Bob Whitsitt
Bob Whitsitt is a former sports executive in both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Football League (NFL). He has served as the general manager (or in an equivalent role) for three teams: the Seattle SuperSonics and Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA, and the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL. Whitsitt, commonly known as "Trader Bob" for his penchant for making blockbuster deals, has met with mixed success in both leagues. Seattle SuperSonics He likes to bill himself as the architect of the 1995-1996 Sonics team that went to the NBA Finals (and lost to the Chicago Bulls); several years before that Whitsitt shocked many observers by drafting Shawn Kemp, a promising player who had never played a game of college ball. At the end of the 1993–94 NBA season, he was awarded the NBA Executive of the Year Award after the SuperSonics went from 55 to 27 (and third in the Western Conference) the previous season to a 63–19 record and the number 1 seed in the Western Conference. However, after a falling-out with then Sonics owner Barry Ackerley, Whitsitt resigned his position with the Sonics in 1994 and took an equivalent job with the Portland Trail