I must apologize to Diaw

[Spurs21Fan4Ever]

I was very upset when I saw the Spurs signed Diaw. I thought it was a terrible decision. Now, I realize I was completely wrong. He plays good defense when I expected the opposite, and he's a smart and unselfish player. He has made this team better no doubt. Great pickup!

[Beaverfuzz]

He's also gotten back into shape...definitely not the same Diaw that I saw in Portland vs the Bobcats.

[Capt Bringdown]

Without doubt a stellar FO move. Simply tops!

[Knoxxx]

He's also gotten back into shape...definitely not the same Diaw that I saw in Portland vs the Bobcats.

Yes he's looking much better shape than when he first arrived. Smart and solid player, and great to see him being more aggressive on offense lately.

[Spurtacus]

We all make mistakes. :toast

Wish we had Diaw the last few years.

[therealtruth]

I too am eating crow on the Diaw signing. I didn't expect him to play that well and motivated. I think they need to sign him long term if possible. His defense has been better than expected and his ability to move the ball keeps the offense flowing. Ditto for the SJax pickup. I didn't think Jax would take coming off the bench and playing limited minutes.

[Mr. Body]

Ridiculous signing. He's sooooo good.

[MI21]

He's playing like a taller, faster and better shooting Oberto at the moment.

[TampaDude]

Diaw has been fucking BALLING lately!!!

Great rebounder, soft touch around the rim, and he can shoot the 3.

Outstanding pickup by the Spurs!!!

GO SPURS GO!!!!!

[shraediggz]

Wish we had Diaw the last few years.


The way this team is rolling right now, I'm hoping we keep him around for the next few years. I'm watching these games wondering if there's a chance we bring both Danny and Boris back for next year, or if they are playing themselves on another team. I really enjoy watching this team play, it would be a shame to only have them together for as short a time as it's been.

Wonder if FO will break the bank to keep this team together (especially if they win it). If they could only retain one of the two, I wonder who it would be?

[wut]

reminds me a lot of Horry...you look at him and wonder how he does it, but he just plays smart and makes big plays. I too wasn't completely sold on Diaw, but the guy has taken our team to the next level....a missing piece that might tip us into title winners.

[Biggems]

i didnt want him...i thought he would be a waste of space....i guess i had the soft, disappearing Diaw from the Suns imprinted into my head.

I have been thoroughly enjoying my crow since the signing.

[Mr. Body]

Dude's even hitting 3s. It's crazy.

[Russo21]

Must be resigned

[Sa_Spursfan20]

I've been beyond impressed with Diaw thus far. He has been a seemingly perfect fit, and his passes are...quite a sight to behold.

[Biggems]

I want Diaw and Mills back

[100%duncan]

Diaw.What.A.Beast.tbh.

[Knoxxx]

Once he shoots 7-7 his value shoots off the charts. My only knock on him early was he was overpassing when he had easy looks inside, but he quit that lately. The rest of his game is so strong, even a modest amount of offense from him is HUGE.

[therealtruth]

reminds me a lot of Horry...you look at him and wonder how he does it, but he just plays smart and makes big plays. I too wasn't completely sold on Diaw, but the guy has taken our team to the next level....a missing piece that might tip us into title winners.

I agree. His bbiq is off the chart and that's why he fits so well on this team.

[DMC]

He pulled the Spurs' asses out of the fire a few times tonight. Never seen anyone who shoots the 3 that well shoot so few of them.

At one point, near the middle of the 4th, TP was up top with the ball and along the perimeter were Bonner, Diaw, Neal and Leonard (I think). Who the do you guard?

[ducks]

if he plays like that he is going to laugh to the bank

[NRHector]

and a great 3 point shooter

[Splits]

10 of 18 from 3 since joining our squad, in addition to all the other stuff, is just dominant. Sean said it during one of the last reg season games, when he does that, forget about beating us. It takes our team to an entirely different level.

[Floyd Pacquiao]

lol i cant believe i thought kaveman would be better for us lol im glad im eating my words

[mabrignani]

Diaw is a HUGE pickup.....even on nba2k12

[flipspursfan]

He's playing like a taller, faster and better shooting Oberto at the moment.

This! Precisely why I'm loving Diaw right now. You know he's the high BBIQ guy but with more of an athletic body than Oberto.

P.S. the last time Spurs rang was when you had a backcourt-big Euro combo of Gino-Oberto. Hopefully we can do that this year! :toast

[hooperflash]

Diaw is a HUGE pickup.....even on nba2k12

yeah, but Anderson > Mills on 2K tbh :( F U Roster Update!!

[iManu]

I crapped my pants when we signed Diaw.

Once, on 2k8 or 9, I somehow traded for Diaw and Jackson (and Radmanovic, who was decent at the time) and sim-ed my seasons and usually won at least 70 games a season. Ever since Phoenix, I've thought he would be our ideal. I am in awe that we were able to acquire him.

R.C., for picking up Jackson and Diaw, you get my vote for Executive of the Decade.

"Bird Wrongs."

[silverblackfan]

Yeah, he has exceeded all expectations. The better shooting Oberto analogy works well.
Last night I thought to myself that they have to bring back this team next year. The chemistry, BBIQ, and shooting is too damn hard to replace.
And we have great off-court duos to form this nucleus. Parker and Diaw. Manu and Tiago. Even Tim and Jack are good friends.
This team just keeps giving it's fans everything thing they could hope for.

[mystargtr34]

Blake looks clueless on how to score against Boris.. He cant back him down because of Diaw's strength and then he struggles to drive by him because of Diaw's quick feet.

[boutons_deux]

Apart from his game, Boris has a cool head, no attitude/macho BS. Just plays the game.

[TampaDude]

Apart from his game, Boris has a cool head, no attitude/macho BS. Just plays the game.

Yup...he's a Spur, no doubt. :hat

[Budkin]

He and Jax solidified this team into what it is right now. Outstanding.

[Spurs Brazil]

Efficient Diaw a perfect addition to Spurs' postseason mix


Posted May 18 2012 10:02AM

SAN ANTONIO -- He could have been left in a wicker basket, hidden and floating among the bulrushes. He might just as well have fallen out of the sky.

That Boris Diaw practically landed on the roof of the Alamo was not just providential; it is proficiently typical of the way the Spurs have always gone about building championship contenders.

In Los Angeles, the Lakers are to that point in the season when they'll be hoping for a Kobe-fueled miracle. In Miami, the heft will again sit like a grand piano on the back of LeBron amid a roster that's so skinny it might be diagnosed with rickets. Yet deep in the heart of Texas, the Spurs are deep enough to give you the bends.

"It's what this team, this organization, has always tried to do: make great acquisitions," said Manu Ginobili.

So far in the playoffs, Diaw has looked like a winning lottery ticket bought with some leftover change.

Two months ago, a dispirited Diaw was wasting away on the roster of the Bobcats in Charlotte, Michael Jordan's feckless club would finish 7-59 and set a league record for lowest win percentage. Charlotte bought him out on March 21, San Antonio signed him two days later and it's been a snug fit as the Spurs are 26-2 since he was added.

"When Pop was trying to recruit him, I told him that we do the same plays on the French national team," said Tony Parker. "For five years we have been doing the same stuff. I knew when Boris came here there would be no problem for him to adapt because he is used to those plays."

In Game 2 against the Clippers, Diaw was a stealth bomber of sorts. He shot 7-for-7 from the field, scored 16 points, grabbed four rebounds, dealed four assists and spent much of the night slam-dancing with Blake Griffin. All this behind the backdrop of Parker celebrating his 30th birthday by toasting Chris Paul and Duncan continuing his rebirth as a 36-year-old teenager.

Diaw doesn't do it with flash or speed, just efficiency and precision. To see Diaw hold the ball in one outstretched palm, wheel across the lane and reach toward the basket can be like watching an ocean liner try to turn. It takes a while.

The French Revolution could have been fought in less time than for him to rise up and let fly with a 3-point shot. But it goes in. To see him peek through traffic under the basket, find a cutting teammate and drop off the perfect pass is as natural as dropping a clove of garlic into a pot of bouillabaisse.

"Because it's pretty easy to adjust to this team, the way they're playing," Diaw said. "They're playing smart basketball and it's easy to recognize to see what to do, where to fit and try to be an addition. So it is a pretty easy role. There is no expectation. I am just trying to do my best, play good defense and try not to turn the ball over too much.

"I wasn't surprised. That's a big reason why I choose to come here. I knew it was a short period of time. I knew I had to adjust pretty quickly because of the playoffs were right around (the corner)."

It was more than poetic that NBA commissioner David Stern and ex-Spur Robert Horry were in the house for Game 2. It was Horry who hip-checked Steve Nash into the press table back in the 2007 playoffs when Diaw played for a contending Phoenix team.

But when Diaw and Amar'e Stoudemire reacted by taking a few steps away from the Suns bench and toward the scene on the court, they both were suspended by Stern for the next game. Phoenix lost the series and San Antonio went on to win it all. So it was the Spurs who deprived him of his chance to win his only title and now, Diaw is critical in San Antonio's bid for a fifth overall.

It is, perhaps, more than serendipitous that Duncan is having this late-season spring in his step during the autumn of his career now.

"For whatever reason, I'm healthy and feel great," Duncan said.

Could a part of that reason be Diaw -- a big, hulking body that can both create havoc and make smooth plays? How much easier is it for Duncan to make those turn-back-the-clock spin moves and slick bank shots when he doesn't have to go chin-to-chin and chest-to-chest with the brute force of Griffin?

"He is a very smart basketball player," Duncan said. "You play the way he does and it's easy to fit in. He is unselfish. He understands what we want to do. Defensively, he is solid. He can pass the ball better than many of the big men I have ever played with. He is starting to shoot the ball and get his confidence in that respect."

The NBA era of assembling the super team on the run has the Knicks already steamrolled out of the playoffs, the Lakers cracking like old china and the Heat threatening to come apart at the seams with Dwyane Wade raging at Erik Spoelstra.

In San Antonio, they've always known that a championship firmament requires more bodies than just stars to shine. And sometimes, like Diaw, they can just fall out of the sky.

Fran Blinebury has covered the NBA since 1977. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.

http://www.nba.com/2012/news/features/fran_blinebury/05/18/boris-diaw-san-antonio-spurs-playoffs/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1

[ChumpDumper]

Dealed?