Grading the Position: General Manager / Front Office
by Big50 on May 23, 2011 5:00 AM CDT
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PrintI'm not going to lie, I want to be a General Manager. Unlike coaching, I think I could do it. I might end up being the next David Kahn or Isaiah Thomas, but I can't help looking around the NBA and thinking that I could do a better job than a lot of the guys currently running teams. I am constantly amazed and the dumb decisions made by teams. It makes having a front office that is aware and on top of their game something to be relished. Most teams either luck into success or they have a natural advantage of market size. Having a super-star does not guarantee championships, just ask Cleveland, Orlando, Dallas and many others. It's rare to see a franchise in any sport that is a small market team have the kind of success that R.C. Buford has managed to have in San Antonio.
The off season after the end of the 2009 playoffs when the Spurs were knocked out by the Mavericks in the first round was the most active I can remember the Spurs front office being. Instead of making a couple of under the radar type moves to help get role players that would help Tim Duncan and company the front office made a big trade acquiring Richard Jefferson for Kurt Thomas, Fab Oberto and Bruce Bowen. They also were able to get DeJuan Blair in the draft. It seemed like the Spurs were going to take names on their way to another title. We all know how that season ended. After getting some sweet revenge on the Mavs, the Suns unceremoniously swept the Spurs from the playoffs. It was clear that the Buford and Co. still had work to do.
R.C. Buford - Grade A+
Many Spurs fans, including myself, were very interested to see how the Spurs would handle Jefferson and his hefty contract. Jefferson was due to make 16 million, but he had a player option. After his less than stellar 2009-2010 season the consensus was that RJ would gladly hang on the the 16 million he was owed and not risk the open market. The Spurs FO did a remarkable job of getting Jefferson to opt out of his last year and resign to a longer term deal as less money per year, but more money overall. The reason this was such a good move is that the Small Forward market last off-season was not good. The Spurs could not have gotten a better SF through free agency or the draft. Rage rewarded the FO's faith in him with a off-season of hard work and a much much better season in 2010-2011.
When you're this good, chillin' is easy
Thanks to Jefferson's contract restructuring the Spurs were able to bring in their 2007 first round draft pick, Tiago Splitter. Splitter was seen as the Spurs answer for their lack of depth inside. Unfortunately, Splitter picked up an injury in training camp and didn't really get some serious playing time until the middle of the year. I think the Spurs early season success was a little bit of a curse for Tiago. I think if things hadn't been going so well he might have found his way into the lineup. Despite Splitter's limited playing time he showed flashes of why the Spurs took him in the first round 3 years earlier.
One thing that Buford did that some fans will not appreciate is resign Matt Bonner. Bonner signed a four year deal during the off-season and really had himself a nice regular season. I think we all know that Bonner is what he is. He's a specialist who can really help the Spurs during the long season, but I think it's pretty clear that he's not a reliable post season option.
The Spurs were able to draft in the top 20 for the first time in many years and with that pick they took James Anderson. A scorer from CapHill's beloved Oklahoma State. Anderson started the year off very well. He looked like he might be the answer for the backup SF spot. Sadly, the injury bug found another rookie and Anderson was out for an extended period. Anderson came back, but wasn't in game shape and ended up spending time in Austin playing for the Toros. Anderson ended up only playing in 28 games for the Spurs in 2010-2011. Overall not much to go on as to the success of drafting Anderson.
Perhaps the best off season move was the very Spurs like acquisition of Gary Neal. The unheralded SG after he played in Turkey, Spain and Italy. Neal was quite possibly the steal of the 2010 off-season. Neal not only showed off his ability to hit the 3-pointer, but he didn't back down on defense and showed that he can be a solid two way player. A lot of credit goes to Buford and the FO for finding Neal and having the guts to sign him to guaranteed money before the season started.
Let's get to possibly the best move the the FO made. It often gets lost since it was a fairly quiet deal and it happened mid-season. Buford was able to re-sign Tony Parker for an extremely reasonable contract. Parker would surely have gotten something in the neighborhood of a max contract had he tested the free agent market. If Joe Johnson can get 120 million dollars, I feel confident that Parker could have gotten something like that. It's a credit to the Spurs organization that players of Parker's caliber are willing to sign for less to stay in San Antonio.
Overall I still think that Buford is one of the best in the business. He makes shrewd moves that other GM's are sometimes unwilling to make. He clearly is not perfect and has made some decisions that in hindsight may not have been the best. I would still take him and his staff over the vast majority of GM's currently running this in the NBA.
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Neal deal, good. Jefferson deal, not so much.
A man gets the eye of a Tiger, but a Tiger gets the eye of a Manu.
It may not be the best deal ever, but it did allow for the Splitter and Neal deals while keeping a decent SF on the roster.
Love our front office but A+ seems high
I think Bonner and Jefferson both get a little too much heat here and are better then a lot of people think sometimes but no one would think these are overwhelmingly awesome deals for us.
Also i would give our front office a lot of credit for the tony signing but also tony had a lot of motivation to sign with the uncertainty of the new/next cba and not wanting to be without a contract while that was being figured out. Comparing it to Joe Johnson is silly as that was a ridicules contract at the time and looked worse and worse since it happened. Also he was a free agent tony was under contract till the end of the year facing a lock out and tony was unlikely to get a 6 year deal from anyone. He signed for less then he could have gotten maybe but he would have had to wait out the cba negotiations and have no certainty as to what would happen.
Neal was gold and is a great contract for the value.
Splitter is a great contract based on potential and what we thought it would take to sign him but we don’t know how go it is yet
Anderson is an incomplete as of right now
Overall I would say this is B+
Also with a lot of the dumb Gms out there to be fair there is a lot going on out there. Sometimes its just Gms being silly or guessing wrong (chemistry issues, making a fantasy team instead of a winning twinning team) but a lot of times its players forcing the issue (i wont play for you and im going to dog it till you trade me) or owners forcing the issue (I want player x to fill seats, or I want to save money as a first priority) also it goes in cycles one year danny angie looks like and idiot and the next he is a genius…same with Chris Wallace or joe dumars. A lot of times its luck and when it all works we are like look at how smart they are and when it doesn’t we say wtf were they thinking.
What would you have done differently? Clearly, every deal cannot be overwhelmingly awesome for the team. I agree that Parker was motivated to sign, but they had to take advantage of that leverage, no? My grade is for the job they did in the last off-season for this last year. In a perfect world they would have dropped Jefferson and gotten the next Bowen for cheap or had Parker sign for less, but with they hand they had I don’t think they could have done any better, thus the A+ rating.
You’re right about luck, it plays a part in a things in sports. However, some people are just better than others.
im not sure i would change anything…because i cant see what the results would be if we did something different and the moves have to be evaluated over time. i would say for an A+ though something would have to be a slam dunk here and it wasn’t. maybe i’m just a hard grader but B+ seems good and appropriated for this to me.
also part of the problem with grading the front office (and you commented for this year i did see that) is you have to go to the year(s) before and after. If Splitter blows it up and is an allstar and anderson becomes anywhere close to a starter or significant role player, if tonys partially guaranteed contract turns into a trade for an allstar replacement in 3 years when its expiring or anything like this then this years fo moves look much better…but we don’t know that yet. as of right now we did alot with the options we had and were solid…thats a B+ in my book
A thousand times this.
Was Jefferson bad this year? Yes he was. But he was the best available Small Forward at the time (when we desperately needed one). We could have been on the books for 15 million for Rage and thus we would be without Gary Neal or Tiago or Both. Getting Rage to sign for half of that allowed for more flexibility with the roster.
"If the NBA season is a marathon, Gregg Popovich is a full-blooded Kenyan."
-Timothy Varner 48MoH
by Jordan Leithart on May 23, 2011 10:48 AM CDT up reply actions
Regular season wise, he was pretty good. He also provided better defensive ratings from the 3 position than the Spurs had in a while.
Do I think he’s a tad overpaid? Sure, but for the most part, Spurs got a fairly stable presence from their starter. They do need to get a backup that is not Hill/Manu/Neal though. Many of the Spurs defensive problems occurred there
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Agree. RJ played typically what was asked of our SFs in the past, but when you compare that to his salary and what he’s done in his career, yes he’s overpaid.
"A life, Jimmy, you know what that is? It’s what happens while you wait for moments that will never come." - Lester Freamon, The Wire
by silverandblack_davis on May 23, 2011 6:26 PM CDT up reply actions
Don’t understand the RJ haters. Does everyone just not like him? If you are grading him on this year he was solid and was not the problem with the team and if you are going to argue he should be better than what we are paying him I agree but thats hard especially being the fourth option and having almost no plays run for you. While we are on the subject I don’t get all the love for Blair? He started the season ok and just faded as the season went on. Is he just really liked by everyone? If you go by the year Blair had, it wasn’t good. IMO Blair should be traded before RJ. Grego21 is right if we are going to judge the job RC B. on SF position it should be on the lack of a good backup for RJ. my Overall grade for RC B. and the FO A.
if you are going by value on the floor i completely agree but thats not the whole story. blair for his production is still very good. if his contract runs out and some one wants to over pay him (unless something changed he would still be an undersized injury risk with his knees) we let him walk but for what we pay him hes still a huge bargain. and would still be a good bargain at 10-15min a game off the bench as a hustle guy.
rj is a little over paid but i think did fine this year, blair was over played (imo) but even if he is just taking up a roster spot on his contract that doesn’t even hurt us…and thats what makes the difference here.
In the case of Blair, he might have value, but does he fill in the Spurs needs. I’d say the same thing for Hill (going into next season) as Spurs might have Green/Anderson/Butler on the roster. Not likely, but there becomes more and more overlap if that were to occur.
I think Blair could be a lot better than he is currently, but then we have to wonder do all of his abilities fit the Spurs?
To me, Blair is almost like RJ. Spurs need to find better ways to utilize him. In Blair’s case, its based a lot on personnel, meaning they need to have a tall guy always with him to limit the defensive mismatches that can occur.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
It seems to me the Front Office has received a good deal of credit for drafting Hill and Blair as being “steals” in the draft. Though from such a low position in the draft there may not have been much better out there, the potential that made them look like such great picks doesn’t seem to be panning out. Hill was immediately worked on to become a point guard, yet he still looks like an undersized shooting guard. Blair was supposed to have been passed over by other teams because of his knees, whereas now it looks like they might have also noticed that he was rather short for a center and doesn’t have the skills needed to be a PF. I don’t feel that either was necessarily bad picks as low as they were, very few players drafted after them have stuck with their team, just that they may not have been quite the genius picks that they at first seemed. I’m still hoping that Anderson turns out to become a genius pick.
They might have been both good deals, but sometimes they work out better in landing other pieces. I ask it more in the aspect of the talent fitting the structure of the team. Teams have to either adapt to their players or find players that fit them best. Sometimes you draft the best talent and move it to get the more flexible talent.
I like Blair and Hill, but Spurs have size issues and depth issues in particular areas. Both have the most attractive contracts/talent to package with a bigger contract like a Bonner or RJ if you wanted to get a new contract back.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
I could deal with Blair 10-15 min a game but the problem is Tiago plays good D and takes charges so he could get hurt. That will probably lead to what you said him being over used like this year. I would rather the FO trade him for a pick this year or some seven footer that isn’t well known that can at least play some D. IMO a seven footer even if he has no offensive game that can play some D is more valuable than Blair. I would like the FO to roll the dice on trading Blair in hopes of securing a big man.
eh im not sure how much better we could get…everyone wants an athletic 4-5 for def so its not like we could get one easy (in the draft more then likely any good ones would be a project that would take a few years to develop and/or a lottery pick, we are not getting anywhere close to that for blair)
i feel like “deal or no deal” , do we get a life line call on this? :/
Caribeña
by cojones2thewall on May 23, 2011 4:57 PM CDT up reply actions
This has been a great series 50 and I completely agree with your assessment of Buford. I think he’s one of the best in the league and that is one of the reasons San Antonio has been so successful over the years. It’s pretty easy to make your team better when you’ve got unlimited resources (I’m looking at you Mitch Kupchack), but when you’ve got a pretty set financial situation, it’s hard to continue to improve your team year after year. And not only doesn’t he have the opportunity to sign any potential free agent each year like bigger markets, he also doesn’t have the luxury of missing on a lot of acquisitions (as we’ve seen with the up and down nature of the RJ deal). It’s impressive to see what he’s been able to do with a very small margin for error.
Mitch is overrated. Jerry West did basically all the leg work and then Mitch got some no brainer deals. I can’t really say he’s near the top when he’s had “hit” deals and a lot of misses. They actually missed Farmar and Sasha this season after he traded them away.
RC has also taught well as seen by Presti who’s near the top now.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
It’s pretty easy to make your team better when you’ve got unlimited resources (I’m looking at you Mitch Kupchack), but when you’ve got a pretty set financial situation, it’s hard to continue to improve your team year after year.
Mitch is overrated. Jerry West did basically all the leg work and then Mitch got some no brainer deals.
Alright you guys, let’s ease up on poor old Mitch. He did the best he could with what he had to work with.
. . . the opportunity to sign any potential free agent each year like bigger markets. . .
You realize there is a salary cap and once you are over it you can’t just “sign any potential free agent each year”.
"Hey if repeating as champions were that easy even the Spurs could do it." olf
No. You’re wrong. The rules don’t apply to big markets.
Unbelievable Time distortion space is the place Mean Gene Okerlund go down that lonesome highway but don't be hypnotized no- reincarnation doesn't have to be you can concentrate and you can-mental telepathy YEAH! But the beat goes on.
by SpursfanSteve on May 24, 2011 11:35 PM CDT up reply actions
Lakers are a big market and basically the top destination. Some of Mitch’s greatest hits include the contract to Space Cadet MLE, Sasha MLE and Luke MLE. You also have Smush and Kwame Brown’s great contract.
I guess you can argue that Kwame’s horrible contract was great since it worked out in that landslide trade. He has more opportunity to fail and still get good players.
He basically took what West had established and got some nice hands. Jackpot.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Yeah even though West was gone by then, I still give him most of the credit for the 2001 & 2002 championships. But it was pretty much Mitch who traded away Shaq and then got them back to the big time in 2008, 2009 & 2010. Maybe not deserving an A+ but probably at least good solid B.
PS. I actually think that the Lakers & Spurs are in pretty similar positions at this point. Both with an aging superstar who has earned the right to retire on their own terms. Unfortunately that is going to prevent them from trading away older assets for young pieces and ultimately make it harder to rebuild.
"Hey if repeating as champions were that easy even the Spurs could do it." olf
Yup.
Unbelievable Time distortion space is the place Mean Gene Okerlund go down that lonesome highway but don't be hypnotized no- reincarnation doesn't have to be you can concentrate and you can-mental telepathy YEAH! But the beat goes on.
by SpursfanSteve on May 25, 2011 12:12 PM CDT up reply actions
Agreed. I think the Spurs and Lakers are in similar situations going forward to an extent.
And I wasn’t trying to rip on Mitch Kupchak exclusively, my main point was that being in LA and having a bigger market makes things a little easier. You say the name Dwight Howard and there is maybe a 1% chance he would come to SA, but probably a 75% chance he goes to LA. No matter how good of a GM RC Buford is, he has no shot at bringing in Dwight because of the finances and market. So therefore, Mitch does have it easier in that regard.
A+. year after year the FO makes lemonade from lemons…..its after the end of Tim that we really get to see their stuff
"Everybody thought he was going to be gone forever, including me, and the foie gras and truffle treatment worked really well." Pop on Tony's Injury 3/4/11
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gilmoar01.html
Honestly, you are seeing what they are doing now with the younger guys. The problem is they can’t draft early and will never get the highest quality free agents, so after Tim won’t really matter. They might do great work, but the results will be smaller just because you don’t often get a Timmy/Manu/Parker.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
i disagree that the results would be smaller unless you are talking about championship potential and record. I am not. Once the Big 3 era comes to a close I fully expect any hope of a championship will dissapear with them for some time to come. But that does not mean the FO cannot do an awesome job (or a horrible one) I am saying that the FO will have its work cut out for them when Tim does retire. Then, at least I, will be grading them on what they do without a Tim to put pieces around. They will really earn the wings then.
"Everybody thought he was going to be gone forever, including me, and the foie gras and truffle treatment worked really well." Pop on Tony's Injury 3/4/11
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gilmoar01.html
by Joe deLarios on May 24, 2011 10:56 AM CDT up reply actions
It will. I’m not saying that won’t happen. The door is nearly shut already with it just a crack open.
With what they have, I think the Spurs are for the most part trying to chase pieces that will fit the evolving team style. They’ve tried with guys recently and had some luck and then not some luck with someone like Temple, who was never the same mentally after his injury.
Perhaps Anderson will show what he did early on. It’s tough to say because the spurs fall into the period right before the limbo period.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
A+ might be a stretch but B+ or A are absolutely deserved. A lot of people keep bashing RJ and Bonner but I consider them to be OK or good contracts, specially in a league plagued with overspending. I agree they were not as good as expected in the playoffs, but I think that no one can say that RJ and Bonner performed below of expectations during the regular season. I expect both of them to work on their weaknesses one more summer and come back even better. RJ with his shot and overall offense/defense awareness. Bonner improving his horrible but already surprising and effective driving skills, not to say of his effort on defense (he is not as bad as most people think!). Don’t forget about Neal, Anderson, extending Manu and Tony without letting reach the open market.
My question about the front office is not about last season but what are they are going to pull out next. It seems they have painted themselves into a corner this time since they don’t have a lot of assets to work with if they want to improve unless they trade a star or gut out the rotation. Pretty much no one saw their moves coming last year, I hope they surprise us one more time.
A casual diehard Spurs fan.
If we judge mostly on playoffs, the whole team pretty much sucks. If Neal doesn’t hit that 3, his post season is basically a failure. Do RJ and Bonner deserve some grief? yes, but so does pretty much everyone. Heck, Manu at times was the best player and he wasn’t even that good due mostly to his injury and stellar D from Grizz.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
That was my point. The playoffs were a bad combination of matchup, injuries and ending the season in a low note for a several players at the same time. We were lucky to have the series last as long as it did and being as close as it did. Now, if you look at it the other way around, if Randolph doesn’t go into godmode, the Spurs could have won the series in 5 and very possibly still playing and winning against the Mavs.
A casual diehard Spurs fan.
Even though I had my disagreements, good series 50.
I don’t think i can agree with A+ if you go with your other grades like on RJ. he either deserves a slightly higher grade or this one deserves to go down.
I think he was sufficient. Maybe 1-2M less, but the Spurs D from SF position was better than it has been in the last few years.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Maybe getting A+ is a bit too high considering we didn’t win the ‘chip, but I understand where you’re coming from. RC and co. basically had limited options and if not for the Neal signing, we could’ve fielded the exact same team we had in 2009-2010 (Splitter doesn’t count much during the regular season since he rarely played) and ended up with about 50-52 wins.
Is this the last of the series? If so, kudos B-50 for these posts. I enjoyed them very much.
"A life, Jimmy, you know what that is? It’s what happens while you wait for moments that will never come." - Lester Freamon, The Wire
by silverandblack_davis on May 23, 2011 6:30 PM CDT reply actions
I think we should get a “grading the coyote” post.
"If the NBA season is a marathon, Gregg Popovich is a full-blooded Kenyan."
-Timothy Varner 48MoH
by Jordan Leithart on May 23, 2011 6:37 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
The Coyote is a definite A+
"Ginobili. . .He's weaving, he's throwing up triple axels in sneakers, he's willing the ball into the basket. It's Cirque du Soleil with refs." Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
by janieannie on May 23, 2011 8:01 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
I am not so sure JA. Although he was spectacular during the first half of the regular season, the second half he just seemed out of sorts some nights.
B+
"Everybody thought he was going to be gone forever, including me, and the foie gras and truffle treatment worked really well." Pop on Tony's Injury 3/4/11
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gilmoar01.html
by Joe deLarios on May 24, 2011 10:57 AM CDT up reply actions
Well, even if Neal doesn’t occur, you can argue that addition by subtraction is a good thing. They lost Finley, RMJ and Bogans. I’d say Bogans could be argued as a small loss, but the other two, not so much.
They drafted arguably well, with Anderson. Often it was commented that he was the best shooter in the draft and the Spurs got a steal. It looked that way pre-injury.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Well, even if Neal doesn’t occur, you can argue that addition by subtraction is a good thing. They lost Finley, RMJ and Bogans. I’d say Bogans could be argued as a small loss, but the other two, not so much.
That about sums it up.
Unbelievable Time distortion space is the place Mean Gene Okerlund go down that lonesome highway but don't be hypnotized no- reincarnation doesn't have to be you can concentrate and you can-mental telepathy YEAH! But the beat goes on.
by SpursfanSteve on May 24, 2011 12:10 PM CDT up reply actions
R.C. Buford – I know that he did everything possible to upgrade the team but It wasnt perfect so Grade B+
Why the mavs sign PEJA and the spurs not??
Because he can’t play defense, (like worse than RJ/Small ball)
Unbelievable Time distortion space is the place Mean Gene Okerlund go down that lonesome highway but don't be hypnotized no- reincarnation doesn't have to be you can concentrate and you can-mental telepathy YEAH! But the beat goes on.
by SpursfanSteve on May 24, 2011 12:11 PM CDT up reply actions
Peja looked like dog crap prior to Dallas. He was definitely out of shape. He seemed to get back into shape, but Spurs already picked up Novak so there you go. I doubt Peja would have gotten more play though.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Talking about salaries the spurs are great
http://hoopshype.com/salaries.htm
Right Now its amazing that young teams with low salaries like thunder, bulls are in the playoffs and well the heat
Don’t worry. OKC will be paying soon. Westbrook and Harden. They already moved Green because they needed to be smart with where they pay for players.
So will the Bulls. Taj Gibson will get his paid day. Rose of course is a given.
Heat are in luxury tax territory and have only half a team. It’s just that the big 2.5 is pretty strong even if you subtract Bosh fully from the equation.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
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