Spurs Brazil
10-04-2007, 04:20 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA100407.1C.Buck.Harvey.en.1372810f8.html
Buck Harvey: Spurs' sign of success? Can't see it
Web Posted: 10/03/2007 11:25 PM CDT
Buck Harvey
San Antonio Express-News
See a sports owner in public. See trouble.
See James Dolan, the Knicks chairman, losing a lurid, sad lawsuit. See Robert Kraft, the Patriots owner, on television defending his cheating coach. And see Mark Cuban, exposing both his biceps and his enormous need for attention, dancing.
See the pattern — if these guys are in view, little good is coming out of it.
All of which is yet another signal of the Spurs' success. For the past dozen years their majority owner has been less visible than Manu Ginobili's new braces with Manu Ginobili's mouth closed.2
Peter Holt was at it again Wednesday. Then they said he showed up at the Spurs' practice facility for the first time this season, but the media didn't see him.
Just like Holt.
There, but not in view.
Jerry Jones takes the opposite approach, using everything but neon to announce his presence, and he's been doing all right lately. Cuban isn't exactly a drag on Dallas, either.
His billions allow the Mavericks to do some things the Spurs can't do, and Holt admires both Cuban's ideas and ballroom moxie. “More power to him,” Holt said Wednesday of Cuban's prime-time dances.
Holt also knows that isn't him. “I wouldn't dare get out there.”
That's Holt. He's involved but on his terms, and he was last summer. Then, after the parade, he met with his front office. Holt knew there was a salary-cap hit coming, and he wanted to minimize it. The Spurs did by dumping Jackie Butler's contract, and along with that Luis Scola was sent to Houston.
A guess: If Cuban owned the Spurs, they would never have made that trade.
The Spurs aren't cheap. They will have about the 10th highest payroll this season. Furthermore, Holt says the Spurs will pay more luxury tax this season than they ever have, and they will “probably” lose money even if they go to the Finals.
That might seem astonishing. The best-run organization in the NBA could win a fifth title yet be in the red?
It's more complicated than that. The worth of the Spurs has quadrupled — if not more — since Holt bought in. He and his investors will cash in eventually.
Still, hidden profit fits with the hidden owner. Everything has gone right for him, meaning he hasn't had to be out front often. Whereas Clay Bennett has become infamous in Seattle while threatening relocation to Oklahoma City, Holt worked quietly for an arena that is nearly paid for.
Holt did become more visible during the Finals when he said the AT&T Center would need to be upgraded. He asked then that some of the county's tourism tax, which originally funded construction of the arena, be used for the improvements.
There will be justifiable arguments against, because the tax could either be stopped or used to fund something else. But, right or wrong, this will be the county's decision, and Nelson Wolff supports upgrading the AT&T Center and will be the leader on this.
Holt will be in the background. Again.
Holt had no experience owning a sports team 12 years ago. Neither did Dolan when his father, head of corporate parent Cablevision, handed him the Knicks post in 2001.
Since then the Knicks haven't had a winning season. This season, again, the Knicks will also have the league's highest payroll.
The worst came this month, however, when the Knicks were ordered to pay $11.6 million to a female former team executive because of sexual harassment. Dolan had allowed this culture to exist. And, after being deposed in the case and having his face spread across the tabloids, Dolan now has to come up with $3 million of the money himself.
Holt has been the contrast in the standings, in financial sanity and in public view. And that's the way it is with owners. Their lack of visibility is often in direct proportion to the lack of controversy surrounding their teams.
Given this, Holt will take his front-row corner seat this season as only the owners of the best teams do.
There, but not in view.
[email protected]
Buck Harvey: Spurs' sign of success? Can't see it
Web Posted: 10/03/2007 11:25 PM CDT
Buck Harvey
San Antonio Express-News
See a sports owner in public. See trouble.
See James Dolan, the Knicks chairman, losing a lurid, sad lawsuit. See Robert Kraft, the Patriots owner, on television defending his cheating coach. And see Mark Cuban, exposing both his biceps and his enormous need for attention, dancing.
See the pattern — if these guys are in view, little good is coming out of it.
All of which is yet another signal of the Spurs' success. For the past dozen years their majority owner has been less visible than Manu Ginobili's new braces with Manu Ginobili's mouth closed.2
Peter Holt was at it again Wednesday. Then they said he showed up at the Spurs' practice facility for the first time this season, but the media didn't see him.
Just like Holt.
There, but not in view.
Jerry Jones takes the opposite approach, using everything but neon to announce his presence, and he's been doing all right lately. Cuban isn't exactly a drag on Dallas, either.
His billions allow the Mavericks to do some things the Spurs can't do, and Holt admires both Cuban's ideas and ballroom moxie. “More power to him,” Holt said Wednesday of Cuban's prime-time dances.
Holt also knows that isn't him. “I wouldn't dare get out there.”
That's Holt. He's involved but on his terms, and he was last summer. Then, after the parade, he met with his front office. Holt knew there was a salary-cap hit coming, and he wanted to minimize it. The Spurs did by dumping Jackie Butler's contract, and along with that Luis Scola was sent to Houston.
A guess: If Cuban owned the Spurs, they would never have made that trade.
The Spurs aren't cheap. They will have about the 10th highest payroll this season. Furthermore, Holt says the Spurs will pay more luxury tax this season than they ever have, and they will “probably” lose money even if they go to the Finals.
That might seem astonishing. The best-run organization in the NBA could win a fifth title yet be in the red?
It's more complicated than that. The worth of the Spurs has quadrupled — if not more — since Holt bought in. He and his investors will cash in eventually.
Still, hidden profit fits with the hidden owner. Everything has gone right for him, meaning he hasn't had to be out front often. Whereas Clay Bennett has become infamous in Seattle while threatening relocation to Oklahoma City, Holt worked quietly for an arena that is nearly paid for.
Holt did become more visible during the Finals when he said the AT&T Center would need to be upgraded. He asked then that some of the county's tourism tax, which originally funded construction of the arena, be used for the improvements.
There will be justifiable arguments against, because the tax could either be stopped or used to fund something else. But, right or wrong, this will be the county's decision, and Nelson Wolff supports upgrading the AT&T Center and will be the leader on this.
Holt will be in the background. Again.
Holt had no experience owning a sports team 12 years ago. Neither did Dolan when his father, head of corporate parent Cablevision, handed him the Knicks post in 2001.
Since then the Knicks haven't had a winning season. This season, again, the Knicks will also have the league's highest payroll.
The worst came this month, however, when the Knicks were ordered to pay $11.6 million to a female former team executive because of sexual harassment. Dolan had allowed this culture to exist. And, after being deposed in the case and having his face spread across the tabloids, Dolan now has to come up with $3 million of the money himself.
Holt has been the contrast in the standings, in financial sanity and in public view. And that's the way it is with owners. Their lack of visibility is often in direct proportion to the lack of controversy surrounding their teams.
Given this, Holt will take his front-row corner seat this season as only the owners of the best teams do.
There, but not in view.
[email protected]