San Antonio Spurs GM R.C. Buford wins Executive of the Year
By Josh Hill
One of the more underrated awards in basketball is the NBA Executive of the Year award which honors the best front office in basketball and the man — or woman — running it. Everyone pays attention to the player awards but without the help of the general manager, there’s no saying that player would have had the season he did if the behind the scenes grunt work wasn’t hammered out.
Not only is the award underrated, but it was finally given to one of the more underrated general managers in basketball. San Antonio Spurs GM R.C. Buford was awarded the Executive of the Year Award for his work in crafting a Spurs team that seems to be unstoppable.
In winning the award, Buford joins the likes of Masai Ujiri, Larry Bird, Gar Forman and Pat Riley as a recipient of the award in recent history. All of those general managers are running teams that are playoff contenders with Ujiri winning last year for turning the Nuggets around but getting beat by Buford despite turning the Raptors around.
Buford doesn’t always get the love he deserves because he doesn’t make splashy moves but he’s shown that you don’t always need to and can be a title contender thanks to the move you don’t makes as opposed to the ones you do.