Rules for Spurs Free Agency

[grizzly_bexar]

I think these are some rules of thumb we can glean from how this FO handles free agency that have a lot of wisdom and we should keep in mind.

1. Teams that win in July don't usually win in June.
2. Don't outbid. If you outbid another team, you lost.
3. Bargains matter. Buy the 50% productivity guy for 25% of the price, not the 75% productivity guy for 100% of the price.
4. Don't think about what you're paying this year for a guy's best stats, projected to increased minutes. Think about paying for his worst statistical year every year.
5. Character matters. You don't have to be a good guy, but you have to at least be a good teammate. If your off-court game makes us a worse team, your on-court game doesn't matter.
6. Character matters. Consider who the player is and what it will do to his focus and priorities if he has virtually unlimited wealth.
7. Player 1 averages double what Player 2 does, but Player 1 is on the court for 40 games a year while Player 2 is healthy for 80. They have the same productivity. Price them accordingly.
8. You can't win a championship. in July, but you can lose three or four. Think about the franchise over this roster.
9. No one move will get you a championship.
10. Be patient. GM's are like toddlers. When they find something new and shiny, they drop the old toy. Pick up old toys while they are distracted.
11. Players are people. You are going to have to break some of these rules to deal with the eccentricities of personalities.

[choppsboy]

13. 9 times out of 10, doing nothing is the best thing.

[WILLTHETHRILL]

I think Miami won in July in the 2010 NBA FA period. But I'm big on drafting. The Big 3 here. The triplets with the Dallas Cowboys etc. I always think the draft is the key to future success.

[grizzly_bexar]

The Heat in 2010 are the exception that tests the rule. That is one of those situations where everything aligned perfectly and no one will convince me that Wade/LBJ/Bosh didn't have that one all planned out in advance. Riley gutted the roster and made it happen.

But for every team that guts the roster in anticipation of a big FA signing, there's a Charlie Villanueva / Ben Gordon / Goran Dragic / Eric Gordon out there to be signed when the real superstars stay home.

For every Miami success, there's a Dallas and Houston failure like this season.

[Uwe Blab]

Sometimes, there are no answers to your problems through free agency. Such is the case with the Spurs, barring a major trade of some sort.

[grizzly_bexar]

^^^ Exactly. Just because you make a move doesn't make you better.

[choppsboy]

Originally Posted by Uwe Blab

Sometimes, there are no answers to your problems through free agency. Such is the case with the Spurs, barring a major trade of some sort.

Originally Posted by grizzly_bexar

^^^ Exactly. Just because you make a move doesn't make you better.

+++++++1

We have to assume that if we do not make a major move, that THAT is the best move.

If there aren't opportunities to add the talent we need to get the ring, pretending and ruining the future by signing someone we shouldn't doesn't help.

Sometimes it is what it is.

[MichaelWi101]

One Cardinal Rule for this organization also seems to be

Never, ever let anyone else know what you're working on. Keep your cards close to your vest and keep your mouth closed.

[grizzly_bexar]

^^^^ Very true.

Seldom are the organizations with the most publicity/leaks/rumors the successful ones.

Did anybody have the LBJ/Wade/Bosh to Miami deal nailed? No. But it was surely known to the insiders in advance.

And most of the Spurs' big moves weren't telegraphed in advance to the media. Just not how they work.

Makes us as fans feel impotent. I'm sure this time of year it's more fun to be a Knicks fan, Houston fan, Minnesota fan, or Toronto fan. Lots of aggressive moves. High draft picks.

But the Spurs have their eyes on the prize.

[Jose_TheGenius]

Originally Posted by MichaelWi101

One Cardinal Rule for this organization also seems to be

Never, ever let anyone else know what you're working on. Keep your cards close to your vest and keep your mouth closed.

i think this is very true to an extent. another variable about the Spurs in free agency is usually (except Barry & Finley), we're looking at bringing guys over that no one's heard of that have been stashed away in Europe.

[katyspursfan]

Originally Posted by grizzly_bexar

Makes us as fans feel impotent. I'm sure this time of year it's more fun to be a Knicks fan, Houston fan, Minnesota fan, or Toronto fan. Lots of aggressive moves. High draft picks.

But the Spurs have their eyes on the prize.

Wait, what? Which off season have you been watching?

Fun to be a Houston fan? I think this is you before the post


And me after reading it

[SilverSpur]

Originally Posted by MichaelWi101

One Cardinal Rule for this organization also seems to be

Never, ever let anyone else know what you're working on. Keep your cards close to your vest and keep your mouth closed.

That way the fans don't get their hopes up (Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, Karl Malone etc) and/or second guess you the rest of the way.

[alh1020]

Originally Posted by SilverSpur

That way the fans don't get their hopes up (Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, Karl Malone etc) and/or second guess you the rest of the way.

"Whatever course you decide upon, there will always be someone to tell you that you are wrong.” -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[McGyver]

Originally Posted by katyspursfan

Wait, what? Which off season have you been watching?

Fun to be a Houston fan? I think this is you before the post


And me after reading it

Houston had a great draft. One of the best for sure.

[MichaelWi101]

While Spurs fans are frustrated that it seems like the FO isn't doing anything, fans in dallas and houston are coming unglued over what their teams are or aren't doing.

I for one, would love to see announced pretty soon now that 'Tim Duncan and the Spurs have reached an agreement'

[grizzly_bexar]

Originally Posted by katyspursfan

Wait, what? Which off season have you been watching?

Fun to be a Houston fan? I think this is you before the post


And me after reading it

Houston has had an exciting, interesting offseason.

Trainwrecks are fascinating.

[katyspursfan]

Originally Posted by McGyver

Houston had a great draft. One of the best for sure.

You forgot the

[katyspursfan]

Originally Posted by grizzly_bexar

Houston has had an exciting, interesting offseason.

Trainwrecks are fascinating.

So true.
Unless they are for one of your teams. Then, not so much.

I wonder if Morey has his cardboard sign in the league office..

"Will work for Sign and Trade"

[KVas]

Most of the guys moving around right now are being over-payed. Don't think the Spurs have done such a thing since the Malik extension, and even then a dumb gm saved us from that.

[MichaelWi101]

Originally Posted by KVas

Most of the guys moving around right now are being over-payed. Don't think the Spurs have done such a thing since the Malik extension, and even then a dumb gm saved us from that.

I can think of at least two other times--- RJ and the big red playoff brick laying machine.

[grizzly_bexar]

RJ and Bonner aren't/weren't bad moves.

Keep in mind that before we brought in RJ, Bowen had retired and we basically played for a year without a small forward or anyone who could truly D up on wings with size. We had guys like Roger Mason guarding Kobe (!).

For all RJ's faults, and there were many, he was a solid player who you could count on to go 35 minutes a night, not get injured, and play above average defense.

He was overpaid for that role, but we were a better team with him than without.

Similar with Bonner. He's not overpaid. He's a shooting specialist on a team that has no (legit) second big man. He plays above his talent level but can't compensate for what the Spurs lack and it gets exposed every playoff run.

[choppsboy]

Originally Posted by grizzly_bexar

RJ and Bonner aren't/weren't bad moves.

Keep in mind that before we brought in RJ, Bowen had retired and we basically played for a year without a small forward or anyone who could truly D up on wings with size. We had guys like Roger Mason guarding Kobe (!).

For all RJ's faults, and there were many, he was a solid player who you could count on to go 35 minutes a night, not get injured, and play above average defense.

He was overpaid for that role, but we were a better team with him than without.

Similar with Bonner. He's not overpaid. He's a shooting specialist on a team that has no (legit) second big man. He plays above his talent level but can't compensate for what the Spurs lack and it gets exposed every playoff run.

I agree with you 100%, except that Bowen retired after he was traded.

[katyspursfan]

Originally Posted by grizzly_bexar

Similar with Bonner. He's not overpaid. He's a shooting specialist on a team that has no (legit) second big man. He plays above his talent level but can't compensate for what the Spurs lack and it gets exposed every playoff run.

After today, Bonner may be a bargain.
Rumor is that Steve Novak is getting a 4 year $15M contract out of NYK.

Actually, it's comparable when you take into account that Bonner's extension was a couple years ago, but it is a datum point in the "He's so overpaid" argument.

[grizzly_bexar]

Originally Posted by choppsboy

I agree with you 100%, except that Bowen retired after he was traded.

Good correction. I must be getting old and senile, either that or my brain is frazzled from watching the Spurs fizzle in the playoffs every year for the last half decade.

[grizzly_bexar]

Originally Posted by katyspursfan

After today, Bonner may be a bargain.
Rumor is that Steve Novak is getting a 4 year $15M contract out of NYK.

Actually, it's comparable when you take into account that Bonner's extension was a couple years ago, but it is a datum point in the "He's so overpaid" argument.

Wow, that is incredible. I like Novak and in fact I like him as a shooter better than Bonner, because Novak seems to have a quicker and higher release, but as average as bonner is on defense, he makes Novak look like Dikembe Mutombo.

[katyspursfan]

Originally Posted by grizzly_bexar

Wow, that is incredible. I like Novak and in fact I like him as a shooter better than Bonner, because Novak seems to have a quicker and higher release, but as average as bonner is on defense, he makes Novak look like Dikembe Mutombo.

I must have missed it.
If Novak actually played defense since leaving Houston, it would have been the first time.

No one on the planet (including Jose) could make Novak look defensively like Nash, let alone Mutombo.

[grizzly_bexar]

My bad. I got that backwards. Novak makes Bonner look like Mutombo, not the other way around. Bonner is actually a smart help defender, albeit very limited athletically, and is reasonably good on postop defense.

[katyspursfan]

Originally Posted by grizzly_bexar

My bad. I got that backwards. Novak makes Bonner look like Mutombo, not the other way around. Bonner is actually a smart help defender, albeit very limited athletically, and is reasonably good on postop defense.

Phew! For a moment, I thought you might be getting old and senile!

[WILLTHETHRILL]

Originally Posted by grizzly_bexar

RJ and Bonner aren't/weren't bad moves.

Keep in mind that before we brought in RJ, Bowen had retired and we basically played for a year without a small forward or anyone who could truly D up on wings with size. We had guys like Roger Mason guarding Kobe (!).

For all RJ's faults, and there were many, he was a solid player who you could count on to go 35 minutes a night, not get injured, and play above average defense.

He was overpaid for that role, but we were a better team with him than without.

Similar with Bonner. He's not overpaid. He's a shooting specialist on a team that has no (legit) second big man. He plays above his talent level but can't compensate for what the Spurs lack and it gets exposed every playoff run.

Initially they were not bad moves. Re-signing them was.