Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Kirilenko’s injury should scare on-the-fence players

As Manu Ginobili, Matt Bonner and Gary Neal mull playing overseas during the NBA lockout, I suggest they watch .

I’m not trying to come off like a driver’s education instructor here. But Andrei Kirilenko’s scary head injury while playing for CSKA Moscow last week should be a reminder that those extra paychecks overseas still come with a potential price.

Kirilenko received a broken nose, head laceration and concussion as he scrambled for a loose ball. Obviously, that injury could have happened anywhere, but sitting home on his couch seems to be the better option to me.

Of particular note are the primitive conditions that go with Kirilenko’s treatment. I guess they don’t have sterile gloves for trainers in the Russian league, either.

Here’s a You Tube video of the play of Kirilenko’s injury.

Unlocked: Now what for Spurs?

The NBA lockout is almost over. The “nuclear winter” commissioner David Stern promised turned out to be a mild snowstorm. What can the Spurs expect from a shortened training camp, condensed free-agent period and truncated 66-game regular season slated to start after Christmas? Express-News Spurs beat writer Jeff McDonald takes a guess:

Will the shortened season really help an old team like the Spurs?

In 1999, when the Spurs parlayed a lockout-shrunken, 50-game season into the first championship in franchise history, their starting lineup averaged 30.8 years.

This season’s projected starting lineup averages 31. For an older team, it seems logical that fewer regular-season games should result in fresher legs once the playoffs roll around.

Last season, the Spurs were 54-12 and peaking at the 66-game mark. Had the postseason started then, perhaps they would have lasted past the first round.

How many back-to-backs (and back-to-back-to-backs) can older stars such as Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili be expected to handle?

The downside for an old team facing a compressed schedule: a greater percentage of those dreaded back-to-backs, and the possibility of back-to-back-to-backs as schedule makers attempt to shoehorn 66 games into a four-month window.

In a normal season, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is vigilant about resting his older stars during the rigorous portions of the schedule. With Duncan 35 and Ginobili 34, expect that caution to approach paranoia this season.

When Ginobili had to play eight games in 11 nights in an Olympic qualifier in Argentina this past summer, he complained of exhaustion by the end of it. Chances are, he won’t be given a chance to repeat that experience for Popovich.

What kind of shape will most players be in once training camp commences?

Don’t expect many fat, out-of-shape guys among the Spurs’ key players.

Throughout the lockout, Duncan has been leading regular workouts for San Antonio-based players and is reported to be in fine fighting shape. Ginobili has kept himself in shape after playing for Argentina. Tony Parker played for France and is now playing professional ball in that country.

The Spurs’ veterans have been there and done that and know how to prepare their bodies for the nightly grind of the NBA. Younger players, given too much downtime away from the watchful eyes of the Spurs’ new strength and conditioning staff, might not fare so well. It will be interesting to see who is gassed and who is not come the first day of camp.

Will Richard Jefferson still be here opening night?

The new collective bargaining agreement is expected to contain an amnesty provision that would allow teams to waive one player without incurring the accompanying salary-cap hit.

Richard Jefferson, the 31-year-old small forward who has mostly underwhelmed in two seasons in San Antonio, appears to be a prime candidate for the axe. But not so fast.

Jettisoning Jefferson and his $9.2 million salary wouldn’t put the Spurs below the cap, limiting their ability to replace him via free agency. It is possible, perhaps even likely, the Spurs hold on to Jefferson for the time being, using him as a de facto expiring contract at the trade deadline.

Or, they could wait and waive him until next summer, when the Spurs also have Duncan’s $21.3 million coming off the books, to create enough cap room to attract a higher class of free agents in 2012.

How active should we expect the Spurs to be in the December free agent frenzy?

Not very. Even if the Spurs do use amnesty provision on Jefferson and lose Antonio McDyess and his $5.2 million contract to retirement, they still won’t fall far enough below the cap line to make much of a splash in free agency.

For the Spurs, the free-agent period expected to start Dec. 9 — the same day teams can open camp — will probably look much like the one that usually starts July 1. The team will use its mid-level exception and minimum contracts to fill out the roster with role players (Shane Battier, anyone?) and hope the core of a team that won 61 games last season will be enough to keep it competitive this season.

Wade not ready to give up his ‘Air Jordans’

Michael Jordan has been about as popular as ants at a picnic for many NBA players since his strident views on the lockout have become common knowledge.

Jordan has been one of the most vocal owners who have demanded the league to turn down the recent deal for a 50-50 split in the basketball related income with the players. Considering that “His Airness” is an owner of the small-market Charlotte Bobcats, it’s not hard to see why. 

But those views have been an anathema to many basketball players who were weaned on “being like Mike” as they learned how to dunk wearing their Air Jordan Nike tennis shoes.

Indiana forward Paul George called Jordan  Former NBA player Stephon Marbury said he was . Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace said he by Jordan’s anti-union stance. Washington forward Nick Young .  

But Miami guard Dwyane Wade, who coincidentally is one of the NBA players with the largest deals with Nike to endorse Jordan’s apparel line, isn’t ready to diss the icon or his shoes.

“I really didn’t need to get involved in all that,” Wade . “Obviously I wear a different hat than certain other guys that got involved in it. And I stay away from it. I have an obligation and I have a job to do and I’m going to do my job.”

Wade has heard the comments from the other players. But he doesn’t want to join them in their vituperation for Jordan.

“That’s on Nick Young,” Wade said. “That’s his moment. Obviously, that’s his own choice and decision and, you know, that’s something he’s going to have to deal with. I can’t let that affect me. I have my own things to run, my own stuff to think about what I’m doing with my own shoes.

“Obviously, I heard about it, because you can’t do nothing but hear about everything now, because there’s nothing else to do.”

Translation: It’s nice to be paid for endorsing Jordan’s shoes — particularly during the lockout.