duncan228
06-24-2009, 08:31 PM
Spurs' makeover continues with draft (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_makeover_continues_with_draft.html)
Jeff McDonald
The Spurs' trade for Richard Jefferson came together quickly Tuesday, but it did not happen overnight.
It was the result of months of wheeling and dealing, huffing and haggling, gentle prodding and hard-line negotiation.
And when it was over, and the Spurs front office had consummated the team's most significant trade in two decades, general manager R.C. Buford stood before the news media and made a pronouncement.
This, he said, was only the beginning.
“This is just a piece of our plan going forward,” Buford said. “I think there are some opportunities in the draft and free agency. We're going to continue to look at a lot of different areas to bolster our lineup.”
The trade with Milwaukee, which shipped out a trio of popular players in Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas, was the opening salvo in an offseason project meant to recast the Spurs as championship caliber and capitalize on the remaining years of the Tim Duncan era.
Buford called the arrival of the 29-year-old Jefferson “a transition to a new era.”
The next step in that transition comes with tonight's NBA draft, where the Spurs – now over the luxury tax threshold – will look to mine cheap labor to fill out the bottom rungs of the roster.
The Spurs do not expect to find as dramatic an upgrade in the draft as they just found in the trade market.
With no first-round picks at their immediate disposal, but with three in the second round, the Spurs are under no illusions that they will find an immediate impact player. For Buford, coach Gregg Popovich and the rest of the Spurs' brain trust, the goal is simply to find players who will still be in the program by Nov. 1, even if it means toiling in the Developmental League or marinating overseas.
Last year's draft produced a rotation player – George Hill – at No. 26. If the Spurs were to find something comparable in this year's crop, they would consider it a success.
The Spurs' draft board is likely to remain in flux for most of the evening.
“The only team that has their plan set for the draft is the Clippers,” Buford said. “Everybody else is going to react to what happens before them.”
Los Angeles' non-championship winning team is set on taking Oklahoma's Blake Griffin with the No. 1 pick. After that, the draft is a crapshoot.
Or, in Buford's mind, a game of roulette.
“You try to cover as many bets as possible, and hope you hit something,” Buford said.
There is no guarantee the Spurs will stand pat in the second round.
Following the Spurs' first-round playoff ouster against Dallas, Buford entered the offseason with a clear mandate from team CEO Peter Holt: Be aggressive in reshaping the team, no matter the cost.
The Spurs' willingness to take on Jefferson's salary -- $29.2 million over the next two seasons – was a primary example of that. That deal came about through a combination of shrewd cap management, and an economic marketplace that produced more sellers than buyers.
Buford can envision a similar dynamic unfolding in this year's draft.
“Just as the financial environment has created opportunities through this trade, I think there are going to be similar opportunities in this draft,” he said. “Maybe they happen, maybe they don't.”
Even in what most draft analysts deem to be a shallow draft, the Spurs have not ruled out trading into the first round if it helps secure a player they have been targeting.
Omri Casspi would appear to be one such prospect. The 21-year-old Casspi, a 6-foot-8 forward from Israel, has been on the Spurs' radar since he was a teenager.
He is projected to go in the bottom of the first round, meaning the Spurs would have to make a move to get him.
Other international prospects the Spurs are believed to be considering include Australian guard Joe Ingles, French point guard Rodrique Beaubois and Spanish point guard Serio Llull.
Among the three dozen or so prospects the Spurs either worked out or interviewed in preparation for the draft are Arizona guard Chase Budinger, North Carolina forwards Wayne Ellington and Danny Green, Central Florida guard Jermaine Taylor, Missouri forward Leo Lyons, Memphis forward Robert Dozier, North Carolina State guard Courtney Fells, Temple guard Dionte Christmas, Miami point guard Jack McClinton, Gonzaga guard Jeremy Pargo and Marquette guard Jerel McNeal.
Any one of them could be the next step in the Spurs' transition.
Pick swapping
The Spurs don't have a first-round pick in tonight's draft, but they do have three second-rounders — none of whom were originally their own. Here is a look at the trades that produced their unique draft positioning.
Picks added
No. 37: From Phoenix in 2008 draft-day deal that sent Goran Dragic to Suns and Malik Hairston to Spurs.
No. 51: From Toronto, in 2007 Rasho Nesterovic-for-Matt Bonner swap.
No. 53: From Houston, in 2007 trade that sent Luis Scola to Rockets.
Picks subtracted
No. 25: To Seattle/Oklahoma City, in deal that brought Kurt Thomas to Spurs in February 2008.
No. 54: To Charlotte, in 2007 trade for Melvin Ely.
Source: Express-News research
Jeff McDonald
The Spurs' trade for Richard Jefferson came together quickly Tuesday, but it did not happen overnight.
It was the result of months of wheeling and dealing, huffing and haggling, gentle prodding and hard-line negotiation.
And when it was over, and the Spurs front office had consummated the team's most significant trade in two decades, general manager R.C. Buford stood before the news media and made a pronouncement.
This, he said, was only the beginning.
“This is just a piece of our plan going forward,” Buford said. “I think there are some opportunities in the draft and free agency. We're going to continue to look at a lot of different areas to bolster our lineup.”
The trade with Milwaukee, which shipped out a trio of popular players in Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas, was the opening salvo in an offseason project meant to recast the Spurs as championship caliber and capitalize on the remaining years of the Tim Duncan era.
Buford called the arrival of the 29-year-old Jefferson “a transition to a new era.”
The next step in that transition comes with tonight's NBA draft, where the Spurs – now over the luxury tax threshold – will look to mine cheap labor to fill out the bottom rungs of the roster.
The Spurs do not expect to find as dramatic an upgrade in the draft as they just found in the trade market.
With no first-round picks at their immediate disposal, but with three in the second round, the Spurs are under no illusions that they will find an immediate impact player. For Buford, coach Gregg Popovich and the rest of the Spurs' brain trust, the goal is simply to find players who will still be in the program by Nov. 1, even if it means toiling in the Developmental League or marinating overseas.
Last year's draft produced a rotation player – George Hill – at No. 26. If the Spurs were to find something comparable in this year's crop, they would consider it a success.
The Spurs' draft board is likely to remain in flux for most of the evening.
“The only team that has their plan set for the draft is the Clippers,” Buford said. “Everybody else is going to react to what happens before them.”
Los Angeles' non-championship winning team is set on taking Oklahoma's Blake Griffin with the No. 1 pick. After that, the draft is a crapshoot.
Or, in Buford's mind, a game of roulette.
“You try to cover as many bets as possible, and hope you hit something,” Buford said.
There is no guarantee the Spurs will stand pat in the second round.
Following the Spurs' first-round playoff ouster against Dallas, Buford entered the offseason with a clear mandate from team CEO Peter Holt: Be aggressive in reshaping the team, no matter the cost.
The Spurs' willingness to take on Jefferson's salary -- $29.2 million over the next two seasons – was a primary example of that. That deal came about through a combination of shrewd cap management, and an economic marketplace that produced more sellers than buyers.
Buford can envision a similar dynamic unfolding in this year's draft.
“Just as the financial environment has created opportunities through this trade, I think there are going to be similar opportunities in this draft,” he said. “Maybe they happen, maybe they don't.”
Even in what most draft analysts deem to be a shallow draft, the Spurs have not ruled out trading into the first round if it helps secure a player they have been targeting.
Omri Casspi would appear to be one such prospect. The 21-year-old Casspi, a 6-foot-8 forward from Israel, has been on the Spurs' radar since he was a teenager.
He is projected to go in the bottom of the first round, meaning the Spurs would have to make a move to get him.
Other international prospects the Spurs are believed to be considering include Australian guard Joe Ingles, French point guard Rodrique Beaubois and Spanish point guard Serio Llull.
Among the three dozen or so prospects the Spurs either worked out or interviewed in preparation for the draft are Arizona guard Chase Budinger, North Carolina forwards Wayne Ellington and Danny Green, Central Florida guard Jermaine Taylor, Missouri forward Leo Lyons, Memphis forward Robert Dozier, North Carolina State guard Courtney Fells, Temple guard Dionte Christmas, Miami point guard Jack McClinton, Gonzaga guard Jeremy Pargo and Marquette guard Jerel McNeal.
Any one of them could be the next step in the Spurs' transition.
Pick swapping
The Spurs don't have a first-round pick in tonight's draft, but they do have three second-rounders — none of whom were originally their own. Here is a look at the trades that produced their unique draft positioning.
Picks added
No. 37: From Phoenix in 2008 draft-day deal that sent Goran Dragic to Suns and Malik Hairston to Spurs.
No. 51: From Toronto, in 2007 Rasho Nesterovic-for-Matt Bonner swap.
No. 53: From Houston, in 2007 trade that sent Luis Scola to Rockets.
Picks subtracted
No. 25: To Seattle/Oklahoma City, in deal that brought Kurt Thomas to Spurs in February 2008.
No. 54: To Charlotte, in 2007 trade for Melvin Ely.
Source: Express-News research