San Antonio general manager R.C. Buford finished second in balloting for the NBA Executive of Year behind the winner Larry Bird of Indiana.
As the Pacers’ director of basketball operations, Bird made several critical moves starting with the hiring of Frank Vogel as his coach.
As President of Basketball Operations, Bird oversaw a Pacers team that went 42-24 (.636), earning the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and finishing with the league’s fifth-best record. He oversaw the acquisition of David West as a free agent and also traded for key contributors Lou Amundson and Leandro Barbosa.
Bird totaled 88 points and received 12 first-place votes from a panel of his fellow team executives throughout the NBA. Buford finished second with 56 points (eight first-place votes) votes and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Neil Olshey finished third with 55 points (six first-place votes). Executives were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.
The vote is a tad suspect considering the Spurs tied for the league’s highest record, eight games ahead of the Pacers and their draft-day trade with the Pacers where they picked up a package of players including Kawhi Leonard for George Hill. Most observers have given the Spurs the advantage of that trade after the first year.
Buford has never won the award, despite being a big part of four NBA title-winning teams during his tenure with the team.
The Spurs have had two previous winners for the award with the late Angelo Drossos in 1978 and Bob Bass in 1990.
Here’s a look at the balloting for this year’s award.
| Executive, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Larry Bird, Indiana | 12 | 8 | 4 | 88 |
| R.C. Buford, San Antonio | 8 | 4 | 4 | 56 |
| Neil Olshey, L.A. Clippers | 6 | 7 | 4 | 55 |
| Gar Forman, Chicago | 2 | 2 | - | 16 |
| Kevin O’Connor, Utah | - | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| Glen Grunwald, New York | - | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Pat Riley, Miami | 1 | - | 2 | 7 |
| Sam Presti, Oklahoma City | 1 | - | - | 5 |
| Chris Wallace, Memphis | - | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| David Kahn, Minnesota | - | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Rod Thorn, Philadelphia | - | 1 | - | 3 |
| Dell Demps, New Orleans | - | 1 | - | 3 |
| Rick Sund, Atlanta | - | 1 | - | 3 |
| Danny Ainge, Boston | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| John Hammond, Milwaukee | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Lon Babby, Phoenix | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Mitch Kupchak, L.A. Lakers | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Otis Smith, Orlando | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Masai Ujiri, Denver | - | - | 1 | 1 |
