This is our chance to “do our bit” and maybe influence Bouroussis’s decision. Let’s all send a direct message to Yannis and show how much we want him to join the Sours – I have just sent my message!

The link is:

Yiannis Bourousis – ???????????

There are 3 fields to fill before the body of the message:

1.) Your Name
2.) Your email Address
3.) Message subject

GO SPURS GO

Manu grew up wanting to be Michael Jordan. Great.

Argentines now are growing up to want to be Manu. Guess what NBA franchise they want to play for?

The Spurs have been smart to take their training camps overseas a couple times during this run. Let’s pray it pays dividends. Overseas fanbases are the only way we can catch up to LA and NY.

New Century, new thinking. I like it.

A basketball club, anywhere in the world, like any professional sporting establishment is a very leaky ship. Friends, agents, opposition players, coachs et al are generally a big fraternity that talks about the goings on and gossips about rumours and potential signings etc.

When an NBA team comes calling it is going to be front and centre for those kind of people. A decade ago that was fine because most of the NBA didn’t even have a clue, through either willful ignorance or just inept management they placed all their faith in the college system & American product.

Now however everyone has access. Draft Express and the Euro ball sites cover a huge section of the game as it happens and pertains to young talent and seasoned vets alike. It is nearly impossible.

The player would have to have a vested interest in going to the spurs to stay quiet about scouts attending games, or Pop coming to shmooze.

What professional player would not try and leverage that kind of NBA interest into a better contract offer from his home club overseas, or a raised draft position and increased potential earnings in the future.

We can’t blame the spurs for the world finding out about Omri Casspi. We can’t blame Casspi for doing his best in numerous draft workouts.

I’m in no way advocating more Chinese players in the league for the sake of diversity. I was using that as an absurd example of something a team with a marketing goal might do to expand their fan base.

While you didn’t say the Spurs had a goal of building a cosmopolitan squad, you did say the Spurs were drafting foreign players as a “conscious attempt by management to expand the team’s media market”, which I completely disagree with. I think they always look to draft the best player that they think can fill a need for the team. There are too many factors that come into play when choosing a player that I can’t imagine they’ve ever decided two players were equal, and the deciding factor would be expanding the media market. Winning is most likely the only priority.

That added incentive obviously doesn’t guarantee that foreign players will succeed, but it seems like a player’s motivation to improve and win is the hardest thing to predict in the draft process but is one of the most crucial determinants of later success. If you work hard, as the Spurs do, to foster a collegial attitude that minimizes some of the cultural difficulties in making the transition to the league, it makes some sense to scout more heavily the kinds of players who have added extrinsic motivational factors driving them to succeed.

I’m not suggesting that the P.R. department is affecting personnel decisions. I’m suggesting that, given the Spurs’ tight budget, Pop and R.C. have an acute concern for expanding the team’s revenue streams.

At the end of the day, the Spurs are a corporation that provides a product. Given how integrated management and coaching are, it makes sense to me that everyone would be simultaneously concerned with the quality of that product (on-court success) as well as expanding the consumer (fan) base.

Rick,

I think if the Spurs had a chance to acquire a good Chinese player, they would. But, like I said, the first priority is winning. I am not saying the Spurs are/should be drafting mediocre foreign players just so we can have a more cosmopolitan squad. And let’s be honest, there aren’t that many good Chinese players. Outside of Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian and possibly Sun Yue, how many Chinese players deserve a spot on an NBA roster?

I think the team started to scout international players because team success meant lower draft picks and international prospects were still a relatively an untapped resource. Why do they continue to favor international players? They still have lower draft picks and every team is also looking overseas for talent so it only makes sense, but also because the team has trouble attracting free agents to the small market that is San Antonio. The only players the Spurs seem to attract are role players looking for a bigger role, grizzled veterans headed for retirement, and international players looking to get into the league.

So far the team has not had much luck with the international free agents, besides Oberto (Rasho was already in the league so he doesn’t count). The Spurs need to do something this offseason. They’ll get lucky if a decent backup point guard falls to 37. I’d like to see them give their past 2nd round picks a chance (Hairston, Williams, Gist), but as far as a significant move this offseason goes? A Greek center might be the answer and if it results in a new crop of Spurs fans in Greece; that would be a nice side-effect because it would mean that he’s making a difference.

For the draft, I see them continuing to target American players who play all 4 years at college. Players that perhaps didn’t realize their full potential but possess interesting skill sets and a team or defense-oriented mindset, like Hairston and Gist.

As for the marketing potential, I suppose that’s a benefit but I can’t imagine it being a main concern. Pop is too down to Earth to put marketing and PR as a priority, and nor can I see anyone from the PR department having ANY sway over his player selection.

The influx of young talent diminishes rapidly when you find yourself at the bottom of the first round every year. Sure, the Spurs may enjoy some collateral benefits from these signings, but I would hardly say that this is the driving force behind our pursuit of foreign players.

Besides, everyone knows Pop likes players who are “over themselves,” in other words players who are mature and ready to meet his strenuous demands at practice and at gametime. Who better than players who have professional experience.

And as for leading other teams to talent with our show of interest, how will we ever know how much of this interest is feigned, and which players were actually coveted? I don’t think we ever do.

The company I work for has season tickets for entertaining customers and I asked someone higher up than me once if our French customers/vendors ever cared about going to the games. He said they go crazy to get to see Tony play. We’re talking about 40-50 year old French guys having their trips to SA made by seeing Tony and the Spurs. That’s crazy to me but it goes with what you’re saying.

So did we get rid of Scola because one more Argentine wouldn’t help us develop that market???