Tag: Boris Diaw

Olympic hoops loaded with Spurs

Even without any Spurs suiting up for Team USA at the Olympics — although Tim “FIBA Sucks” Duncan would certainly look good in red, white and blue, even at his advanced age — there’s still plenty of reasons for San Antonio fans to keep a close eye on the competition.

No fewer than six Spurs will be taking part: Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and newcomer Nando De Colo with France; Manu Ginobili with Argentina; Tiago Splitter with Brazil; and Patty Mills with Australia. Whether or not some of them should be there is a moot point — even with concerns about age and injuries, players like Parker and Ginobili would have had to be forcibly barred from participating.

So Spurs fans have no choice but to enjoy the spectacle and mull the same debate their foreign legion has posed in previous Olympics: Club or country? If it’s the former, here’s a look at each team’s schedule with a brief overview. Must-see viewing is France/Argentina on Tuesday, pitting Parker and Ginobili against one another after so many years together in the NBA.

(For those not familiar with the format, the 12 teams are split into two groups of six, with the top four teams advancing to the tournament stage after playing each other once. The gold medal game is Aug. 12.)

Group A

Argentina (Lithuania, Sunday; France, Tuesday; Tunisia, Thursday; Nigeria, Saturday; USA, Aug. 8): If the USA had the Dream Team, Argentina has the so-called “Golden Generation” of Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino, who helped Argentina win the gold medal in 2004 and become the first team to beat Team USA with a full NBA roster at the 2002 World Championships. It’s an old group — average age, 33 — but it came as no surprise that they managed to give U.S. another challenge in their recent exhibition meeting.

France (USA, Sunday; Argentina, Tuesday; Lithuania, Thursday; Tunisia, Saturday; Nigeria, Aug. 8): With Parker and Diaw having long established themselves, the Olympics will afford most Spurs fans with their first real look at the team’s latest addition — swingman Nando De Colo, a fixture with Les Blues since 2009. Especially interesting will be how he matches up with his future NBA contemporaries in Sunday’s opener against Team USA. You can also guarantee Gregg Popovich, expected to be in attendance, will be keeping a close eye on Parker post eye injury.

Group B

Brazil (Australia, Sunday; Great Britain, Tuesday; Russia, Thursday; China, Saturday; Spain, Aug. 8): Unlike France and Argentina, Brazil’s lone Spurs representative, Splitter, is more role player than workhorse. He still fills a valuable role, teaming with Nene and Anderson Verejao to form a frontcourt rotation that worries even the mighty Americans. Combined with NBA veteran Leandro Barbosa and point guard Marcelinho Huertas, and coached by Argentine legend Ruben Magnano, it’s easy to see why some pick Brazil as a serious medal candidate.

Australia (Brazil, Sunday; Spain, Tuesday; China, Thursday; Great Britain, Saturday; Russia, Aug. 8): The same cannot be said for the Boomers, who could have a tough time getting out of pool play. While he’s never been a star at the NBA level, Mills has been a mainstay of the national team since he became one of its youngest members in 2007. He averaged 14 points to lead the Boomers at the 08 Olympics. Observant Spurs fans will also recognize Australia’s head coach , a long-time assistant and front office member.

On KG and the Duncan market

According to multiple reports today,the , Kevin Garnett has agreed to re-sign with the Celtics  after his current contract expires tonight. for KG to be $34 million for three years.

You can bet folks in the Spurs front office are paying attention to the goings-on in Boston.

After all, the Spurs have their own 36-year-old, Hall of Fame-bound big man to re-up. At 11 p.m tonight, Tim Duncan also becomes a free agent. Nobody believes he’s signing with anybody other than the Spurs.

The question for Duncan is not if he will return for the Spurs, it’s for how much. Here is where the Garnett deal can be instructive. Three years, $34 million — perhaps with only a portion of the third year guaranteed — feels like a good ballpark for Duncan, too.

Statistically, the two players were remarkably similar last season. Garnett averaged 15.8 points and 8.2 rebounds in a little more than 30 minutes per game. Duncan averaged 15.4 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes per contest.

Re-signing Duncan to a Garnett-like deal, with the 2012-13 season starting somewhere in the $10 million range, would leave the Spurs still over the salary cap, but would help accomplish their goal of maneuvering well under the luxury tax threshold.

What would the Spurs’ payroll look like in this scenario? They’d be on the hook for about $60 million in contracts next season, well over the salary cap (it was $57 million last season and expected to rise marginally this season), and that’s before talking about Danny Green, Boris Diaw and other free agents.

However, the Spurs would be about $10 million below the luxury tax number, and that’s important for reasons beyond Peter Holt’s pocketbook.

Only teams that operate under the tax have access to the full mid-level exception — expected to be worth a shade over $5 million — for which to chase other free agents, like Diaw for instance, or to lure highly regarded Slovenian forward Erazem Lorbek from his team in the Spanish League.

If the Spurs were to be over the tax, it would be nearly impossible to both bring back Diaw and bring in Lorbek, much less add outside talent. This is where the KG deal feels like it would work for Duncan and the Spurs, too.

Burning Questions

Thanks to Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the offseason came two victories shy of the NBA Finals for the Spurs.

What’s next for the Western Conference runners-up? Here is the answer to that question with five more, plus one:

How badly does Tim Duncan just want to eat red meat and play “Call of Duty” all day?

The Spurs’ franchise player since draft day 1997, Duncan’s contract famously expires July 1. Whether he decides, at age 36, to sign another one will largely hinge on the answer to the question above.

Duncan proved this season that his body can still handle the rigors of an NBA season, but it takes hard work — and a stringent low-fat diet — to make that happen. If Duncan is ready to finally unstrap that omnipresent knee brace, sink his teeth into a cheeseburger and fire up the Xbox in retirement, nobody would blame him.

If Duncan does decide he’d still like to play “until the wheels fall off,” expect the Spurs to come to a workable agreement with him. Duncan’s not playing anywhere else.

So how much is an aging franchise player going for these days anyway?

Less than the $21.1 million Duncan made last season, but probably more than you’d think.

Duncan appeared rejuvenated during the lockout-shortened season, including a 25-and-14 performance in Wednesday’s Game 6 ouster in OKC. Though clearly no longer an MVP candidate — and, according to the voters at least, no longer an All-Star — Duncan remains a quality NBA big man, and those don’t come cheap.

The Spurs have other free agents to address (namely guard Danny Green and center Boris Diaw), but must first gauge what their payroll looks like after they re-up Duncan.

How dangerous are the Olympics for Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker?

Put it this way: Coach Gregg Popovich plans to attend the London Games this summer, but don’t be surprised if he watches matches involving Argentina and France with both hands covering his eyes.

Who can forget the sight of Ginobili rolling around on the court in 2008 in Beijing, clutching an injured left ankle that would soon require surgery? Of equal concern is the daily toll year-round basketball takes on 30-something bodies, and neither Parker (30) nor Ginobili (soon-to-be 35) is getting younger.

With the Olympics piled on top of a deep playoff run, expect Popovich to give his international backcourt plenty of rest come training camp and the preseason in October.

Should we prepare for more draft-night drama?

After years of using draft night to select players whose names fans couldn’t pronounce from countries they couldn’t locate on a map, then stashing them overseas for future use (or not), the Spurs made a bold move last June to land Kawhi Leonard at No. 15.

The Spurs do not have a first-round pick in the June 28 draft, having shipped it to Golden State in the March trade for Stephen Jackson, but won’t rule out trying to move up for the right player and right price.

Tiago Splitter: linchpin or liability?

Somewhere in the middle. The former first-round pick produced a sophomore campaign significantly more impactful than his first, doubling his scoring average to 9.3 points per game, and increasing his rebounding and blocks, while serving as a capable backup to Duncan.

But Splitter fell off the map during the latter part of the Western Conference finals, proving his upside has limits. The 6-foot-11 Splitter never was meant to be the heir-apparent to Duncan as the centerpiece big man, but should be a useful rotation piece going forward.

Bonus question: Should Erazem Lorbek and Nando de Colo look into obtaining work visas?

A 6-foot-10 forward from Slovenia currently playing with Ricky Rubio’s old club in Spain, Lorbek was a sidepiece of the Leonard deal. De Colo, a 6-foot-5 guard from France, has also been playing in Spain since the Spurs drafted him 53rd overall in 2009.

Both have a chance to cross the pond and join the Spurs next season, depending on how the free-agency landscape shakes out. If you’re handicapping it, expect Lorbek to make the jump before de Colo.

jmcdonald@express-news.net