F the Lux Tax Monster

[Marcus Bryant]

Are the Spurs really going to limit themselves due to the fear of the Lux Tax? Unreal. What's worse is how many Spurs fans are willing to accept this.

[td4mvp3]

Are the Spurs really going to limit themselves due to the fear of the Lux Tax? Unreal. What's worse is how many Spurs fans are willing to accept this.

"accept" makes it sound like fans have any sort of choice. buy the ticket or not, no one in the spurs is going to feel much pain. holt's a gazillionaire, buford and pop are millionaires. at worse, they sell the team and still get paid. but , if i understand this thing right, if you stay under the thing, you get paid back by folks who went over? tell me who in his right mind would go over that line with questionable results as opposed to sticking under it and going with the strategy that's won four championships? so the team may not repeat, won't be the end of the world and there's always a next year.

[whottt]

I think I'll bandwagon jump to a different team that's better.


Who's the last team to win a le?


Oh .

[Marcus Bryant]

Who's the last team to repeat as Champions?

[whottt]

The last team to take a ty deal out of fear of trading to a divsional rival. I'll pass...because they suck a lot worse than the Spurs right now.


Incidentally...they are also the last team to trade out key pieces of a championship core, and their defense, thus ing their entire team up, for SuperStar nutriders...one of whom got their entire MLE.

[El_Mago]

Lakers.

[GSH]

Ummm...at the end of the day, it's a business. It's pretty easy for you to say that because these guys already have money, they should piss off millions of dollars to make you happy. Especially since you obviously don't have a realistic grasp of what it means to be in a small media market.

There are a couple of sports franchises in New York (Knicks and Yankees) that haven't "limited themselves" out of fear of the luxury tax. That strategy has really been working for them the last few years, hasn't it? We can really be envious of their lucky fans.

Spurs fans willing to accept it? Yeh...all these idiots have been able to do is put together the best record of any professional franchise in any sport for a decade. How can the fans support a team that has given the city four chances to celebrate a championship, when they haven't had the decency to go into the luxury tax year after year? The fans should put their collective feet down - which will force the organization to change its ways, right?

The Mavs had a payroll that was $14 Million higher than the Spurs last season. That cost Mark Cuban $28 million dollars, and he only got one less trophy than we did in '06-'07. Hardly any difference at all. I'm sure if you had the money, you would piss off $28 Million at the drop of a hat. You should go be a Mavs fan. Cuban won't let the fear of the luxury tax limit anything.

[El_Mago]

Nice reply.

[Marcus Bryant]

If you had a few more seasons of the best triumvirate in the league wouldn't you?

[Mr. Body]

Doing things on the chintzy cheap does seem an odd business for a contender, much less a champion looking to repeat. That's no time to penny pinch, but hey, I've never been a multi-millionaire.

[whottt]

MB is bitter because 3 teams in the entireity of NBA history have more les, and one team in NBA history has won more than 3 les in 5 years. Anything less than winning a le every year is unacceptable, and if the owner isn't throwing money at the problem, because that is clearly the solution, he's the worst owner in the league.


Surely you get it...use logic.

[SpursIndonesia]

I'm with MB in this issue, the Spurs are cheap, no other way to sugarcoat it. I actually can accept if the Spurs simply let Scola rot in Spain, waive Butler to make a roster space, but oh no, gotta make the div rival stronger just to save some $. CHEAP !!

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

The pic of the lux tax monster looks kind of familiar.

[El_Mago]

I don't give a if the Spurs are cheap.

They obviously know what they are doing.

If it was not for a Manu foul in game seven against Dallas, we might be going after a 3rd straight le right now.

The Spurs have a certain way they do business.....realize it.

We are in a small market....we don't have Major Corporations throwing dollars at the Spurs....nor do we have an owner that is worth more than 500 million......we have an owner thats worth 83 million or so....chump change when it comes to owners.

I can't belive people and complain when the Spurs have worked wonders under such cir stances and have competed for championships for nearly a decade and have won 4.

All your ing and complaining about lux tax is not going to change ....either deal with it or off.....go root the Mavs or the Knicks....see how much their money wins les....

[MannyIsGod]

Its like a repeat of last offseaons threads.

So I'll repeat things once again for MB. How are you not accepting it? Are you going to stop giving the Spurs your patronage?

[GSH]

Doing things on the chintzy cheap does seem an odd business for a contender, much less a champion looking to repeat. That's no time to penny pinch, but hey, I've never been a multi-millionaire.

Chintzy cheap? I'm sorry...did I read that right? The Spurs have, what, the 7th highest payroll in the league? More than Miami, who is carrying Shaquille Oneal, Dwayne Wade, and Antoine Walker? More than New Jersey, who is carrying Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson (at about $12 M for RJ)? , the Mavs will still have Micheal Finley and Shawn Bradley on the books this season. Without that, they would even have a lower payroll than us.

I'm sorry, but when their payroll is 7th out of 30 teams, it's kinda hard to make a case for chintzy cheap. I wouldn't think you would have to be a multi-millionaire to figure that one out.

[BeerIsGood!]

I still don't like that trade, but I don't think Scola or Butler will ever be anything great.

Last season there were no options to upgrade other than picking up Elson (which wasn't too much of an upgrade over nothing).

This season there's possibly Udoka, but we'll see. If they go into the season with the current lineup + Mahinmi for Austin they are still the favorites to repeat as far as I'm concerned. That team last year was extremely efficient and gelled into a defensive force. They blew people away in series and in closeout games. They will be the most cohesive team in the NBA on both sides of the ball on opening day with this lineup.

[BeerIsGood!]

Spurs fans are mainly bored with the inactivity, but when you have guys who play together like these do and complement each other this way - there's not much to do. Get a 3 if you can find the right one, but other than that not much else.

[sabar]

There are a couple of sports franchises in New York (Knicks and Yankees) that haven't "limited themselves" out of fear of the luxury tax. That strategy has really been working for them the last few years, hasn't it? We can really be envious of their lucky fans.

Except they throw their money at horrible role players and overpay semi-stars. I figure if the Spurs could go over the lux tax, it would help to say throw the MLE at a potentiel Bowen replacement instead of go yet another year with no solution.

Isn't it smarter to be able to give the MLE to Scola/Ime/SF than have nothing? To toss it at a potential PG and dump Beno? You make it sound like the Spurs FO would throw the max at Barnes if we had the Yankees income. I don't think so.

[GSH]

I still don't like that trade, but I don't think Scola or Butler will ever be anything great.

Last season there were no options to upgrade other than picking up Elson (which wasn't too much of an upgrade over nothing).

This season there's possibly Udoka, but we'll see. If they go into the season with the current lineup + Mahinmi for Austin they are still the favorites to repeat as far as I'm concerned. That team last year was extremely efficient and gelled into a defensive force. They blew people away in series and in closeout games. They will be the most cohesive team in the NBA on both sides of the ball on opening day with this lineup.

Damn! Two inteligent posts in a row. Unless some of the old guys lose a step in the offseason, and barring any major injuries, the Spurs are still the team to beat this season.

The only thing I might disagree about is Elson. I still think he is a big improvement over the eunuch we got rid of. (Rasho) Elson has his moments, and he works out OK as a tandem with Oberto. If you TIVO'd any of the finals games, look at the times when Varejao was on the floor. I think Elson handled him substantially better than Oberto, and that was an important match-up in the series.

Elson plays with some heart, which Rasho never did. And he is a fairly smart guy, so I am still hopeful that he will improve this season. But if he just plays on par with last season, he and Oberto are good enough in that spot.

[T Park]

We can stomp our feet all we want, but they are gonna do what they want to.

Wich is why, all this pontificating about "F this" or whatever does us no good.

[El_Mago]

We can stomp our feet all we want, but they are gonna do what they want to.

Wich is why, all this pontificating about "F this" or whatever does us no good.

T-Park, you're one of the main one's that throws those F bombs every other post...especially when it comes to the Spurs front office and Ownership group...

[GSH]

Except they throw their money at horrible role players and overpay semi-stars. I figure if the Spurs could go over the lux tax, it would help to say throw the MLE at a potentiel Bowen replacement instead of go yet another year with no solution.

Isn't it smarter to be able to give the MLE to Scola/Ime/SF than have nothing? To toss it at a potential PG and dump Beno? You make it sound like the Spurs FO would throw the max at Barnes if we had the Yankees income. I don't think so.

I think you're about to see them toss some money at Ime, even if they wind up a little bit over the Lux threshold. So if they didn't throw the money into Scola, there is probably a reason other than "they are just too cheap"...don't you think?

If there was a bargain PG out there, with a legitimate shot at playing meaningful minutes this season, I'm sure the Spurs would bite the bullet. And if someone would trade a promising young project-PG, I'm sure they would deal Beno in a heartbeat. But you know the offers aren't flooding in, and there aren't many bargain PG's to be had. Like it or not, Beno has some skills and he knows the Spurs system. Paying a lux tax match on a player who would likely be no better than Beno just doesn't make sense.

I'm sorry, but you guys just aren't going to make a case for the Spurs being stupidly cheap, when they have the seventh highest payroll in the league and the best record over the last decade. That doesn't fit the definition of cheap, and it sure as doesn't fit the definition of stupid.

[El_Mago]

i'm with ya GSH

[SAGambler]

Me too.

While keeping Beno may not set well with a lot of fans, at least he knows the system, and does have some skills. A new PG would take at least a year to get to know the system, and maybe they would like to just hold on to Beno for a worst case scenario, if Tony were to go down.