An ominous notion for all those people watching Paul Allen’s bottom line
Johnny Ludden at Yahoo sports has a nice piece with Gregg Popovich talking about the Spurs’ upgrades this summer. “Pop” talks about knowing that to stay competitive, the Spurs needed to add to their mix. And they knew, too, it was going to be expensive:
The Spurs will pay for that right. For years, the franchise had remained, in Popovich’s words, “frugal.” In those rare seasons when the Spurs crossed the luxury-tax threshold, they did so only modestly. This season, their $80 million payroll could rank among the five highest in the NBA. If it isn’t reduced by season’s end, they will pay close to another $10 million in tax – a stunning jump for one of the league’s smallest markets.
“We’ve always wanted to compete, and the environment in the NBA allowed a team like us to do so,” Popovich said. “If you wanted to work at having a shot at winning the championship and still be under the tax, it could be done.
“But the way the talent has shifted in the league, it’s almost impossible to do that now.”
Indeed, the gap between the haves and have-nots is expanding rapidly in the NBA. A league that has always prided itself on a salary-cap system that allowed all teams at least a chance to compete, is falling prey to the economy — where a great many of the small-market teams, or the teams with owners in failing outside businesses, are big sellers rather than buyers.
And the day is coming soon when Portland’s going to be facing big luxury-tax decisions, too. In the past, it hasn’t bothered Paul Allen one bit. It will be interesting to see, moving forward, if any of that has changed.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | August 9, 2009
Dwight Jaynes, Gregg Popovich, Johnny Ludden, NBA luxury tax, Paul Allen, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs
Having Tim Duncan for 12 years makes a front office look pretty good. They also won the lottery with David Robinson.
Yes, they’ve never overspent. And their ability to get really good players at the bottom of the first round is astonishing.
But I think the Spurs organization gets way too much credit for being shrewd when really, they just happened to get very lucky and win the lottery twice, in years when the top picks were HOF centers and not Pervis Ellison or Michael Olowokandi.
You don’t win four championships over nine years by being lucky. There was some luck involved but Duncan and Robinson didn’t guarantee that kind of a run. They have made a multitude of good decisions over the past 10-15 years to reach the top and then keep their team in contention. They have paid the right players and let some players go that from the outside looked like they might be bad moves, but ended up being the right ones.
I didn’t say they won the titles because they were lucky. I said they won the titles because of Duncan.
And Poppavich. Let’s face it, Poppavich is prob the best in the game.
OK…but Duncan doesn’t win those championships without a team and the Spurs organization recognized what they needed to put around Duncan to win and went out and got what they needed. There are many great players that don’t win titles.
Duncan’s been All NBA and All Defense for every season he’s been in the league. So if you’re comparing him to Barkley or Malone, that argument doesn’t hold up. He was Finals MVP 3 times, something only Jordan, Shaq and Magic can match.
We’ll see how many titles Holt/Buford win when Duncan retires, Pop or no Pop. Don’t forget that both those guys were there (with David Robinson) for a handful of years before Duncan arrived. Zero titles pre-Duncan.
Next summer will be quite interesting. What will Oden do this year to prove his worth? What will the Blazers be willing to pay him? What will he be willing to accept if it is in fact less than the max? They could have $35-$40 million wrapped up in 3 players in 2 years. It is a much better problem to have than looking at paying Miles and Randolph big money and after a year or two hoping you could somehow unload them.
Oden could do KP a big favor and makes sure that his break out season is this one that way negotiations won’t be as difficult next summer.
Won’t happen with Oden.
This is why Nate HAS to start Oden and play him as many minutes as possible this year. Let him foul out of every game. Keep him in with 2 in the first quarter or 4 in the second half. We’ve got to see what’s there so we can make an educated decision on whether or not he’s worth that money.
I am not too concerned about Paul Allen being willing to spend to build a championship caliber team. Allen seems to be genuinely involved and proud of his team again. Paul Allen has proven when he is motivated he steps up and will do what needs done. I think he has learned that simply spending alone won’t get it done. As long as the character of the organizations is strong and the caliber of the team is playoff competitive the fans base will be there. The Blazers may be a small market but one advantage they have is Paul Allen is not.
As for the theory of the league trending towards more of a have and have nots system. I reject that. I don’t think that is any more the case now than it has ever been. The Spurs case shows that as much as it shows any trend. The Spurs were not the team they once were. Their competitive edge was trending downward as much as the economy.
“Our renewals just died after the first round,” Holt said, “and they stayed dead for a while.”
They fell off 11 percent from the previous year. Sure I get that the economy played a part in that. Their tickets sales also showed an immediate and significant spike back upwards after the trade deal for Jefferson was made. That tells me is in this tough economy it is imperative that an organization has a strong product and competitive team on the floor. In these tough times few are going to pay good money for a bad team The Spurs are a small market but their fans base is strong cuz their team remains competitive. A lot of small market teams like Milwaukee, Memphis are struggling for a fan base cuz their organizations are small time more than a small market fan base. Their trading away of their top talent only exacerbates their apathetic fan base. In this current economy it is more imperative than ever that a small market team has a competitive product. The league have nots are all pretty much the same as they’ve always been. Milwaukee, Memphis, Golden State, New York(which is certainly not small market) the haves being the Lakers, Celts, San Antonio. The gulf between may be growing wider; however the reasons for the gulf are ever much the same. The economy is going to exacerbate the gulf but the old adage of crap in crap out remains.
I know its just preseason but Im readdy for some football.
Things have changed in ten years. Put it on Trader Bob or not. But it has. Vulcan is carrying a bigger stick and more power than I would have ever imagined. Before this July 1st, I was very confident that Paul Allen was an owner that would pay what he would have to, to keep this team together. Now, I’m not so sure. He is being hammered on and is being deeply impressioned by a group of nerds in Seattle. His sis being one of them.
If it was up to Allen, he would prob pay without a second guess. But after wathing the Brandon Roy negotiations go down. I’m not sure it’s just Paul Allen making the final decisions. It’s he and his group of Vulcans.
Since when is the 7th largest city in the United States a “Small Market.” I’m sick of people calling San Antonio small market, HELLO they have 1.3 MILLION people. They’re not a small market. That’s the NBA putting that into people’s heads so they can fall back on the fact that “hey a small market team has won a title, look at San Antonio.” Problem is they’re a HUGE market. What a joke.
Very true. Just go look up the statistics online. I think they are in the top ten.
That is an interesting and somewhat surprising stat. I would have never guessed SA was top 10 let alone 7. The Wikipedia shows it true tho. Maybe that is just a response more to the size SA was when they got the Spurs as to what they are now? Another surprise. I never would have guess. Spokane@104, is actually bigger than Salt Lake@125. On my job I travel all these cities too. Perception is bigger than reality?
More than the city is being considered. It’s the suburbs and outlining areas. I think Tri Cities is considered to be part of the Spokane market in those stats.
Maybe but I dunno. If that was the case Salty would get the whole of the Wasatch valley. Ogden to Provo and everything in between. No way Spokane and Tri Cities would be larger than that.
According to Arbitron, San Antonio is the 31st largest media market….right behind Salt Lake City(30) and right ahead of Kansas City(32).
The 7th largest market is Atlanta.
Portland, btw, is 23rd.
I’ve never been to San Antonio but I’ve always had a question.
The San Antonio River Walk: Awesome or Lame?
It is going to cost the Blazers to sign Aldridge and Oden. We know our ticket prices are going to go up. But that is the way it is if we are going to make a run at a championship. It will be worth it. The key for the Blazers is paying the big bucks to right players. No more Randolphs, Miles and Kemps.
Paul Allen is going to have to spend. B-Roy is great but he is the kind of player that needs 2 or 3 other greats to win it all. To me the hopes of a championship hinge on Paul’s wallet…. come on Uncle Paul!