Tag: In the News

Spurs notebook: French connection aiding Diaw

PHOENIX — Newly acquired forward Boris Diaw is five days into the process of learning the Spurs’ offensive and defensive schemes, an endeavor that famously takes most players a full season to master.

At least he had a head start.

With point guard Tony Parker running the show for the French national team in Olympic qualifying competition in September, Les Bleus ran a lot of the same sets the Spurs employ during the season.

“He doesn’t know a lot of what we’re doing, but he did some of it with the French team this summer,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s relying mostly on good basketball IQ.”

Parker calls teaming up with Diaw in silver and black “like a little dream.” The two first began playing together in France when Parker was 16 and Diaw was 15.

In San Antonio, Parker has become Diaw’s tutor on the Spurs’ system. Or, as it turns out, Diaw’s translator.

“(The difference) is more the terminology than the plays,” Parker said. “Once he sees the play, he knows what to do.”

Diaw has played in three games in three nights since signing with the Spurs on Friday, scoring two points in each. With the Spurs’ frontcourt shorthanded in Sunday’s victory against Philadelphia, Diaw supplied seven rebounds in 26:37.

“I didn’t even get a chance to practice, and I played three games in a row,” Diaw said. “That’s the NBA.”

Availability update: Tonight in Phoenix, Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili will be available at the same time for the first time since Wednesday at Minnesota.

Tiago Splitter (back spasms) and Gary Neal (left foot sprain) made the trip and will each be re-evaluated after shootaround this morning. Neal is listed as probable; Splitter as doubtful.

Neal, a backup guard, suffered his injury stepping on the foot of DeJuan Blair in Friday’s win over Dallas. Splitter has missed three consecutive games.

Meanwhile, the Spurs are hopeful Australian point guard Patty Mills — signed to a contract but unable to play while ironing out visa issues — will be free to join the team this week.

Joseph earns D-League honor: Rookie point guard Cory Joseph, in the midst of his third assignment with the Austin Toros this season, was named the Development League’s Performer of the Week.

Joseph averaged 19 points, 9.3 assists and nine rebounds during a 3-0 week for the Toros. His performance included a D-League season-high 25 points Wednesday against Iowa and a triple-double (15 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists) Friday against Maine.

Cardinal’s reply: After Friday’s game, Spurs forward Stephen Jackson called out Dallas’ Brian Cardinal for a flagrant foul against Duncan.

“When you can’t play no more, I guess all you can do is go out and try to hurt people,” Jackson said.

Cardinal’s response came courtesy of the Dallas Morning News.

“The thing I take from that is he thinks I once could play,” Cardinal told the newspaper.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

Could you accept the Spurs as walking billboards?

NBA owners will meet later this month to discuss a proposal to allow small advertisements to appear on player jerseys.

It’s not unusual in professional sports. Some WNBA teams have already pioneered this trend. And it’s been happening for many years in Europe where soccer players, basketball players and others have appeard with advertisements splashed across their jerseys. NFL teams have dabbled in this revenue source on practice wear, but not on game uniforms.

Obviously,  it would be a huge additional revenue source for NBA owners. And players, no doubt, would want a cut of any money that might accrue from this source.

NBA commissioner David Stern said during last year’s work stoppage that the league has been losing more than $300 million each year, with 73 percent of teams losing money (22 of 30).

Business Week.com reports that a study by Horizon Media last year put the of the space across an NBA jersey’s chest in a range from $4.1 million for the Los Angeles Lakers to $300,000 for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“When you look at the revenue streams left available, jersey branding is the most significant that hasn’t been exploited,” David Abrutyn, head of global consulting at sports marketing firm IMG Worldwide, told Business Week.com.

So what kind of businesses would work best with the Spurs?

Would it be a local business giant like USAA that has a large existing sponsorship with the team work best? Or could we see Peter Holt slap a logo of a farm-implement company that works closely with his company?

What business do you think would work best as a jersey sponsor for the Spurs? And what are some other choices around the league for specific teams? 

How about French-based Maille Dijon mustard, in honor of Tony Parker and Boris Diaw. Or Vise-Grip pliers in honor of Kawhi Leonard’s lockdown defense? Or Geritol for Tim Duncan’s renaissance this season at the age of 35? Or Whataburger to extoll the virtues of DeJuan Blair, who occasionally can be one of their best customers?

As always, I’m interested in your responses.

Spurs owe success to roster full of contributors

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich started this condensed 66-game NBA schedule with the notion that his starters, some of them a bit old, would need rest and they would need it often.

“It’s probably mandatory,” Popovich said in December.

As a whole, the veterans are playing fewer minutes, as Manu Ginobili has battled a few injuries and Popovich has found opportune times for Tim Duncan and Tony Parker to join the inactive portion of the box score.

Thanks to the deepest bench in the team’s championship era and likely ever, the Spurs have the best record in the West and second best in the NBA. And recent additions have made the bench strong enough to make some think the Spurs are primed for a run at championship No. 5.

It’s been especially noticeable as the Spurs built their recent 10-game win streak. After scoring 82 points in Friday’s win over New Orleans, the most by an NBA bench since 1990, the reserves have outscored the opposing bench 245-135 in the past four games.

Express-News staff writer Tim Griffin examines how much the bench aided the Spurs’ first four titles and this season’s Spurs. See Page C6 for a statistical breakdown of the starters and reserves from these five Spurs teams and some key moments off the bench in the title runs:

1999
Veterans Jaren Jackson, 31, Steve Kerr, 33, Jerome Kersey, 36, and Will Perdue, 33, were key contributors. No reserve averaged more than 6.4 points or 18.3 minutes as Popovich stuck with his starters more than any of his other title teams.

2003
Malik Rose (10.4 ppg, 24.5 mpg) and 25-year-old rookie Manu Ginobili (7.6 ppg, 20.7 mpg) were the most important, but vets Steve Smith, Danny Ferry, Kevin Willis, Speedy Claxton and Kerr had their moments.

2005
Robert Horry hit the big shots, but Nazr Mohammed, Brent Barry, 22-year-old rookie point guard Beno Udrih and late-season acquisition Glenn Robinson all played regularly by playoff time.

2007
Ginobili was a reserve most of the season, providing 16.5 ppg as the third-leading scorer. Michael Finley and Barry also averaged more than 20 minutes a game, and Fabricio Oberto and Udrih complimented them.

2012
Three moves bolstered a strong bench with late acquisitions of Stephen Jackson, Boris Diaw and Patty Mills. Four bench players average at least 20 minutes a game and two others are close to that. With Tiago Splitter, Gary Neal, Matt Bonner and Ginobili playing well, Popovich has leaned on his bench more than any of his other teams.

TITLE MOMENTS OFF THE BENCH

The Spurs’ bench has come up with key performances that have helped produce pivotal moments in the team’s previous four championship seasons. Here is a key bench contribution in each of those seasons:

1999: Jaren Jackson goes for 22 points and 20 points in the final two games of the series helping to finish off road victories in a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the playoffs.

2003: After playing only 13 minutes in the playoffs up to then, Steve Kerr comes off the bench to hit four clutch 3-pointers that fuels a series-clinching victory over Dallas in the Western Conference finals.

2005: The legend of “Big Shot Rob” continues as Robert Horry sinks a game-winning 3-pointer with 5.8 seconds in overtime to boost the Spurs to a series-turning Game 5 victory at Detroit in the NBA Finals.

2007: Manu Ginobili erupts for monster scoring games of 26 points in a Game 5 victory and 33 in the series-clinching Game 6 triumph to help finish off Phoenix in the Western Conference semifinals. The series turns when Horry’s hip-check of Phoenix’s Steve Nash, sending Nash into the scorer’s table, sparks a rumble.

– Tim Griffin