Tag: Butler

Missing Las Vegas

Were it not for the ongoing NBA lockout, this blog post would come with a Las Vegas dateline. The thought has no doubt crossed the mind of NBA players, prospects, rookies, executives, and all manner of followers and scribes as we stand in place this first week of July.

“Dude,” (and I’m giving NBA players, prospects, rookies, etc. the voice of  Jeff Spicoli here) ” we should be in Vegas right now.”

For the past six years, NBA Summer League has set up camp at UNLV’s Thomas Mack Center and the adjoining Cox Pavilion, giving NBA big wigs — and the accompanying mob of beat writers — an excuse to set up shop for a working vacation in Sin City.

This year, we’ve all crapped out.

Summer League was the first official casualty of the lockout, scuttled before the lockout even became official. For sportswriters who had come to count on the annual Vegas trip as an easy way to fill both newshole and expense reports, it’s a bummer.

For NBA prospects who might have parlayed a nice run in Vegas into a full-time job, it could be devastating. Just ask Gary Neal, whose five-game run in Las Vegas last season was the final straw in securing him a contract with the Spurs.

“Summer League definitely sealed the deal for me,” Neal told the Express-News back in April, when it became apparent the 2011 version might be in jeopardy. “With no summer league, who knows what would have happened?”

Certainly, the cancellation of  Summer League reduces the chances that the Spurs — or some other team — can ferret out this year’s version of Neal, a diamond-in-the-rough who went on to earn a solid spot in Gregg Popovich’s rotation and first-team All-Rookie honors.

“It’s an opportunity taken away from a guy trying to get into the league,” Neal said in April. “It can close a couple doors for some guys.”

Truth be told, the Spurs weren’t counting on mining another Neal out of the Las Vegas desert. That kind of jackpot doesn’t comes around all that often.

Still, Summer League had become an integral part of the Spurs’ player development program, for rookies and young returning veterans alike. There will be a void this offseason.

“It’s been huge for us, actually,” Popovich said in April, before the event was shuttered. “There have been a large number of people who have started their knowledge of what the NBA is all about in summer league. We really get a good feeling about players there.”

With that in mind, here are some Spurs players for whom the loss of summer league might be particularly harmful:

* Kawhi Leonard and Cory Joseph. Summer League is generally a rookie’s first real exposure to anything approaching an NBA game. The Spurs’ two first-round picks in the June draft won’t have that luxury. They’ll basically have to hit the ground running in training camp.

* James Anderson. In terms of NBA service time, Anderson isn’t a rookie, but might as well be. He missed his first crack at Summer League in 2010 with a strained hamstring, and that absence set him back once the real season began. After appearing in just 26 games as a rookie, Anderson could have used a nice run in Vegas this summer.

* Danny Green and Da’Sean Butler. Green made fans in the front office last season with his willingness to shoot the basketball. He could have used a solid Summer League to bolster those good feelings about him. Butler, meanwhile, is the wildest of wild cards, having not played in an organized game since blowing out his knee in the 2010 Final Four. In short, he’s the kind of guy for whom the Vegas stage was built.

* Gary Neal. On the surface, Neal 2.0 isn’t the type of player normally dispatched to Summer League. As a rookie, he established himself as a rotation staple. He’s not a kid looking for exposure. However, with George Hill now playing for Indiana, the Spurs are in need of someone to eat up minutes behind Tony Parker at point guard. Las Vegas would have been the perfect place for Neal to put his work-in-progress point guard skills into practice.

Newest Spur will be eased into pro game

PORTLAND, Ore. — You wouldn’t blame Da’Sean Butler if March Madness caused him to break out in hives. It was nearly one year ago, in a Final Four game against Duke, that Butler suffered a devastating knee injury that sent his draft stock plummeting.

On Friday, the Spurs took steps to help the former West Virginia star create a more enjoyable March memory. Days after finally being medically cleared to return to basketball, Butler inked a contract with the Spurs that both parties hope will kick-start his professional career.

The Spurs don’t expect Butler, a 6-foot-7, 23-year-old forward, to suit up in the NBA this season.

“This signing has absolutely nothing to do with the 2010-11 roster,” general manager said.

Instead, the Spurs are making a small investment in the future roster. If by next season Butler can regain the form he showed before tearing his left ACL in West Virginia’s national semifinal loss to Duke, the Spurs will have essentially added another first-round prospect from the 2010 draft pool.

Butler left West Virginia as the school’s third all-time scorer, behind Hall of Famer and Hot Rod Hundley. He was tagged as a top 25 pick until the knee injury pushed him into the second round, where Miami selected him 46th overall.

Needing roster space to assemble veteran pieces around its new “,” Miami waived Butler on Oct. 25, making him a free agent.

“All that pre-draft speculation doesn’t mean much, but Da’Sean was an important player in the 2010 draft,” Buford said. “Hopefully, this is an opportunity to participate in his rehabilitation and recovery from his injury.”

Butler’s career with the Spurs will begin modestly, most likely in the .

“I’d imagine he will be assigned to Austin soon,” Buford said. “We need to get an understanding of his situation. We’ll get together with him this weekend, spend some time with him and go over his medical and physical needs.”

By adding Butler, the Spurs filled their roster to the maximum 15 players, likely signaling the last of their personnel moves this season.

Tourney talk: For most college basketball pundits and amateur bracketologists, Arizona’s 93-77 thrashing of Duke in Thursday’s NCAA Sweet 16 game was considered an upset.

A more startling upset would have been if , a proud Arizona alum, could have made it through shootaround Friday morning in Portland without mentioning it to assistant coach , a Duke alum.

“He got on the bus talking about it this morning,” said, laughing. “Chip would have done the same thing to him.”

The Wildcats’ resounding victory served as a bit of revenge for Jefferson, who played for the 2001 team that lost to Duke in the national title game.

“At the end of the day, they still beat us in the national championship game,” said Jefferson, whose name graces Arizona’s practice gym.

“So that little Sweet 16 game won’t last for too long.”

Staff writer contributed to this report.

Newest Spur will be eased into pro game

PORTLAND, Ore. — You wouldn’t blame Da’Sean Butler if March Madness caused him to break out in hives. It was nearly one year ago, in a Final Four game against Duke, that Butler suffered a devastating knee injury that sent his draft stock plummeting.

On Friday, the Spurs took steps to help the former West Virginia star create a more enjoyable March memory. Days after finally being medically cleared to return to basketball, Butler inked a contract with the Spurs that both parties hope will kick-start his professional career.

The Spurs don’t expect Butler, a 6-foot-7, 23-year-old forward, to suit up in the NBA this season.

“This signing has absolutely nothing to do with the 2010-11 roster,” general manager said.

Instead, the Spurs are making a small investment in the future roster. If by next season Butler can regain the form he showed before tearing his left ACL in West Virginia’s national semifinal loss to Duke, the Spurs will have essentially added another first-round prospect from the 2010 draft pool.

Butler left West Virginia as the school’s third all-time scorer, behind Hall of Famer and Hot Rod Hundley. He was tagged as a top 25 pick until the knee injury pushed him into the second round, where Miami selected him 46th overall.

Needing roster space to assemble veteran pieces around its new “,” Miami waived Butler on Oct. 25, making him a free agent.

“All that pre-draft speculation doesn’t mean much, but Da’Sean was an important player in the 2010 draft,” Buford said. “Hopefully, this is an opportunity to participate in his rehabilitation and recovery from his injury.”

Butler’s career with the Spurs will begin modestly, most likely in the .

“I’d imagine he will be assigned to Austin soon,” Buford said. “We need to get an understanding of his situation. We’ll get together with him this weekend, spend some time with him and go over his medical and physical needs.”

By adding Butler, the Spurs filled their roster to the maximum 15 players, likely signaling the last of their personnel moves this season.

Tourney talk: For most college basketball pundits and amateur bracketologists, Arizona’s 93-77 thrashing of Duke in Thursday’s NCAA Sweet 16 game was considered an upset.

A more startling upset would have been if , a proud Arizona alum, could have made it through shootaround Friday morning in Portland without mentioning it to assistant coach , a Duke alum.

“He got on the bus talking about it this morning,” said, laughing. “Chip would have done the same thing to him.”

The Wildcats’ resounding victory served as a bit of revenge for Jefferson, who played for the 2001 team that lost to Duke in the national title game.

“At the end of the day, they still beat us in the national championship game,” said Jefferson, whose name graces Arizona’s practice gym.

“So that little Sweet 16 game won’t last for too long.”

Staff writer contributed to this report.