Tag: San Antonio Spurs

T-Mac gets a tryout

Nearly eight years after Tracy McGrady beat the Spurs with this legendary , the former NBA scoring champ is now auditioning to join them.

The seven-time All-Star, still in search of a contract less than a month away from the start of training camps, worked out for team officials in San Antonio this week, .

McGrady, 33, is still looking for work after averaging a career-low 5.2 points in his lone season with Atlanta. As the Yahoo! report indicates, McGrady might soon have to decide whether to accept a make-good offer to join an NBA training camp this fall — the New York Knicks could be another option — or finish his career overseas.

It is not exactly clear how McGrady might fit into the Spurs plans. Though renowned earlier in his career as an elite scoring guard, the 6-foot-8 McGrady has found new life the past two seasons in Atlanta and Detroit filling the “savvy back-up point guard” role.

With the Spurs’ depth chart behind Tony Parker largely unsettled — Patrick Mills, Gary Neal and rookie Nando de Colo will all battle for time there — the notion of them taking a flier on someone such as McGrady isn’t totally out of the question.

He’d also likely fit into the payroll plans of the budget-conscious Spurs, having played last season with the Hawks for the veteran’s minimum of $854,398.

Supporting cast provided Spurs with huge value

With a shallow-pocketed owner and limited revenue steams, the Spurs have few peers when it comes to stretching dollars.

Combine that with their savvy front office, and it comes as no surprise that the team got massive value last season from their supporting cast — defined as everyone not named Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Indeed, not only were those players generally productive, in most cases they vastly outperformed their contracts.

Just look at the numbers dug up in this , using a formula involving win shares and individual salaries. (Follow the link for more details, and the complete table.)

Tiago Splitter and Matt Bonner outperformed their contracts by nearly double. Guys like Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and DeJuan Blair were even better, playing as much as EIGHT TIMES better than their deals would suggest.

On the flip side, Duncan is suggested to have been overpaid by almost $12 million, but that’s what happens with aging superstars. And he still didn’t even , as compiled by CNBC.

Spurs rank third in ESPN Ultimate Team Rankings

In what has become an annual tradition, the Spurs are once again ranked among the in America by ESPN.

With the distilled down to eight categories, the Spurs took third out of 122 franchises, trailing only Oklahoma City  and the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. They ranked first in four categories: Fan relations, ownership, players and coaching.

It marked San Antonio’s seventh top three finish since ESPN first began the rankings in 2003. The Spurs were named No. 1 in 2004 and 2006, and have never finished lower than ninth. Indeed, according to team spokesman Tom James, they are the only franchise to finish in the Top 10 all 10 years.