The New York Times doesn’t come to mind when one thinks of sports writing, let alone coverage of the NBA. When it comes to pro basketball, the Times is very much a regional paper, favoring stories about the Knicks and Nets first and foremost.
Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised by Howard Beck’s NBA Preview (“Adding Powerful Talent, Top Teams Flex Muscles”) in today’s paper. While it claims to be a league preview, Beck’s primary focus is on our favorite team.
On June 23, Richard Jefferson, a standout forward who averaged 19.6 points last season, was traded from Milwaukee to San Antonio for a package of nominal players. The Bucks’ decision was mostly financial — they had to shed Jefferson’s $14.2 million salary to avoid paying the luxury tax. The Spurs’ decision was purely competitive — they needed Jefferson’s talents to help win a championship.
When the accounting was complete, Jefferson found himself surrounded by All-Stars and championship rings, nestled in a lineup featuring Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
“Basketball heaven,” Jefferson said after practice last week in San Antonio.
The deal energized Jefferson and instantly revitalized the Spurs dynasty, which had grown creaky. It served as another stinging setback for the Bucks. And it symbolized a potentially troubling new trend for the N.B.A., which opens its season Tuesday night.
This is the year the rich got richer, while nearly everyone else gave up.
Having obtained Jefferson, the Spurs then signed Antonio McDyess, Keith Bogans and Theo Ratliff, giving them a fantastically deep bench.
Team executives said they could not recall a summer quite like this, as every elite team added elite talent.
No one doubts the significance of the trend, the Spurs included. “I think it’s something that the powers that be in the league have noticed,” said Gregg Popovich, the Spurs’ coach and team president.
The most important statistic this season may not be shooting efficiency or rebounding rate but payroll size.
The Spurs are a fascinating, and revealing, case study. They are renowned as smart spenders, winning four titles since 1999 with a payroll that generally fell in the middle of the pack. They have exceeded the tax threshold three times, but by less than $1 million in each case. The Spurs built a dynasty by surrounding their stars with low-wage role players.
But the model no longer seemed viable after the Spurs — with injuries to Duncan and Ginobili — lost in the first round last spring. Team officials faced the realization that, even healthy, they no longer had enough talent to contend.
The trend perhaps began two seasons ago, when the Celtics obtained Garnett and Allen and the Lakers obtained Gasol. All were acquired in financially driven transactions. “All of a sudden, you couldn’t compete with two or three significant players anymore,” said R. C. Buford, the Spurs’ general manager. “You had to have a roster with at least four very significant players to even be competitive.”
Duncan is 33, and the franchise is determined to maximize his remaining years as an elite player. So the conservative Spurs joined the arms race.
“It’s out of character for us,” Duncan said. “But what is in character is them wanting to put a team together that’s going to have a chance to win.”
So Jefferson became a Spur, Shaq joined LeBron, Vince joined Dwight, and the gap between the talent-rich and the talent-poor grew into a grand canyon, almost overnight.
There are a few teams with great talent and more moderate payrolls: Portland, Atlanta and Denver. “But when you talk championship or bust, there’s only those five elite teams,” the ESPN commentator Jalen Rose said in reference to the Lakers, the Spurs, the Cavaliers, the Celtics and the Magic.
Is it a sign of things to come? A dangerous trend? Perhaps not. The Spurs, like the Magic and Cavaliers, are a small-market team. Popovich is the first to say that the new model is not sustainable.
“I don’t know if it’s a problem for the league,” he said, “but I think for a certain number of teams it’s going to be a flash in the pan.”
In the meantime, Jefferson will enjoy his little slice of heaven and go to sleep dreaming of championship rallies on the Riverwalk.
