Tag: Danny Green

Spurs’ Duncan on the market, but likely not for long

The last the public saw of Tim Duncan, he was standing in a doorway just outside the locker room shower at Chesapeake Energy Arena, trying hard to avoid talking about his basketball future.

The Spurs had just been bounced from the Western Conference finals in Oklahoma City, leaving Duncan in no mood to discuss his impending free agency.

“I haven’t even thought about it, and I really don’t care,” Duncan said June 6. “I’ll figure it out when it happens, just like everything else.”

That time has come.

Duncan’s contract expired at 11 p.m. Saturday, making the 36-year-old franchise icon a free agent for just the third time in his 15-year NBA career.

Much like the last time, in 2003 when Duncan opted out of his deal with the intention of signing a new one with the Spurs, he doesn’t plan to shop around.

In an interview with Yahoo! Sports during the playoffs, Duncan memorably declared himself “a Spur for life.”

“I don’t see him not having a future with the franchise,” coach Gregg Popovich said of the two-time league MVP.

So the question now at the dawn of Duncan’s latest foray into free agency is not whether he’ll re-sign with the Spurs, who drafted him first overall in 1997. It’s at what price tag.

The market for a 36-year-old power forward with Hall of Fame credentials and a championship ring might have been set Saturday, as multiple reports indicated Kevin Garnett was planning to sign a three-year, $34 million deal to remain with the Boston Celtics.

Statistically, the two big men were remarkably similar last season.

Garnett averaged 15.8 points and 8.2 rebounds in a little more than 30 minutes per game. Duncan posted 15.4 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes.

Both players earned around $21.2 million last season, pro-rated for the lockout-shortened schedule. Both were left off the All-Star team for the first time in their decorated careers.

Spurs general manager R.C. Buford declined to publicly discuss negotiations with his star power forward.

“That’s not something we would comment on,” Buford said.

By NBA rule, Duncan is the only free agent with whom Spurs management had been allowed to negotiate before Saturday night.

Given that head start, it is not difficult to imagine an agreement with Duncan in place by July 11, the first day players are permitted to sign new contracts.

Re-inking Duncan to a Garnett-like deal, with the 2012-13 season starting somewhere in the $10 million range, would not get the Spurs under the salary cap.

But it would help accomplish the more feasible goal of moving them below the luxury tax threshold, set at $70 million last season and expected to increase marginally for next season.

That is significant for reasons that go beyond owner Peter Holt’s pocketbook.

Only teams below the luxury tax have access to the full mid-level exception — expected to be worth a shade more than $5 million — with which to lure other free agents.

That won’t be enough for the Spurs to conjure a radical summertime makeover, but it might be enough to keep together the bulk of a team that finished 50-16 last season and made the conference finals.

Other in-house free agents for the Spurs include forward Boris Diaw, who at age 30 could be chasing his last significant NBA payday, as well as restricted free agents Danny Green and Patrick Mills.

The Spurs have already extended qualifying offers to both guards — $2.7 million for Green, $885,120 for Mills — giving the team the right to match other offers.

“This is my first time to be pursued,” Green, a 25-year-old set to enter his fourth NBA season, said Saturday. “It’s an exciting time, and hopefully a fun time. I’m hoping there’s a good amount of teams who like what I can do.”

The Spurs could also choose to fortify their roster with players from overseas, including Slovenian big man Erazem Lorbek and French guard Nando de Colo.

Though the Spurs own draft rights for both players, money to sign either would come from their free-agent budget.

Buford said the team would continue to monitor all its European projects — de Colo is set to play for the French team in the London Olympics later this month — but added “we’re not going to try to rush the timeline.”

“When it’s right for them, hopefully we’ll be able to work out an arrangement that fits for them and fits for us,” Buford said.

Those discussions, of course, are secondary on the Spurs’ offseason to-do list. This has always been the summer of Duncan, and it officially began Saturday night.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

NBA teams all get set to shop

NBA free agency begins at 11 p.m. today. Priority No. 1 for the Spurs? Re-signing 36-year-old, self-declared “Spur for life” Tim Duncan to a deal that will take him to the end of his career.

The Spurs also have to weigh offers to Boris Diaw (unrestricted) and Danny Green and Patrick Mills (restricted), then consider offers to other free agents.

Nets point guard Deron Williams is the prime prize on the unrestricted market. He asserts he will either be the centerpiece of a restructured roster as the team moves to Brooklyn or continue his career in his hometown of Dallas.

Express-News NBA beat writer Mike Monroe breaks down the top of a free-agent marketplace that will generate rumors by the thousands before teams can actually begin signing players July 11:

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Tim Duncan, Spurs
Position: Forward/center
What to expect: He’s made it clear he wants to finish his career in San Antonio. The value of his final contract is the tricky part. He made $21.2 million (pro-rated) last season. What’s his value at age 36?

Deron Williams, Nets
Position: Point guard
What to expect: The top prize in this free-agent derby, definitely at max money. He says he has narrowed his choices to the Nets and Mavericks. Best guess: There’s no place like home — and for Williams, that’s Dallas.

Kevin Garnett, Celtics
Position: Forward/center
What to expect: Like Duncan, Garnett is 36, with a chronically painful right knee. If he decides to keep going, it’s hard to see him starting over in a location other than Boston.

Jason Kidd, Mavericks
Position: Point guard
What to expect: He’s 39, but so smart he is still effective, but at what price? He took a big salary hit when he re-signed with Mavs in 2009. He will take another to re-sign with the Mavs.

Steve Nash, Suns
Position: Point guard
What to expect: He has been fiercely loyal to the Suns but finally seems ready to move. Does Canada’s all-time greatest player want to finish his career in Toronto? Probably not if the Suns improve enough to satisfy him and convince him to stay.

Ray Allen, Celtics
Position: Shooting guard
What to expect: Watching him struggle with sore ankles in the playoffs was painful. If surgery works, he has still got the league’s sweetest shot. Seems headed for the sun, either Phoenix or Miami.

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George Hill, Pacers
Position: Point guard/shooting guard
What to expect: Already turned down a $6 million extension from the Pacers and definitely would prefer to return to the Spurs. Hard to imagine Indy letting him walk without compensation.

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Twitter: @Monroe_SA

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