When it happened, to be honest, it almost felt unfair. There was no true reason that we should deserve it more than the others. It was simply the way that the chips fell, the way the cookie crumbled, the bounce of the ball.
Winning the lottery feels weird. Shortly after the euphoria wears off, in swells a sense of unbegotten fortune, along with a sense of other contenders angrily looking on. In a weird way, I very much understand why a Mega Millions winner would want to stay anonymous. To my very good friends who live in Michigan, I’m sorry it went this way. You should’ve beat Jordan for those titles when you could’ve, I guess.
Know When to Fold ‘Em
When the San Antonio Spurs traded Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks, I was actually in Atlanta. I was waiting to get my car unbooted after accidentally parking illegally all day. Now, I’d thought I would be okay, because when I pulled into the lot, a man handed me a ticket to put on my dash in exchange for $20. I returned to the car in the afternoon after a day of sightseeing to find not just a parking ticket, but a big yellow boot.
Perhaps this colored my thinking, but when I saw the trade happen, I immediately knew what the goal was. Everyone had been talking about the French Phenom for a year already, before we ever saw he and Scoot Henderson go head-to-head. But, I also understood that even having the worst record in the NBA only provides a 14% chance of pulling the first overall pick. I even hedged emotionally by not allowing myself to become too enamored with presumed-number-one-pick Victor Wembanyama. I joked with friends that he was Rudy Gobert with a shaky jumper. I will no longer be making those jokes.
Maybe it was indeed my circumstances that colored my opinion, but I felt as though a star two-way player in Dejounte was better than a 14% chance at someone who, at the end of the day, may not be an NBA star. At the time, I thought it a cowardly move. Was it a cowardly move? Was it a galaxy-brain long bet? History ultimately determines that based on the outcome.
Necessary Risk + A Little Luck = A New Era
In the end, I find it hard to blame the Spurs for making the decision that they did. There are many teams that get trapped in relative obscurity for a decade or so where they can’t quite get a top pick or make a playoff run. The Lakers and Heat runs in the 2023 Playoffs will make this calculus even harder for teams in the future, who will try and justify their teams’ abilities to accomplish a similar feat.
San Antonio faces another invisible enemy at all times – the market. This enemy creeps in quietly and has historically been scared off by keeping a ravenous fanbase enthused. The Spurs are one of the most successful small market teams out there, but several years of diminishing fan interest would be catastrophic in a way that many other teams need not fear.
The San Antonio Spurs have been in the NBA for 47 years as of June 2023. They have rostered 4 players in the top 60 of all-time NBA Win Shares, a statistic that attributes a portion of each win to a player with the most significant impact. For 38 of those 47 years in the NBA, they rostered: George Gervin (57th, 1977-85), David Robertson (16th, 1990-2003), Tim Duncan (7th, 1998-2016), LaMarcus Aldridge (58th, 2016-2020).
To my very good friends who live in Michigan, I’m sorry it went this way.
Going into an era without one of these stars could be as good as shipping the team to Seattle. In that regard, I understand why the GM would make a risky move. And at least this time, bravery wins.
Visions of Decorated Rafters
Now, with the first round of the Draft in the rearview, it is beginning to set in that my team had landed a potential generational talent. He is paired with the coach that made Tony Parker into an international sensation. Tim Duncan still comes around to work with the team. The Vibrant (see below) Jeremy Sochan gets to welcome him to the city and team, as another European-born Spur, and I’m looking forward to their budding bromance. There are visions of decorated rafters in my head, championships, retired jerseys, memories that a city and community will cherish.
Victor has said if he could choose any organization to go to, it would have been San Antonio, regardless of how the Lottery went. Serious NBA fans will have already seen the photo of Victor wearing a Tony Parker Spurs jersey as a child. Many French NBA fans grew up rooting for the Spurs, just as many Chinese fans grew up rooting for the Rockets, who’d employed their very tall ambassador, Yao Ming.
Will he be what he’s been billed as? Can anyone live up to those expectations? LeBron did, and exceeded them. San Antonio and the finest talent from France have been a potent solution in the past. It’s possible, and dang near likely, that when the NBA Top 100 list is released in 2048, Wembanyama will be on it – joining the other two Centers drafted first overall by the Spurs, who’ve already taken their place.
Now, we watch. And maybe campaign to get Damian Lillard.
Anti-Standom
Anti-Standom 