Spurs trade Hill; acquire 3 players

[Brutalis]

ESPN Insider. Spurs among "Draft Winners" (which is like, every year)

You want to know why the Spurs win 50 or more games every year and always have their cap situation under control, while the rest of the league scrambles and flails around them? Check out tonight's draft for a good example.

In a stellar trade that showed how they're always a step ahead of everyone else, the Spurs sent guard George Hill to Indiana for the rights to the 15th pick (Kawhi Leonard), the rights to the 42nd pick (Davis Bertans), and the rights to European Erazem Lorbek.

On paper, trading an established rotation player for the 15th pick in a weak draft seems like a reckless gamble, but there's a key difference between George Hill and Kawhi Leonard: their paychecks.

Hill will be a restricted free agent after the coming season, and the Spurs looked at their books and made a decision that they couldn't pay two point guards (Hill and the equally widely shopped Tony Parker) -- especially while they were also paying Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan and Richard Jefferson and looking at a more restrictive post-lockout salary cap environment.

Leonard, meanwhile, will be on a rookie contract for the next four years, providing the Spurs with a very reasonably paid but (likely) productive player to offset the millions they're paying declining assets like Duncan.

So Hill goes now, before the Spurs have any drama over whether to extend him or risk losing him in restricted free agency next summer. San Antonio keeps its cap situation somewhat under control, and can plug James Anderson, Gary Neal, rookie Cory Joseph and whatever veteran backup point guard they sign into Hill's former minutes without losing much in the backcourt.

Meanwhile, Leonard fills a more glaring need -- a combo forward who can help them match up when opponents go small. This has been an Achilles heel of the Spurs for years, and presuming Leonard can play, he solves the problem. While he's not the classic San Antonio corner-3 shooting small forward of yore, the Spurs needed a young energizer like this.

So yes, it's a great deal for San Antonio, and it illustrates how the Spurs have stayed on top of the standings for more than a decade by staying two steps ahead of the competition. Just to emphasize that point, the Spurs also got a second-round pick in the deal and used it to nab Latvian sharpshooter Davis Bertans, who is totally unready now but likely will prove a steal when he decides to come over in a few years.

But, I should point out, Indiana didn't fare badly either. The Pacers converted a trade exception from the Troy Murphy deal into a big combo guard who will help fill the rotation -- he'll back up Darren Collison at the point and play a lot of 2, where Mike Dunleavy is a free agent and Brandon Rush is trade bait.

Meanwhile, his arrival doesn't mess up Indiana's financial plans -- they can afford to pay Hill and he'll likely want to stay since he's from Indianapolis. And since he only counts $2 million this year against their current hoard of cap space, his arrival won't cost the Pacers anything in free agency.

It's a good example of two teams using the system to their advantage, but for me it's especially illustrative of how San Antonio has played the cap-management game so much better than most of its rivals over the past decade.

I like it.. Hill is a terrible PG and choked two playoffs in a row. He is a small 2 guard and his defense is below average so knowing it would be time to pay or wave bye next summer I'm glad we got a nice player out of the deal who could contribute now.

Kawhi has a longer reach than Bynum. That's what ESPN Sports Science said when they featured Kawhi last week.