Alex Anthopoulos

It's unbelievable the job that they've done there.

So, look, I mean, that's what you should be doing, right?

Tough decisions.

As long as you feel good about you're doing the right thing for the organization and not for a player.

I'd say, you know, sitting in a GM chair, you always struggle with the human element, meaning the human being.

You like a guy, you feel like you owe a guy something.

And I'm sure a manager, a coach goes through the same thing.

But if you could separate that and realize, look, there's going to be times you're going to be a bad cop.

You're going to be a bad guy.

And especially in GM chairs, right?

Like they're probably not all staying with you the entire time.

They're all now getting their contract extensions.

Guys are going to be pissed.

Guys are going to be upset.

And as long as you're honest.

They may not like what you have to say, but as long as you're honest and you're straight, I think you can put your head on the pillow at night.

And as long as you're making the right call, and I've had plenty of times where guys get upset and so on, but I don't think any player in my career would tell me that I lied to them, which I think is the most important thing.

Yeah, I'd say, look, you will have injuries every single year.

And maybe when you're a young GM and you're scuffling and people try to make excuses for you and say, well, you have a lot of guys on the IL and you have all this.

And you might buy into that stuff as a young GM.