Tag: Matt Bonner

Spurs know where they will start, finish season

The NBA will release its regular-season schedules in a made-for-television extravaganza at 5 p.m. Tuesday on NBA-TV.

But we already know where the Spurs will start and finish the season.

The Memphis Commerical Appeal reported that an advance draft of the schedule indicated that the for the first game for both teams. It will be a rematch of last season’s stunning  upset by Memphis in the first round of the playoffs.

And the Arizona Republic reported Tuesday that the Spurs will visit the Suns on April 25 . It will be the same place the Spurs finished last season in the game where Manu Ginobili sustained his broken arm heading into the playoffs.

It means that San Antonio will be facing an unprecedented grind with 62 games during a period of only 122 days.

That grueling schedule will be an arduous test of the mettle of NBA teams. Spurs forward Matt Bonner joked Tuesday that he hasn’t faced as rigorous a schedule since his AAU basketball days.

“I think teams with depth are going to have an advtange during those types of stretches,” Bonner said. “Coaches are going to have to manage  minutes. You can’t play a guy 44 minutes five out of six nights in a row.”

But Bonner said the Spurs depth and continuity should help them play through the schedule more than teams that are facing change coming into the season.

“It will be exciting for a team like us,” Bonner said. “This is a team I think that has great depth, to go out and utilize everybody to try and be successful during those kind of stretches.”

Is Blair right fit as Spurs’ center?

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

For Spurs center DeJuan Blair, the toughest part about Russia wasn’t learning a new language. It wasn’t living in a foreign country, alone and further from home than he’s ever been.

It wasn’t reimagining how to play basketball, having to mold his game with the run-and-gun, everybody-shoots-it ethos of the Russian Leagues.

For Blair, the toughest part about spending two months of the NBA lockout playing for Krasnye Krylya, in the Russian metropolis of Samara, was finding suitable sustenance to feed his ample belly.

“I found a T.G.I. Fridays and a McDonald’s,” Blair said, “so I was good.”

Back in San Antonio, and somehow more svelte than when he left for Russia, Blair finds himself amid one of the most heated battles of Spurs training camp.

After watching the Spurs’ frontline get consistently manhandled by Memphis meat-eaters Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol in last April’s playoffs, coach Gregg Popovich declared the hunt for a starting big man to pair with All-Star Tim Duncan to be the team’s top personnel priority.

Though the Spurs haven’t ruled out bringing in outside reinforcements, via free agency or trade, Popovich will also audition a handful of in-house candidates.

The 22-year-old Blair, who started the first 63 games last season and averaged 8.3 points and seven rebounds, is among them. So is second-year center Tiago Splitter, the former first-round pick who struggled in search of steady playing time as a rookie.

“I hope I’ve got a bigger role this year,” Splitter said. “It’s not in my hands, it’s in the coaches’ hands, but I’m prepared.”

? Neither Blair nor Splitter spreads the floor much on offense, which could lead the Spurs — somewhat reluctantly — back to 3-point specialist Matt Bonner, who led the NBA in long-range accuracy but appears better suited to spot duty.

Popovich’s search for a starting center dovetails with his stated desire to improve the Spurs defensively. Antonio McDyess, 37, would be in the mix, if not for the expectation he will retire.

“There’s got to be enough size there,” Popovich said. “We need a (big man) that can guard. If you get one that can guard, the more that guys spread the floor, the better off you are.”

With the 35-year-old Duncan having slipped from dominating MVP levels, his new sidekick will be asked to carry a greater load than ever.

In terms of sheer size, Splitter is the most prototypical candidate on the camp roster. The 6-foot-11 former Spanish League MVP battled injuries throughout his rookie season, appearing in 60 games and starting six.

“I think I learned a lot last year,” said Splitter, who will turn 27 on New Year’s Day. “It wasn’t a waste of time. I grew a lot. This year, I’m way more ready to play than last year.”

For the 6-foot-7 Blair, Lilliputian by NBA big-man standards, size has never been an asset. Often, he can be overmatched by larger, longer frontlines.

During the lockout, Blair watched DVDs of his first two NBA seasons. He didn’t always recognize the player he saw.

“I was trying to be a robot,” Blair said. “I wasn’t playing like me.”

The natural, free-flowing — and, yes, exuberant — player he was in two college seasons at Pittsburgh rarely showed in a Spurs jersey.

“I just want to bring that DeJuan Blair back,” Blair said. “I was having fun, smiling on the court and doing a lot of things I don’t think I did the past two seasons. I think I’ll have a lot more rage like I had my last season at Pitt.”

Blair’s weight has been an issue throughout his first two pro seasons. At one point last year, he flirted with 300 pounds.

After the playoff ouster against Memphis, in which Blair did not play in Game 5 or 6, Popovich challenged him to show more “responsibility and maturity.”

“That will get him to the next level,” Popovich said. “Short of that, he’ll have a hard time.”

Blair believes two months in Russia have matured him. His slimmer waistline, achieved despite an Americanized diet overseas, shows it.

The time alone, he says, provided much food for thought.

“Just being over there in that environment, I thought a lot,” Blair said. “I grew up a lot.”

Whether a grown-up Blair is the Spurs’ answer at center remains to be seen. With two weeks and counting before the start of the season, the search continues.

Uncertainty reigns as Spurs’ camp begins

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

When the Spurs take to the practice floor today for the start of a shortened training camp prelude to a shortened season, they could be without a starting small forward and a starting center.

There will be a scant 17 days to fill out the roster, integrate new players, re-install the playbook and generally approach some semblance of playing shape before the 66-game regular-season opens Dec. 26 against Memphis.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, despite his reputation as something of a control freak, swears he is cool with all of this.

“I’m not uncomfortable about anything,” Popovich said. “We’re going to camp like we would any other year, and you go do your job.”

At the dawn of this strangest of training camps, with free agency opening the same day as practice, uncertainty reigns supreme across the NBA.

Outside of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, it’s hard to say who exactly will be present on the Spurs’ post-lockout practice court when the doors swing wide this afternoon.

The Spurs are strongly considering waiving small forward Richard Jefferson under the NBA’s new amnesty clause, though the leading candidate to replace him — former Dallas swingman Caron Butler — agreed to a three-year, $24 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday.

And Antonio McDyess, the Spurs’ playoff starter at center, is thought to be leaning toward retirement, but hasn’t informed anybody of anything.

“I wish I had an answer for you,” McDyess’ agent, Andy Miller, said Thursday. “But I don’t.”

Answers for the Spurs’ dilemma at small forward have proven just as elusive.

Though Jefferson has informed multiple teammates of the Spurs’ intention to waive him, the team could rethink that plan if no better option presents itself.

With Butler off the table, the Spurs remain in the hunt for Washington’s Josh Howard, who had a positive visit with Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford earlier this week, while also clinging to the fading hope they can sway 39-year-old Grant Hill away from Phoenix with the promise of a two-year deal.

“I always trust (the front office) and trust their judgment to improve our team,” said Parker, who will definitely be getting a new backup at point guard in Indiana expatriate T.J. Ford. “Knowing Pop, we want to try and win it, so I know they’re going to bring in guys who are competitive.”

McDyess, 37, was a recluse in Houston for most of the lockout as he contemplates whether to return for a 16th season he never intended on playing in the first place.

The three-year contract he signed with the Spurs in the summer of 2009 included a nice retirement bonus: $2.64 million guaranteed in 2011-12, whether he suits up or not.

The Spurs have until today to waive McDyess and cut him a check for that $2.64 million. If they don’t, the entirety of his $5.22 million pact becomes guaranteed.

Buford calls McDyess’ status for the start of camp “unclear.” One potential reason for the ambiguity: McDyess’ contract is constructed in such a manner as to make him an enticing trade chip to a team in search of salary cap relief.

After last season, Spurs officials were hopeful McDyess — who averaged 5.6 points and 5.7 rebounds over the past two seasons — could be persuaded to return for an abbreviated campaign.

For now, signs seem to point to McDyess being absent at least for the start of camp.

“I’m his agent and his friend,” Miller said. “The one thing I’m not is his therapist. He’s got to make the decision that’s in his best interest.”

Perhaps McDyess can afford to sit tight. For the rest of the Spurs, whoever they might be, training camp is here.

Ready or not.

2011-12 ROSTER

The Spurs open training camp today with many famil- iar faces, a couple who arrived midseason and are in their first Spurs camp, and some brand new faces.

Old guys
SG James Anderson, 22
C DeJuan Blair, 22
F-C Matt Bonner, 31
PF Tim Duncan, 35
SG Manu Ginobili, 34
SG Gary Neal, 27
PG Tony Parker, 29
PF Tiago Splitter, 26

Rookie guys
PG Cory Joseph, 20
SF Kawhi Leonard, 20
PG Devin Gibson, 22

First-time guys
SF Da’Sean Butler, 23
G-F Danny Green, 24
PG T.J. Ford, 28

Maybe guys
SF Grant Hill, 39
F-G Josh Howard, 31
SF Richard Jefferson, 31

Long-gone guys?
PF Antonio McDyess, 37
PF Steve Novak, 28
PG Chris Quinn, 28

Source: Express-News research