duncan228
05-04-2009, 11:52 PM
With the Spurs overlap I thought this belonged here. Please move if it belongs in NBA Central. :)
If Cavs win title, look for James to stay (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/If_Cavs_win_title_look_for_James_to_stay.html)
Mike Monroe
Since we entered the new millennium, only one player has won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award, then earned a championship ring.
Tim Duncan’s second NBA Finals MVP trophy meant more to him on June 15, 2003 than his second regular-season MVP award, which he had received six weeks prior.
If LeBron James, anointed Monday as this season’s MVP, matches Duncan’s double-MVP feat next month, he’s probably going to emulate Duncan in another significant way next summer.
Then, look for him to re-sign with the Cavaliers after he becomes a free agent.
Denver general manager Mark Warkentien was named Executive of the Year on Sunday, and he deserved the honor for masterminding the trade that turned the Nuggets into a threat to the Lakers’ domination of the Western Conference.
But if the Cavaliers win the NBA title in June, no executive will have accomplished more in the past 12 months than Danny Ferry, the former Spurs assistant GM who augmented the Cavaliers roster to give James a chance to become an NBA champion.
Spurs fans remember the anxious summer of 2000. Then, Duncan was a free agent after a late-season knee injury knocked him out of the playoffs.
That summer the Magic offered Duncan a six-year deal worth more than $67 million and promised to team him with Grant Hill, who had committed to Orlando after six great seasons in Detroit.
Duncan and his wife, Amy, flew back to San Antonio after a tour of Orlando that tried too hard to impress. When they touched down, they found an old friend waiting to offer counsel.
David Robinson had flown back to San Antonio from Maui to offer persuasive words about remaining a Spur, but it was Larry O’Brien who was most convincing, even from the grave. Duncan understood the significance of being part of a program that already had proven capable of winning the O’Brien Trophy, named for the late commissioner.
James will hear O’Brien’s call, too.
NBA teams, including the Spurs, have been shedding salary obligations to prepare for the summer of 2010, when franchise-changing talent will be available on the free-agent market. James will be the most sought-after free-agent prize. But a player who still lives in Akron because it always has been his hometown won’t leave Ohio if he has led Cleveland to its first pro title since the Browns won the 1964 NFL championship.
Ferry understood this, which explains his off-season acquisition of Mo Williams and his late-season signing of Joe Smith, cut loose by another former Spurs assistant GM, Sam Presti.
Since there are Spurs fingerprints all over the Cavaliers’ blueprint, don’t forget the role Bruce Bowen played in James’ development. Bowen’s defensive work in the Spurs’ 4-0 Finals sweep of the Cavs in 2007 provided proof there were holes in James’ game that needed work.
Then, Bowen was still the league’s best perimeter defender, able to limit James to 35.5 percent shooting in four games with minimal help.
James has done what the greatest players always do: spend his summers fixing flaws.
Now, not even the Bowen of 2007 could make James miss with such regularity.
If Cavs win title, look for James to stay (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/If_Cavs_win_title_look_for_James_to_stay.html)
Mike Monroe
Since we entered the new millennium, only one player has won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award, then earned a championship ring.
Tim Duncan’s second NBA Finals MVP trophy meant more to him on June 15, 2003 than his second regular-season MVP award, which he had received six weeks prior.
If LeBron James, anointed Monday as this season’s MVP, matches Duncan’s double-MVP feat next month, he’s probably going to emulate Duncan in another significant way next summer.
Then, look for him to re-sign with the Cavaliers after he becomes a free agent.
Denver general manager Mark Warkentien was named Executive of the Year on Sunday, and he deserved the honor for masterminding the trade that turned the Nuggets into a threat to the Lakers’ domination of the Western Conference.
But if the Cavaliers win the NBA title in June, no executive will have accomplished more in the past 12 months than Danny Ferry, the former Spurs assistant GM who augmented the Cavaliers roster to give James a chance to become an NBA champion.
Spurs fans remember the anxious summer of 2000. Then, Duncan was a free agent after a late-season knee injury knocked him out of the playoffs.
That summer the Magic offered Duncan a six-year deal worth more than $67 million and promised to team him with Grant Hill, who had committed to Orlando after six great seasons in Detroit.
Duncan and his wife, Amy, flew back to San Antonio after a tour of Orlando that tried too hard to impress. When they touched down, they found an old friend waiting to offer counsel.
David Robinson had flown back to San Antonio from Maui to offer persuasive words about remaining a Spur, but it was Larry O’Brien who was most convincing, even from the grave. Duncan understood the significance of being part of a program that already had proven capable of winning the O’Brien Trophy, named for the late commissioner.
James will hear O’Brien’s call, too.
NBA teams, including the Spurs, have been shedding salary obligations to prepare for the summer of 2010, when franchise-changing talent will be available on the free-agent market. James will be the most sought-after free-agent prize. But a player who still lives in Akron because it always has been his hometown won’t leave Ohio if he has led Cleveland to its first pro title since the Browns won the 1964 NFL championship.
Ferry understood this, which explains his off-season acquisition of Mo Williams and his late-season signing of Joe Smith, cut loose by another former Spurs assistant GM, Sam Presti.
Since there are Spurs fingerprints all over the Cavaliers’ blueprint, don’t forget the role Bruce Bowen played in James’ development. Bowen’s defensive work in the Spurs’ 4-0 Finals sweep of the Cavs in 2007 provided proof there were holes in James’ game that needed work.
Then, Bowen was still the league’s best perimeter defender, able to limit James to 35.5 percent shooting in four games with minimal help.
James has done what the greatest players always do: spend his summers fixing flaws.
Now, not even the Bowen of 2007 could make James miss with such regularity.