Tag: Matt Bonner

Checking out the Spurs: Physicals first, workouts later

According to someone in the know, Spurs players who showed up Thursday at the team’s practice facility were there to get the physical exams always required before the start of training camp. They won’t begin working out at the site until Saturday or Sunday.

The NBA this week allowed team facilities to be opened to players who literally had been locked out since July 1.

Among the players reportedly receiving a physical Thursday morning: Team captain and two-time NBA MVP  Tim Duncan, looking fit and ready to begin his 15th season in silver and black. Duncan has been diligent in his conditioning regimen through the summer and fall. He organized workouts at a private gym that until recently included teammates Manu Ginobili, Tiago Splitter, James Anderson and Da’Sean Butler, as well as players from some other NBA teams.

Matt Bonner, the Spurs union player representative, said most players were expected to have completed physicals by the end of the weekend and would be at the site every day next week working out in preparation for the planned start of training camp on Dec. 9.

Spurs notebook: Players arrive in ship shape

For the first time in nearly six months, Spurs forward Matt Bonner stood before a bank of television cameras Tuesday wearing sweat-stained workout gear, not a sport coat.

A leading voice for the National Basketball Players Association during the NBA lockout, Bonner was happy to be back inside the Spurs’ practice facility, even if it meant passing a grueling fitness test administered by new strength and conditioning coach Matt Herring.

“It was not tougher than running up the mountains in New Hampshire,” said Bonner, referring to his usual lockout workout. “But it was not easy, regardless.”

By lunchtime Tuesday, 10 Spurs players had graced the door of the practice gym: Bonner, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Gary Neal, Richard Jefferson, James Anderson, Da’Sean Butler, Danny Green and rookies Kawhi Leonard and Cory Joseph.

Manu Ginobili was expected to arrive late Tuesday, with DeJuan Blair also en route.

Until the league’s new collective bargaining agreement is ratified, coaches are not allowed to supervise on-court workouts. Though facilities across the league have been unlocked since Thursday, players’ activities have been limited to physical exams, conditioning work and light shooting drills.

“Everybody seems in pretty good shape,” said Bonner, who was headed to New York for a final round of collective bargaining meetings this afternoon. “The person I worried about most was myself. I passed the fitness test this morning, so I was pretty excited.”

One player who arrived in peak physical condition was Parker. The 29-year-old point guard began his offseason leading the French national team to its first Olympic berth since 2000. Since early October, Parker had been playing with ASVEL Villeurbanne, the French League team he co-owns.

He played his final game with ASVEL last week.

“I’m just happy to be home and happy to be back to my normal life,” Parker said. “It was fun in France, but definitely better here.”

FREE AGENTS IN TOWN: Free-agent small forward Caron Butler made his visit to Spurs headquarters Tuesday as scheduled, his agent, Raymond Brothers confirmed via text message.

Butler, 31, has averaged 16.6 points in a nine-season career. He had last season cut short in Dallas after tearing his right patella tendon in a game on New Year’s Day.

Also scheduled for a Tuesday visit to San Antonio was Washington swingman Josh Howard, who has averaged 15.1 points over eight seasons, most of them spent in Dallas.

BRING ‘EM ON: Parker said he was looking forward to opening the season Dec. 26 at home against Memphis, the team that bounced the Spurs from the first round of the postseason last April.

The Grizzlies defeated the top-seeded Spurs in six games, becoming just the second No. 8 seed in the best-of-7 era to advance past the first round.

“There’s definitely a lot of motivation there,” Parker said. “I want to play them in the playoffs, but I’ll start with the first game of the season.”

Spurs en route to gym

It’s beginning to seem a lot like NBA season.

Permitted by the NBA to resume upgrading the roster, Spurs general manager R.C. Buford and his staff spent most of Wednesday working the phones, talking to agents to gauge the interest of potential free-agent signees on Dec. 9.

“This was like the July 1 of (a normal) free-agency period,” Buford said. “We had a big group in the office making a lot of calls.”

This morning the Spurs’ practice gym will open to players, and head athletic trainer Will Sevening will be on hand.

Whether any Spurs show up to work out, put up shots or play pick-up games remains to be seen.

“We’re still not allowed to talk to players,” Buford said, mentioning that the NBA lockout continues despite the tentative deal reached Saturday. “We don’t even know who is, and isn’t, in the area.”

Matt Bonner, the Spurs forward who served on the players union’s executive committee during months of negotiations, plans to be at the facility by Sunday, along with a majority of his teammates.

“I’m definitely excited to get back on that practice court in San Antonio with the guys and start preparing to try and win a championship,” he said. “I’ve talked to a lot of the guys. Most of them will be back by this weekend. A few more will be there early next week, and everyone is definitely happy to be getting back on that court and looking forward to playing NBA basketball again.”

Though a new collective bargaining agreement remains a work in progress, the NBA gave teams the go-ahead to unlock facilities that have been off-limits to players since the league locked them out July 1.

Spurs players will have to get physical exams and sign waivers absolving the team from responsibility for injuries before they can use its facilities.

The Spurs’ new strength and conditioning coordinator, Matt Herring, and his staff will be allowed to assist with weight-training equipment, but the training and conditioning staffs are prohibited from supervising workouts.

Executives and coaches are forbidden from observing player activity until the lockout officially is ended.

Meanwhile, most NBA players on Tuesday received official recertification cards from the trade association that has represented them in negotiations to settle the anti-trust lawsuits filed by player plaintiffs. The National Basketball Players Association disbanded Nov. 14 after negotiations broke down. Included with the cards: FedEx envelopes for returning the signed cards quickly.

At least 260 signed cards in favor of reforming the union must be received by the American Arbitration Association by the close of business Thursday to allow negotiations on a formal CBA to continue.

Bonner said faxed copies of the signed cards will be counted, as will electronically submitted cards, pending receipt of the original cards.

The formal CBA must be ratified by both the players and owners before the projected opening of training camps Dec. 9.