The Spurs are rebuilding through the draft

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If there is an advantage to being a perennial lottery team, it’s the opportunity to piece together a talented core through the draft. GMs who have the luxury of compounding high draft picks over multiple seasons place themselves in the enviable position of acquiring the league’s best young  talent. It sucks to lose, but the long term payoff is worth it.

Take the Spurs, for example.

In 2007 the Spurs took advantage of their choice draft position by selecting Tiago Splitter, a dominant, world-renowned center. In 2008, the Spurs converted their place at the top of the NBA draft  into George Hill, a highly-touted basketball stand-out from IUPUI. In 2009, the Spurs rushed out of the gates to claim DeJuan Blair, narrowly grabbing the statistical monster ahead of their rivals. The early bird catches the worm, and all that. And just last month, the Spurs claimed James Anderson, a little known All-American from Oklahoma City.

It’s clear that the Spurs have focused their front office efforts on rebuilding through the draft. Keep your eye on San Antonio, they could be good.

  • http://www.operaforthemasses.com/ David G

    Spot on analysis…Spurs lucky to get so many high draft choices despite winning 50+ ever year.

  • http://www.48minutesofhell.com Lenneezz

    So many things to watch this year.

    1. How Anderson handles the big stage. He has the tools to contribute right away. I want to see if he will.

    2. Tiago. Will his presence make the Spurs the defensive team they have been in the past? How will Pop utilize his passing skills, his ability to move?

    3. Can DeJuan shoot better? I am almost sure he will improve his game. He will get a coat of polish on that grizzly exterior. How good will he get?

    4. Will George keep it up? If he makes improvements like he made last summer than he will be good, really good.

    5. Can the Spurs get something from the trio of Hairston, Gee and Temple?

    6. Will the stars stay healthy? Tony’s playing for a fat contract. Timmy is playing for his thumb ring. Manu always plays with his heart.

    I want a Spurs team that plays hard nosed, grind it out Spurs basketball.

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  • grego

    They are also building through the D-League.
    >Hairston, Gee, Temple.

    @Lenneezz - they will get something from that trio. At the very least, I think Temple has a spot. It’s his to lose. He is the most versatile of all the players. And his PG abilities are better than Hill’s (who’s really a 2 guard). Both would work well together I think.

    Now, the question is, if the Spurs are willing to take one or two more guys from the wings.

  • ty

    its rare to draft players with an immediate impact especially in the spots the spurs have been drafting so they have taken the best available and might of hit on a sold 1,2,4, and 5 of the future

  • SpursfanSteve

    Ty, i think theres a chance they may have a 1,2,3,4, and 5, between Temple, Hill, Gee/Hairston, Blair, and Splitter. Gee has all the tools except for the ability to shoot.

  • JKE

    Very witty, Timmy. The Spurs haven’t seen a high draft number since another guy, named Timmy, came aboard.

    All credit due to the talent hunters in the front office: RC, Pop, and whoever else I’m missing.

    It’s hard to tell if the team will compete at the highest levels from this point on, but the efforts of the players are matched by the efforts of the staff and owner. That keeps me yelling, “GO SPURS GO!” Even in La La land.

  • ThatBigGuy

    Wow, did no one catch the satirical nature of this post?

    Anyone?

    Nice job Varner, kudos.

  • Hobson13

    Lenneezz
    July 12th, 2010 at 8:12 pm

    Good post. If you look at the Lakers, Celtics, and Magic, none of those teams have the youth the Spurs currently do with Hill, Blair, Splitter, Anderson, Temple, Gee, and Hairston. I’m sure one the last three will not be a serious contributor, but the fact still remains that the Spurs will have numerous younger players that will be called upon to contribute. The Spurs probably don’t have the same talent that those three teams possess, but how much better can guys like Gasol, Odom, Bryant, Garnett, Allen, Pierce, Carter, Howard, etc. get? These guys are great players, but they are known quantities. The youngsters on our team, on the other hand, can improve greatly in just a year’s period of time.

    Much will depend on Pop and co. abilities to develop and integrate our young talent. This will be an exciting year to see just what we have in the way of young talent. One thing is for sure, no one will be able to say our team is too old or over the hill. Go Spurs!!

  • SpursfanSteve

    Hobson, I agree with everything but your last sentence. Be ready for everyone in the media to once again declare us too old and over the hill. They won’t change their tune until our current big 3 is long gone, at least most of them. Hollinger will probably wisen up, but mainstream TV pundits will never get over it.

  • SpursfanSteve

    And yes, i caught the satirical nature of the post (great job Tim), i just thought it was obvious enough that it didnt need to be spelled out. The commenters here at 48MoH are so intelligent (most of them, anyway) i thought they’d notice without any extra pointing.

    Also, for the most part, Graydon has been the sarcastic one. Way to steal his thunder :)

  • Bito

    @ThatBigGuy

    Everyone caught it…that’s why there wasn’t any need for anyone to point it out.

  • http://48minutesofhell.com Andrew A. McNeill

    Love it.

  • Gary

    never ever, please, forget about pick 28 & 57

    picking is our absolute force

  • ChillFAN

    Great Post. The Hill Pick will go down in Spurs lore in the same “Can you believe…” sentences as Manu and Parker, but dont forget that the 20-picks-later Dragic is the real deal, too.

    Before we bow to the FO yet again, remember Splitter was drafted with Carl Landry and Big Baby Davis on the board. They’ve been productive for years. Splitter needs to go beyond good to great to justify lost time.

    Finally, I’ll be very surprised if James Anderson escapes Austin this year.

  • DaveMan77

    I like the spurs’ f.o. they have a plan a stick to it. They realize u can’t just build a team overnight. If you look at last years moves combined with this years moves combined with the developement of the youngsters the Spurs look pretty good for next year. You gotta give it up Pop and R.C. see the whole picture. Not to mention they have still been able to keep the big 3 together for a long time.

  • Martin

    Great post~ I like the Spurs because we actually “build” the team through wise draft decisions.

  • ChillFAN

    Insane. No offense, but year-to-year the bottom of first round and all of the second round is practically nobodies. Here’s how the Spurs find championship pieces among nothing….

    1999, late in round 1, nobodies
    late round 2, Ginobili, championship piece
    2000, trade round 1 for Kerr, championship piece
    round 2, nobodies
    2001, late in round 1, Parker, championship piece
    round 2, nobodies
    2002, trade rd 1 for Claxton, championship piece
    round 2, LUIS SCOLA (will Nando de Colo make up for this loss? probably not)
    2003, trade rd 1 for Nazr Mohammad, championship piece (also 2006)
    round 2, nobodies
    2004, rd 1 Udrich, championship piece
    round 2, nobodies
    2005, rd 1 SWING AND A MISS WITH IAN (should have picked up David Lee, Marc Gasol, Brandon Bass or Turiaf)
    round 2, nobodies
    2006, traded rd 1 for Nazr, but technically nobodies at end of Round 1 and in round 2

    If your scoring at home, thats 8 years where the average front office would have drafted (and actually did get) 8 nobodies, Spurs get 6 championship pieces,
    and 1-1/2 missteps (Ian and not keeping Scola)

    2007, Splitter, rd 2 trade up next year
    2008, Hill, rd 2 trade up for next year, get Hairston and Gist
    2009, rd 1 trade for Kurt Thomas when it could have turned into Beubois (miss?), and 2007-2008 trades become DeJuan Blair! 2009 late in 2nd, nobodies.

    Splitter Hill Blair, championship pieces?

  • Manolo Pedralvez

    With George Hill in the mix, the Spurs may have a fearsome foursome, now with a European League-seasoned Tiago Splitter in tow, perhaps even a fab five.
    Even with Ian Mahinmi gone, this time now still has enough big - and fresh, and young, and ABLE - bodies to contend with the big boys of Western Conference: oh yes, the LA Lakers.
    For all the hoopla in the East, the NBA powers are still in the West.

  • mla2131

    Nice work.

  • ThatBigGuy

    Extrapolating the obvious continues the joke. Sheesh.

    Where have bigballs and BallHog been recently? They probably got tired of beating the Scola dead horse and wisened up to the fact that this FO has done an amazing job of drafting and developing players from the end of the 1st round and in the 2nd.

    Only the Lakers have won championships as far apart as the Spurs (with mostly the same core of players), but they had a streak of seasons where they only won 34, 45, and 42 games, which netted them Bynum and Farmar. Oh yeah, let’s not forget the Gasol travesty.

    The point is, no other FO has consistently had as bad of picks (draft position-wise), yet we’re still churning out 50 win seasons. It’s nice to see that most of us are in agreement on that fact.

  • LasEspuelas

    ChilFAN,
    2005 was specially painful with Ian. We missed on so far more productive players like Bass, Lee, Monta, Gomes, Gortat, Blatche and Ilyasova. However, Marc Gasol was drafted several years later.

  • DorieStreet

    Let’s not get carried away with annoiting the Spurs’ FO as draft gurus. Eariler on in the decade- yes. But until we picked up Hill 2 summers ago and Blair last summer, the team’s roster mostly consisted of trade & free agent aquistions since the ’03 championship season. After Parker & Ginobili (a long time ago), only Beno Udrih from the ’04 draft had stuck and contributed to the franchise’s success.

  • Bentley

    Manolo Pedralvez,

    “Even with Ian Mahinmi gone, this time now still has enough big – and fresh, and young, and ABLE – bodies to contend with the big boys of Western Conference: oh yes, the LA Lakers.”

    No we dont, on paper they’re Bynum, Gasol, Odom frontline still trumps ours. I think our best legitimate frontcourt pieces would be Duncan and Splitter. So in my view we need another lengthy 7 footer(or close) to throw at LA if we will be truly want to be able to compete with able to compete with their frontline.

    Shaq anybody? haha just kidding.

  • Louis

    The Lakers won because Kobe willed them there.

    Odom was not a major factor

    Gasol had his moments but was in the same boat as well for much of the playoffs

    Bynum was not a real factor this year with his health problems.

    If those guys come back right next year then maybe they are - but they are getting older-we are getting younger and will continue to do so in the next two or 3 drafts.

  • SpursfanSteve

    You can’t beat the lakers matching up strength for strength. not possible. You need to be able to exploit their weaknesses, meaning you need excellent guard play. To win against LA, all the Spurs need to do is body up on Defense, and box out.

  • rob

    It’s exciting to be excited about the expectations. But at this moment…that’s all it is…expectations.

    I predict it will be a better team than last years when the Spurs rolled into (and abruptly out of) the 2nd round of the playoffs.

    But make no mistake…though these draft picks were great acquisitions on paper…they have not proven to get past the second round of a playoff series.

    Time will tell. I’m more cautiously optimistic at this point and on board for hoping for the best and better outcome than last year.

    Another prototypical, proven SF is needed IMO. And that’s if the team keeps RJ.

    But from what I saw of Temple last year made me hope even more. From that standpoint the Spurs will be loaded with quality guards for next season.

    The front court definately got bolstered with the signing of Splitter. And Blair should be (not necessarily “more” productive than last year) but more so consistant and reliable to play longer minutes.

    Again…as last year…I think it’s all going to come down to our wing production at the SF position that is going to make or break this team next season. And I firmly believe the lack of consistent defense as well as perimeter shooting from that position last year was this team’s achiles heel.

  • rob

    Adding to my comment a question….Can the Spurs afford to “wait” for a SF draft pick that would help Duncan and this team to another ring in the next 2 years?

  • TheWK

    Good post…
    Anderson is from Junction City Arkansas though, not OKC. He went to Oklahoma State but that’s in Stillwater.

  • Manolo Pedralvez

    Odom is off-and-on, Bynum was hobbled, although monstrous when fit, while the versatile and brilliant Gasol is the only constant on that frontline.
    But all of these is just speculation until we see all of them on the floor playing. Still, the Spurs in the paint are not cannon fodder anymore.

  • Timmy the Spur

    Nice piece and agreed, great drafting, but it all falls apart as Duncan declines. To continue this amazing run, you must have an absolute SuperStar!

    The greatest thing that ever happened to the Spurs was David Robinson’s 96-97 injury!

    To create a Dynasty, we need another stroke of amazing luck OR possibly a savvy FO move to lure the next Tim Duncan to play with the compliment of great draftees.