What really cost this team

[IcemanCometh]

Ownership. Cheap ownership that was unwilling to pay just a little extra to get the depth we needed. Everyone said we needed an atheltic 3, we even had him in training camp we just didn't sign him because of our cheap ownership. So Tim Tony and Manu had to play 50 mins a game.

I hope those extra bucks were worth it.

[austinfan]

Nothing like a close loss to open up the wallet. If the Mavs win it all, I suspect that might open it up a little more.

[CosmicCowboy]

Nothing like a close loss to open up the wallet. If the Mavs win it all, I suspect that might open it up a little more.

After this season Cuban will open his wallet up a lot more. They have to resign Jason Terry this summer and I suspect price will be no object...

[ducks]

8 million over the luxcury tax but spurs are cheap

just ask ice and sparky

[ducks]

After this season Cuban will open his wallet up a lot more. They have to resign Jason Terry this summer and I suspect price will be no object...


he can either sign terry long term
or outbid for sam cassel against the clippers

[timvp]

Malik Rose or even Devin Brown would have been nice versus the Mavs, but those are different threads.

I don't know why the Spurs didn't fill their long three need but it probably didn't help that the Spurs were handcuffed into carrying only 13 players most of the year.

[Kori Ellis]

Everyone said we needed an atheltic 3, we even had him in training camp we just didn't sign him because of our cheap ownership.

Graham?

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

There is some truth to that. The Spurs are so confined, salary-wise, that every signing has to have an impact in order to succeed. We can't afford to have two or three "dead-weight" salaries sitting on the bench and eating capspace like some teams always seem to have.

But in some ways that's made the Spurs better, too. I think personnel decisions are definitely pondered a lot more than they are with some other teams, and that may have prevented some of the mistakes that teams like the Blazers and Knicks have made over the years.

I'd rather have a tight budget with smart decision-makers than a fat wallet ownership that wastes money on big-name losers. Of course, smart management and a large budget would be kind of nice too. :)

[Kori Ellis]

Well expect them to get tighter. Remember they are trying to avoid paying luxury tax.

[strangeweather]

There is some truth to that. The Spurs are so confined, salary-wise, that every signing has to have an impact in order to succeed. We can't afford to have two or three "dead-weight" salaries sitting on the bench and eating capspace like some teams always seem to have.

But in some ways that's made the Spurs better, too. I think personnel decisions are definitely pondered a lot more than they are with some other teams, and that may have prevented some of the mistakes that teams like the Blazers and Knicks have made over the years.

I'd rather have a tight budget with smart decision-makers than a fat wallet ownership that wastes money on big-name losers. Of course, smart management and a large budget would be kind of nice too. :)

I totally agree with this post. :tu

[blaze89]

There is some truth to that. The Spurs are so confined, salary-wise, that every signing has to have an impact in order to succeed. We can't afford to have two or three "dead-weight" salaries sitting on the bench and eating capspace like some teams always seem to have.

But in some ways that's made the Spurs better, too. I think personnel decisions are definitely pondered a lot more than they are with some other teams, and that may have prevented some of the mistakes that teams like the Blazers and Knicks have made over the years.

I'd rather have a tight budget with smart decision-makers than a fat wallet ownership that wastes money on big-name losers. Of course, smart management and a large budget would be kind of nice too. :)

The Spurs have always been reluctant to spend but there you are correct in smart decision makers than a fat wallat. It's not just in basketball but in every sport, MLB (with maybe the exceptions of the Yankees), NFL - money doesn't actually guarantee championships.

[JamStone]

"What really cost this team"


Rummpd's proclamation that the Spurs won the 2006 NBA title after a regular season win over the Utah Jazz that clinched homecourt advantage in the Western Conference.

Sorry, I couldn't resist ...

[SenorSpur]

I'm gonna keep referring to back to my previous rants on the Spurs making the "costly" and "boneheaded" mistake of not drafting Josh Howard back in 2003.

With the departure of Stephen Jackson that same summer, Howard would have been the perfect swing man for this team. The fact that they tabbed him as simply a "slasher" proves that they didn't do their homework on this guy.

The Spurs are the league's best at scouting international players. Along with having their heads up the ass of every foreign player, I'd like to see them do the same homework on "qualified", NBA-ready players in college ranks.

Imagine now how the balance of the Spurs/Mavs series would have swung had the Spurs had him on the roster instead of say a Brent Barry. Drafting Howard could have put to rest this long-standing discussion of "who is going to be the successor to Bruce Bowen?"

There's no way they should have missed out on this one. I'll never get over the Spurs making this mistake.

[timvp]

I'm gonna keep referring to back to my previous rants on the Spurs making the "costly" and "boneheaded" mistake of not drafting Josh Howard back in 2003.

With the departure of Stephen Jackson that same summer, Howard would have been the perfect swing man for this team. The fact that they tabbed him as simply a "slasher" proves that they didn't do their homework on this guy.

The Spurs are the league's best at scouting international players. Along with having their heads up the ass of every foreign player, I'd like to see them do the same homework on "qualified", NBA-ready players in college ranks.

Imagine now how the balance of the Spurs/Mavs series would have swung had the Spurs had him on the roster instead of say a Brent Barry. Drafting Howard could have put to rest this long-standing discussion of "who is going to be the successor to Bruce Bowen?"

There's no way the should have missed out on this one. I'll never get over the Spurs making this mistake.

Yeah I wonder how the other teams sleep at night knowing they missed out on Parker and Ginobili.

:rolleyes

[strangeweather]

With the departure of Stephen Jackson that same summer, Howard would have been the perfect swing man for this team. The fact that they tabbed him as simply a "slasher" proves that they didn't do their homework on this guy.

Or that he raised his ceiling by working unbelievably hard. It's really hard to tell which guys are going to do that.


The Spurs are the league's best at scouting international players. Along with having their heads up the ass of every foreign player, I'd like to see them do the same homework on "qualified", NBA-ready players in college ranks.

Every team does that. It's really hard to get a competitive advantage over other organizations with college scouting, because there are so many teams that know how to scout college players as well as possible.

Not that long ago, there were very few teams doing solid scouting of foreign players, even if they were basically NBA ready. Now, the NBA-ready guys go in the lottery, and even mediocre scouting organizations know about them. But there are still plenty of teams that don't have the skills to seek out foreign players that aren't ready for prime time yet, which is why we can still find guys like Ian in reasonable draft slots.

Having the same level of advantage with college players is virtually impossible.

[conneaut615]

Yeah I wonder how the other teams sleep at night knowing they missed out on Parker and Ginobili.

:rolleyes
Agree with timvp. IMO, during the Peter Holt, R.C. Buford, Sam Presti and Pop era, the Spurs have become the model franchise for scouting and finding great talent, thereby helping them avoid the disasters created when teams try to buy a contender by throwing too much money at "problem children."

[McKenzie]

Ya know, the 7th game was so much like the days of the 90's when the Trailblazers were always stopping us from moving ahead. We'd play them and spend the entire game trying to get someone under the bucket. Same damn thing the other night! We were on the outer boundries and THEY were under the basket....on either end of the court! It sure would have been nice to nail 20 or so 3 pointers from those outer positions. Why don't we have someone to hit 3?

I'm sorry to offend, but Tim has GOT to improve on free throws.

[Sway]

The Spurs are the league's best at scouting international players. Along with having their heads up the ass of every foreign player, I'd like to see them do the same homework on "qualified", NBA-ready players in college ranks.

It does seem like the Spurs have fallen in love with "foreign" prospects at the expense of collegiate players. This is alarming because the secret on foreign players is out. In the past the Spurs were the only team playing the foreign game, now every team in the NBA is in on the action. The chances of getting a foreign steal is now probably the same as getting a college steal. The over emphasis on foreign players will no longer pay off.

[ducks]

the reason they like players from overseas
they are more mature
they can be playing over their getting better also

[conneaut615]

the reason they like players from overseas
they are more mature
they can be playing over their getting better also

The difference between collegiate and foreign players is the overseas guys learned and mastered the basics at an early age. Sure, they added thunderous dunks and behind the back passes to their game, but the basics, the really important components, were already in place.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Actually the problem is when we went after Jason Kidd and had to sacrifice a pick that would have netted us Josh Howard.

Tell me how good Kidd is looking these days and how many of you wish he was in a Spurs uniform right now.

That personnel decision has and will continue to haunt this franchise.

[ducks]

you can thank duncan for that

[clambake]

Maybe all the surgery in Howards youth had something to do with their decision.

[SenorSpur]

Every team does that. It's really hard to get a competitive advantage over other organizations with college scouting, because there are so many teams that know how to scout college players as well as possible.

Not that long ago, there were very few teams doing solid scouting of foreign players, even if they were basically NBA ready. Now, the NBA-ready guys go in the lottery, and even mediocre scouting organizations know about them. But there are still plenty of teams that don't have the skills to seek out foreign players that aren't ready for prime time yet, which is why we can still find guys like Ian in reasonable draft slots.

Having the same level of advantage with college players is virtually impossible.

Maybe so, but that shouldn't and doesn't give the Spurs a free pass on making this error in judgement.

[strangeweather]

Maybe so, but that shouldn't and doesn't give the Spurs a free pass on making this error in judgement.

There are tons of errors in judgement in the draft. It's a fact of life that the draft is a crapshoot.

If someone hadn't screwed up, we would have drafted Nocioni. For that matter, if the front office had a time machine, do you think they would go back and draft Beno again?

[Despot]

Wow...50 minutes a game...wow...

Being cheap in a small market is not just a matter of being tight, it's a matter of survival. The last thing we need is for a couple more malik rose or Rasho contracts fucking up the rest of the Duncan era. Pop and RC have said it before, they don't any credit for our success, they just stay out of the way and hope not to fuck up.

[Slinkyman]

only 8 teams spend more money then the spurs and of those 4 didn't make the playoffs and 3 of them lost in the first round. How come spending more money didn't help them?

And what's with this "why didn't we draft josh howard" stuff? You act like we're the trailblazers passing on Jordan, get over it. Howard's only 6'6-6'7 not exactly the long SF the spurs are looking for, if anything the spurs could have drafted a guy they liked in James Jones who went in the second round that year.