‘Jack’ happy with role, wishing for new deal

In a good place in both his basketball and music careers, there’s not much that can keep a smile off Stephen Jackson’s face these days.

Three days into his first Spurs’ training camp since 2002, Jackson wants the world to remember his new rap album drops at the end of the month.

“’Jack of All Trades’ coming Oct. 30,” he bellows to anyone within earshot at the team’s practice facility. “Be looking out for it. On iTunes and your nearest Best Buy. Go get it.”

Only one thing could make Jackson’s professional life better: An extension of his contract, worth $10 million in its final season.

“I want it, but I can’t control it,” Jackson said, toweling sweat off his face after Tuesday’s practice. “Every day when I walk in here I’m hoping they’ll call me in and say, ‘Jack, here’s your extension.’

“I think I deserve it, but at the end of the day I’m still happy to be here and all I can worry about is what I can control, and that’s my play.”

He should not be surprised the call hasn’t come. When he returned to the Spurs last season in a mid-March in a trade that sent Richard Jefferson to Golden State, coach and president of basketball operations Gregg Popovich alerted him an extension was not in the offing.

Given that the swingman practically forced the Bucks to trade him to the Warriors last season by declaring it “mandatory” they extend his deal, his promise to earn a new contract from the Spurs through his play qualifies as professional enlightenment.

Jackson also is content with an off-the-bench role, anxious to see how things shake out on a roster loaded with talented wing players.

“At the end of the day we know Pop will do the best job of getting the guys on the court to win the game,” he said. “As far as roles, the guys who have been here know our roles and we kind of expect the same type of situation next year. I don’t expect to start and I really don’t want to. I enjoyed my role last year. We love our roles and just want to be a better team than last year.”

At age 34, could maturity finally have caught up with Jackson’s exuberance?

“He’ll come off the bench, he knows that,” Popovich said. “At this stage of his career, he understands what makes teams tick and how rotations work and how teams are put together. Just like Manu (Ginobili) has come off the bench quite often, Jack understands that.”

Mostly, Popovich is optimistic that having Jackson from the first day of training camp will produce optimal results.

“I think more than anything, it’s about him being healthy, being in great shape,” Popovich said. “He knows our system really well, since he was already here. I think easing into things is going to benefit him, rather than jumping in like last year and having to get going off the bat. It kind of put him behind the curve, I thought.

“Being able to do this at a decent pace will help him be more valuable to us.”

Jackson averaged 8.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and two assists in 21 regular-season games with the Spurs last season. His role expanded in the playoffs, especially the final four games of the Western Conference finals, when he made 15 of 21 3-pointers and averaged 15.8 points in just under 27 minutes a game.

When Popovich forced his players to re-watch the lowlights of their series collapse against the Thunder on media day, Jackson cringed right along with every example the coach had picked out from Games 3 through 6, but with the knowledge he had been at his best as pressure mounted.

“He wasn’t calling my name too much,” Jackson said. “I had a decent series so he wasn’t singling me out. It was tough because we’re not a team known not to finish. We were up 2-0. We didn’t finish that series. I watch that series all the time and I’m still upset about it.”

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Twitter: @Monroe_SA

‘Spur for life’ star emphasizes winning over 54 percent pay cut










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Given the chance to do it all over again, Tim Duncan might have opted to hold his tongue, or at least offer a polite “no comment.”

He might have considered the wartime aphorism about loose lips sinking ships and how the idea might also apply to NBA contract talks.

When, on the cusp of free agency last May, Duncan christened himself a “Spur for life,” it was a heartening moment to fans who hoped he might end his Hall of Fame career in the place it began.

The sentiment turned out to be devastating to any chance Duncan had of playing hardball with Spurs management at the negotiating table.

“I’m an awful negotiator,” Duncan said, chuckling. “My agent was mad at me the whole time.”

Duncan was on hand at the Spurs’ practice facility Tuesday for the start of his 16th NBA training camp. That would have been surprising only if the notoriously casual dresser had arrived in something out of Craig Sager’s wardrobe.

Though technically a free agent for about a week in early July, the 36-year-old Duncan said he never seriously considered retirement and never remotely entertained the idea of playing elsewhere.

“I’ve been here for so long,” said Duncan, who took no calls from rival teams. “This is home for me.”

That’s a welcome statement for NBA observers who still cringe at the memory of Hakeem Olajuwon in a Toronto Raptors jersey or Patrick Ewing in Seattle SuperSonics green.

By accepting a three-year, $30 million deal to return to the Spurs, Duncan put his money where his mouth was.

Last season, Duncan earned $21.15 million, making him one of the NBA’s highest-paid players. This year, he will take home $9.6 million, a 54 percent pay cut that ranks below such not-so-luminaries as Corey Maggette, DeAndre Jordan and Hedo Turkoglu on the league’s salary list.

A 13-time All-Star and two-time league MVP, Duncan will be the fourth-highest paid player on the Spurs this season, behind Manu Ginobili ($14.1 million), Tony Parker ($12.5 million) and Stephen Jackson ($10.05 million).

If Duncan can resume his mid-30s mini-renaissance — he averaged 15.4 points and nine rebounds in a career-low 28.2 minutes per game last season — the power forward could rate as one of the league’s biggest bargains in 2012-13.

The last time the public saw Duncan on a basketball court, he put up 25 points and 14 rebounds in the Spurs’ Western Conference finals ouster at Oklahoma City.

“The way I felt and the way I was getting up and down and the way I was moving, I had no doubt I’d play a couple more (seasons),” Duncan said.

Duncan’s decision to return at a cut rate might also be read as a referendum on his team.

The captain would not have returned if he did not believe the Spurs — two wins away from a return to the NBA Finals a season ago — can remain among the league’s elite for at least a couple more years.

“We all hate losing,” Duncan said. “We all hate coming out here and feeling like we wasted our time. That’s why you want to put it all on the floor and do the best that we can.”

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich — Duncan’s coach since the day he was drafted No. 1 overall in 1997 — joked the summertime negotiations with his star power forward grew contentious.

“He was just as big a pain in the neck as he was when he almost went to Orlando,” Popovich said, referencing Duncan’s serious flirtation with the Magic during free agency in 2000. “He toyed with me. He lied to me. He intimidated me. He threatened me.

“In the end, it worked out. But I had to take much abuse to get it done.”

Duncan describes a more laid-back approach to contract talks: “Sat down with Pop. He said, ‘Do you want to get it done?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘OK, let’s go.’ It was pretty easy.”

As has been his custom for the past several years, the 6-foot-11 Duncan reported to camp looking trim at 255 pounds.

Throughout last season’s lockout-shortened campaign, Duncan complained less frequently about the knee soreness that had plagued him in recent years. He missed just eight games last season, all for rest purposes.

Encouraged by his health last season, Duncan says he can envision playing out the duration of his new contract, which would take him to age 39.

He has not ruled out signing on for another tour of duty when this deal is up.

“I hope I feel that good at the end of this contract,” Duncan said.

If that’s the case, and Duncan does decide he wants a deal to keep playing, here’s one piece of unsolicited advice: Let your agent do the talking.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

Key dates

Today: Intrasquad scrimmage (free admission, open seating) — 7:30 p.m., ATT Center

Saturday: First preseason game — vs. Montepaschi Siena, 7:30 p.m., ATT Center

Oct. 31: Regular-season opener — @Hornets, 7 p.m., KENS NBA TV

Nov. 1: Home opener — vs. Thunder, 8:30 p.m., TNT




























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Jackson: De Colo ‘another Manu Ginobili’

By Mike Monroe

In just 14 minutes and 36 seconds of his first preseason game with the Spurs, rookie guard Nando De Colo established himself as a fan favorite Saturday with some of the slickest passing seen at the ATT Center since Manu Ginobili’s rookie season 10 years ago.

He also impressed some teammates.

According to Stephen Jackson, De Colo is reminiscent of another fan favorite.

“Nando,” Jackson said, “is another Manu Ginobili.”

Officially, De Colo had only three assists in the Spurs’ 106-77 victory over Italian team Montepaschi Siena, but he was denied at least three more because his teammates weren’t prepared for some of his best passes.

“We must just need to practice together and to know each other,” De Colo said. “All the team knows what they must do. I am the only new one on the team so I must do my job with respect for the team and we will see.”

The highlight of De Colo’s NBA preseason debut was a no-look wraparound to forward Derrick Brown for a fourth-quarter dunk. He made only one of three shots, but also had three steals in little more than a quarter’s worth of court time.

“It was the first time, preseason game, and it was great,” De Colo said. “Everybody played. I’m very happy to be here and working to do something this season.”

Splitter sits: Center Tiago Splitter missed the preseason opener with an injury. The 27-year-old from Brazil has been battling back spasms for the last three days.

The third-year big man missed much of his rookie training camp in 2009-10 with a calf injury.

“Tiago’s getting better, but he’s going to miss the beginning of training camp again, unfortunately,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s been a habit for him. (Head athletic trainer) Will (Sevening) thinks he’ll practice on Monday.”

Splitter’s absence was an opportunity for backup big men Josh Powell — a 6-foot-9 veteran of 315 games over six NBA seasons with the Mavericks, Pacers, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers and Hawks — and 10-year veteran Eddy Curry.

Powell scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds in 17 minutes. Curry also had seven points, with two rebounds, in the final 9:18 of the game.

Still Spurs property: If Montepaschi big man Viktor Sanikidze’s name sounds vaguely familiar to Spurs fans, it’s because the team acquired his NBA rights in a draft-day trade in 2004. Chosen by Atlanta in the second round (42nd overall), the Spurs still own the rights the 26-year-old from the Republic of Georgia.

Sanikidze, a 6-7 forward, scored five points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

mikemonroe@express-news.net
Twitter: @Monroe_SA