Josh Robbins: The Spurs offer a blueprint for the Orlando Magic to follow

[biba]

NBA Insider: The Spurs offer a blueprint for the Orlando Magic to follow

Josh Robbins NBA Insider March 18, 2010

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sport...4439037.column


In pro sports, the trick isn't getting to the top.

The bigger achievement is remaining at the top.

Players leave via free agency. Coaches come and go. Successful seasons result in worse draft position.

No NBA team has navigated those hurdles more skillfully over the last decade than the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs have captured four league les since 1999. They have won 53 games a season for 10 consecutive seasons. They have retained their top free agents even though the players burnished their résumés with postseason successes.

The franchise has done all this even though it operates in one of the NBA's smallest metropolitan areas. Greater San Antonio houses just over 2 million residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 population estimates.

"San Antonio is a blueprint for not just small-market teams," said Orlando Magic General Manager Otis Smith. "They should be the blueprint for any team. They've had success for decades. That's hard to do in professional sports, and it's definitely hard to do for a smaller-market team."

Small-market teams typically have smaller revenue streams than their big-city compe ors and usually have less money to spend on payroll.

Only seven NBA franchises — the Utah Jazz, New Orleans Hornets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers — operate in smaller population centers than San Antonio.

The similarities between Orlando and San Antonio run deep.

Greater Orlando has a population of only about 23,000 more people than Greater San Antonio.

In 1987, the Spurs used the number-one overall draft pick to select center David Robinson. Ten years later, the Spurs had the top pick once again and chose power forward Tim Duncan.

The Magic wisely used the top pick in the 2004 draft to select Dwight Howard over Emeka Okafor.

"A lot of things have to go well for you," said Gregg Popovich, the Spurs' coach since Dec. 1996. "We've made some good decisions. We've made some mistakes along the way. But, mostly, we've been very fortunate. So, I think it's tough to have the same blueprint that San Antonio has, because we followed David Robinson with Tim Duncan.

"Anyone would like to start their franchise that way, because if you really, truly start to count the franchise players, you barely get to your second hand. If you really think about what players in the league can carry their team to a championship, there are very, very few. There's a lot of max [salary] players, but we all know that's baloney. There are very few franchise players. We had two decades' worth with Timmy following David. So, with that base, what we did was not screw it up."

Both the Spurs and the Magic have been helped over the years by the NBA's soft salary cap, which helps level the playing field between small- and large-market clubs.

This season, however, both the Spurs and the Magic will pay a dollar-for-dollar penalty for spending above the league's luxury-tax threshold of $69.92 million.

Smith has praised Magic Owner Rich DeVos for DeVos' willingness to spend. Still, all NBA teams, especially the ones in small markets, have to be careful with how they allocate their payroll.

The Magic obtained point guard Jameer Nelson in a 2004 draft-day trade and paid a high price in free agency for power forward Rashard Lewis. But having Nelson and Lewis around Howard gives the team stability.

The Spurs offer a blueprint. They used a second-round pick in 1999 to select shooting guard Manu Ginobili and the 28th overall pick in 2001 to obtain point guard Tony Parker. Ginobili and Parker remain with the team.

"They were able to draft well, and they were able to put the proper pieces around Tim," Smith said. "And if you can do that, then that's half the battle."

[NFGIII]

SA has been so fortunate to hve been able to get both DRob and TD via the lottery. What are the odds of doing that? I would think pretty low. So the blueprint that Pop seemed to have beem talking about is getting lucky in the draft and then not screwing it up. You can't duplicate that type of blueprint consistently.

Orlando's problem is Howard - is he going to be able to develop his offensive game more? Can he actually start making a 15 foot jump shot and a hook shot consistently? Until he steps up I think that team is just going to be a tease to the Orlando fans. And Howard's time for developing thoses things is running out. Even though he is still "young" he has been in thie league for 5 years now and usually after that period of time most don't get "to the next level". Hopefully I'm wrong since I like Howard and if he ever got there he would be unbelievable. Not that he isn't a fantastic player now but he could be more IMHO. He is just an incredible physical specimen that I think he should be able to do more.

But if Howard doesn't get there then I would think the Magic need another low post player to get it done. Howard then becomes DRob and focuses on the deffensive end and they get a TD clone (not like that is going to happen or that there is a TD clone out there) or something similar. I just believe that the Magic are one piece away from winning it all. That piece is either Howard getting to the next level or another scoring big.

[panic giraffe]

NBA Insider: The Spurs offer a blueprint for the Orlando Magic to follow

Only seven NBA franchises — the Utah Jazz, New Orleans Hornets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers — operate in smaller population centers than San Antonio.

this doesn't seem right at all

[weebo]

The Magic are one legit pf away from being major contenders for years to come. And it also wouldn't hurt if they had a better coach.

[TimmehC]

this doesn't seem right at all

Probably because it says the Hornets play in two different cities.

[G-Dawgg]

The Magic are one legit pf away from being major contenders for years to come. And it also wouldn't hurt if they had a better coach.

We should give them Bogans to play PF and throw-in Popovich for future considerations then.