V2M ...
Did you know that the Spurs only had one summer where they had the ability to pursue a free agent at more than the MLE? That was the summer DRob retired - and their prize acquisition with all that cap room was Nesterovic.
Did you know that other than that one year, the Spurs have been over the cap - in many years FAR over the cap - in their player payroll?
Did you know that the Spurs were one of the few teams last year with a payroill so larget they had to pay tax?
They are not a bunch of magicians with a "low payroll" and a very good team - they have a big payroll and a very good team. Typical NBA payroll fare.
As to the prototypical financial model for today's NBA, I dont think there is only one workable concept.
Getting talent is hard. Getting one superstar is super hard. Getting more than one is double super hard. In today's NBA, what you have to do is avoid paying superstar money to players who arent superstars, and avoid paying "key player" money ($8-10M, perhaps) to guys who are MLE guys, and so on. You only have so much money to go around. Your financial model needs to reflect what talent you have and what you can add without overpaying individually or as a total.
|