Props to the Spurs front office

[Dex]

In a season that started out with zero player movement and one seemingly lackluster acquisition (signing T.J. Ford), many Spurs fans were wondering if the front office forgot to pay their phone bills, or simply didn't care. Rumors of the team looking to acquire questionable characters such as Josh Howard or Caron Butler, while ignoring key needs like another big, only added fuel to the fire.

Then, the front office went out and did something that is nearly foreign to the Spurs organization, and hasn't been done since 2005 with the acquisition of Mohammad: they threw some dice and improved both the team's present and the team's future midseason.

First and foremost, they traded the shell of Richard Jefferson (and his gaudy contract) for a quality scorer, defender, and fan-favorite in Stephen Jackson. Even two games in, Jack has already become one of my favorite players to root for on the team...every time he makes a play gets me pumped up.

Then, they filled the hole left by T.J.'s unfortunate retirement by bringing in Patty Mills, a speedy point guard with good potential.

And finally, they managed to find a stop-gap on the front-line in Boris Diaw. While Diaw appears to be in a funk at this point in his career, I am sincerely interested to see what good playing for a winning team, and with one of his best friends and national teammates, can do for him and for the team. If the Spurs had picked up Diaw a few years ago, fans would've been ecstatic, and even now his good playing days are not that far removed. Now it's up to how motivated Diaw can be, and it's amazing what winning can do for motivation.

It's too early to say if all of these pieces will truly fit into the puzzle, but it's pretty hard to deny that they at least increase the Spurs chances, and it's comforting to see all the effort that many of us questioned since December finally starting to yield some results.

:toast to the front office. Now let's get this team in shape and get it ready for the postseason!

[Mel_13]

That Hill for Leonard trade has worked out pretty well so far.

[baseline bum]

I remember the last thread like this was congratulating the front office for flipping the corpse of Kurt Thomas, Bowen, and Oberto for Dick. :stirpot:

[said7]

They say you are a culmination of the 5 people that you hang out with the most. Hopefully Diaw being around a group of guys that just "get it" will rub off on him and make him want to contribute at a high level. Same to be said for Jackson.

[timvp]

The Spurs have made moves that could turn them into legit contenders depending on how the pieces end up fitting together. Prior to the RJ trade, I didn't think they were legit. Three moves later and I can almost start believing again.

Props, FO :tu

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Major major props to the FO, especially when you consider how rough things appeared to be after a bad summer heading into this season.

Even for the drafting of Kawhi alone deserves them some kudos, add offloading RJ and grabbing Diaw and even Mills earns them high praise.

Even if their D still blows, and they may not get past the 2nd round, the team suddenly looks a lot better.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Major major props to the FO, especially when you consider how rough things appeared to be after a bad summer heading into this season.

Even for the drafting of Kawhi alone deserves them some kudos, add offloading RJ and grabbing Diaw and even Mills earns them high praise.

Even if their D still blows, and they may not get past the 2nd round, the team suddenly looks a lot better.

[ginobilized]

Phenomenal moves by RC and co.

[timtonymanu]

:tu

They actually were a pretty damn good team before the moves were made. I'm excited as hell.

[urunobili]

Thanks for making me a believer again!

TD deserves another shot at it!

[Old School 44]

Yep...kudos to the front office!
I know we're missing some depth up front, but from 1-13 is this the deepest Spurs team ever?

Duncan
TP
Manu
Leonard
Jack
Splitter
Neal
Green
Diaw
Anderson
Mills
Bonner
Blair

[timvp]

Thinking back on it, the patience of the FO was impressive when it came to signing the fifth bigman. They could have panicked along the way and just signed a warm body. But instead, they waited around until a potentially solid player at a cheap price became available.

[Spurs9]

Pretty freaking impressive the run the Spurs have had over the last 10 years, always right there near the end. I'm feeling damn good this season.

[Bruno]

Thinking back on it, the patience of the FO was impressive when it came to signing the fifth bigman. They could have panicked along the way and just signed a warm body. But instead, they waited around until a potentially solid player at a cheap price became available.

You had to wonder since when Spurs knew they had a great shot a getting Diaw. I suspect they knew it before the trade deadline and that's why they haven't been linked with trade rumors about a bigman.

[boutons_deux]

Too bad the FO can't do something about the season-crippling injuries.

[cheguevara]

Props to Spurs office. At the end of this season Spursfans cannot say they didn't try. Sitll, most will, but that's because most Spursfans are dumb fucks

[SenorSpur]

That Hill for Leonard trade has worked out pretty well so far.

Now that was a key acquisition.

[slick'81]

indeed guys like -leonard,green,neal,jax,diaw,tiago and mills are all looking like good adds/pickups right now.Rc and ferry putting in work

[loveforthegame]

They certainly surprised me with the moves. It might not always be splashy but they get things done.

Will it be enough to win it all this year? Time will tell but we're certainly more versatile than last year.

Go Spurs!!

[Sean Cagney]

The Spurs have made moves that could turn them into legit contenders depending on how the pieces end up fitting together. Prior to the RJ trade, I didn't think they were legit. Three moves later and I can almost start believing again.

Props, FO :tu

I am starting to, the beginning of the year after last year I HAD LITTLE HOPE this team could get past a round one again.

[sehui]

george hill's soul continues to live in Kwahi's body.

[spurs10]

Great thread OP! Props to the FO! I think we will see, like Jack, a very motivated Diop.

[lefty]

Thank you RC :cry

I love your hair :cry

[Solid D]

Spurs get backups at all 3 slots, PG, Wing and Post, around the trade deadline. 2 of the 3 offer defensive flexibility they did not previously have. One of their better trade deadline years.

Remember when Boris Diaw played some lead guard?

[Libri]

Thank you RC :cry

I love your hair :cry

Good things happen when RC is sober.

[angelbelow]

No doubt that our FO is the best in the league. I guess we spurs fans don't say it enough but they've been top notch since 2001. Few would complain about moves made from 2001-2007 as there were many memorable ones (drafting Parker, signing Ginobili, Horry, Barry, Bowen etc, etc)

I think it was around 2008 where most of the criticism started to happen. That was also around the same time our team was labelled old and washed up. But lets take a look at some of the key FO moves that were overlooked/ignored because they didn't work out:
-Kurt Thomas for Brent Barry. I was ecstatic about this trade because we needed a rebounder/interior defender and Kurt was above average in both. Additionally he had an effective 15 jumper. Barry (like most assumed at the time) came back to SA after being waived by the Sonics. It didn't work out because Thomas had some injury issues (continued to plague him for the rest of time with the spurs) and we didn't have enough offensive firepower to overcome the Lakers.
- 2008/2009 season - I was pretty critical about this season. The front office made no significant moves other than draft George Hill. We got killed by injures though and Pop benched Bowen for Finley.
-2009/2010 - Spurs acquire Allstar Richard Jefferson. At the time, this move as considered as a positive one, and for good reason. Besides Kobe Bryant, RJ was the only player to average 20 ppg+ and play 82 games for the past 2 seasons. Pop also coached RJ during the 04 Olympics. Spurs also bring on fan favorite Antonio Mcydess.
-2010/2011 - Spurs sign Tiago Splitter.

IMO the majority of the moves made by the FO from 2007-2011 were positive ones but are often overlooked or criticized because they didn't pan out. But you can't say the FO didn't try (besides 08/09).

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Boris for back up PG?, nah, that would require Pop to be proactive in his lineups. And we all know Pop is reactive when it comes to matching up

[MaNu4Tres]

that hill for leonard, danny green, rights to best big in europe trade has worked out pretty well so far.

fify

[Mel_13]

fify

Green was on the roster before the trade.

[Solid D]

Boris for back up PG?, nah, that would require Pop to be proactive in his lineups. And we all know Pop is reactive when it comes to matching up

Ha, I asked remember when...? I wasn't suggesting Boris play PG now.

[MaNu4Tres]

Green was on the roster before the trade.

His minutes weren't-- which is my point.

Trading Hill opened up minutes for Danny. So essentially Spurs traded Hill for Leonard, Green, rights to Lorbek/Bertins.

[Mel_13]

His minutes weren't-- which is my point.

Trading Hill opened up minutes for Danny. So essentially Spurs traded Hill for Leonard, Green, rights to Lorbek/Bertins.

Good trade.

[TD 21]

Thinking back on it, the patience of the FO was impressive when it came to signing the fifth bigman. They could have panicked along the way and just signed a warm body. But instead, they waited around until a potentially solid player at a cheap price became available.

Please. They got lucky that the four bigs stayed almost entirely healthy, just like they did last season with Jefferson staying healthy and somewhat covering up their lack of an NBA caliber backup three for the majority of the season. One long term injury (which they deserved for their ignorance) to the injury prone Splitter, or any of the other three, and they'd be fighting for a playoff spot right now.

Given the situation they put and found themselves in, the moves were all good moves. In fact, I don't think they could have done better in any of the three cases.

[Dex]

We staaaaaaaaaaaaaacked!

[Giuseppe]

Once you crossed the line signing Neal after he raped signing two quitters like Jackson & Diaw ain't hard.

I betcha they don't quit on you though, huh?

[vander]

Role players don't win championships


our big 3 are still TP, TD, and Manu, same as before, but older

[Solid D]

Role players don't win championships


our big 3 are still TP, TD, and Manu, same as before, but older

You've got to have both stars and good role players to win a championship. Have you forgotten the history of the NBA?

For every Bill Russell and John Havlicek, there is a KC Jones and Gerald Henderson. For every Magic and Kareem, there is a Rambis and Coop. For every Jordan, Parker and Duncan, there is a Steve Kerr, Mario Elie and Bruce Bowen.

[Solid D]

and then there is the standard bearer role player with 7 rings named Robert Horry.

[analyzed]

To think at the end of last season we we're looking at SF line-up of RJ and Anderson, and where desperate for a 3 even considering signing Josh Howard. To have a matured Kawhi and Jackson is a hell of an upgrade. When you think about it when we loss to Memphis in the playoffs , we had 5 players bascially absent who are here today. (Manu with 2 arms) , Tiago (non existant last year).
Green (out of nowhere!), Kawhi (boy is he better than adverstised) and Jackson (I din't realize how good he is) . That's a whole 5 of quality ballers who can compete in the playoffs . Seriously I din't see this coming, I really thought we we're done as playofff contenders. This is a surprise