G3Stories for PeopleWinter 2012

SAN ANTONIO SPURSSNAG D-LEAGUE’S TOROSJEREMY LINSTUNS THE NBALAMARCUS ALDRIDGENAMED NBA ALL STAR

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Spurs Purchase Austin Toros of NBA Developmental League

The National Basketball Association announced today that the 2006-07 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs have signed an agreement to purchase the Austin Toros of the

NBA Development League (“D-League”) from Southwest Basketball, LLC.

“The Spurs are one of the most respected and well-run organizations in sports,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern. “When the four-time champions understand the benefits of investing in the D-League, it’s a great referendum on our minor league’s ability to develop players, coaches and front office staff for NBA teams.”

As owners of the Austin D-League franchise, the Spurs will oversee all aspects of the organization, including the offensive and defensive systems the Toros run in practices and games, the hiring of staff – including coaches – and ticket and sponsorship sales. San Antonio will also have

“The San Antonio Spurs organization is thrilled to add the Austin Toros to our family.”-General Manager R.C. Buford

exclusive rights to assign its players with one or two years of NBA experience to the Toros. Austin is coached by former University of Missouri coach Quin Snyder.

“The San Antonio Spurs organization is thrilled to add the Austin Toros to our family,” said Spurs General Manager R.C. Buford. “The D-League has a proven track record of developing talent both on and off the court. By owning

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The beginning of the Austin vs. Arkansas game.

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our own team, we are now in a great position to develop our young players within our system and with our input. It’s a terrific opportunity for us and we can’t wait to get started.”

The Spurs are the second NBA team to own and operate their own D-League affiliate, joining the Los Angeles Lakers who own the Los Angeles D-fenders. During the 2006-07 season, the Lakers hired their own coaching staff to teach the “Triangle Offense” to the D-fender players and most notably used the assignment system to enable guard Jordan Farmar to become the first player to participate in an NBA game and D-League game in the same day.

“The D-League is a great source of talent and a terrific forum for young players and coaches to develop their skills,” said Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak. “Our ownership of the D-Fenders has been a great opportunity for the Lakers organization and we are looking forward to continuing to develop our relationship with the D-League in the future.”

Since the NBA began the assignment system with the D-League prior to the 2005-06 season, NBA teams have assigned 53 players a total of 77 times, including 30 selections from the 2005 and 2006 NBA Drafts. Last season, a total of 47 former NBA draft picks played in the D-League. Lottery

“The D-League is a great source of talent and a terrific forum for young players and coaches to develop their skills.”-Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak

selections such as Portland’s Martell Webster (6th pick overall in 2005), Golden State’s Patrick O’Bryant (9th pick, 2006) and Seattle’s Mouhamed Sene (10th pick, 2006) were assigned to their respective team’s D-League affiliate.

Entering its seventh season, the D-League – the NBA’s minor league established to develop talent across all disciplines for the NBA – will be relocating its headquarters from Greenville, S.C. to New York City to help foster the D-League’s continued growth by giving it direct access to the support and resources of the NBA and WNBA. During the 2006-07 season,

“It’s a terrific opportunity for us and we can’t wait to get started.”-R.C. Buford

19 NBA teams assigned 24 players to D-League rosters, and 14 NBA teams called-up 16 players (‘Gatorade Call-ups’) while 31 D-League alumni participated in the NBA Playoffs. Additionally, every referee hired by the NBA since 2002 has worked in the D-League, while coaches, athletic trainers and front office executives are also being developed.

Designed to help grow the sport of basketball both domestically and internationally, the D-League offers NBA-quality basketball and fun, family entertainment at affordable prices. For additional information on the NBA Development League, visit NBADLEAGUE.com.

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The Austin and Arkansas players show appreciation to the fans.

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Magazine Cover Rationale

I chose to do a sports magazine because eventually I would like to get into sports advertising, so it was a perfect fit for my interests. After looking through Sung’s photos of the Toros, I concluded that the photo with number fourteen dribbling the ball best depicted the story since their team name, “Toros,” was clearly visible. So, I felt the picture directly relates to the story of the San Antonio Spurs’ purchase of the Austin Toros.

For my Gateway 3 logo I decided to go with a font that looks similar to Helvetica because it’s a very clear, easy-to-read font. It represents the basketball players’ flexibility and presence on the court, and this is shown with the placement of the ‘G’ and ‘3’ in my logo. The placement of the ‘G’ and ‘3’ imitates the angle of the basketball player’s arm in the photo, and that looked best to me. I decided to place it on the top right because the top left would have made the cover too cluttered on that side. I went with the colors white and red since they could be easily read and seen on the black background. These colors also matched the players’ jerseys in the photo so it flowed well.

For my headlines I chose Helvetica because my audience will be able to easily read the print, which will attract them to my magazine. I made the main story’s headline the biggest since it will be the main topic discussed in my magazine. Then I included two other headlines, because sports magazines tend to showcase more than one story for the audience. My two other stories are about Jeremy Lin and LaMarcus Aldridge since they are currently admirable in the NBA.

Magazine Layout Rationale

I decided to use the photo of the Austin Toros players lined up in their warm-up jerseys as my first photo in my layout because it shows a few players on the team and the jerseys clearly state their hometown of Austin. This is relevant to the main story of the Spurs purchasing the Toros, and this way the audience can see some of the faces of the people who have been touched by this purchase. My goal of using this photo is that it will entice the reader to jump into the story by showing them a glimpse of who the Austin Toros are.

I chose the photo of number 5 and number 9 jumping for the ball as my second photo because that is the signal of the beginning of a basketball game, and it was the start to the story. This photo will hopefully bring wonder to the reader as to what will happen next, which will guide them to start reading the story.

I used a drop letter for the beginning of my story in the hopes that it will further entice the reader into finding out what happens next. I decided to match the color of the letter to the red on their warm-up jerseys to bring continuity to the layout. I also used this same color for two of my pulled quotes. Throughout my whole layout I was very conscious of the colors, and I wanted the color to bring the story together and invite the reader in.

I used a typography that will be clear and easy to read, and I made sure it was similar to my magazine cover font. I was sure to keep all of my fonts sans serif since most sports magazines use this typography.

All of my photos are in chronological order, which makes the story flow perfectly instinct with the photos.

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