Tag: San Antonio

T-Mac gets a tryout

Nearly eight years after Tracy McGrady beat the Spurs with this legendary , the former NBA scoring champ is now auditioning to join them.

The seven-time All-Star, still in search of a contract less than a month away from the start of training camps, worked out for team officials in San Antonio this week, .

McGrady, 33, is still looking for work after averaging a career-low 5.2 points in his lone season with Atlanta. As the Yahoo! report indicates, McGrady might soon have to decide whether to accept a make-good offer to join an NBA training camp this fall — the New York Knicks could be another option — or finish his career overseas.

It is not exactly clear how McGrady might fit into the Spurs plans. Though renowned earlier in his career as an elite scoring guard, the 6-foot-8 McGrady has found new life the past two seasons in Atlanta and Detroit filling the “savvy back-up point guard” role.

With the Spurs’ depth chart behind Tony Parker largely unsettled — Patrick Mills, Gary Neal and rookie Nando de Colo will all battle for time there — the notion of them taking a flier on someone such as McGrady isn’t totally out of the question.

He’d also likely fit into the payroll plans of the budget-conscious Spurs, having played last season with the Hawks for the veteran’s minimum of $854,398.

Spurs rank third in ESPN Ultimate Team Rankings

In what has become an annual tradition, the Spurs are once again ranked among the in America by ESPN.

With the distilled down to eight categories, the Spurs took third out of 122 franchises, trailing only Oklahoma City  and the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. They ranked first in four categories: Fan relations, ownership, players and coaching.

It marked San Antonio’s seventh top three finish since ESPN first began the rankings in 2003. The Spurs were named No. 1 in 2004 and 2006, and have never finished lower than ninth. Indeed, according to team spokesman Tom James, they are the only franchise to finish in the Top 10 all 10 years.

NBA ties map out Spurs’ success

  • Buford has had to restock the Spurs’ staff, an annual summer activity as rivals raid the team’s non-player talent.A month ago, the Utah Jazz hired assistant GM Dennis Lindsey to run their team. Danny Ferry departed for the Atlanta Hawks in July.Two Spurs’ assistant coaches also left, with Jacque Vaughn becoming Orlando’s coach and Don Newman hired as the Wizards’ top assistant.Recognition by a magazine that concocted its own arcane measure of franchise success — the “ultimate franchise” — was little more than an afterthought in Buford’s crowded day.

    “I’m not sure what it means,” he said. “The most important takeaway is that we have a great relationship in our organization with our players and fans and community. The support that brings to us makes this a unique environment to play in, to work in and to go to games in.”

    It also has made the organization built by Buford, coach and team president Gregg Popovich and owner Peter Holt a desired training ground for those who hope to one day run their own bench or front office.

    Eleven NBA teams have either a head coach or general manager, or both, with strong Spurs ties.

    “It speaks to the quality of people we’ve been fortunate to have in our program and it starts with our players,” Buford said, “Nothing happens without the commitment from our ownership and our players.

    “Through that we’ve been able to attract outstanding people and it’s gratifying to see them recognized for their abilities and have opportunities to reach goals they’ve set for themselves.”

    Sam Presti worked for the Spurs for seven seasons before becoming the NBA’s youngest general manager in 2007. No team has emulated the “Spurs’ way” more than Presti’s Thunder — and that includes getting lucky in the draft.

    Oklahoma City was No. 1 in ESPN’s rankings for 2012, and Presti knows what he learned in San Antonio helped him get the Thunder there.

    “Many people strive to sustain success in our business, but what the Spurs have done is sustain excellence,” he said. “Pop and RC, with the support of Mr. Holt, have created an infrastructure that has afforded many of us tremendous learning and development opportunities.

    “It is important to acknowledge that they generally have an even more profound impact on their people on a personal level than simply professionally. I suppose that somewhere within that concept is where the line between sustaining success and sustaining excellence resides.”

    That profound impact the Spurs have on those who come through the organization is what allowed Buford to position the Spurs for the future late last season while also putting them in position for a fifth title run.

    Could any other elite team in the league have traded for Stephen Jackson last March without fear had it not already had a previous — and positive — experience with the mercurial swingman?

    These are the kinds of organizational advantages throughout the years that led to the Spurs being named “Team of the Decade.”

    But what is that worth? The NFL’s Dallas Cowboys were 89th in last week’s rankings, but they are second in Forbes Magazine’s valuation of sports franchises, with a net worth of $2.1 billion.

    Forbes estimates the Spurs are worth $418 million.

    Would Holt give up his four Larry O’Brien Trophies for Jones’ bank account?

    Maybe not.

    But would Jones give up his account for being designated as the ultimate franchise around?

    Certainly not.

    To be recognized as a great franchise is always nice, no matter how contrived. But so is being a rich one.

    As Jerry might say of the Forbes’ valuation: You can take that to the bank.

    mikemonroe@express-news.net
    Twitter: @Monroe_SA

    Slideshow: Popovich vs. The Refs














































































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