Tag: the NBA

Blog brother looks at how the upcoming free agent class could help the Spurs

During a normal summer, the NBA cognescenti would be salivating about potential free-agent moves across the league.

With the extreme likelihood we wi’ll have a lockout on July 1, all of that speculation has gone dormant. Hardly anybody is talking about which teams need to pick which free agents to help them improve.

Thankfully, Robby Lim of Spurs World.com about the upcoming free agent class. He ranks the top potential big people and how they could help the Spurs.

It’s an interesting blog post as he head into the summer and consider what the Spurs could look like whenever the 2011-12 season finally begins with a key addition.

My other blog brothers and blog sisters also have been busy over the past few days. Here are some of their takes.

  • The CBS Sports Network provides an when he was  still playing for San Diego State.
  • Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News wonders if the George Hill trade was made .
  • B Diddy of Air Alamo.com and what he will provide to the Spurs’ rotation.
  • Wayne Vore of Spurs Planet.com describes .
  • Jesse Blanchard of 48 Minutes of Hell.com explains that Leonard could give the Spurs for when they signed Richard Jefferson.  
  • Paul Garcia of Planet Spurs.com opines on the next season as he inherits some of Hill’s playing time and tells us that it took two days for second-round draft choice Adam Hanga to .
  • Timothy Varner of 48 Minutes of Hell has a great post about the essays of Wendell Berry and how the Spurs are trying to that Jefferson has introduced.
  • Blair Kerkhoff of the Kansas City Star ranks Leonard as the but calls the drafting of Joseph with the 29th pick a surprise.
  • Janie Annie of Pounding the Rock.com says .
  • The Project Spurs.com guys make a visit to WOAI.com’s “Sports Roundtable” to .
  • Aaron “Hirschof” Preine of Pounding the Rock.com takes his readers into on the Spurs’ draft  night.
  • Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles tells the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Charles F. Gardner is of former Spurs Benu Udrih and Stephen Jackson who are joining his team.
  • Justin “Scrappy Doo” Biehle of Pounding the Rock.com tells us about a .  
  • Homeowner Denise Mitchell tells the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that at her home are her 2005 and 2007 autographed commemorative championship Spurs basketballs.  
  • Alley Oop of Spurslocker.com gives us the heads-up onand the drafting of , ,  and.

Manu misses his trainer — for obvious reasons

The NBA lockout has thrown up a barrier between the league’s players and the rest of the employees of the team.

And in the process, these roadblocks can get in the way of some pretty strong friendships.

Manu Ginobili seemed to hint at that over the weekend when he to Spurs trainer Will Sevening.

Ginobili and Sevening have developed a strong relationship over the years, considering that Ginobili has missed 105 regular-season games and six more playoff games during his nine-season NBA career.

Sevening has been there for numerous cuts, abrasions, broken bones and bruises over the years from Ginobili, who is known affectionately among the Spurs as “El Contusion” because of all those injuries.

The two friends can’t converse as normal over the summer. No summer cookouts among their families. Not even a birthday e-mail.

For all we know, the NBA’s thought police might be monitoring Sevening’s ability to read tweets from Spurs players.

So we here at Spurs Nation are here to break that blockade.

Here is Ginobili’s tweet to Sevening:

“I wish I could talk to my friend and Spurs trainer Will and wish him a happy birthday…”

We’re more than happy to circumvent the NBA’s rules during this illogical lockout for all sides — particularly the fans in Spurs Nation.

Duncan won’t opt out

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

Tim Duncan is not expected to opt out of the final year of his contract, and the Spurs don’t plan to offer him an extension before the collective bargaining agreement expires Thursday, according to a source familiar with talks between the team and the franchise icon.

As such, Duncan will play out the final year of his existing deal, during which he is scheduled to earn $21.2 million, and remains on track to become a free agent after the 2011-12 campaign.

Duncan faces a Thursday deadline to exercise a early-termination option. His apparent decision not to do so is not surprising in light of the league’s unsure labor climate.

With a contentious fight broiling between the NBA’s owners and players union this summer, and with so much uncertainty still surrounding the next CBA, Duncan has apparently determined it is in his best interest to stand pat on what, at age 35, is likely to be his last high-dollar payday.

Should Duncan choose to continue playing after next season, the Spurs would prefer to re-sign him under the new set of salary rules, which are generally expected to be more favorable to small-market clubs.

There had been some speculation Duncan might decide to trigger his early-termination option and renegotiate his contract, in a manner that might give the Spurs payroll flexibility to better fortify their roster next season.

Duncan took a similar approach in signing a four-year extension before the 2007-08 season, accepting less than maximum money and leaving the Spurs room to eventually add Richard Jefferson in the summer of 2009.

A 13-time All-Star, two-time league MVP and three-time Finals MVP, Duncan logged career lows last season in scoring (13.4 points per game), rebounding (8.9 per game) and minutes (28.4 per game).

Though more of a statistical bit player than he was in his prime, Duncan in his 14th NBA season remained the central figure for the Spurs, both on the court and in the locker room.

“He’s not going to look like rookie Tim Duncan,” coach Gregg Popovich said in an interview conducted during the season. “Nobody is going to look like they did 14 years ago. He’s still so steady. He’s still our rock out there.”