Tag: In the News

No amnesty for Jefferson

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

HOUSTON – Meet the new starting small forward, same as the old starting small forward.

After a week of flirting with other small forwards, the Spurs will open the preseason tonight at the Toyota Center with Richard Jefferson still on the roster and the remaining three years and $30.5 million on his contract still on the team payroll.

Friday’s NBA deadline for executing amnesty on a player – waiving him in order to clean his contract off the books for salary-cap purposes – came and went without Jefferson being jettisoned.

The Spurs had been strongly considering releasing the 31-year-old Jefferson, but backed away when they couldn’t seem to attract a suitable replacement. Though amnesty is off the table for the 2011-12 season, the team could still use the one-time provision for next season beginning in July.

In two seasons with the Spurs, Jefferson averaged 11.6 points. He shot 44 percent from 3-point range last season, a career-high and fifth-best in the league.

“He had a hell of a year for us,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “I think he’ll just move forward from there.”

ROOKIE ORIENTATION: One Spurs rookie first-rounder is sure to make his NBA debut tonight. Thanks to Canada’s Citizens and Immigration Department, the Spurs’ other rookie first-rounder is at least eligible to.

Point guard Cory Joseph, the 29th pick out of Texas, received a work visa from his native Canada as expected Friday and joined the Spurs in Houston. He is scheduled to participate in his first Spurs practice with this morning’s shootaround, though it is uncertain if he will play against the Rockets.

Meanwhile, small forward Kawhi Leonard – the 15th pick in June – is eager to play in his first game in an NBA uniform, even if it’s just an exhibition.

“I’m just anxious to play really, just to see how the NBA-paced game is and get use to the atmosphere so I can get better,” Leonard said.

OH, HIM: Steve Novak, the former Marquette star who re-joined the Spurs Thursday was thrilled to go through his first practice on Friday, getting re-acquainted with most of the teammates with whom he played in the final three months of the 2010-11 season.

“I sure loved it here with the Spurs, so I’m very happy to be back,” he said.

Novak spent his time during the NBA lockout in his home base in Milwaukee, working out with Marquette players, past and present, including some NBA players.

“There were quite a few (NBA players),” he said. “Myself, Lazar Hayward, Jimmy Butler, Wes Matthews and, and — I’m forgetting one. There were five guys. Who am I forgetting? Oh, yeah, D. Wade. But he didn’t work out with us. He was just there a couple of days.”

That would be Dwyane Wade, All-NBA star of the Heat and MVP of the 2006 NBA Finals.
Wade and Novak were teammates at Marquette in 2002-03.

Novak, 6-10, believes he has a decent shot at making the Spurs opening night roster because the Spurs have only four NBA-experienced big men and because of his long-distance shooting ability.

Ford excited for his Texas return

Houston-area native and former Texas player T.J. Ford couldn’t be happier about his return to the area of his college success.

Ford said he had other opportunities, but was more excited about the opportunity to have a homecoming of sorts by joining the Spurs.

“In the eight years of my career I’ve been in the midwest, the east coast … far from home,” said Ford, who attended Sugarland Willowridge before spending two seasons with the Longhorns. “I have a lot of family and friends between Houston and Austin, so there’s a lot of opportunity for them to come see me play. Just to feel the love and the atmosphere, it feels good.”

Those good feelings and the opportunity for playing time with the Spurs were the biggest reasons he chose San Antonio.

“I think they wanted me. That was the big thing for me,” Ford said. “ I just felt it was the right fit from the time I got that first phone call. I didn’t think about any other team.

“I had other offers, but I don’t think I could have gotten a better situation than being in San Antonio.”

And the opportunity for playing time in place of the traded George Hill also had to factor into the decision.

The Spurs have had only one former Longhorn on their roster in their previous history. Johnny Moore played all but one game in his 520-game NBA career with the Spurs from 1980-90.

The team will have two former UT players this year in Ford and rookie guard Cory Joseph, the team’s first-round draft pick this season.

Jefferson could survive Amnesty Day

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

Today is Amnesty Day across the NBA, the date by which teams must decide whether to exercise their so-called “amnesty provision” on a player for this season, or save it for a campaign to come.

For Richard Jefferson, long named near the top of every speculative “to-be-amnestied” list, today could mark the last day of his Spurs career. Or it could be the first day of the rest of his third season in silver and black.

A red-letter day indeed, except Jefferson didn’t exactly have it circled on his calendar.

“I didn’t even know until you told me,” a grinning Jefferson said after Thursday’s practice. “I could have gone to bed tonight a happy man.”

Judging by the way his head coach has been raving about him, not to mention the way the free-agent market has been drying up, perhaps Jefferson needn’t lose sleep anyway.

Though Gregg Popovich didn’t go so far as to rule out the prospect of amnesty for ? Jefferson, it certainly sounds as if the coach is preparing to open the season with the 31-year-old small forward still in the fold.

“It’s kind of interesting,” Popovich said. “Everybody’s always asking about amnesty, and I’m always wondering, ‘Why Richard?’ As if we didn’t advance in the playoffs because of Richard.”

Under the amnesty provision, teams are granted one “get-out-of-a-bad-deal” card, allowing them to waive one player and scrub his contract from the payroll for salary cap and taxpaying purposes.

Waiving Jefferson, who is owed $30.5 million over the next three seasons, would nudge the Spurs’ payroll below the luxury-tax line, allowing them access to the full $5 million mid-level exception in free agency.

With speculation swirling since the start of camp, Jefferson has deflected questions about his future.

“It’s one of those things where you just approach this game like a professional,” Jefferson said. “There’s trade rumors, things always happen. I respect the Spurs and whatever they decide to do, I’ll support.”

Absent a readily available replacement, however, the Spurs seem disinclined to part with their starting small forward. Josh Howard’s decision Thursday to accept a one-year deal in Utah made keeping Jefferson an even more attractive option, at least for this season.

It also helps explain Popovich’s impassioned — and largely unsolicited — Amnesty Day Eve defense of Jefferson’s two-season tenure in San Antonio.

“Each year, he’s understood the system more and done a better job,” Popovich said. “I think he wants to come back and have an even better year than he did last year. I think he was fifth in the league in shooting his threes, and he got better defensively. I think he’ll move forward from there.”

Though Jefferson’s scoring average dipped from 12.3 points to 11 last season, he was more efficient in his second year with the Spurs than his first. His 44-percent clip from 3-point range was not only the fifth-best in the NBA, but also a career high.

Jefferson became a lightning rod for criticism during the top-seeded Spurs’ disappointing first-round playoff ouster against Memphis, totaling 10 points in the final four games. He was benched for the second half of the Game 6 clincher.

Jefferson was not the only player to sag in that series, Popovich noted.

“I don’t think anybody played great,” Popovich said. “Maybe I should have coached better. Maybe three or four players should have played better, but everybody kind of singled out Richard, which was pretty unfair.”

The Spurs could opt to save their amnesty card until the offseason, when they will also have Tim Duncan’s $21.2 million coming off the books and a deeper free-agent pool to chase.

For now, signs point to Jefferson surviving to Saturday, when the Spurs open the preseason at Houston. Until Amnesty Day has come and gone, however, he will sleep with one eye open.

“I’ve had a great time here, and I’m looking forward for it to continue,” Jefferson said. “If something does happen, I’ll be the first to know.”