Daryl Morey Drama Makes Spurs Grateful for R.C. Buford
SAN ANTONIO - The San Antonio Spurs are fortunate to have one of the best front offices in basketball, and one of the most consistent leaders in R.C. Buford.
Buford has been with the organization since 1988 and has served as team president, general manager and CEO. He's been a constant in the Spurs' five championship runs and remains a key part of the organization.
He's built a no-drama, no non-sense culture, and that has earned the respect of many, if not everybody, in the NBA and the sports world.
When drama outside the Spurs organization comes about, like Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden calling his own team president Daryl Morey a "liar," it makes the Spurs fortunate.
For years I've argued that Morey was one of the most overrated general managers in the NBA if not American pro sports. For a man with a degree from the Sloan School of Management at MIT he sure didn't seem to value culture like the Spurs do. Morey should have studied chemistry while he was at that prestigious school because his clubs have never had it.
During his time with the Houston Rockets, he built good teams, one that even went to Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, but they were never able to get over the hump. His final years in Houston seemed like a desperate attempt to reclaim what it had during Harden's MVP campaign in 2018, but it ultimately fell short.
Now, his tenure with the Sixers seems like the same old story ... and his chemistry with Harden appears dead as the two head for what appears to be a very bitter divorce.
Harden and Morey have built quite the partnership in the NBA. Very rarely does a front office official trade for the same player twice, but now this decade-long duo looks like bitter exes.
That makes Buford's 35-year relationship with the Spurs that much more remarkable.
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