Reply With Quote
Are you suggesting that Hairston has proven that he can't hit three pointers in the NBA?
Seriously?
Are you suggesting that Hairston has proven that he can't hit three pointers in the NBA?
Clearly you don't have any idea what defense is.
Yes seriously. Tim would score a ton of points on top of him when he was in the Lakers.
He's serviceable as a PF defensive player, but not to be consider stellar.
You're right, we do agree. The problem is that there aren't that many defensive badasses to go around. We were spoiled by the luxury of having Horry and especially Bruce (who set the defensive bar for the rest of the team) around but if we aren't going to find anybody to fill those shoes, we still have to put together some kind of squad that can do something. And for cheap.
On the bright side, I can see having a tandem of Duncan and Splitter in the post as a good reason to be optimistic that opposing defenses will have to start sagging to protect the paint again. If that happens, the team 3P% should hopefully go up.
The problem I saw with Hairston is not the fact of not making 3pt shots, it was his lack of confidence in taking the shot itself. There were times he had a wide open 3 pt shots and would end up driving to the basket instead.
Sigh.
Well let's just hope that Chip Engeland has worked on him enough that he can't shoot it automatically. Same comment also goes for Gee.
Lots of practice is good, but sometimes you just have to go with the players who have a natural talent of making the long range shot.
Though let's make it perfectly clear, you can't be a perimeter player with the Spurs (with the exception of Parker) and be unable to make the 3 consistently.
LOL, nice.
I will have you know that at least one other person here reads Heinlein.
make that 2. Love Stranger in a strange land.
I can agree with that to a certain extent. If you have a lane, you're supposed to drive to the basket, but passing up open shots is contrary to what he's there for. I'm still of the opinion that it's difficult not to press in garbage minutes and also that eleven attempts isn't enough to erase the stats he put up for two years in Austin.
That book is trippy as . I read it during OCS a few years ago.
Oh yea, I should probably say something Spurs related.
...
...
...
James White!
You must be from Mars or something...
Two words:
Steve Kerr.
They hope
Depending on how "guaranteed" Neal's contract is with the Spurs...and if the Spurs don't end up working out a trade.....then I think the Spurs add an injury insurance Big as their final move. If they can't find someone with some NBA experience at the 4 or 5, then Tyler Wilkerson or a healed-up James Gist are poor-man's options for Austin.
Unless they really think they see something special in Wilkerson or another developmental big then I think you sign Gist. The guy has been hanging around developing over seas for this team. I think a two year, unguaranteed, contract is the least you can toss his way. Plus, his skill set is in no way duplicated on this squad. While he might not prove to be a 3 per se, he might prove to be valuable regardless.
If you wanted to keep Gist around in Austin, that would be doable, but he pretty much became irrelevant the day Dejuan Blair fell to the Spurs. I like the guy, but he isn't going to be a three, and he's probably not going to be productive as a 4.
Agreed. Adding Gist to the roster serves no purpose.
So, I'm a little late to the party, but here are a few thoughts from my end:
-This is a good signing for the Spurs, both basketball-wise and financially. Neal was a very good player in Europe, so he has a nice track record, but is still young enough (26 this fall) to have a little upside.
Financially, I felt the Spurs had a much better chance of staying under the luxury tax back when everyone thought they were going to sign Richards (rookie minimum, very cheap contract). Contract-wise, they got Neal to replace him. Time will tell if the Spurs intend on staying under the luxury tax, primarily indicated by whether they use their LLE or remaining MLE. While I think this means that only 2 of Temple/Hairston/Gee/Jerrels will make the team now, whereas before 3 looked like a decent chance, don't rule out this possibility: Spurs keep a 14 or 15 man roster most of the year, then salary dump the least promising player at the trade deadline like they did Ratliff last year, thus getting a fuller evaluation while not paying luxury tax.
-The one thing that most people are missing on Neal is that he's not just a spot-up shooter. I know that's primarily what he did in summer league, but the dude is a flat-out scorer. He can drive, finish at the rim, penetrate-and-dish, has a nice mid-range jumper off the dribble, and will work well in pick-and-roll sets. He's a very efficient scorer inside the arc (often shooting near-or-above 50% on FGs in Europe), and honestly his biggest question mark shooting-wise was whether he was a good enough 3-point shooter for the NBA. In that way, I think the Spurs and Spurs fans will be somewhat disappointed; unless he's improved tremendously in the offseason, expect his 3PT% to be near 35%, not the 50% he shot in summer league.
-The big question mark for Neal on this Spurs team is defense. At previous levels, he hasn't shown much interest and/or skill at defending. However, in summer league he appeared to me to have put on some muscle, and could turn out to be a hard-nosed defender if he so chooses. While turning him into a defender won't happen overnight, he may gain some serious motivation when Pop gives him the "play defense or don't play at all" speech. If Neal ends up getting sent down to Austin, defense is the #1 thing they'll want him to work on, with perhaps passing being a distant 2nd.
-The bottom line for the Spurs in this signing is that they felt they had found some true talent through the summer league, and didn't want to let him go. While they aren't the same player, I think a good comparison is Anthony Morrow. The Warriors found Morrow on their summer league roster and didn't let go, even though he was probably getting offers left and right from several NBA teams after tearing up Vegas and Salt Lake City. Similarly, the Spurs did the prudent thing and locked up Neal despite competing offers from Europe and perhaps other NBA teams. Morrow played two very good seasons with Golden State, but when he signed a 3 year, $12 million offer sheet this summer, the Warriors had to let him walk away due to financial reasons. While I don't expect Neal to come close to replicating Morrow's numbers, if he does break-out in the NBA, the Spurs have him locked up for 3 seasons in contrast to Morrow's 2.
Book of wisdom? What is wrong with you, fruitcake?Yah, he'll have a spot, right behind Popovich in Ian's vacated seat.
So according to your book of wisdom, Temple is a point guard but George Hill isn't?
In my book, they are almost identical players, save for a few inches of height. With a guy like Neal aboard on a guaranteed contract, the spurs don't have the minutes nor do they really need Garret Temple
Temple and Hill aren't indentical and I think you would have a hard time getting any reasonable individual to agree with you on that one. Temple obviously is more experienced running the point than Hill. I'm not saying he is more talented or that he is a better player, just more experienced at the position. What makes you think that Neal is going to get PT over either one of those guys?
3 years 50 millions
What a shock.
any indication as to the salary?
will it be the minimum (for Neal that's 885k I believe)? or have we used the rest of the MLE (the only way we can pay him more I believe)
nando better pay attention and step up his game overseas
Not sure of the salary, but since it's a 3 year deal we do know that it has to be paid out of the MLE.
True, don't know why I didn't realize that. So, with the exception of # of years, the Spurs LLE is now has more money left than their MLE. However, I don't expect them to use either at this point, and the current roster could be very close to the final roster.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
