Article: Why The Spurs Stopped Using Draft and Stash

[cd021]

https://www.spurstalk.com/why-san-antonio-spurs-stopped-using-draft-and-stash/

The Gist: bad luck, complicated negotiations, and a better way of doing things...

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Good article. I agree about Austin providing another option for developing players, but I don't think they represent a significant change in the draft and stash mindset. There is a huge difference in the situations the mentioned players were drafted in and some of them don't even qualify for the draft and stash idea at all - Manu, Scola, Javtokas ( remember him? ) were just wild end of the 2nd round reaches at a time when 2nd round picks who wouldn't make the roster were just waived regularly. Also, there was a time when the Spurs scouting was way ahead of the league when it comes to european and south american players. Not anymore.

Some of the other stashed players were during a time the Spurs needed, or thought they'd need, to save money for other contracts or free agents at a time when they were perennial contenders and obviously late 1st round picks were rarely that important or impactful. Another difference nowadays is that more european players are eager to sign with NBA teams right away, and more importantly they care to negotiate contracts that would allow that, which wasn't nearly as easy in the past - see Tiago. He's also not exactly a draft and stash player - he wanted to come, the Spurs wanted him immediately, but he had issues with his sister's health on top of the contractual situation that prevented him to join immediately.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think they've stopped using the draft and stash idea, they'd choose whoever they think would be the best pick regardless and still would in this upcoming draft.

[Ocotillo]

Thank you for the write up, personally, I am starved for good Spurs content at this time. BG makes a good point and I actually wanted to comment about Javtokas as well but he beat me to it.

[jjktkk]

Nice write up, thanks for posting.

[From Downtown]

Thanks for the write-up, the G-League thing makes lots of sense
Also as mentioned above the international landscape has changed, there's a lot more scouting going on with european teams and more and more guys want to come over as soon as they get drafted, or, if they don't and become very good they'd rather get good money from the top teams in Europe knowing that they'll have a prominent role there
The only draft and stash picks that have worked in the last few years around the league are Jokic and Osman, and Bogdanovic although his rights were traded to the Kings before coming over
In hindsight it's actually interesting that the Manu pick contributed (one may say it was actually crucial) in popularizing international scouting and the draft and stash strategy because his selection and trajectory was quite odd, RC started scouting him when he wasn't even on european teams radar and picked him when not even top teams overseas were looking at him, the Giricek pick actually made a lot more sense

[adonis827]

The spurs were salary capped in a lot of years so they have no choice but to draft and stash some of the guys

[Down Under]

Cheers for the write-up. Could it be that a lot of the best young O/S talent is now in college? Half of Gonzaga's roster seems to be players from overseas.

[KobesAchilles]

The real reason is we don’t have Tim Duncan so we need actual talent

[phxspurfan]

Agree with the above, draft and stash was convenient when the team had a ton of salary locked up with the vets. It was a cheap way to look for talent at the end of the rounds when near lottery picks were not theirs. Now that the team sucks ass they have more choices, picking American players earlier in the draft.

Also their strategy became crowded as all the GMs and FOs started copying their shit and then all the talent would be picked through on the international side, causing Americans like Blair to just land in their laps at late picks. Not to mention the Scola thing that stung real bad.

[From Downtown]

Cheers for the write-up. Could it be that a lot of the best young O/S talent is now in college? Half of Gonzaga's roster seems to be players from overseas.

True that there are more, but I wouldn't say they are the best, I think being a pro overseas still helps you more and that's the general consensus here as well