Colts GM Bill Polian: "I might learn something"

Really interesting tidbit slipped into Bill Simmons' latest mailbag:

"Near the end of the afternoon, I was talking to Polian, someone whom I was hoping would be an a-hole (since he runs my least favorite football team and all) but couldn't have been a nicer and smarter guy. He's one of those people you spend 20 minutes with and end up saying afterward, "It totally makes sense to me why that guy was and is so successful."

So we were saying our goodbyes and I asked why he was skipping the last group of panels. He answered that he was doing some scouting with his friend Brian Burke, the GM of the Maple Leafs. Burke had a player he liked. Polian was tagging along.

I was confused. We were less than 36 hours into the NFL's craziest free-agent signing period ever. We were just six weeks away from the NFL draft. Why would Polian want to spend a Saturday night at a high school hockey tournament in Massachusetts?

"Because I respect Brian and the way he thinks," he said. "I might learn something."

6 months ago Down Goes Brown 25 comments 0 recs |

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That’s one of the best compliments for Burke I’ve ever seen.

by The '67 Sound on Mar 12, 2010 2:14 PM EST reply actions

According to Burke

Polian is the reason Burke allowed all his UFAs to walk. Burke learned from Polian that letting unrestricteds go in a cap world isnt neccesarily like losing an asset but gaining money. Pokahonsky can send him a thank you letter

by Johnny Bower's Pokecheck on Mar 12, 2010 2:44 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

Interesting cross-sport collaboration of ideas on how to be a GM.

I wonder if GMs from other well-managed teams of other sports are worthy of emulation?

Leafs Nation: A drinking team with a hockey problem.

by nhlcheapshot on Mar 12, 2010 2:49 PM EST up reply actions

The Krafts and Belichick from the Patriots.

I've always wanted to be a PPP Princess. You see kids, you can be anything you want to be; so long as Jay Leno doesn't also want to be that.

by SkinnyFish on Mar 12, 2010 2:57 PM EST up reply actions

Billy Beane, Theo Epstein.

(Alex Anthopoulos. Yeah, I said it. PLAYOFFS!!1)

Supporter of the Sergei Berezin "Give and Go" - You give me puck, then you go to hell

by bkblades on Mar 12, 2010 3:46 PM EST up reply actions

Mike McCarthy, GM of the Pack, pretty damned good. GM of the Chargers also well-respected in NFL circles for the most part. Smith something, can’t remember his first name. Certainly Bill Polian with the Colts too. Polian took so much heat for blowing that game against the Jets to ruin a possible undefeated season, and focus on winning the Bowl. Coach Jim Caldwell of the Colts got scorched for that call too. And then they didn’t win it, but kudos to the Saints on a glorious victory in Miami for all the marbles.

Great to see that Burke is respected amongst those in other sports. And nice to see he respects other viewpoints from people like The Genius – Bill Belichick as Chemmy notes re Pronger.

by Pyramid Power on Mar 12, 2010 6:28 PM EST up reply actions

No mention of the Spurs GM? that guy is a rip off artist pure genius. What about Pat Gillick? Alex Ferguson?

by Chuck Diesel on Mar 13, 2010 6:31 PM EST up reply actions

Gillick and Slur Alex do not work under salary caps.

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by PPP on Mar 14, 2010 1:52 AM EST up reply actions

cool!

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by kessticle on Mar 12, 2010 2:57 PM EST up reply actions

Sooooo glad Burke learned this. In a cap world you’re only really an asset if you’re outperforming your contract. Jason Blake was our leading scorer last year but we hated him because he wasn’t worth $4MM.

by The '67 Sound on Mar 12, 2010 3:09 PM EST up reply actions

Brian Burke asked someone a lot better at football than Polian advice on if he should bring in Pronger in Anaheim: Bill Belichick.

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by Chemmy on Mar 12, 2010 4:37 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah.

It’s really nice. It’s also not the only time that Burke has studied how the NFL works – he did the same trying to figure out how things would work in a league with a salary cap.

by JP Nikota on Mar 12, 2010 2:52 PM EST up reply actions

I remember hearing Ray Shero called up the Steelers when he became GM to get some tips about salary cap operations

by Hansmoleman on Mar 13, 2010 1:03 PM EST up reply actions

Great little tidbit. An interesting thing that Polian does is overpay his impending UFA’s, and rarely signs other teams UFA’s He’d rather overpay someone he knows for sure is good, and works well in the system, rather than risk it on someone else from another team. Has Burke shown a history of re-signing his players to expensive deals like this?

by rpop on Mar 12, 2010 3:05 PM EST up reply actions

The more and more I read about Burke, the more I like him and I’m starting to re-affirm my faith in Leafs management.

Proud supporter of Leafs/Flames trades since 1991.

by Sergei Puckizin on Mar 12, 2010 3:15 PM EST reply actions

Ive been a HUGE Burke fan since he turned around that mickey mouse organization in Vancouver.

by Johnny Bower's Pokecheck on Mar 12, 2010 3:55 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

Glad you feel that way. There are many many Canucks fans who would heartily disagree with you. Despite practically jumping off the Lion’s Gate Bridge in ’Couver to get the Sedins signed a lot of people there vilify Burke for many reasons. Chief among them seems to be his love affair with Dan Cloutier. Was worried but am now much less worried that that love affair with an average goalie at best (who was also very injury prone) will carry over to Jonas G. But happily it would appear Burkie has learned his lesson from that awful episode by trading Toskalol and Shake ’n Blake for Giggy and not blindly playing Gustavsson every game.

by Pyramid Power on Mar 12, 2010 6:38 PM EST up reply actions

I wouldn’t exactly call Jonas injury prone…

I can’t really fault the guy for the heart surgeries…. Now if he had a wonky groin all year long then maybe, but he missed a few games at the start of the year during pre-season and start of season… but other then that has been ok.

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on Mar 13, 2010 10:37 AM EST up reply actions

My bad. Did not mean to imply that Jonas is injury prone when I noted Cloutier’s injury woes. Also did not mean to imply that Burke makes all the calls as to who starts in nets, but who am I kidding? Of course he does! Just jesting.

by Pyramid Power on Mar 13, 2010 5:52 PM EST up reply actions

You were still really competitive with him. Cloutier did blow though I’ll give you that.

by Chuck Diesel on Mar 13, 2010 6:33 PM EST up reply actions

Bill Polian is god. Or the devil… not sure.

by Celebtirin on Mar 12, 2010 8:33 PM EST reply actions

Well, I am pretty sure Indiana fans thought he was Lucifer there for awhile after having input on blowing a possible perfect season against the Jets. AND then not winning the Bowl. But he’s a solid GM for sure. Eagles and Steelers GM’s solid too.

by Pyramid Power on Mar 13, 2010 5:54 PM EST up reply actions

This is something I know the Wings do. I read about Babcock following Belichick and post-lockout, I recall Ken Holland talked about meeting with NBA and NFL GMs to get a handle on different cap strategies.

Bitter Leaf Fan: because sometimes there's no option but to be bitter...

by mf37 on Mar 12, 2010 10:14 PM EST reply actions

That’s when you know you’re respected as a GM, when respected execs from other sports want to learn from you.

leaf fan stuck in ottawa, a localized black hole that will suck everything in that area to oblivion.

by stucky on Mar 13, 2010 6:13 PM EST reply actions

this makes sense because there are a lot of universals in sport. Attitude, conditioning, intelligence, egos, determination, salary caps, fan pressures, middling owners etc. There’s lots to talk about there.

by Chuck Diesel on Mar 13, 2010 6:35 PM EST reply actions