Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Which free agents would Spurs Nation covet?

The NBA playoffs will continue over the next five weeks or so.

Most of Spurs Nation wishes the league’s champion was determined yesterday.

Even with the impending player lockout hanging over the off season like an ominous black cloud,  there remains much excitement among the Spurs’ fans as they speculate about ways to retool after the 61-win regular season that ended so abruptly in the playoffs.

The way that Memphis took the Spurs apart shows the team’s biggest needs will be a likely replacement for Antonio McDyess to add depth inside and help outside on the wing after Richard Jefferson’s playoff struggles.

The team’s biggest free-agent task will be resigning Tim Duncan, who is ranked as the No. 1 potential free agent in the class. Even though he could opt out for another deal, it’s almost inconceivable that Duncan will finish his career for any team but the Spurs.

Some of the need at small forward might be lessened if rookie James Anderson develops if he can remain injury-free. His career at Oklahoma State and his early playing in San Antonio showed he could make steps in that direction.

Even if Duncan returns, the Spurs needed to add somebody else inside. The possibility that players like Denver forward/center Nene, Memphis center Marc Gasol, New Orleans power forward David West, New Jersey power forward Kris Humphries  and Dallas center Tyson Chandler could move from their current teams could shake up the balance of power in the Southwest Division and the NBA.

It might be hard for the Spurs to be able to afford any of the top available players if they keep Duncan. If he remains on the roster, it might be impossible. But their championship hopes will depend on upgrading their current roster for a league that appears to be wide open after the lockout ends.

And the 2012 free agent class might be one of the strongest in history with Dwight Howard and Deron Williams hitting the open market along with 2008 draftees like Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Brook Lopez becoming restricted free agents.

Of course, we don’t know how free agency will be restructured if and when the lockout is settled. But the Spurs need to be active players because there likely will be little immediate talent available in the college draft.

So let’s put Spurs Nation in charge. Which players among this list of 2011 free agents would look the best in Silver and Black?

Playing fantasy general manager, how would you restructure the Spurs roster to be able to contend with teams like Dallas, Oklahoma City, Chicago the Lakers and Miami?

Here’s a list of top potential free agents heading into the summer, as ranked by the Bleacher Report.com.

1. , San Antonio (early termination option)

2. , Denver (early termination option)

3. , Boston (player option)

4. , Memphis (unrestricted)

5. , New Orleans (early termination option)

6. , Denver (restricted)

7., Dallas (unrestricted)

8. , Boston (restricted)

9., Detroit (restricted)

10. , Detroit (unrestricted)

11. , New Jersey (unrestricted)

12. , Washington (restricted)

13. , Phoenix (restricted)

14. , Denver (team option)

15. , Orlando (unrestricted)

16., Atlanta (unrestricted)

17. , Denver (restricted)

18. , Memphis (unrestricted)

19. , Sacramento (unrestricted)

20. ,  New Orleans (unrestricted)

21. , Dallas (unrestricted)

22. , Houston (unrestricted)

23. , Utah (unrestricted)

24., Boston (unrestricted)

25. , Denver (unrestricted)

McDyess: No regrets about time with Spurs

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

Sitting at his locker an hour before what became the final game of his 16-year NBA career, Spurs power forward Antonio McDyess winced.

He was trying to maneuver his back into a position that eased the twinge he still felt on the left side of his neck and down his left shoulder and arm — the result of a Game 3 injury that had left his arm totally numb.

Seeing his quest for comfort, a teammate asked the team’s oldest player how he felt.

“Not great,” McDyess replied.

Later, Grizzlies star Zach Randolph would lay an elbow to McDyess’ head and make things even worse, and force him to the bench to receive attention from the team’s medical staff.

As he stashed the last items from the locker in a travel bag, McDyess reflected on his two seasons in San Antonio, adamant he had made up his mind to retire and without regret for having chosen the Spurs over other teams that vied for his services in the summer of 2009.

“This was not at all how I wanted it to end, but signing here was one of the best things I did in my career,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade these two years for the world, one of the greatest times of my whole career. I just wish we would have gone farther.”

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is going to miss McDyess, as a player and person, but will respect his decision.

“We’re not going to fight him,” Popovich said. “If he does retire, as much as a player, we would miss him more as a person. He’s one of the finest human beings I’ve ever been associated with. He commands huge, huge buckets of respect from his teammates, just from the way he conducts himself. He’s just a wonderful man. So if he does retire, we’ll really miss him in that leadership role.”

The highlight of McDyess’ final season in silver and black was a buzzer-beating tip-in that gave the Spurs an 89-88 victory over the Lakers at the Staples Center on Feb. 3.

His final basket as a Spur, a perfect 20-foot jumper from the top of the key, gave his team its only lead of the second half of Friday’s elimination game in Memphis.

“This was one of the most enjoyable seasons I’ve ever had but disappointing we couldn’t go farther than the first round,” McDyess said.

When the Spurs were blown out in Game 4 at Memphis, he called out his teammates for being timid, including himself.

“I think that first game at home kind of set the tone for the whole series,” he said. “We weren’t aggressive, and the Grizzlies were ready to play us, and we should have taken that to heart when they said they wanted to play us. They came out exactly like a team that wanted to play us, and we were just taking their punches and weren’t coming back at them.”

INCREDIBLE, SHRINKING R.J.: After making 44 percent of his 3-point shots and averaging 11.0 points per game, starting small forward Richard Jefferson was benched for the entire second half of Friday’s Game 6 — scoreless for the second time in the series.

After making 5 of 9 3-pointers in Games 1 and 2, Jefferson made only one of his next eight. He averaged just 6.5 points in the series and by its end was strictly a spectator. He played only 10 minutes and 13 seconds of Game 6 — all in the first half.

Only seven times in his 10 seasons had Jefferson failed to score, and two of those came in the series against the Grizzlies.

About last night: Here’s what they wrote about Game 3

As Spurs Nation comes to grips with a 2-1 series deficit to the upstart Memphis Grizzlies, here are a few links detailing last night’s disappointments in the FedEx Forum.  

  • Matt Moore of Pro Basketball Talk at the end of the Memphis game.
  • Memphis Commerical Appeal columnist Geoff Calkins writes about Orthodox Jews Adam Groveman and Ryan Baum of Memphis.
  • Zach Randolph told the Memphis Commerical Appeal’s Ron Tillery that he Saturday as soon as he walked into FedExForum.   
  • The late Lorenzen Wrightin Memphis, Tillery and Ron Higgins of the Commercial Appeal write.
  • NBA.com’s Fran Blinebury writes that Saturday’s finish was  for the Memphis franchise.
  • The stats junkies at ESPN.com’s True Hoop blog from last night’s game.
  • Teresa Walker of the Associated Press of the Grizzlies’ triumph.