Tag: Gregg Popovich

Parker: Spurs don’t see a problem

After a brief stopover in the United States, Tony Parker returned to Paris bearing the news he’d been hoping for.

After consulting with an eye specialist in New York, at the Spurs’ request, the All-Star point guard has been cleared to play with the French national team in the London Olympics later this month.

Parker, who suffered a scratched cornea in his left eye during a June 14 melee at a Manhattan night spot, announced the decision with a post on his website (TP9.net) early Friday morning.

“I’m really happy I got the green light from (the) Spurs,” Parker posted in French.

The posting also included a line that required no translation: “Merci, Pop” — a thank you to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich for blessing his trip to London.

The French open Olympic play July 29 against the U.S. It will mark Les Bleus’ first Olympic appearance in 12 years, and the first ever for the 30-year-old Parker.

In a blink last month in New York, Parker’s Olympic dreams flashed before his eyes.

Parker was not directly involved in the altercation between singer Chris Brown and a member of hip-hop star Drake’s entourage at the club W.i.P., but was struck by debris from a broken bottle.

Three days later, a doctor in France performed surgery to remove a shard of glass from Parker’s eye.

Claiming negligence, Parker filed a $20 million lawsuit against the club, which has since closed down.

The Spurs, who signed Parker to a four-year, $50 million contract extension before the 2010-11 season, insisted the second-team All-NBA selection for last season return to the U.S. for re-examination before taking the floor for the Games.

The Spurs had no official comment on Parker’s recovery Friday. In an interview last week, general manager R.C. Buford indicated the team would exercise due caution before giving Parker — who finished fifth in NBA MVP voting for 2011-12 — the nod to play with Les Bleus’.

“If you know our history, Pop is going to put the health of our players above all else in relation to putting them out on the court,” Buford said.

According to a release from the French Basketball Federation, the positive prognosis two U.S. ophthalmologists gave Parker echoed the opinion of the French doctor who performed the surgery, as well as two Swiss specialists who examined Parker earlier in the week.

As a precaution, Parker will play in London wearing protective eyewear. He tweeted a photo of himself in the specs Friday.

“It is great news, and a relief for the whole France team,” French coach Vincent Collet said in the release. “I spoke with Tony on the phone and he sounded very happy —and also relieved — about this development. It was a difficult and alarming situation for everyone.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

Vaughn among candidates for Orlando job

The fabled Gregg Popovich coaching tree could be growing another branch with the news that to be interviewed for the head vacancy in Orlando. Vaughn has spent the past two years on San Antonio’s bench after playing for the Spurs from 2006 to 2009. The other targets are Golden State assistant Michael Malone, Indiana assistant Brian Shaw and Lakers assistant Quin Snyder. They’ll be vying to replace Stan Van Gundy, who was fired after going 259-135 in five seasons with the Magic.

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