1. Livio suffered a torn ACL that probably changed the course of his career. We've had a few draft picks like that in my time as a Spurs fan. James Anderson and Robertas "Dunked on a 12-foot Rim" Javtokas (who still had a long, successful professional career in Europe even after destroying his leg in a motorcycle accident and might have been an amazing frontcourt partner for TD during his prime) come to mind.
2. The FO went with a draft-and-stash choice in Milutinov because they wanted to maximize cap space to sign LaMarcus.
3. The attitude and motor questions were there from the beginning with Luka, but as an ideal power forward in today's NBA from a physical (and potential skills) standpoint, he was a reasonable gamble. I don't think they'll take that kind of risk with a first-round pick again, though. To paraphrase Pop: you can't change people; you can only try to bring out the best in them.
A little context for those bad picks:
1. Livio suffered a torn ACL that probably changed the course of his career. We've had a few draft picks like that in my time as a Spurs fan. James Anderson and Robertas "Dunked on a 12-foot Rim" Javtokas (who still had a long, successful professional career in Europe even after destroying his leg in a motorcycle accident and might have been an amazing frontcourt partner for TD during his prime) come to mind.
2. The FO went with a draft-and-stash choice in Milutinov because they wanted to maximize cap space to sign LaMarcus.
3. The attitude and motor questions were there from the beginning with Luka, but as an ideal power forward in today's NBA from a physical (and potential skills) standpoint, he was a reasonable gamble. I don't think they'll take that kind of risk with a first-round pick again, though. To paraphrase Pop: you can't change people; you can only try to bring out the best in them.