Feature Presentation: 2015-16 BDL Executive Decision of the Year

We at Ball Don’t Lie enjoy healthy debate about basketball and its strange cast of characters, from Oscar Robertson’s “get off my lawn” diatribe on Stephen Curry to D’Angelo Russell’s sting operation on a self-dubbed dude named Swaggy P and his Australian hip hop artist fiancé. (Yup, those things happened.) It’s NBA with a twist here at the BDL, so we wanted to stir the pot and shake up the league’s annual awards.

BDL EXECUTIVE DECISION OF THE YEAR

The NBA’s Executive of the Year Award is the strangest of all the league’s honors. It’s sort of like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s 1964 characterization of pornography: “I know it when I see it.”

Does the prize go to the exec who landed the biggest fish, like Danny Ainge’s trades for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2007 or Pat Riley’s acquisitions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh in 2010? Or is it reward for a series of smaller moves that, when combined, rebuild a franchise, like how Masai Ujiri pieced together a 57-win roster within two years of trading Carmelo Anthony? Or are they recognizing a non-move, like Bob Myers’ decision not to trade Klay Thompson for Kevin Love in the summer of 2014?

League executives, who vote for colleagues to decide the recipient, know it when they see it, I guess.

Inspired by Myers, the Executive Decision of the Year is a whole lot easier to explain. It is the one decision — trade, non-trade, free-agent signing, etc. — that most altered the NBA landscape this season.

AND THE WINNER IS: The San Antonio Spurs’ free-agent signing of LaMarcus Aldridge.

Spurs GM R.C. Buford set ’em up, and San Antonio coach/president Gregg Popovich knocked ’em down.

The plan to sign Aldridge — or the best free agent on the market in July 2015 — was forged years ago.

“Give R.C. Buford credit,” Spurs owner Peter Holt told the San Antonio Express-News this past October. “Pop is a great coach, but R.C. came to us with this plan three years ago, four years ago — seriously.”

And Popovich served as the closer, selling Aldridge on a love for basketball and the family atmosphere inside the organization, when other teams were making marketing pitches and selling him on stardom.

Adrian Wojnarowski, who detailed Aldridge’s five days in free agency, captured it better than I ever could:

Popovich did not speak of the five NBA championships, the six trips to the NBA Finals. Never once. They didn’t play the part of Pat Riley with LeBron James and drop championship rings on the table; in fact, they never acknowledged winning titles. The Spurs never assured him that together they would win championships, only that he’d enjoy the pursuit, the experience.

And yet, even as late as January of this season, when the Spurs were 38-7, there were questions about Aldridge’s fit in San Antonio. The All-NBA even deleted his Twitter account to refocus on the task at hand — delivering a sixth championship to San Antonio — in the wake of a five-point effort agains the Warriors.

But by season’s end, the Spurs accomplished precisely what the front office envisioned with Aldridge in the fold, at least until the playoffs are concerned. A team that had gone from winning the 2014 title to finally showing signs of age in last year’s first-round loss had been reinvigorated by pairing Aldridge, 30, with a 24-year-old Kawhi Leonard and keeping that title-contending window propped open a little longer.

While Aldridge’s numbers dipped from his Portland days, San Antonio statistically improved across the board, climbing those key couple spots from top 10 to top one, two or three in offensive and defensive rating, true shooting and rebound percentage, and, most importantly, in the West playoff seedings.

AND THE NOMINEES WERE …

AND NOW A WORD FROM THE ACADEMY …

We understand some of the fun comes with picking apart the voting panel and publicly shaming their misfires, so we’ll do our best to explain ourselves before you folks let us have it in the comment section.

DAN DEVINE

1. The Spurs signing LaMarcus Aldridge, rebuilding their team around size and defense to change its angle of approach on Golden State.

2. The Blazers letting 80 percent of their starting lineup go, maxing out Damian Lillard and rebuilding around inexpensive youth, which helped reshape four potential playoff teams (themselves, Spurs with Aldridge, Charlotte with Nicolas Batum and Dallas with Wesley Matthews).

3. The Raptors sticking with their core and Dwane Casey after last year’s first-round sweep, giving Toronto a real shot to mount a challenge to the Cavs this season.

KELLY DWYER

1. San Antonio not only acquiring LaMarcus Aldridge based around a pitch that was 18 years in the making, but working doggedly to ensure that he would become an impeccable fit by midseason.

2. Oklahoma City spending the money their fans and their stars deserve in keeping pick and roll master Enes Kanter.

3. Portland rebuilding on the fly in the face of a four-starter defection.

ERIC FREEMAN

1. Portland letting four starters leave and banking on the strength of their internal development to keep them in the playoff picture.

2. San Antonio adding LaMarcus Aldridge on its own terms and in keeping with the team identity. This is best evidenced by his playing center in small lineups (which he used to hate) and generally looking like a much more adaptable player than he seemed in Portland.

3. Dallas salvaging the DeAndre fiasco to add several veterans whom they, if not many external analysts, thought could keep them relevant for another season or two.

BEN ROHRBACH

1. We forget how ludicrous The Great Emoji War was, both from a comedy standpoint and in a competitive balance sense. Given the dominance of the Warriors and Spurs — and the resurgence of the healthy Thunder — the Clippers are an afterthought, despite winning 50-plus games again sans Blake Griffin for three months, but would they be without DeAndre Jordan’s back in the fold?

2. The Spurs sign Aldridge and somehow start the season 39-0 at home, under the radar.

3. The Blazers lose Aldridge and somehow win nearly as many games as 2014-15.

CUE THE AUDIENCE REACTION …

2015-16 BDL AWARDS

IN THEATERS NOW: Bench of the Year • Coach(ing Change) of the Year • Defensive Unit of the Year • (Non-Lottery) Rookie of the Year • Executive (Decision) of the Year

COMING SOON: (2nd) Most Valuable Player • Most (Random) Improved Player • Comeback Player of the Year • All-Potential Team • All-Defensive* Team • All-BDL Team

WE REALLY, REALLY LIKE YOU

First and foremost, we’d like to thank Yahoo Sports Photos and Multimedia Manager Amber Matsumoto for her tireless work on graphics. None of this would’ve been possible without her. And special thanks to Basketball Reference and NBA.com/stats for statistics, the Spurs on the Vine, Graphiq for the stat box and ProProfs Poll Maker for the poll. And Tim Duncan for holding onto the torch long enough to pass it.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach