Tag: DENVER

Why Friday’s game shows the Spurs need help inside

The internet is buzzing about two potential inside players who potentially could help the Spurs.

After their 87-79 loss to Minnesota Friday night, it’s clear that either Kenyon Martin and Chris Kaman would be critical additions for the Spurs.

That is, of course, if they could be convinced to come to San Antonio.

ESPN.com reported that the Spurs are among , a free agent former Denver forward who left for the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association during the lockout.

And ESPN.com also reported that Kaman, who was traded to league-owned New Orleans in the Chris Paul trade, . Kaman was not with the Hornets for their game Friday night against Orlando as trade offers are being considered.

This speculation is coming after the Spurs struggled inside in their loss Friday night at Minnesota.

The Spurs grabbed two offensive rebounds in that game — their lowest single-game total in more than 10 years — as they were dominated in the paint by Kevin Love and journeyman Minnesota backup center Nikola Pekovic.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has been hesitant to play Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter together except for brief periods because of problems it would cause his rotation of big players. Popovich has been unwilling to play DeJuan Blair and Matt Bonner together because of matchup problems. And without a replacement for the retired Antonio McDyess, the Spurs have had to piece together a tenuous rotation of big players during the first 20 games of the season.

Either Martin or Kaman would be a welcome addition, particularly in an extremely competitive Southwest Division.

ESPN reported that Martin has offers from Miami, the Spurs, the Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta and New York.

Martin signed a $2.6 million contract with Xinjiang and left China in late December with hopes of returning to the NBA. But according to CBA rules, Martin will not be available to sign or play for an NBA team until Xinjiang finishes its season.

That return could be as soon as Feb. 16 if Xinjiang is knocked out of the playoffs.

Sources  told ESPN.com that Martin wants to play a large role with a contending team.

Martin, 34, struggled in his least productive season of his career last season with the Nuggets, averaging 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. But he would provide inside strength and leadership for a contender after twice reaching the NBA Finals with New Jersey.

Several of the contenders have signed players to max deals and would have to pay a luxury tax to acquire Martin. The best offers would be from the Clippers and Knicks, who can both give him a $2.5 million mini-midlevel exceptions. The Spurs could offer a similar amount, but sources told ESPN the team would not likely be willing to do.

Kaman, who turns 30 in April, might be more attainable if they were willing to pay the tax.  

“We’ve informed Chris that we are looking into possible trades and he was understanding about the situation,” Hornets general manager Dell Demps told ESPN.com. “We’re working together on this.

“Chris has been the ultimate professional since he joined us. In no way is this a disciplinary action. We had discussions about extending his current contract when he first came to the Hornets, but the organization decided to go in a different direction.”

The 7-foot Kaman is making about $14 million this season. He made the All-Star Game in 2010 when he averaged 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game for the Clippers. But he was limited to 32 games last season with the Clippers because of an injury to his left foot.

Obviously, Demps is familiar with Popovich after working under him with the Spurs earlier in his career. I don’t know if that will help in making a deal with the league-owned team. But it certainly can’t hurt.

But it’s clear that Friday’s game was eye-opening because of the way the Timberwolves dominated inside.

What about it Spurs Nation?

Do you believe there is a problem with the Spurs’ inside rotation?

And could Kaman or Martin help?

With Wade absent, weight of Miami’s offense falls on LeBron

Before the Spurs headed to Florida for back-to-back games against the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was asked about his approach to defending the Heat and its Big Three of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

His response: “As soon as either Dwyane or LeBron catches the ball, I cover my eyes.”

Popovich can keep his eyes open more often tonight. It appears the right ankle sprain Wade suffered Friday night in Denver is going to keep him on the sidelines. Coach Erik Spoelstra won’t give a timetable for his return, but it is almost certainly not for tonight’s game.

Of course, that means more touches for James, the two-time Most Valuable Player who enters tonight’s game averaging 29.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists.

For James, the burden of carrying the Heat for however long they are without Wade becomes one more measure of his value to a team that polarized NBA fans last season after James helped orchestrate the construction of a roster some believed would dominate the league for several years.

This season’s team returned after being humbled by the Mavericks in the NBA Finals and reeled off victories in eight of its first nine games, but comes into its game against the Spurs on a three-game losing streak that revealed, yet again, James’ tendency to shrink from the challenge of the fourth quarter.

Here’s a look at the latest dilemma for James, Wade and the Heat:

LeBron James

The good

• In 11 games (he sat out one game with a sore left ankle, a road win in Atlanta), he is averaging 29.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 40.1 minutes per game.

• In the two games he played during the three games Wade missed, he scored 65 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 22 assists.

The bad

• Until he made 3 of 5 3-point shots in Friday’s loss to the Nuggets, he had not made a shot from long distance all season, going 0 for 5.

• He has committed 23 turnovers in his last four games.

The ugly

• He did not attempt a shot in the fourth quarter of the Heat’s overtime road loss to the Warriors last Tuesday; also failed to get a rebound or an assist in the fourth quarter.

• Acutely aware of the criticism leveled at him for his passivity in the fourth period at Golden State, he scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds in the fourth quarter of what would be another overtime loss, this time to the Clippers, the next night in Los Angeles. However, he also missed 4 of 10 fourth-quarter free throws in that one, including two in the final 16.7 seconds.

Dwyane Wade

The injuries

Today is Wade’s 30th birthday, and he reached this milestone with evidence mounting that time is taking a toll on a player whose game is based on athleticism and reckless abandon. Thus far this season, he has missed two games with a sprained right mid-foot, one with a strained left calf and, in all likelihood, several more with an ankle sprain that hurt so badly when it happened, he feared a broken bone.

The quandary

Playing hurt already had limited Wade’s effectiveness this season, his shooting percentage (43.9) and scoring average (19.6) down significantly from last season (50.0 and 25.5). Spoelstra insisted he was not being coy with the media Sunday when he maintained he could not give a timetable for Wade’s return. The safest course may be to shut him down for a while to allow all his injuries to fully heal, but in a compressed season, that might mean losing a lot of ground to the Bulls in the battle for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Spurs to honor ABA history with Dallas jerseys

The Spurs will be among nine NBA franchises who will honor the rich history of the American Basketball Association as part of the NBA’s Hardwood Classics series during the next several weeks.

The Spurs will wear vintage Dallas Chaparrals jerseys and warmups for three games — Feb. 11 at New Jersey, Feb. 18 at L.A. Clippers and March 31 when they host the Indiana Pacers.

I’m just curious why they won’t be wearing ABA San Antonio Spurs jerseys from the franchise’s history rather than one representing a team from Dallas.  

Other franchises participating will include Charlotte, Denver, Indiana, the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis, Miami, Minnesota and New Jersey. Former ABA franchises in Denver, Indiana and New Jersey will wear their old uniforms from their ABA past. Other teams and their former ABA franchises will include Charlotte (Carolina Cougars), the Clippers (Los Angeles Stars), Memphis (Memphis Tams), Miami (Miami Floridians) and Minnesota (Minnesota Muskies).

The uniforms will be made by adidas, the league’s official outfitter.

The Chaparrals originated in Dallas when the league began in 1967.  They were known as the Dallas Chaparrals for the first three seasons of the franchise’s history, before embracing Texas Chaparrals for one season in 1970-71 and played games in Dallas, Fort Worth and Lubbock. They then were known as the Dallas Chaparrals until 1973.

During the summer of the 1973, a group of San Antonio businessmen led by Angelo Drossos and Red McCombs negotiated a three-year deal to lease the Chaparrals and move the team to San Antonio. The ownership group consisting of 35 stockholders changed the name of the team to the Spurs.

Later that year, as support grew for the team, the stockholders arranged to purchase the team from the Dallas group and make San Antonio a permanent home. The Spurs played three seasons in the ABA before joining the NBA in 1976, along with the Nuggets, Pacers and Nets.

I was an old ABA fan from way back, watching the Memphis Pros/Tams/Sounds during my youth there. One of my spectating highlights of my youth centers around a fight I witnessed between bruising ABA forwards John Brisker of the Pittsburgh Condors and Wendell Ladner of the then Memphis Pros back in the day.

All of the NBA eams will be selling merchandise, which is good to keep the memory of the league alive.

But I’ve got a couple of questions.

First, why don’t the Spurs wear some of their own vintage ABA jerseys rather than honoring a Dallas team? Obviously, it’s the same franchise, but I am likely to believe from a marketing standpoint that the Spurs and the NBA stand a better chance selling more Spurs ABA gear to their current fans with the Spurs rather than those representing a Dallas-based team. Leave that for Mark Cuban and the crowd in Big D.

Because using the same rationale, it should be New Orleans celebrating the history of the old New Orleans Buccaneers, who eventually moved to Memphis in 1970 and became the Memphis ABA team. I’m sure the league has more pressing concerns in building support for their league-owned franchise than honoring some previous league there. But if they are truly honoring the ABA past, they should have New Orleans wearing Buccaneers jerseys — just like Doug Moe, Larry Brown and Red Robbins did before them.

And one more personal pet peeve. If the league is reaching back to the ABA to sell a few more jerseys and t-shirts, I certainly think the NBA can be big enough to honor the ABA records as part of its official history. The Spurs’ records don’t exist in the eyes of the NBA before they joined the league in 1976.

All of George Gervin’s points and Bobby Warren’s turnovers and Tom Nissalke’s victories with the team never happened, according to the NBA.  

The NFL accepted all of  the AFL’s past records when the merger between those two leagues was consummated.

If the NBA wants us to buy replicas of the jerseys that Billy Cunningham wore while he played for the Carolina Cougars, they are going to need to add those points he scored with them to the ones he tallied earlier and later in his  NBA career.