Spurs GM R.C. Buford wins NBA Executive of the Year award

NEW YORK – San Antonio Spurs General Manager R.C. Buford has been named the 2015-16 NBA Basketball Executive of the Year, the NBA announced Monday.

Buford, in his 14th season as the team’s general manager, previously won the award in 2013-14.

He earned 77 points and received nine of 29 first-place votes from a panel of fellow NBA basketball executives. Neil Olshey of the Portland Trail Blazers finished second with 63 points, and Bob Myers of the Golden State Warriors was third with 38 points.

San Antonio’s salary-cap management enabled Buford and Head Coach and President Gregg Popovich to sign free agent LaMarcus Aldridge. The Spurs also signed two-time All-Star David West, three-time Serbian Super League MVP Boban Marjanovic and undrafted rookie Jonathon Simmons, who was the MVP of the championship game at Samsung NBA Summer League 2015.

Buford assembled a roster that produced the best record in franchise history at 67-15. The Spurs won at least 50 games for the 17th consecutive season and captured their fifth Southwest Division title in the last six years. San Antonio finished the regular season 40-1 at home, matching the NBA record set by the 1985-86 Boston Celtics.

Buford joined the Spurs in 1988 and spent four seasons as an assistant coach.  He worked as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1992-93 season and was an assistant coach at the University of Florida in the 1993-94 season. He returned to the Spurs in 1994 and held the positions of head scout, director of scouting and vice president/assistant general manager before becoming general manager in July 2002. 

He was named president of sports franchises in 2008 for Spurs Sports & Entertainment, a role that includes his work with the Spurs as well as oversight of sports administration for the WNBA’s San Antonio Stars, the NBA Development League’s Austin Spurs and the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League.