Tag: Houston

Joseph expected to meet Spurs in Houston

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

When the Spurs arrive in Houston late Friday afternoon on their first road trip of the 2011-12 NBA preseason, they expect to be joined by their newest official teammate, Cory Joseph.

Having missed all of training camp to date while clearing immigration issues, Joseph traveled Thursday from San Antonio to his native Toronto to pick up a work visa. His return flight to the U.S. was booked to land in Houston, where he was to meet the rest of the Spurs in advance of Saturday’s preseason opener against the Rockets.

Joseph, the former Texas point guard the Spurs took 29th in the June draft, was unable to begin the process for obtaining his work visa until the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement was ratified Dec. 8. He has been in San Antonio awaiting a resolution since camp began last Friday.

Barring a last-minute snag, Joseph’s first official Spurs practice would be at shootaround in Houston on Saturday morning. He would need to sign his rookie-scale contract before taking the court.

NOVAK BACK: Forward Steve Novak, who played 23 games with the Spurs last season, was back at the practice site Thursday awaiting formal approval of a contract. He wasn’t able to practice until the contract was signed, which occurred later in the day. He will be with the traveling party for the trip to Houston.

A 6-foot-10 sharpshooter from Marquette, Novak has played parts of four seasons in the NBA for the Rockets, Clippers, Mavericks and Spurs. He came to the Spurs on a 10-day contract on Feb. 8, was re-signed to a second 10-day deal on Feb. 18 and then signed for the remainder of the season. He averaged 4.0 points per game and made 23 of 42 3-point shots.

SPECIAL CAMARADERIE: Antoine Hood, the 6-foot-4 guard added to the training camp roster on Tuesday, hopes to follow a path to the NBA similar to that of his head coach.

Like Gregg Popovich, Hood graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and served five years in the Air Force before looking to make basketball a career.

Popovich acknowledges the bond all Academy graduates feel for one another.

“Whenever you see an Academy grad, you feel a special camaraderie with him or her,” he said. “It doesn’t matter which Academy it is, because everybody respects what each other went through. He’s done his service and he wanted an opportunity to come out and display his talents, so it’s fun for me to bring him out here and let him go.”

Hood was part of an Air Force Academy team that made it to the NCAA tournament in 2006 under the guidance of former Nuggets head coach Jeff Bzdelik.

During his senior season at Air Force, Hood said Popovich’s career provided motivation that he might someday get a shot at playing in the NBA.

“Coach Popovich is the epitome of what the Air Force Academy stands for,” Hood told the Express-News in a 2005 interview. “And it’s something to look forward to. Knowing that Gregg Popovich wound up in the NBA, maybe I could do that some day.”

Spurs take Monday off

After working twice on Sunday, the Spurs will rest today with no practices.

The veteran team has worked four times in the first three days since training camp began on Friday. Coach Gregg Popovich wants to give his team a chance to step back for a day before another surge this week.

With only two preseason games before the Dec. 26 season opener against Memphis, the Spurs will do the majority of their work at their practices. Their first preseason game is Saturday night at Houston.

It’s a good deal for the new players not to throw too much at them too quickly.

Spurs don’t want just anybody at center

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

When Spurs coach Gregg Popovich looks at his roster as constituted, he sees what most analysts, scouts and fans in the stands do.

A giant question mark in the middle where the starting center should be.

Unlike many of those armchair pundits, however, Popovich seems to differ on the urgency with which that deficiency need be addressed.

“We probably could use another big in the rotation,” Popovich said. “But I don’t want to put someone there just to have a body there.”

Popovich has called the hunt for a reliable big man to plug next to an aging Tim Duncan the team’s No. 1 personnel goal.

Ten days into training camp, that search is still ongoing.

With the free-agent market for budget big men reduced to crumbs, and the trade market soft, the Spurs have so far been unable to lure outside reinforcements.

With the Dec. 26 opener against Memphis fast approaching, the Spurs appear prepared to start the season with the same frontline last seen getting skid-marked by the Grizzlies in April’s playoffs — minus Antonio McDyess, who appears intent on retirement.

The roll call of available free-agent centers who might fit the Spurs’ price range doesn’t exactly have the front office fumbling for its checkbook. As luxury tax payers, the most the Spurs can offer is a deal starting at $3 million.

That list, highlighted by the likes of Utah’s Kyrylo Fesenko and Toronto’s Alexis Ajinca, “won’t keep you up reading at night, like a good book,” Popovich said.

“I want that person to at least be able to help us when we put him in the game, instead of just take up minutes.”

Instead of rushing to fill a void with a player they don’t really want, the Spurs appear content to see what shakes out during the season, up until the March 15 trade deadline.

McDyess’ contract — worth $5.22 million but guaranteed for only $2.64 million until the end of the day today — appears to be the team’s most worthwhile trade chip.

Even at full price, McDyess’ expiring deal would likely interest a team looking to shed salary to chase a bumper crop of free agents this summer.

“We’re going to be patient and just take our time and see what develops,” Popovich said.

In the meantime, the Spurs’ search for a center will cycle through a familiar list of in-house candidates, each of them incomplete in some way.

Matt Bonner was the NBA’s leading 3-point shooter last season at 45.7 percent, but will never be confused with Bill Russell on defense. DeJuan Blair is undersized at 6-foot-7, has battled weight issues and, at 22, is still developing.

Tiago Splitter is a Brazilian mystery, limited to 60 games of mostly mop-up duty during an injury-speckled rookie year. In a sense, Popovich views Splitter as this season’s de facto free-agent signee.

“We haven’t really seen Tiago much, so he’s kind of a new player this year,” Popovich said. “He’s going to give us a lot of minutes we have to have, because of the quick schedule.”

With Duncan held out of Saturday’s preseason-opening loss at Houston, Splitter started at center next to Blair and scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

“I want to grow my game,” Splitter said. “I know how to play. I just want to help the team win games.”

Once upon a time, with Duncan in his two-time MVP prime, the Spurs were able to win championships with the likes of Rasho Nesterovic and Fabricio Oberto flanking him.

With Duncan’s 36th birthday approaching, the Spurs now require more from their starting center than to just be tall and ambulatory.

Popovich believes the Spurs can afford to remain patient in finding that person. For now, at least.