Spurs included in best and worst summer moves by NBA execs

Whether you liked every move or not, you can't deny the San Antonio Spurs made a lot of them this summer. Their leading scorer was shipped out, two beloved vets signed elsewhere, and shooting and potential were prioritized in free agency.

I previously gave each transaction a grade soon after the dust settled and my opinion hasn't changed. General Manager Brian Wright and the Spurs' front office had a very solid summer considering what we've come to expect of them in recent years.

The message after last year was clear: the team needed a legitimate direction. Given that a superstar or even potential star piece predictably didn't seem interested in venturing to the Alamo City, a rebuild was the only choice. With the moves they made, the Spurs were able to set themselves up for a bright future while also retaining their young nucleus.

The biggest move San Antonio made this summer was their sign-and-trade of DeMar DeRozan to the Chicago Bulls for Al-Farouq Aminu, Thaddeus Young, a future first-round pick, and two future second-round picks. It was undoubtedly a win by San Antonio by all accounts, as there was a good chance DeMar would've walked for nothing if no deal was reached.

ESPN's Kevin Pelton said as much in an early-August insider article grading the deal (subscription required). Giving the Spurs a B+ in the trade, Pelton called their return in the deal "a strong outcome", agreeing that bringing back DeRozan wouldn't have made sense in any capacity. He also made the case that Young was about as valuable toward wins as DeRozan was last season using metrics like WARP and RAPTOR.

The San Antonio Spurs make both best and worst offseason moves list

More recently, Tim Bontemps released his survey (subscription required) of 10 NBA executives and scouts, with offseason moves being some of the questions posed. The way the Bulls acquired DeRozan from the Spurs was tied for the most votes as the worst move of the offseason, stating Chicago gave up valuable assets and too much money for the signing.

Meanwhile, the signing of Doug McDermott also received one vote on the survey as the worst move of the offseason. Although it only received one vote, I'm surprised the signing made it on the list at all.

While some may think that's an overpay at first glance, his $42 million contract over three years was right near his contract projection number provided by ProFitX, as reported by Project Spurs' Paul Garcia.

Considering how badly the Spurs needed to address shooting this summer, getting one of the best for his expected value isn't even close to being one of the worse choices a team made. Shooting is at a premium in today's NBA. I'd be surprised if McDermott didn't live up to his value when it's all said and done.