Why isn’t San Antonio a popular FA destination? What can the city do to change that?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daslicer

In the last 29 years they have only been a few superstars that have left their teams through FA.

1. Shaq in '96 leaving the Magic to go to LA.
2. Lebron going to Miami
3. Durant going to Golden State

Over 90 percent of organizations still build their teams the old fashion way which is through the draft and trades.

---

The thing is the NBA is shifting to be more player driven, and as a fan of a small-market team that doesn't benefit us at all. Players aren't as loyal to non-desirable cities like they used to. Cornerstone players that have bailed on the teams that drafted them, off the top of my head:

Vince
Bosh
Tmac (twice)
PG13 (Indiana)
CP3 (NO)
KD
Nephew
Anthony Davis
LeGOAT
Cousins
Irving
Hayward
Butler (Minny)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BD24

Putting the stadium downtown would be a great first step. Especially with the downtown revitalization/growth going on the last couple years.

San Antonio is a great city for regular folks. If your a fucking multi millionaire though there is better places to live

---

T

Been to SA tens of times for games. Always ended up in Austin though. No nightlife, no nothing, even restaurants are sad, frankly. Great for tranquil life, grill in the backyard with neighbors and all that stuff. Hard to attract punkish early twenties black basketball players with a dozen girlfriends and a superlarge ''family''

It is a second tier city and will never be sexy. That doesn't necessarily mean we won't get a great free agent some day. It would just require someone who doesn't care about that kind of stuff.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by monty4329

T

Been to SA tens of times for games. Always ended up in Austin though. No nightlife, no nothing, even restaurants are sad, frankly. Great for tranquil life, grill in the backyard with neighbors and all that stuff. Hard to attract punkish early twenties black basketball players with a dozen girlfriends and a superlarge ''family''

---

There is definitely nightlife and great restaurants. Is that night life on par with Austin? No of course not, but then again not many cities have nightlife on par with Austin. The Pearl Southtown, and various other spots downtown have good bars. The north side has a couple nice spots as well. The issue is that we don’t have specific streets like 6th street or Rainey that are the dedicated bar streets

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BD24

There is definitely nightlife and great restaurants. Is that night life on par with Austin? No of course not, but then again not many cities have nightlife on par with Austin. The Pearl Southtown, and various other spots downtown have good bars. The north side has a couple nice spots as well. The issue is that we don’t have specific streets like 6th street or Rainey that are the dedicated bar streets

---

what about st Mary’s street?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HWoodNixon

what about st Mary’s street?

---

Ehh. It’s pretty weak when compared to something like sixth or Rainey tbh

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by monty4329

T

Been to SA tens of times for games. Always ended up in Austin though. No nightlife, no nothing, even restaurants are sad, frankly. Great for tranquil life, grill in the backyard with neighbors and all that stuff. Hard to attract punkish early twenties black basketball players with a dozen girlfriends and a superlarge ''family''

---

What kind of food do you eat? S.A. has great restaurants and lots of them. Tex-Mex, BBQ, burgers, seafood, etc...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hoops Czar

I've been to San Antonio on three separate occasions for games and each time, I commuted from Dallas. What does SA have that Houston and Dallas doesn't?

---

Fiesta

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Geo210SpursSanAnto.

This... Most of you commenting are neither in s.a. nor have visited... Only read and hear what you see on spurstalk or the media.... Sure s.a. is what one would call "cool" city.... But everyone has their own opinions... San antonio is moving in the right directions with the lower broadway pearl area, when complete will make a large inpact into moving folks back into the urbancore.... S.a. is the 7th most populous city in America, and aproaching the 6th spot over philly.... To say we cant attract top f.a. is absurd... It comes down to money at the end.... Amd if ownership wants to open up their pocket books....

---

SA is top 10 in population only because it's relatively geographically huge and gobbles up every suburb it can. Better to look at metro area populations, where SA/New Braunfels is about the 24th largest.

So many stupid posts.

It's simple. Its because you have to leave your ego at the door and fall in line. Pop has established a military like environment, which the entire league admires and respects but would never want to be apart of it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jjktkk

What kind of food do you eat? S.A. has great restaurants and lots of them. Tex-Mex, BBQ, burgers, seafood, etc...

---

Good food is not 'great restaurant'. Any place with a famed, starred chef, where you can eat last trendy dish and spot celebrities and all that stuff? Not really. And that's where pro athletes go with their people and girls before moving to a fashionable club. None of that in SA.

I am not looking down to SA, I wouldn't mind living there one day, when older. But very few rich young and famous would want, frankly.

I guess it is one of the reason PATFO wants 'good' people. Usually they tend to be on the quieter side.

San Antonio has limited black entertainment. I struggled to promote Grover Washington Jr. years ago in San Antonio, when he was considered top 10 jazz musician of all time.

Luna is a great place to grab a drink and listen to Jazz in SA..

All the stuff popping up around N St Marys is great too. Tons of awesome little spots to drink and eat and hang out.

Its Pop.

I'm sure most player value pop as a coach but no 1st tier superstar would want to do everything and not get l the credit

David, Timmy. I mean they’re not really recruting talent. Then we had the mute. Maybe if DJ pans out, he can start recruiting. Akron was not any better place to live, but they had LeBron who’s consorting with everybody. Sorry to say, but Timmy was this geek kid in the corner nobody really knew and play with. Maybe any of White, DJ and Lonnie gets really good, and Spurs get really good, and people would like to play with them. But they have to go out there in ASG, Olympics. I’m sure Pop can help also.

:lmao at people mention st mary's... yeah, millionaires are just dying to get drinks from dive bars :lol

done with this thread / trashing sa though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rusty

A lot of NBA players don’t want to play for Gregg Popovich because of his attitude

---

Yeah players today don't want to be told to play defense..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gambit1990

biggest FAs to sign in the last 20 years:
-LA
-michael finley past his prime
-brent barry past his prime

and that's during sa's golden age...

---

SA did keep a top 50 player all time, and a top 10 player all time their entire careers. And Tony, Manu both could have bailed for more money, and a bigger market. I think players today want to win. Yeah LA is nice, and so is NY, but when the teams fucking suck.. Not so fun.. That said Spurs have always been great at building from the Draft and putting pieces around the top picks. We will keep doing that.. Got 2 first round picks this year..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FkLA

The thing is the NBA is shifting to be more player driven, and as a fan of a small-market team that doesn't benefit us at all. Players aren't as loyal to non-desirable cities like they used to. Cornerstone players that have bailed on the teams that drafted them, off the top of my head:

Vince
Bosh
Tmac (twice)
PG13 (Indiana)
CP3 (NO)
KD
Nephew
Anthony Davis
LeGOAT
Cousins
Irving
Hayward
Butler (Minny)

---

I brought up Shaq,Lebron,Durant because those guys were either the best player in the league when they left their teams or at least top 3. Majority of those guys you mentioned did not leave their teams through FA. That was my point that teams rarely get a legit superstar through FA. You are right though star players in small markets are more likely to leave. #2 wanting to leave despite having a shot at winning another title with the spurs was a humbling experience for me because I always believed if you built a contender that you could keep your superstar. The biggest pain for Spur fans is that they had to wait for a long period of time for #2 to become a superstar. In my eyes he didn't become a legit Superstar until '16-'17. We never got to enjoy the experience of having him as a Superstar for a full playoff run. Spurs should have had him for at least 2 more years and if he still left that would have been fine. To me it's a disgrace when you sign a guy you can't even get him to play through his whole entire contract. That's why guys like #2 and AD are disgraces. NO needs to force AD to play next year just to set a precedent.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dverde

Regarding free agency...Spurs are the nice Walgreens Assistant Manager the players marry after they were treated like shit by flashier former boyfriends and their kids need a reliable father figure. Their best years are behind them as they get fatter knowing the Spurs will not call them out on their looks getting gradually worse.

---

Just wayy spot on

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NameLess Scrub

Just wayy spot on

---

I think Pop and the Spurs organization promote that kind of “culture,” and the city goes along for the ride unfortunately. I’ve heard so many people back home in SA take pride in how “boring” the city is. “We like it that way.”

IMHO, the city is too military...hence too conservative. When you arrive at SAT, the first thing you hear on the PA system is “Welcome to Military City, USA.” I don’t intend to disrespect our armed forces, but that title isn’t exactly all that fun or welcoming.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HWoodNixon

IMHO, the city is too military...hence too conservative. When you arrive at SAT, the first thing you hear on the PA system is “Welcome to Military City, USA.” I don’t intend to disrespect our armed forces, but that title isn’t exactly all that fun or welcoming.

---

It has gone from Military City to Mexico City over the last five years. I still love SA and miss living there. I don’t think the city is a big negative. It is near Austin where there are more things and festivals to do. There is also no state income tax. The city used to be a negative back in the day. In today’s NBA the location isn’t a huge dealbreaker.