See, I didn't say they were bad in that regard, I only said they were trash (which can be interpreted in a multitude of ways) because they didn't want Lonzo and Hart, instead opting for DeRozan and Poeltl. Seems to me like a short-sighted move to keep Popovich's playoff streak alive rather than looking into the future.
In the following comment, I mentioned they were overrated because people rate them based on their lucky drafts dating back almost two decades, which they 100% are. And no, it's not the Spurs' fault they're overrated. Imagine if I were to say the Lakers are really well run and draft super well because of their foresight to trade for the Jazz and Cleveland picks that landed them Magic Johnson and James Worthy almost forty years ago.
But anyway, I’ll start from the 1994 draft, Gregg Popovich’s first draft as GM and VP of Basketball Operations of the Spurs.
1994 #22 Bill Curley: traded a month later for Sean Elliott.
Who they could’ve taken: Wesley Person (#23), Charlie Ward (#26), Howard Eisley (#30). Admittedly I don’t know these guys and merely looked at how long they were in the league. I don’t know if their plan from the beginning was to get Sean Elliott back, so maybe there was a pre-arranged deal.
1995 #29 Cory Alexander: waived midway through his third season, never made an impact on the league.
Who they could’ve taken: Andrew DeClercg (#34), Eric Snow (#43).
1997 #1 Tim Duncan: no comment required.
1998 #24 Felipe Lopez: traded for Antonio Daniels, who made no impact.
1998 #52 Derrick Dal: played 2 seasons, made no impact.
Who they could’ve taken: Al Harrington (#25), Nazr Mohammed (#29), Ruben Patterson (#31), Rashard Lewis (#32), Rafer Alston (#39), Cuttino Mobley (#41)
1999 #29 Leon Smith: traded on draft night for Gordan Giricek, who played 15 NBA games.
1999 #57 Manu Ginobili: no comment required.
Question: if they were legit about Ginobili, why take him 57th overall when they could’ve had him at 29th? Instead they drafted Leon Smith with the 29th pick and traded him immediately for a guy they eventually flipped (without ever playing a game for them) for another 2nd rounder used to select Romain Sato, who never played in an NBA game. Seems more likely they lucked out on Ginobili if we’re being honest.
2000 #41 Chris Carrawell: never played a game.
2000 #54 Cory Hightower: never played a game.
Who they could’ve taken: Michael Redd (#43), Brian Cardinal (#44)
2001 #28 Tony Parker: no comment required.
2001 #56 Robertas Javtokas: never played a game.
2001 #58 Bryan Bracey: never played a game.
Who they could’ve taken: Maurice Evans (undrafted), Jamario Moon (undrafted), Andres Nocioni (undrafted)
2002 #26 John Salmons: traded on draft night with Randy Holcomb for Speedy Claxton, who made no impact.
2002 #56 Luis Scola: never played a game for the Spurs, eventually traded to the Rockets for Vassilic Spanoulis and a 2009 2nd rounder (Nando De Colo).
2002 #57 Randy Holcomb: traded on draft night with John Salmons for Speedy Claxton, who made no impact.
Who they could’ve taken: John Salmons (#26), Carlos Boozer (#35), Matt Barnes (#46), Rasual Butler (#53), Jannero Pargo (undrafted), Reggie Evans (undrafted), Udonis Haslem (undrafted)
So, of Gregg Popovich’s 15 picks, we have:
10 never played a game for them (66.7%), of which 4 never played in the NBA.
2 played fewer than 3 seasons for them (13.3%).
3 ended up forming one of the greatest trios in NBA history (20%), though one was a number one pick (Duncan), one was more likely to have been dumb luck (Ginobili), and one might actually be good scouting (Parker), though he did cheat on his wife with his teammate’s wife.
Obviously you can make the argument that the 3 picks Popovich nailed grants him immunity from any misses that he had, but imagine if he had hit on some of those picks too. A 20% hit rate seems really low for someone with Popovich’s reputation, though. Guess that’s why he passed his GM duties onto R.C. Buford.
THE R.C. BUFORD ERA
2003 #28 Leandro Barbosa: traded on draft night to the Phoenix Suns for a 2005 first rounder (subsequently traded to the New York Knicks who selected David Lee).
Who they could've taken: Leandro Barbosa (#28), Josh Howard (#29), Steve Blake (#38), Mo Williams (#47), Kyle Korver (#51)
2004 #28 Beno Udrih: played as a backup before being traded with cash after his 3rd year to Minnesota for a 2008 top-57 protected pick, where he was waived and signed with the Kings instead.
2004 #52 Romain Sato: never played a game.
2004 #57 Sergei Karaulov: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Anderson Varejao (#30), Trevor Ariza (#43), okay this was a weak draft.
2005 #28 Ian Mahinmi: played 32 games total in three seasons for the Spurs before becoming a free agent and joining the Dallas Mavericks.
Who they could've taken: David Lee (#30), Brandon Bass (#33), C.J. Miles (#34), Ersan Ilyasova (#36), Monta Ellis (#40), Lou Williams (#45), Amir Johnson (#56), Marcin Gortat (#57)
2006 #59 Damir Markota: traded on draft night to the Milwaukee Bucks for a 2007 second rounder (Marcus Williams was selected).
Who they could've taken: Lou Amundson (undrafted), JJ Barea (undrafted), CJ Watson (undrafted)
2007 #28 Tiago Splitter: finally signed with the Spurs in 2010 and played five seasons there. At last, we've found someone who actually put in decent minutes for them.
2007 #33 Marcus Williams: played one game for the Spurs before getting waived.
2007 #58 Giorgos Printezis: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Marc Gasol (#48), Ramon Sessions (#56), Joel Anthony (undrafted), Gary Neal (undrafted), Mirza Teletovic (undrafted), Anthony Tolliver (undrafted)
2008 #26 George Hill: mainly played backup in his three seasons as a Spur but put in good minutes and solid production. Eventually traded for the pick that turned out to be Kawhi Leonard.
2008 #45 Goran Dragic: oh look, an All Star! Oh wait, he was traded on draft night to the Phoenix Suns for Malik Hairston (a grand total of 62 games in 2 seasons for the Spurs and never made it to another NBA team), cash, and a 2009 second rounder (DeJuan Blair was selected).
2008 #57 James Gist: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: DeAndre Jordan (#35), Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (#37), Goran Dragic (#45), Anthony Morrow (undrafted), Timofey Mozgov (undrafted)
2009 #37 DeJuan Blair: 4 seasons as a bench player for the Spurs, only lasted a total of 7 seasons in the league and was quickly forgotten about.
2009 #51 Jack McClinton: never played a game.
2009 #53 Nando de Colo: eventually signed with the Spurs in 2012 and lasted one and a half seasons before being traded to the Toronto Raptors for Austin Daye. Never saw meaningful minutes with the Raptors.
Who they could've taken: Jodie Meeks (#41), Patrick Beverley (#42), Danny Green (#46), Aron Baynes (undrafted), Joe Ingles (undrafted), Wesley Matthews (undrafted)
2010 #20 James Anderson: played about two and a half seasons with the Spurs, never made an impact.
2010 #49 Ryan Richards: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Hassan Whiteside (#33), Lance Stephenson (#40), Boban Marjanovic (undrafted), Jeremy Lin (undrafted), Alexey Shved (undrafted)
2011 #29 Cory Joseph: played four seasons with the Spurs, cracking the rotation in his third season but didn't get an extension. Eventually signed with the Toronto Raptors and later traded to the Indiana Pacers for Emir Preldzic in a salary dump so they could sign C.J. Miles.
2011 #59 Adam Hanga: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Isaiah Thomas (#60), Justin Holiday (undrafted)
2012 #59 Marcus Denmon: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Kent Bazemore (undrafted), Jonathon Simmons (undrafted)
2013 #28 Livio Jean-Charles: never played a game.
2013 #58 Deshaun Thomas: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Allen Crabbe (#31), Ian Clark (undrafted), Robert Covington (undrafted), Seth Curry (undrafted), Dewayne Dedmon (undrafted), Matthew Dellavedova (undrafted)
2014 #30 Kyle Anderson: played four seasons with the Spurs but only really saw more minutes in the fourth season. Signed with the Memphis Grizzlies this summer.
2014 #58 Jordan McRae: traded on draft night to the Philadelphia 76ers for Nemanja Dangubic, who has yet to play a game.
2014 #60 Cory Jefferson: traded on draft night to the Brooklyn Nets for cash.
Who they could've taken: Nikola Jokic (#41), Jordan Clarkson (#46), Tarik Black (undrafted), Langston Galloway (undrafted), Sean Kilpatrick (undrafted), Travis Wear (undrafted)
2015 #26 Nikola Milutinov: never played a game.
2015 #55 Cady Lalanne: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Larry Nance Jr. (#27), Kevon Looney (#30), TJ McConnell (undrafted)
2016 #29 Dejounte Murray: it's been a while since we got a decent player. Looked promising this past season but the verdict is still out.
Who they could've taken: I'll give them a pass because he does look promising. Other players in the draft include Malcolm Brogdon (#36), Patrick McCaw (#38), Yogi Ferrell (undrafted), David Nwaba (undrafted), Fred VanVleet (undrafted)
2017 #29 Derrick White: played 17 games as a backup, bounced between the NBA and G-League.
2017 #59 Jaron Blossomgame: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Josh Hart (#30), Semi Ojeleye (#37), Jordan Bell (#38), Dillon Brooks (#45)
2018 #18 Lonnie Walker
2018 #49 Chimezie Metu
30 picks between 2003 and 2017 for R.C. Buford:
13 never played in an NBA game (43.3%)
5 were traded on draft night (16.7%)
5 played fewer than four seasons for them (16.7%)
3 played four seasons for them (10%)
1 played one game for them (3.3%)
1 played five seasons for them, already longest tenured! (3.3%)
2 just finished their rookie/sophomore season so we'll hold judgment. (6.7%)
So that begs the question: do they really have some of the best scouts, or did they just hit the jackpot with a 1st overall pick, lucked out on a late 2nd rounder, while really only relied one their scouting for one pick that turned out to be Tony Parker? And fine, I'll throw in Kawhi Leonard in there because it was a draft night trade. But then what about all the serviceable players they passed on or drafted then traded on draft night? Why don't we give the team that robbed the Spurs of those players any credit? Instead we bank on the reputation built on three picks from almost two decades ago.
The Spurs remained relatively successful because Orlando screwed their free agent meeting with Tim Duncan, and I say relatively because they never even repeated. Once you have that, you can legit just plug in role players who know their role, and I give Popovich credit for being able to maximize talent. Kind of like having Steph, Klay, Dray, then filling in the rest.
There are different ways to run a front office and build a team. The Spurs, for the most part, relied on tanking and luck to draft Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili. I just hope 20 years later you'll still be giving Golden State credit for the way they're run because they managed to snag Steph, Klay, and Dray.
