Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Spurs notebook: Healthy Anderson anxious to show his stuff

After missing most of his rookie season training camp, second-year Spurs guard James Anderson found waiting nearly two-and-a-half months for the opening of this season’s camp a mere inconvenience.

Now, with Gary Neal on the shelf after undergoing an appendectomy on Monday, Anderson figures more heavily in the Spurs’ early-season plans.

Anderson got off to a good start last season, making 10 of 20 on 3-pointers in the first six games of the season but appeared in only 26 games after a stress fracture in his right foot was discovered Nov. 11. He returned to the lineup Jan. 29 but played a limited role thereafter.

“We want to watch him play,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We haven’t really seen him. He was hurt so much last year and missed camp and had such a spotty experience during the year. He’ll obviously get a chance to get out on the floor with Gary out. We’ll see what we see.”

Anderson played in a makeshift pro league in Las Vegas during the NBA lockout and reported to camp intent on proving himself.

“Anytime you get injured, it’s heartbreaking,” he said. “At the same time, you’ve got to take care of your body. That’s what this league is all about, taking care of your body.”

SHECKY POPOVICH: The Spurs coach went all stand-up comic on Neal on Tuesday, making light of Neal’s enforced idleness.

“They took out his appendix,” Popovich said. “He didn’t come to practice.

“Remember when we got our appendixes taken out? Next day, we were out shoveling snow. He gets his appendix out, he’s lying in bed: ‘It hurts, Coach. I can’t do anything.’

“I sent him a little card. It had a doe on it, a little deer. It smelled of flowers and everything. I wanted him to know we were thinking about him. If I was worth anything, I would have thought of sending ice cream with it, just to make him happier.”

The team’s medical staff won’t allow Neal to get back on the court until Monday.

“He’s probably going to miss three or four games, I’m thinking, something like that,” Popovich said. “Then he’ll be ready to go. He’s not going to forget how to shoot, but he was working really hard at the defensive end of the court, trying to improve the all-around part of his game, so that’s a tough break for him.”

MCDYESS DEADLINE: Center-forward Antonio McDyess remains a camp absentee while the club determines his contract status. Though the 16-year veteran announced his intent to retire after last season, he remains on the team’s roster, with half his $5.2 million contract guaranteed, even if he goes through with retirement.

The club has until Monday to decide if it is going to guarantee the other half of McDyess’ deal. It is possible his expiring contract could be used as part of a trade.

“We’re taking our time deciding how we want to approach the whole roster,” said Popovich, also the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations. “Every team is still looking around, making calls. We’re still looking around. It’s early. Things are starting to settle out, obviously, but things can happen to round out a roster.”

BUTLER WAIVED: The Spurs waived forward Da’Sean Butler. The club had signed him late last season after he was waived by the Heat. He did not play for the Spurs.

Quinn among NBA players not coming back for season’s start

Former Spurs guard Chris Quinn is among 23 NBA players who did not have opt-out clauses that would enable them to return to the United States from overseas when the lockout ended.

Quinn, who made $875,000 while playing with the Spurs, signed with the Moscow-based team Khimki in late July.

The Denver Nuggets will take the biggest hit in players not returning. The Nuggets will lose Wilson Chandler and J.R. Smith, two of the three NBA players to average double figures  last season who didn’t have opt-out clauses. The other was Phoenix guard Aaron Brooks.

Here’s a list compiled by Basketball-reference.com of the players who won’t for the start of the season.

 Chart: Basketball-reference.com

Jefferson out, Butler up next?

The Richard Jefferson era in San Antonio appears over.

According to an NBA source, the Spurs plan to exercise their one-time amnesty provision on Jefferson’s contract, once that option becomes available to them upon completion of the new collective bargaining agreement.

A source familiar with the thinking of Spurs front office said decision-makers are awaiting to see the language of the finalized amnesty rule before making a final call, but the team is strongly considering jettisoning Jefferson.

The move, first reported by Yahoo! Sports, would wipe from the books the remaining three years of  Jefferson’s contract worth nearly $30.5 million, $9.2 million of which is due this season, and give the Spurs financial freedom to pursue a new starting small forward in free agency.

That  replacement part, in fact, might be already be in San Antonio.

Not long before word of Jefferson’s impending release broke Wednesday, free agent Caron Butler wrapped up a visit in San Antonio his agent, Raymond Brothers, said “went flawlessly.”

“He felt comfortable here,” Brothers said. “I’m waiting for (the Spurs) to call and discuss it. All I can tell you is, he really liked it.”

Though Butler has already visited the Los Angeles Clippers and still plans to visit the New Jersey Nets — two teams that can offer more than the $5 million mid-level exception that will be available to the Spurs after Jefferson is waived — one league source said the Spurs are now considered the front-runner to land him.

Butler has also met with representatives from Chicago, which can also offer only the $5 million mid-level exception. The Spurs are also considering Washington small forward Josh Howard, who visited Tuesday, among other candidates to fill their small-forward void.

One factor that might entice Butler to San Antonio, his agent said, was the chance to play for coach Gregg Popovich. Asked if he believed the Spurs had a strong chance of signing Butler, Brothers said, “Absolutely.”

“He’s not wasting his time,” Brothers said “He’s wasn’t in San Antonio today to be nice.”

Butler, 31, has averaged 16.6 points over nine NBA seasons but had his 2010-11 campaign cut short in Dallas after tearing his right patella tendon on New Year’s Day. Brothers said Butler passed a physical during his visit with the Clippers earlier this week, and will be cleared for full participation in training camp once he signs with a team.

Butler’s decision is expected to come not long after free agency opens Friday. Brothers said he hopes to have Butler in some team’s camp by the weekend.

“We’ve got one stop left (New Jersey),” Brothers said. “Then it will be time to make a decision.”

With Jefferson, the Spurs appear to have already made their decision, although they can’t formalize it until after the CBA is ratified. Though he averaged 11.6 points in two seasons with the Spurs, Jefferson never lived up to the promise that accompanied his breathless 2009 arrival from Milwaukee.

Jefferson was a good soldier and a well-liked member of the Spurs locker room, but a bad fit on the court. His strengths and a floor-running wingman never quite meshed with the Spurs’ style. His career with the Spurs essentially ended at halftime of the team’s Game 6 ouster in Memphis, with Jefferson being benched for the final two quarters.

Casting off Jefferson’s contract under the upcoming amnesty rule would move the Spurs below the luxury tax line and give them extra cash with which to chase his replacement. Jefferson’s future is as unclear, though it is certain he will find a  job somewhere.

Under the new amnesty rules, teams under the salary cap will be allowed to bid for Jefferson’s services, with the difference between his new contract and old one being returned to the Spurs.