ability to defend the outside and step out and hit the three, it seems Winslow is destined to become one of the biggest steals in the draft. GM's agreed with this sentiment. A total of 31 percent of them believe Winslow was the biggest steal of the draft.

LeBron James will win the MVP

Well, duh. It took the Golden State Warriors to finish with one of the best regular season records for another player to beat James out for this award. Even then, there were some that concluded James should have earned his fifth NBA MVP award.

The one thing that has to be taken into account here above everything else is the level of competition in the Eastern Conference compared to the Western Conference. If the Cleveland Cavaliers don't get bogged down by internal conflict and injuries this year, there's no reason to believe they can't win 65-plus games. If that's the case, and with James acting as the unquestioned leader of the team, there's little doubt he will win the award.

James finished with 35 percent of the vote in the survey. He was followed by Anthony Davis at 25 percent and Kevin Durant at just under 11 percent. Reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry finished with just over seven percent of the vote.

There are a couple things to look at here. First off, it's unrealistic to expect the Warriors to finish with 67 wins in an ultra-competitive Western Conference. Considering they are still the odds-on favorites out west, that also means the likes of Kevin Durant and James Harden likely won't be able to challenge James for the award.

The one wild card here is Davis. He has a head coach in Alvin Gentry that plans on using him to the best of his ability by creating an offensive system that fits his skill set the best. That's something we didn't see last year — a year that saw Davis averaged 24.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and a NBA-high 2.9 blocks per game. If Davis is able to lead the New Orleans Pelicans to a top-four seed or contend for the Southwest Division title with a less-than-stellar supporting cast, he will receive a ton of votes.

Stephen Curry is the best point guard in the NBA

We are currently viewing the golden age of point guard play around the Association. That's the only reason why this is even remotely up for debate. What Curry did last season for the Warriors was beyond ridiculous.

Outside of averaging nearly 24 points, 7.7 assists and 2.0 steals, Curry shot nearly 50 percent from the field while taking 48 percent of his shots from beyond the three-point line. He shattered the postseason record for most three's made in a single year and finished as one of the top defensive guards in the NBA.

So, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that 55.2 percent of GM's voted Curry as the top point guard in the NBA. Chris Paul finished second while Russell Westbrook rounded out the top three.

In reality, that's the only issue we should have here. Westbrook is much closer to Curry's level than Paul is. And it's not that close. What the former UCLA standout did with his team mired in an injury-plagued campaign was nothing short of amazing last season. Oklahoma City might have missed out on the playoff by one game, but Westbrook's near-nightly triple-double kept that team above water for the duration.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will win the NBA Finals

Nearly 54 percent of those surveyed indicated that Cleveland will win the title. San Antonio came in second at 25 percent with the Warriors coming in third. None of this should really be much of a surprise.

The addition of LaMarcus Aldridge by San Antonio really does change the dynamic here. That move was not only made with the future in mind, it was made with the understanding that Aldridge might very well put San Antonio over the top in the Western Conference. It finally has the consistent scorer to go with the Big 3 that have dominated the Alamo for the better part of the past two decades. It also puts the defending champion Warriors on notice.

Back east, Cleveland has to be considered the odds-on favorites. Sure the Chicago Bulls might have the talent to compete with Kings James and Co., but they simply can't rely on Derrick Rose to be there when it counts the most. Without him, they are far behind Cleveland in terms of all-around talent.

In terms of the overall survey, 96.6 percent of NBA GM's conclude that Cleveland is the best team in the East. Chicago came in second at 3.4 percent with no other team receiving a single vote. That tells us what we need to know about how insiders feel here.

The West is a bit more convoluted. Some will point to the Warriors' run of good luck in the postseason, where they faced multiple teams dealing with injuries. But this doesn't explain Golden State finishing with the sixth-best winning percentage in regular season history. And after losing just David Lee from that squad, there's no reason to believe Steve Kerr and Co. are going to take a step back.

If San Antonio and Golden State are the top-two teams in the conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder have to be a close third. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka lost a combined 88 games to injury last year. Amazingly, the Thunder were still able to finish with 45 wins in a ridiculously difficult conference.

The draft lottery system is the rule in most desperate need of change

Maybe NBA Commissioner Adam Silver should listen to general managers after the guy he replaced, David Stern, ignored multiple calls to fix the NBA draft lottery system. A total of 24 percent of those surveyed believe the lottery system needs to be changed.

Coming in second in the survey was the way the Association treats its developmental league. GM's believe that the draft should be extended to more than two rounds, eventually leading to players in the developmental league beings assigned to NBA teams. This is also something that has been discussed around the professional basketball world for some time now.

Check out Vincent's other work on eDraft.com and follow him on Twitter @VincentFrankNFL.