duncan228
11-05-2009, 02:07 AM
Fair ball: Spurs and Jazz on the same side (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Fair_ball_Spurs_and_Jazz_on_the_same_side.html)
Buck Harvey
This isn't baseball, and the Lakers don't have a pinstriped edge.
They have spent more this season than any NBA team, but the difference isn't substantial. The Yankees, meanwhile, are proudly triumphant today with a payroll that is more than double that of the league average.
Still, even the best NBA small-market teams are suffering. Owners are bleeding money, with a lockout looming in 2011, and those with the biggest gripe will meet tonight.
The Spurs and Jazz — similar coaches, systems, cities and books.
The Spurs got a lot of publicity this past summer by becoming a luxury-tax payer. Peter Holt tossed in his chips for the final years of Tim Duncan's career, and thus far, the franchise sees some return.
While ticket renewals fell about 10 percent, new season-ticket purchases doubled over the previous season. If the Spurs win games and the economy remains somewhat stable, the front office thinks gate revenue will be adequate.
With sponsorship goals also being met, the Spurs will reach the economic cliff right on schedule. Their losses will be measured in double-digit millions.
But more than 20 other NBA teams also will lose money this year, and the Spurs are merely in the middle of the pack of the 13 other luxury-tax payers. They are currently eighth in payroll.
Spending more, yet with a worse chance of winning a title, is the team Gregg Popovich once copied. He loved the Utah organizational approach, and little has changed.
The Spurs likely will see that tonight. Jerry Sloan will challenge his players, as well as their manhood. He will ask them how they allowed Dirk Nowitzki to score 29 points in a fourth quarter, and he will use bad words, because this is what he does after rough losses.
That's also how the Jazz rebuilt after the Stockton-Malone era faded. Just two years ago, Sloan was back in the Western Conference finals against the Spurs.
But Utah was losing money that season, too, as were others. Then the late Larry Miller joined seven other owners in a letter sent to David Stern urging for fundamental changes in how the NBA operates.
“If appropriately managed teams can't break even, let alone make a profit,” the letter read then, “we have an economic system that requires correction.”
Utah has been an appropriately managed team. The Jazz overspent in one notable case, on Andrei Kirilenko. Otherwise, Utah was smart, especially when finding second-round talent such as Paul Millsap.
He's DeJuan Blair with healthier knees and a longer track record. Millsap will bang the Spurs tonight, but he really banged the Jazz payroll last summer. Then, Portland front-loaded an offer sheet, with $10 million scheduled for this season.
Utah was stuck. Millsap was worth the contract, especially with Carlos Boozer looking for a trade. So the Miller family did what Holt did, joining the arms race that began when Memphis gave Pau Gasol to the Lakers.
Given that, Utah has the fifth-highest payroll in the league. Given that, the Jazz will likely lose $15 million or more this season for doing nothing more than trying to keep up.
Holt was not part of the group that sent the letter to Stern. But he feels the same pinch. His front office has been efficient, too, yet will lose a massive amount of money in this broken economic model.
So the Jazz might win tonight, with Sloan pushing his players as he always has. And the Spurs might win next spring.
But these small-market brothers underline why it won't be long before the games stop altogether and another lockout follows. Because they don't want this to become baseball.
Buck Harvey
This isn't baseball, and the Lakers don't have a pinstriped edge.
They have spent more this season than any NBA team, but the difference isn't substantial. The Yankees, meanwhile, are proudly triumphant today with a payroll that is more than double that of the league average.
Still, even the best NBA small-market teams are suffering. Owners are bleeding money, with a lockout looming in 2011, and those with the biggest gripe will meet tonight.
The Spurs and Jazz — similar coaches, systems, cities and books.
The Spurs got a lot of publicity this past summer by becoming a luxury-tax payer. Peter Holt tossed in his chips for the final years of Tim Duncan's career, and thus far, the franchise sees some return.
While ticket renewals fell about 10 percent, new season-ticket purchases doubled over the previous season. If the Spurs win games and the economy remains somewhat stable, the front office thinks gate revenue will be adequate.
With sponsorship goals also being met, the Spurs will reach the economic cliff right on schedule. Their losses will be measured in double-digit millions.
But more than 20 other NBA teams also will lose money this year, and the Spurs are merely in the middle of the pack of the 13 other luxury-tax payers. They are currently eighth in payroll.
Spending more, yet with a worse chance of winning a title, is the team Gregg Popovich once copied. He loved the Utah organizational approach, and little has changed.
The Spurs likely will see that tonight. Jerry Sloan will challenge his players, as well as their manhood. He will ask them how they allowed Dirk Nowitzki to score 29 points in a fourth quarter, and he will use bad words, because this is what he does after rough losses.
That's also how the Jazz rebuilt after the Stockton-Malone era faded. Just two years ago, Sloan was back in the Western Conference finals against the Spurs.
But Utah was losing money that season, too, as were others. Then the late Larry Miller joined seven other owners in a letter sent to David Stern urging for fundamental changes in how the NBA operates.
“If appropriately managed teams can't break even, let alone make a profit,” the letter read then, “we have an economic system that requires correction.”
Utah has been an appropriately managed team. The Jazz overspent in one notable case, on Andrei Kirilenko. Otherwise, Utah was smart, especially when finding second-round talent such as Paul Millsap.
He's DeJuan Blair with healthier knees and a longer track record. Millsap will bang the Spurs tonight, but he really banged the Jazz payroll last summer. Then, Portland front-loaded an offer sheet, with $10 million scheduled for this season.
Utah was stuck. Millsap was worth the contract, especially with Carlos Boozer looking for a trade. So the Miller family did what Holt did, joining the arms race that began when Memphis gave Pau Gasol to the Lakers.
Given that, Utah has the fifth-highest payroll in the league. Given that, the Jazz will likely lose $15 million or more this season for doing nothing more than trying to keep up.
Holt was not part of the group that sent the letter to Stern. But he feels the same pinch. His front office has been efficient, too, yet will lose a massive amount of money in this broken economic model.
So the Jazz might win tonight, with Sloan pushing his players as he always has. And the Spurs might win next spring.
But these small-market brothers underline why it won't be long before the games stop altogether and another lockout follows. Because they don't want this to become baseball.