Spurs Sign Boban Marjanovic for 1-Year, $2 Million

[Aztecfan03]

? why is that funny?

Because it was such a stupid question that it was funny.

[Trill Clinton]

No, I mean positionally. Not starting but will he be he will be coming off the bench and is he expected to provide what Splitter did? Good defense with some offensive production.

he's not a splitter replacement per se, but he will provide some depth and does appear to be better offensively than splitter. the jury is still out on his defense. hope this answers your question.

[DPG21920]

He's a totallty different player than Splitter. Only a replacement for Splitter based on position not on skillset. In fact, he's probably the most opposite from Splitter as you could possibly get.

[Vic Petro]

Boban Marjanovic
Team: San Antonio Spurs
Contract: One year, ???

Jonathon Simmons
Team: Spurs
Contract: Two years, minimum

What it means: The weekend's most interesting addition was a 7-foot-3 giant who has dominated European basketball and would give the Spurs a true center behind starter Tim Duncan. According to Eurohoops.net, Marjanovic will sign a one-year contract for $2 million -- presumably the remainder of San Antonio's cap space after signing Duncan.

Marjanovic has been dominant in Euroleague play during two seasons with Red Star Belgrade. After translating those stats to their NBA equivalent, Marjanovic ranked fourth among Euroleague players in WARP last season and was similarly effective in fewer minutes the previous year. Marjanovic hasn't been quite as good in the Adriatic League, but still projects as an above-average NBA player based largely on his high 2-point percentage and terrific rebounding at both ends. (Oddly, despite his size, Marjanovic is not a great shot blocker.) My SCHOENE projection system comps him to Jordan Hill and Marcin Gortat, among others.

Of course, the Europe-to-NBA translation isn't the same for every player, and Marjanovic's size might not be quite such an asset against better athletes. He saw only limited action for the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Summer League two years ago, before he emerged as one of the Euroleague's top big men. There's a certain risk that the Spurs have spent precious cap space on a third center who can't help them at all this season. But the upside is nearly as big as Marjanovic's frame, particularly with San Antonio in need of a center to ultimately replace Duncan.

The Spurs also signed Simmons, who has played for their D-League affiliate in Austin, after he starred for the Brooklyn Nets at the Orlando Pro Summer League. According to RealGM.com, Simmons' minimum-salary contract is fully guaranteed for 2015-16. Simmons has shown great leaping ability this summer and hit 39.8 percent of his 3-pointers in the D-League last season, giving him 3-and-D potential (he was chosen for the D-League's All-Defensive Third Team), but he struggled with turnovers and posted just a 13.8 PER.

What's next: Slowly but surely, San Antonio's roster is filling up. Marjanovic and Simmons would give them 12 players, including Manu Ginobili, who will presumably re-sign with the team using the $2.8 million room exception. That would leave the Spurs three more spots to fill using minimum-salary contracts. Veteran free agent Matt Bonner seems likely to take one of those.

http://espn.go.com/nba/insider/story...-deals-weekend

[SpursforSix]

he's not a splitter replacement per se, but he will provide some depth and does appear to be better offensively than splitter. the jury is still out on his defense. hope this answers your question.

Thank you.

[Trill Clinton]

He's a totallty different player than Splitter. Only a replacement for Splitter based on position not on skillset. In fact, he's probably the most opposite from Splitter as you could possibly get.

how many minutes do you think boban will get per game?

[xellos88330]

http://espn.go.com/nba/insider/story...-deals-weekend

Odd that it says that Boban can't help at all this season. I was under the impression that he would be crossing the drink.

[BillMc]

not, but always discussed among fans whether he can play in a high level.(83 match) Something similar here. In Europe, every game is important, it's not like the NBA. I wouldn't be afraid of injuries.

Thanks.

[Hoops Czar]

Duncan is replacing Splitter; LMA is replacing Duncan; Boban is replacing Baynes though it's doubtful he'd be much of an upgrade. He's just big.

[Vic Petro]

Odd that it says that Boban can't help at all this season. I was under the impression that he would be crossing the drink.

I think it's just Pelton speculating. Sounds like he looked at stats and tried to extrapolate but doesn't know the player very well. He also wrote that the Spurs have 12 roster spots filled when in fact they have 13 filled. I would take his analysis with a grain of salt.

[Trill Clinton]

Thank you.

your welcome

[absoloot66]

Odd that it says that Boban can't help at all this season. I was under the impression that he would be crossing the drink.

I think they're expressing the potential risk for the Spurs.

[thispego]

Odd that it says that Boban can't help at all this season. I was under the impression that he would be crossing the drink.

[Kurik]

I think it's just Pelton speculating. Sounds like he looked at stats and tried to extrapolate but doesn't know the player very well. He also wrote that the Spurs have 12 roster spots filled when in fact they have 13 filled. I would take his analysis with a grain of salt.

Nevermind, you are right!

[DPG21920]

how many minutes do you think boban will get per game?

I think he averages about 6-8MPG - while having some nights where he gets more (guys resting, foul trouble, injuries). There are only 96 big man minutes (and really for him, 48 minutes because he clearly can't soak up PF minutes, just C). But even using all the PF/C mintues available:

Duncan: 26MPG
LMA: 33MPG
Boris: 22MPG (a few of Boris minutes at SF perhaps?)
West: 20 MPG

That leaves 0 big man minutes available for Bobi.

[DPG21920]

Roster spots filled:

1. Duncan
2. Parker
3. Manu
4. Kawhi
5. Green
6. LMA
7. Boris
8. West
9. Mills
10. Simmons
11. Kyle
12. Bobi
13. McCallum

At this point, 2 spots left, but all active spots accounted for.

[Hoops Czar]

I think it's just Pelton speculating. Sounds like he looked at stats and tried to extrapolate but doesn't know the player very well. He also wrote that the Spurs have 12 roster spots filled when in fact they have 13 filled. I would take his analysis with a grain of salt.

Sounds kind of like Spurs fans who had no idea who he was before the signing, saw a couple of highlight videos from You Tube and became instant experts.

[Trill Clinton]

I think he averages about 6-8MPG - while having some nights where he gets more (guys resting, foul trouble, injuries). There are only 96 big man minutes (and really for him, 48 minutes because he clearly can't soak up PF minutes, just C). But even using all the PF/C mintues available:

Duncan: 26MPG
LMA: 33MPG
Boris: 22MPG (a few of Boris minutes at SF perhaps?)
West: 20 MPG

That leaves 0 big man minutes available for Bobi.

thanks. so just taking ayers minutes? i can see that.

[ceperez]

I think he averages about 6-8MPG - while having some nights where he gets more (guys resting, foul trouble, injuries). There are only 96 big man minutes (and really for him, 48 minutes because he clearly can't soak up PF minutes, just C). But even using all the PF/C mintues available:

Duncan: 26MPG
LMA: 33MPG
Boris: 22MPG (a few of Boris minutes at SF perhaps?)
West: 20 MPG

That leaves 0 big man minutes available for Bobi.

A majority of the games ( most likely with Eastern conference teams) will be blowouts and be over by the start or middle of the 4th quarter.

So there's a lot of garbage minutes where we'll see the following lineup:

McCallum
Simmons
Anderson
Boris ( only because he needs to keep in shape)
Marjanovic

[DJR210]

Because it was such a stupid question that it was funny.

Thanks

[Vic Petro]

Sounds kind of like Spurs fans who had no idea who he was before the signing, saw a couple of highlight videos from You Tube and became instant experts.

Sure, you should take their analysis with a grain of salt too.

[Chomper]

This guy ing sucks. I've watched over 20 minutes of his "highlights". They consist almost solely of him dunking when defenders are nowhere near him. You'll notice you won't find any defensive highlights of this guy either. He's a slow, unskilled giant. And he's weak to boot. When he actually has a defender on him, he just throws up a shot from 3 ft, and in his highlights it goes in -- but I can't imagine it does when it's not a "highlight."

He was 6-26 FG from outside 5 ft of the rim in the Euroleague last year. When Fran Franchilla heard that the Spurs got him he just shrugged and commented on how slow he is. And he's a guy that goes absolutely nuts over even the softest and the worst of the Euro's.

This guy is 26, almost 27. He may be able to dunk without jumping much, but he's still not getting above 10 ft ever. Lebron and almost every NBA player can get to 11 ft in the air easy. It'll be a block party. We got a big ing stiff. Hiss athleticism is ZERO. I hope you're all happy.

[BillMc]

I think he averages about 6-8MPG - while having some nights where he gets more (guys resting, foul trouble, injuries). There are only 96 big man minutes (and really for him, 48 minutes because he clearly can't soak up PF minutes, just C). But even using all the PF/C mintues available:

Duncan: 26MPG
LMA: 33MPG
Boris: 22MPG (a few of Boris minutes at SF perhaps?)
West: 20 MPG

That leaves 0 big man minutes available for Bobi.

You make a good point, and this seems like an accurate minutes breakdown. But 2 million is a lot of cap space for a player who will seldom play. Jeff Ayres averaged 7.5 minutes per game last year, Bonner 13.00 as our bottom bench bigs. So would you see something similar for Bobi?

[ChumpDumper]

This guy ing sucks. I've watched over 20 minutes of his "highlights". They consist almost solely of him dunking when defenders are nowhere near him. You'll notice you won't find any defensive highlights of this guy either. He's a slow, unskilled giant. And he's weak to boot. When he actually has a defender on him, he just throws up a shot from 3 ft, and in his highlights it goes in -- but I can't imagine it does when it's not a "highlight."

He was 6-26 FG from outside 5 ft of the rim in the Euroleague last year. When Fran Franchilla heard that the Spurs got him he just shrugged and commented on how slow he is. And he's a guy that goes absolutely nuts over even the softest and the worst of the Euro's.

This guy is 26, almost 27. He may be able to dunk without jumping much, but he's still not getting above 10 ft ever. Lebron and almost every NBA player can get to 11 ft in the air easy. It'll be a block party. We got a big ing stiff. Hiss athleticism is ZERO. I hope you're all happy.

I am happy tbh.

[SpursforSix]

This guy ing sucks. I've watched over 20 minutes of his "highlights". They consist almost solely of him dunking when defenders are nowhere near him. You'll notice you won't find any defensive highlights of this guy either. He's a slow, unskilled giant. And he's weak to boot. When he actually has a defender on him, he just throws up a shot from 3 ft, and in his highlights it goes in -- but I can't imagine it does when it's not a "highlight."

He was 6-26 FG from outside 5 ft of the rim in the Euroleague last year. When Fran Franchilla heard that the Spurs got him he just shrugged and commented on how slow he is. And he's a guy that goes absolutely nuts over even the softest and the worst of the Euro's.

This guy is 26, almost 27. He may be able to dunk without jumping much, but he's still not getting above 10 ft ever. Lebron and almost every NBA player can get to 11 ft in the air easy. It'll be a block party. We got a big ing stiff. Hiss athleticism is ZERO. I hope you're all happy.

That doesn't sound right. If he can dunk, he's getting above the rim. Maybe not to 13 feet but if he could only reach to 10 feet, then he wouldn't be able to dunk.