My twitter conversation with Jeff McDonald today...

[jiggy_55]

He seems to be amazingly happy with the Spurs summer so far, which is signing Splitter and Bonner. I disagreed and we went back and forth a bit.

It started off with a tweet from @ShamSports: The four unsigned 2010 first rounders; Kevin Seraphin, Cole Aldrich, Xavier Henry, Greivis Vasquez. The other 26 have signed.

JMcDonald_SAEN: James Anderson makes 5. RT @ShamSports The four unsigned 2010 first rounders; Kevin Seraphin, Cole Aldrich, Xavier Henry, Greivis Vasquez.

Me: @JMcDonald_SAEN Beat me to it.. What are the Spurs waiting for to sign him up? The FO have really done nothing other than bring in Splitter

Me: @JMcDonald_SAEN It's been very disappointing. We still need a starting and backup SF, and all our big guns in the summer league got injured

JMcDonald_SAEN: Which arguably gives them best summer outside of MIA so far RT @Amer_Mansour The FO have really done nothing other than bring in Splitter

JMcDonald_SAEN: About 28 teams would love to have as "disappointing" a summer as #spurs so far RT @Amer_Mansour It's been very disappointing.

Me: @JMcDonald_SAEN Really? Signing Splitter makes it the 2nd best summer move? The Bulls got Boozer, Korver, Brewer and now CJ Watson.

Me: @JMcDonald_SAEN I simply don't agree. If they want to contend, they need to sign at least 1 SF. Currently, they have 2 D-leaguers.

Me: @JMcDonald_SAEN Splitter will be great, but might take a season or so to adjust to the NBA and to SA. Which would be too late to seriously contend with the other big teams. Signing Splitter and Bonner is no where near good enough for SA.

JMcDonald_SAEN: I'll give you Bulls. But #spurs summer not just about Splitter. It's about NOT giving away bad contracts. Several teams have @Amer_Mansour

JMcDonald_SAEN: Scola was pretty good as a rookie, IRRC RT @Amer_Mansour Splitter will be great, but might take a season or so to adjust to the NBA

JMcDonald_SAEN: Given #spurs cap realities, not sure what else u expected @Amer_Mansour Signing Splitter and Bonner is no where near good enough for SA.

Me: @JMcDonald_SAEN He'll be good, no doubt. Will he alone make the Spurs SERIOUS contenders? No. We'll need to be healthy and get RJ/a good SF.

JMcDonald_SAEN: Too bad they didn't have $100 million to throw at Gay/Joe Johnson. Or $20 million for Darko. Sometimes, doing nada best move @Amer_Mansour

Me: @JMcDonald_SAEN Not too much, but they do have almost 2.4 million to spend from the MLE, and they do have the LLE.

Me: @JMcDonald_SAEN No reason not to get someone signed up as a backup, re-sign RJ who does not affect the MLE or LLE. Then sign your draft pick

JMcDonald_SAEN: According to my calendar, offseason isn't over yet. @Amer_Mansour No reason not to get someone signed up as a backup, etc

Me: @JMcDonald_SAEN Lol ya :). Still, things have been going very slow on the Spurs front, which isn't the best way to go about free agency


Yes, I know the format of this is quite annoying to read :s

[20beastie45]

Thanks for that!

I like Grievas Vasquez

[ducks]

spurs are always a little slow
but that is why they hardly every overpay someone except when it comes to Manu

[hater]

Vasquez is a PG right?

yeah dude is a baller. why he has not been signed??

[20beastie45]

Vasquez is a PG right?

yeah dude is a baller. why he has not been signed??

he's a big PG

future spur?

[Danny.Zhu]

JMcDonald_SAEN: I'll give you Bulls. But #spurs summer not just about Splitter. It's about NOT giving away bad contracts. Several teams have @Amer_Mansour


Hey, what about Bonner?

[ohmwrecker]

McDonald is a company stooge.

[ducks]

he also does not understand why spurs are not after barnes

[Leetonidas]

Jeff McDonald comes off as such a prick

[Cane]

Jeff McDonald seemed like a pretty decent professional from that exchange, always cool to have some back and forth if you're into twitter anyway.

However I really have to ask, are you a new Spurs fan OP? Spurs generally don't make any blockbuster trades or signings and they take their damn time. It took forever in "internet forum time" for Tiago to get inked and everyone though he'd command the full MLE since the rest of the league was overpaying for comparable talent yet they managed to ink out one of the steals of the summer. Spurs also got another guy called the steal of the draft in Anderson that addresses a Spurs weakness of shooting and gets them younger. RJ opted out and if he's resigned it'll likely be a deal which will help the Spurs financially in the short term, something no one expected and nearly everyone congratulated.

Not a bad summer and there's plenty of time left.

Just look across the league and you'll see that the Spurs are in a much better position and have performed better than what you think; its going to be weird not seeing Boozer and Amar'e in the West next season. It'll be even weirder that Joe Johnson will have a bigger contract than LeBron James and Wade.

[5in10]

How long do teams have to sign rookies before they become free agents?

[benefactor]

Jeff McDonald comes off as such a prick
I got that feeling too. He's got a very condescending way about him...which is funny because there are many posters here that know a lot more about the NBA/Spurs than he does.

[benefactor]

Oh, and lol intellectual property.

[K-State Spur]

Spurs generally don't make any blockbuster trades or signings and they take their damn time.

Not to mention that there really wasn't a blockbuster trade to be made. Sure, they could have worked harder to move TP in efforts to fill the SF spot. But filling the SF spot by opening up a gaping hole at a more important position and moving a player who is highly unlikely to bring back equal value in return certainly wouldn't have improved the team for THIS season.

In terms of upgrading the team for this season, the FO was a bit at the mercy of an out-of-control market.

Things have panned out about as well as could be reasonably expected.

[MannyIsGod]

The key difference to focus on here is on whether or not the Spurs have had a bad summer or whether or not they're just in a shitty situation to begin with. Obviously the Splitter signing is good but outside of the contract amount its not like they did anything amazing to get him.

Its been a mediocre summer but the Spurs needed an amazing summer to honestly go back into contention.

[20beastie45]

If Grievis Vasquez isn't signed yet. Spurs need to scoop him up and place him in Austin.

I think this kid could be a great warrior.

[angelbelow]

Vasquez is a PG right?

yeah dude is a baller. why he has not been signed??

I saw him play on sunday. I think he sucks. He was completely out played by CJ and Squeaky, he can get to the rim if its 1v1 but throwing any type of team defense at him will cause a turnover.

[cd98]

McDonald is right. We've had one of the better offseasons. Not in terms of sexy signings, but we've added a talented big for a cheap price, resigned players with key roles, kept Manu from the free agent frenzy, and were lucky to get RJ to opt out allowing us to be under the salary cap.

Sure Chicago signed more "name" players, but they were a worse team than us last year and they had to make up a lot of ground. Outside of Boozer, I'm not that impressed, and I don't know how good Boozer will be next season anyway.

[DesignatedT]

I just don't understand people thinking that since the Spurs haven't signed a player that we haven't been in contact or offered anybody. Just because its been a slow free agency for us so far doesn't mean that the Spurs are responsible for that. I'm sure the Spurs have been in contact with every reasonable player that people on this forum have mentioned. If they don't want to come here then we won't get them. Fucking retarded. Every player mentioned on this board has gotten a contract way out of our league.... hence why they haven't signed here.

It's not like the Spurs are sitting there thinking "Oh, well we got Matt Bonner back, now were contending for a championship"... They know what needs to be done.

[angelbelow]

I'm inclined to believe that the Spurs, to no surprise, are one of the teams that enjoyed an awesome offseason. Our biggest need was arguably our front court and we addressed that weakness in an emphatic fashion.

As soon as we resign RJ (hopefully for a reasonable price) and our draft pick in James Anderson, our back court will be pretty loaded as well. Sucks that James has been injured all summer but lets not forget that he received the same as Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant and was an effective scorer in college.

I also believe that we had a successful summer league. Obviously, I would have loved to see Blair, Temple, Anderson, Gist, and even Hairston out there and its unfortunate that our players got hurt... but we didn't give up. We were able to get a great look at some other players that can potentially help like Gee, Neal, Wilkerson, CJ etc. So overall, I dont think we had an "ideal" summer league but we had a productive one non the less.

[jjktkk]

Don't forget that part of the Spurs off season moves, was resigning Ginoboli, before the off season even began. So counter that with siging Splitter and drafting Anderson, and IMO the Spurs have done good job so far this Summer.

[Das Texan]

McDonald is a fucking piece of shit.

And he cant get fucking facts right.

[coyotes_geek]

How long do teams have to sign rookies before they become free agents?

Teams have to make the minimum tender offer to their 1st round draft picks by July 16th and to their 2nd round draft picks by September 6th. But there is no time requirement to have them signed.

[dbestpro]

Teams that over react in the summer are easy trade pickins come trade dealine time.

[Spurs Brazil]

JMcDonald_SAEN
For those who would rather get their Spurs/RJ fix from Stein instead of me: http://es.pn/97K3qL (Basically says this week's the week)

:lol :lol :lol

[jiggy_55]

However I really have to ask, are you a new Spurs fan OP? Spurs generally don't make any blockbuster trades or signings and they take their damn time.

New fan? Not at all. Been a Spurs fan since the days of The Admiral's domination, before TD was even drafted.

I know the "Spurs way" but really this summer gave us LOTS of options, Splitter was the most obvious and easiest decision. But lots of good FA's that fit a role we were looking for and it seemed the Spurs expressed no interest in any of them.

I never mentioned making a blockbuster trade or anything like that, it just I expected to Spurs to get some veterans in with the LLE and remainder of the MLE. It's been a different summer than usual. It's been quite slow and all the FA's we shoulda been interested in have signed elsewhere. At least, we got some decent news about RJ, although it's probably 2 weeks late. We'll see what the contract details will be tomorrow with some more information hopefully. I would still like a backup veteran SF, hopefully we can get 1 more guy (like Rasual Butler for example) and call it a summer. That would be a successful summer, but highly doubtful we'd get someone. We'll probably stick with RJ, and we got Anderson, Gee and Hairston waiting to shine.

[ElNono]

I don't even know how he can claim that we've had the '2nd best offseason' by not handing out ridiculous contracts when the details of 2 out of the 3 new contracts are not even available out there yet...

[senorglory]

haters.

[Vic Petro]

It certainly wasn't a bad offseason, assuming the Jefferson numbers aren't ridiculous. Right now it's basically last year's roster plus two first round picks, and two very NBA-ready picks at that.

But is that a successful offseason? imo to call it successful, I'd have to be left with the feeling this team has a good chance to win a championship. As much as it pains me to say it, at of this moment I do not believe this team a serious threat for an NBA title, unless we get a collective surge in production from some guys (?Hill, Jefferson, Blair?).

Luckily there is time to prove me ridiculous and hasty.

[cd98]

Book it here. Spurs will outdo the big free agent spenders next season.

[ohmwrecker]

haters.

Are you Jeff McDonald?

[LongtimeSpursFan]

It certainly wasn't a bad offseason, assuming the Jefferson numbers aren't ridiculous. Right now it's basically last year's roster plus two first round picks, and two very NBA-ready picks at that.

:tu


Front office was also able to save millions of dollars by getting under the luxury tax. I'd say that was a pretty good offseason.

[zocool16]

McDonald is a fucking piece of shit.

And he cant get fucking facts right.

SOME of you are really dumb or something with this ongoing sentiment that Jeff McDonald is terrible and that you can do his job better than he can. Perhaps McDonald isn't Johnny Ludden, but the guy is a pro. News flash: most of you aren't journalism majors. If you guys want to criticize and be taken seriously, go get degrees.

[ChuckD]

SOME of you are really dumb or something with this ongoing sentiment that Jeff McDonald is terrible and that you can do his job better than he can. Perhaps McDonald isn't Johnny Ludden, but the guy is a pro. News flash: most of you aren't journalism majors. If you guys want to criticize and be taken seriously, go get degrees.

I'm not sure people criticize his writing so much as BLATANTLY wrong facts. You don't need a degree to pick those out, and it's happened literally dozens of times.

[Obstructed_View]

SOME of you are really dumb or something with this ongoing sentiment that Jeff McDonald is terrible and that you can do his job better than he can. Perhaps McDonald isn't Johnny Ludden, but the guy is a pro. News flash: most of you aren't journalism majors. If you guys want to criticize and be taken seriously, go get degrees.

As often as he gets it wrong, a degree is overrated.

[zocool16]

I'm not sure people criticize his writing so much as BLATANTLY wrong facts. You don't need a degree to pick those out, and it's happened literally dozens of times.

Not saying you're lying. Lots of people seem to support what you say. But I also read his stuff all the time and haven't really found any BLATANTLY WRONG write-ups by him.

If someone had a file of McDonald mistakes to help me, it'd be nice.

But I swear you guys hate on him like Laker fans hate on LeBron. Lol.

BTW Journalims major in the houseeeeee! lol

[Leonard Curse]

Jeff McDonald seemed like a pretty decent professional from that exchange, always cool to have some back and forth if you're into twitter anyway.

However I really have to ask, are you a new Spurs fan OP? Spurs generally don't make any blockbuster trades or signings and they take their damn time. It took forever in "internet forum time" for Tiago to get inked and everyone though he'd command the full MLE since the rest of the league was overpaying for comparable talent yet they managed to ink out one of the steals of the summer. Spurs also got another guy called the steal of the draft in Anderson that addresses a Spurs weakness of shooting and gets them younger. RJ opted out and if he's resigned it'll likely be a deal which will help the Spurs financially in the short term, something no one expected and nearly everyone congratulated.

Not a bad summer and there's plenty of time left.

Just look across the league and you'll see that the Spurs are in a much better position and have performed better than what you think; its going to be weird not seeing Boozer and Amar'e in the West next season. It'll be even weirder that Joe Johnson will have a bigger contract than LeBron James and Wade.

so so true i dont ever remember the spurs getting in on freeagency until everyone is done lol im so impatient so it pisses me off every year but hey they know what the heck theyre doing, they always end up solid, well except the scola,M. rose fiasco

[EricB]

How has McDonald been a jerk again?

[Das Texan]

SOME of you are really dumb or something with this ongoing sentiment that Jeff McDonald is terrible and that you can do his job better than he can. Perhaps McDonald isn't Johnny Ludden, but the guy is a pro. News flash: most of you aren't journalism majors. If you guys want to criticize and be taken seriously, go get degrees.



What does having a journalism degree have to do with getting a FUCKING FACT straight? I never said that asshole couldnt write, just that he sucked as a beat reporter when a HUGE part of his job is having correct facts.

And shouldnt he be coming up with original material instead of pilfering it from other places and claiming it as his own?

[Das Texan]

Not saying you're lying. Lots of people seem to support what you say. But I also read his stuff all the time and haven't really found any BLATANTLY WRONG write-ups by him.

If someone had a file of McDonald mistakes to help me, it'd be nice.

But I swear you guys hate on him like Laker fans hate on LeBron. Lol.

BTW Journalims major in the houseeeeee! lol


So I guess you wont make it, since you cant spell your fucking major.

And there was a file, however the rag he writes for got their panties in a wad, so its no longer there.