looks like Spurs made an offer to Giricek

[ace3g]

before he signed over in Turkey:

Croatian guard Gordan Giricek, who has averaged nearly 10 points per game since joining the NBA in 2002, has become the latest player to leave the league for a bigger payday.

Giricek finished last season as a member of the Phoenix Suns. On Tuesday, the 6-foot-6 shooting guard signed a two-year contract -- with an option to return to the NBA next summer -- with Turkey's premier club, Fenerbache.

"We looked around the NBA," his agent Marc Fleisher said. "Everybody was moving very slowly. And there were great opportunities for him to play overseas for a lot of money. Fenerbache are Turkish champions and a EuroLeague team. It was a tough decision, and it came down to Fenerbache and Triumph, in Russia."

"Gordan had an offer from the San Antonio Spurs," Fleisher added, "but it was for much less."

Giricek was one of the NBA's top rookies for Memphis in 2002-03. He logged time for the Orlando Magic before settling for five years with the Utah Jazz. Giricek then played briefly for the 76ers before joining Phoenix in March 2008.

With an NBA career 3-point field goal percentage of 37 percent, Giricek has sometimes been pigeonholed as a shooter, but experts insist there is more to his game.

"He's an underrated defender," ESPN analyst David Thorpe said. "And he's very aggressive. He moves well. He's a good NBA player."

Fenerbache is the latest on a long list of overseas teams that have raided NBA rosters in recent weeks. In nearly every case, agents report that NBA teams have been slow to make offers, while overseas teams have been enthusiastic.

"There is a new sense in Europe," Fleisher said, "that anyone is available. It used to be that they would only go after certain kinds of NBA players. They would make offers to unrestricted free agents or to players who were at the end of their careers. But now they sense that there is an opportunity, thanks to the way the collective bargaining agreement is set up, that they can go after and get NBA players. It's a whole new world."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3543277

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

:pctoss

Another reason that we signed Finley? Pargo turned us down, then Giricek turned us down. It looks like Finley was really the last resort.

[timvp]

Damn. That would have been nice.

And full circle.

[td4mvp21]

This is probably the shittiest offseason ever. And it keeps getting worse. This is almost funny.

[xtremesteven33]

yea and people keep blaming the FO like its thier fault.

its just bad luck. pure cruddy bad luck.

[T Park]

Oh well.

Would've been the perfect Finley replacement. Plays D, hits shots consistently.


Oh well. Good try though.

[T Park]

Damn. That would have been nice.

And full circle.

Would've had both Ginobili and Giricek.

Would've been able to settle that debate from the winter of 02 that was started by Admiral ;)

[Bruno]

I wonder if Finley was plan A and Giricek plan B or the opposite.

[xtremesteven33]

Oh well.

Would've been the perfect Finley replacement. Plays D, hits shots consistently.


Oh well. Good try though.



i thought Mason was the finley replacement?

dude mason better average 13+ points and play solid D every game to make up for this roster.:hat

[T Park]

i thought Mason was the finley replacement?

dude mason better average 13+ points and play solid D every game to make up for this roster.:hat


So if he averages 10 and plays good defense that's not enough?

[mrspurs]

Theres a relief, its a hint that not being able to sign gordan anyways had nothing to do with the FO. Looks like he had his mind made up already. Thou im not one of those finley fans. Just on finleys knowledge of the playbook, i think gives him an edge this season, over gordan. And if roger does what i think he will do, he will put both gordan and finley where they belong, on some other team or in some other country.

[Brutalis]

Money talks.

[LakerHater]

Didn't the Spurs draft this guy?

[ducks]

Didn't the Spurs draft this guy?

at that time it was him or manu

[xtremesteven33]

So if he averages 10 and plays good defense that's not enough?


10 would be good

13+ would be AWESOME

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

If the numbers Kill Bill is throwing around on the NBA board are even remotely accurate the Spurs could have offered the entire MLE and still fallen well short. I'd rather have him than Finley but I don't think that's where this season will be won or lost. Oh well.

[benefactor]

Money talks.
QFT...He got like 14 mil over 2 seasons. He's not worth more than 2-3 mil a season. Getcha money, Gordan.

[MannyIsGod]

He plays defense? WTF? Thats a new one.

[T Park]

Didn't the Spurs draft this guy?

Yup.

When it came down to it in 2002, they had to decide who they wanted to bring over.

Giriek or Ginobili.

I think they made the right choice.

[NewJerSpur]

And another one bites the dust. The Spurs may have to start resorting to hypnotism during their negotiations. On another note, I feel somewhat validated....the only guy the Spurs haven't publicly pursued (or rather had it leaked to the public that they were pursuing) that was also on my FA wishlist was Matt Barnes. I guess someone in the FO has been getting my messages. :wakeup

[Brutalis]

If we had gotten him half the people here would be calling for the 2009 title already.

[DynastyBuilder]

How much of this do you think is BS that free agents are throwing out the Spurs name to show a contender was interested after the fact or is it free agents shopping around the Spurs' offer?

[T Park]

If we had gotten him half the people here would be calling for the 2009 title already.

Well to be fair it would be hard to not get optimistic.

a wing combo of Mason, Ginobili, Udoka, and Giricek is pretty damn good.

[T Park]

How much of this do you think is BS that free agents are throwing out the Spurs name to show a contender was interested after the fact or is it free agents shopping around the Spurs' offer?

He signed the contract already and I don't think the agent gained anything by saying this after the fact.

[DynastyBuilder]

What if other NBA teams weren't truly interested. Wouldn't gassing up a Euro team, that a contender ponied up an offer, help in negotiations? Then after the contract is signed the agent would have to continue the untruth to the press.

I don't know any of this of course happened, I'm just saying it could happen. If I'm alone in thinking this way so be it.

[ceperez]

He signed the contract already and I don't think the agent gained anything by saying this after the fact.

I also seriously doubt that the agent will be on the record on something that was a complete fabrication. If he did say the Spurs made an offer, then it's likely that the Spurs can't deny the fact.

Nice thing about Giricek was that he was pretty mobile in his offense and would take the occasional mid range jumper. Something both Barry and Finley never did last season!

Oh well, the European option is ruining the Spurs plan of trying to sign bargain basement players.

[your_pimp]

cheap mofos

[DynastyBuilder]

we'll never truly know who the Spurs are going or went after though because they don't tell it and everyone knows that. So there is total deniability all the way around

[Spurs Brazil]

If the offer was on the table even after we sign Finley we my bring another player.

Why not Q.Ross

[NewJerSpur]

I really think Q. could be a Spur sometime in the not-so-far future, especially when Bruce finally begins to show signs he's slowing down, but right now he doesn't do anything on the offensive side of the ball consistently enough to warrant a serious look. One never knows though....except, the team locked up Finley.

[angelbelow]

damn we had to resort to making an offer to giricek.. looks like talent is thin right now.

[Darthkiller]

I think spurs just did that so he would go to europe and not sign with the suns. Almost everyone the spurs tries to sign ends up go to europe.

[timvp]

He plays defense? WTF? Thats a new one.Giricek was the perimeter stopper on the Jazz. When Manu got hot, he'd be the one Sloan would turn to.

That said, the Jazz have been horrible at guarding the perimeter for the last decade, so being the designated stopper on that team isn't saying too much.

[T Park]

damn we had to resort to making an offer to giricek.. looks like talent is thin right now.

????

:lol

What the hells wrong with him?!

[Russ]

Why not Q.Ross

:)

[Ocotillo]

I hope it doesn't come out that Shawn Kemp turned down the Spurs to play in Europe.

[SenorSpur]

I hope it doesn't come out that Shawn Kemp turned down the Spurs to play in Europe.

...or further insult, perhaps Shawn Bradley turns the Spurs down to stay on the couch. :lol

[MoSpur]

I hope it doesn't come out that Shawn Kemp turned down the Spurs to play in Europe.


:lmao

[mountainballer]

If the numbers Kill Bill is throwing around on the NBA board are even remotely accurate the Spurs could have offered the entire MLE and still fallen well short. I'd rather have him than Finley but I don't think that's where this season will be won or lost. Oh well.

I have read about 8.5 million $ for 2 seasons. if this number is about 1/2 of what Kill Bill trows around, it should be pretty accurate.

[Russ]

Did they make an offer to Delfino?

[nil.ball]

Everybody use spurs as their salary booster. That's all haha. I am sure he went and tell those european teams, "Look I got an offer from spurs, I am l77t!"