One of them was actually a business manager. Four also double as coaches.

There are 10 who essentially run their organization like little emperors and, out of that 10, one tosses out largesse like the legendary Sun God of France. Ten more function in a reasonably straightforward line of command that actually fits the basic job description.

Yes, they're all known loosely as general managers. The titles run from president to coach to director of basketball, and they are as descriptive as words like airplane, automobile and food -- meaningless without a little definition.

FOUR OF A KIND

Now that we know NBA general managers aren't the same, let's take a look at who does the best job in their respective grouping. Team president/GM: Geoff Petrie's draft, free agent signings and trades are flawless. Donnie Walsh took a bad franchise and made it respectable. And we know West is brilliant, but let's see him overcome Michael Heisley and his titled GM, the fumbling Dick Versace. Rod Thorn turned around the Nets and Joe Dumars his made some nice moves for owner Bill Davidson. At the other end: Kevin McHale put his team in NBA jail for Joe Smith. No forgiveness there. And Bob Whitsitt has shown the evils of an unlimited budget and a bad taste in players. Bottom Line GM: Elgin Baylor has assembled some wonderful, young talent on the Clippers and got Sterling to pull the trigger for Andre Miller. Bob Bass has kept the Hornets in the playoffs through his owner's refusal to keep such talents as Alonzo Mourning and Eddie Jones. Pete Babcock appears to have resurrected the Hawks. However, Bryan Colangelo is very lucky to be working for his daddy. Coach/GM: It's hard to argue with Don Nelson, who hitched his wagon to Mark Cuban's pocket book and dragged the Mavs out of the basement. And nice work by Gregg Popovich, whose future is tied to Tim Duncan. Pat Riley has repairs to make, both to his team and his reputation. Rudy Tomjanovich has a Chinaman's chance of turning things around in Houston. Right-Hand Man GM: Billy King has kept Larry Brown from imploding. Enough said?

Oh, and in Washington, it's the backup shooting guard who has all the front-office clout, while the guy with the big title walks around checking out the arena carrying a walkie-talkie.

"The job means a lot of different things to different people these days," said Pete Babcock, executive vice president and general manager of the Atlanta Hawks. "Basically, no matter what they call you, your job is to improve the team or keep it on top. If you don't get that part done, they're going to call you a lot of things you don't like."

The Team President/GM
At the head of the groups are the would-be kings of the profession. They have the authority to sign and trade with impunity, maybe with some strong regard for payroll and perhaps with none at all if an owner (such as Portland's Paul Allen) wants to win badly enough.

This list includes Geoff Petrie of Sacramento, Jerry West (The Logo who's now in Memphis running the Grizzlies), Wally Walker of Seattle, Bob Whitsitt of Portland, Jim Paxson of the struggling Cavaliers, Donnie Walsh of Indiana, Rod Thorn of New Jersey, Kevin McHale of Minnesota, Joe Dumars of Detroit and Jerry Krause of Chicago.

The Bottom Line GM
Another 10 general managers are more closely accountable to their bosses. They aren't going very deep into luxury cap territory if ownership can help it and they're still expected to put a winning team -- at least -- on the court. The overriding problem is that the vast majority of them can't do it consistently, and the excesses of their predecessors often figure in the difficulty.

Who are we talking about? Babcock for one. Then there's Bob Bass of the Hornets, John Gabriel of the Magic, the Suns' Bryan Colangelo (who works for his father), the Knicks' Scott Layden (who works for cable TV money), Garry St. Jean of the Warriors and Kiki Vandeweghe of the Nuggets.

There's also Toronto's Glen Grunwald, who fooled people until he started making trades, the amazing Elgin Baylor, who might have been hugely successful over his career with the Clippers if he worked for someone other than Donald (Mr. Cheap) Sterling, and Mitch Kupchak, who has knit together another good supporting cast for the three-time defending champion Lakers and will be keeping Jerry Buss' pay number at a required, low tax level.

The Coach/GM
They are coaches who run the show, but obviously, they learned nothing from Rick Pitino's astonishing incompetence in Boston or John Calipari's foolishness in New Jersey. These guys want total power, and half of them are in Texas where big egos reside.

Don Nelson of Dallas, Rudy Tomjanovich of Houston and Gregg Popovich of San Antonio grandly make the final call on deals and signings. Then there's Pat Riley kind of power in Miami. Utah's Jerry Sloan shares his with vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor.

The Right-Hand Man GM
When the coach wants to call the shots but needs a little distance between him and the deed, he calls in a qualified guy.

That's why Ernie Grunfeld works for George Karl in Milwaukee and why Billy King tries to keep Larry Brown unruffled. It might be tempting to put a guy like Mitch Kupchak in this group but there are hints from fellow GMs that he has more steel than that, with a stronger voice and a good eye for talent.

The Player/GM
There's only one. And of course, he goes by MJ. Unique as ever, Michael Jordan is obviously at the head of his own class.

Wes Unseld has the title of general manager with the Wizards, but he doesn't have the power of one. And it's a good thing Unseld doesn't. Remember Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond? The Jerry Stackhouse deal bears Jordan's stamp.

For all of the general managers, the clock starts ticking next month.

Jeffrey Denberg, who covers the NBA for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.