spurschick
07-09-2005, 10:30 AM
It's from hoopsworld, so take it for what it's worth.
Summertime: Spurs Mull Rasho Nesterovic
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Jul 9, 2005
http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_13334.shtml
Here is a rambling and random “article” with some scattered ideas from the world of hoops and sports, very round-aboutly pertaining to the San Antonio Spurs. Here are three items from the sportswriting world:
An SI.com piece critical of Larry Brown’s alleged lack of tunnel vision on his Detroit team’s efforts during the playoffs. A CBS Sportsline.com article casting Nate McMillan as a victim who got the last laugh on Seattle’s supposedly inept management by signing to coach Portland this week. And a column lamenting the state of boxing, “the sweet science” as some call it, in the San Antonio Express-News.
First, the latter. I’m not particularly one of them, but why do that sport’s lovers call boxing the sweet science? I think it’s because of the love and sacrifice the athletes have often given to the game. The immersion of them into it. There’s much more to boxing than that to intrigue its niche, but for the purpose of looking back one more time at the prize-fight-like 2005 NBA Finals, let’s assume my opinion to be true.
The NBA Finals last month wasn’t played by big market teams, or by teams less than fully committed to defense. Therefore if different teams had been involved, it could have been more widely watched – and been a prettier spectacle for those who viewed it. Until Game Seven, even the Spurs fans inside the SBC Center seemed down a couple of levels after seeing the Spurs and Suns race up and down the court in the previous series.
But the 2005 NBA Finals was every bit the match that the boxing world has lately been missing. When people use the cliche, “leave it all on the floor”, it usually goes in one ear and out the other, even for the people who use the words. What was truly left on the floor by the Spurs and Pistons? I believe it was the love of the athletes’ game. In my book, that means it was a special thing. “Sweet” is putting it mildly. The players and teams gave each other, and the game, a gift. And we were allowed to watch it.
It was our privilege. So, what about the privilege it is for the players and coaches who participate? If we’re saying playing the game is a sweet and loving science, I don’t understand the way Nate was made out to be a victim by writer Mike Kahn. Getting the chance to coach the Sonics, or any team in the NBA, is an awesome deal – assuming you have the requisite ability. And McMillan certainly proved he did. Was McMillan really left out to dry by the trade of Gary Payton? His team was losing when it made the move for Ray Allen.
And so what? So what if the Sonics drafted a few white guys in the draft? The Sportsline piece took offense at their race, and implied that so did Nate. I would doubt he did. For instance, consider that he had a white man’s white man, Vitaly Potopenko, guard Tim Duncan in crunch time of the two closest games in May’s tough series with the Spurs. I would think that the Sonics’ front office took the best available players in those drafts, or picked according to team needs. The picks happened to be white. As we speak, no team in the league would turn down having Radmanovic, Collison, or Ridnour on its roster.
But really, Nate did need the change, just as he said at his Portland news conference. And the Seattle front office did set expectations too high in their 2004 training camp comments...or did they? Look at what the Sonics and McMillan accomplished in 2004-05! But for a few injuries, who knows how far Seattle might have gone in the postseason? Wally Walker and Rick Sund aren’t perfect, but neither is Portland’s management. Most people would say that the Blazers let Maurice Cheeks much further out to dry than Nate was left out wet in Seattle.
I just think that having one of those 30 NBA coaching jobs for as many years as McMillan held down his spot with the Sonics is special in its own right. Whether it’s true or not, Sportsline’s overly dramatic presentation made Nate look like an “sense of entitlement” guy who was treated shabbily in the Emerald City. The truth is probably something in the middle of the extremes. If McMillan really has slipped to that level, too bad for Portland. Maybe the kitchen got too hot for Nate, and now he can cool off taking the easy way out at PDX, with low expectations and high salary. Or maybe...just saying, “Watch your back, Coach.”
Seattle gave Nate a fantastic chance. A chance. That’s all anyone can ask for in the NBA, yet many people then want more. A chance is what Gregg Popovich got with the Spurs. Yeah, he got Tim Duncan in the draft. And that was like a second chance, but a coach still has to make his way. Somehow Pop has made his way with a payroll typically in the lower third of the league. With a sense of entitlement, Pop could have hit the road over that fact. But the guy has enough perspective to realize he’s got a good thing going. The humility he prizes keeps an entire franchise in balance.
Most other NBA franchises and coaches are constantly – always and endlessly – in flux, and that makes things so much easier for the stable Spurs to succeed. You have reports of Larry Brown openly focusing on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ situation, and the media’s coverage of it, during the Eastern Conference Finals. That kind of thing makes it very difficult for Joe Dumars to bring Larry back next season. And that kind of flux means the door is open wider for the Miami Heat to win the East next year. Shaq has already guaranteed a Championship in his era in Miami.
When Shaq speaks like that, I tend to listen. He knows what he’s talking about. The effect in San Antonio is that perhaps the trading of Rasho Nesterovic can wait. The faint rumblings of his trade have started in Spursland, just as they did with Malik Rose. But the Rose swap took well over a year to actually happen. In the intervening time, Malik played some pretty good basketball. The Spurs can only hope Rasho can do as much. But what the heck happened to him last year...at age 28, when a solid player like him should be holding his own or growing further? Before he joined the Spurs, Rasho was scoring double figures for Minnesota.
But his scoring dipped below 6 PPG last season. In 2003-04, when Tim Duncan missed several games with a kneecap problem, Rasho was double-double for the Spurs in virtually all those tilts. Last season, Duncan again went down for weeks, this time with a sprained ankle. But Rasho didn’t particularly step up this time. His averages in these games were little changed from the rest of his season, despite a boost in minutes. This summer, teams around the league have to wonder if Rasho is really a starting NBA center, and that is a change from one summer ago.
Out of all the exit interviews the Spurs had, Rasho’s must have been the most interesting. Nesterovic is in his prime! Surely the Spurs expect more of him than 6 points and 7 caroms a night for his nearly $7 million per season! His minutes fell last year to 25 a night. But considering the situation, the Spurs’ best course is probably to hold on to the player for 2005-06 unless a suitable replacement is found, knowing that a San Antonio series against Yao Ming and/or Shaquille O’Neal could be played next Spring. Rasho plays them pretty well.
Worst case, Rasho becomes the Spurs’ version of Memphis’ Jake Tsakilidis...a specialty reserve for facing certain teams and situations. No...an even worse case: That Rasho would actually be content with that. And I fear he actually might be. "Egoless", as the Spurs are sometimes called, is not at all what you really want from a great team. Egos under control is what you want.
Who might Rasho be traded to this summer? Top possibilities include Toronto, Atlanta, Washington, and also Cleveland or Minnesota. Possible principles from the Raps would be Aaron Williams (he’ll be 34 soon, big scrapper would fit the Spurs’ system), Eric Williams (33, offensively challenged PF could be a deep reserve), Lamond Murray (32, bulky non-defender combo-forward who can really shoot from distance or score on the block...at this point, re-signing Glenn Robinson makes more sense for SA than Murray). The Hawks’ Tony Delk (31, competitive little guard with a jumper) or Boris Diaw (young, long, unselfish, athletic 3-man without a jumper) are two Atlanta guys who can probably play in the Spurs’ system.
Not that Steve Blake (Wiz’ big reserve combo-guard with handle and jumper) couldn’t play for Pop, but Washington would give the Spurs nothing San Antonio would want...a third team would probably have to be used. Ira Newble (offensively challenged wing defender) could play for the Spurs, and could be on the way out in Cleveland as youths LeBron, Larry Hughes, Luke Jackson, and Sasha Pavlovic take over. Spurs reserve PG Beno Udrih also might fit in Cleveland. The T-wolves would offer nothing the Spurs would want, and Kevin Garnett didn’t especially value Rasho back in the day. As with Washington, a 3rd team could be used. Some of the above trades would require other players to be included under NBA rules. Rasho has had two unbelievable chances! Far more than most people get. Played with KG. Played with Tim. I’m disappointed, but unless a team blows the Spurs away with an offer, I’m asking for yet one more chance in San Antonio for Rasho Nesterovic.
With Robert Horry having agreed to stay with the Spurs, a sign & trade for Toronto 4-man Donyell Marshall is now less likely, unless the player really yearns to join the Spurs. Marshall was more of an exciting Plan B in the event of Horry departing. Amid Danika Patrick, Michelle Wie, and Lance Armstrong stories, the local televison guys are lobbying hard for Shareef Abdur-Rahim to be acquired. I have no idea why. Perhaps he’s given them some good fantasy league games before, although I’ll concede that Shareef does bust the 16-footer almost every time. Abdur-Rahim sounds more like another Plan B that’s not currently operative. Argentina’s Luis Scola (listed 6-9, offensive worker on the box, facing up from middle distance, setting the pick & roll) is the next focus.
Looking across the league scene, the Heat, the Suns, and the Mavericks (secondarily, the Pistons, the Rockets, and the Nuggets) present the clearest threats to dethrone the Spurs. San Antonio will have a sense of ownership on the trophy, but hopefully enough perspective and maturity to make the most of their next opportunity. Tim Duncan, a throw-back to decades past when Champions simply shook hands and walked off the field after winning it, still leads the Spurs. Damn the chest-thumping, MTV generation; based on last season, Duncan and his teammates now know that the giving, the sacrifice, the love is what can win it.
Summertime: Spurs Mull Rasho Nesterovic
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Jul 9, 2005
http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_13334.shtml
Here is a rambling and random “article” with some scattered ideas from the world of hoops and sports, very round-aboutly pertaining to the San Antonio Spurs. Here are three items from the sportswriting world:
An SI.com piece critical of Larry Brown’s alleged lack of tunnel vision on his Detroit team’s efforts during the playoffs. A CBS Sportsline.com article casting Nate McMillan as a victim who got the last laugh on Seattle’s supposedly inept management by signing to coach Portland this week. And a column lamenting the state of boxing, “the sweet science” as some call it, in the San Antonio Express-News.
First, the latter. I’m not particularly one of them, but why do that sport’s lovers call boxing the sweet science? I think it’s because of the love and sacrifice the athletes have often given to the game. The immersion of them into it. There’s much more to boxing than that to intrigue its niche, but for the purpose of looking back one more time at the prize-fight-like 2005 NBA Finals, let’s assume my opinion to be true.
The NBA Finals last month wasn’t played by big market teams, or by teams less than fully committed to defense. Therefore if different teams had been involved, it could have been more widely watched – and been a prettier spectacle for those who viewed it. Until Game Seven, even the Spurs fans inside the SBC Center seemed down a couple of levels after seeing the Spurs and Suns race up and down the court in the previous series.
But the 2005 NBA Finals was every bit the match that the boxing world has lately been missing. When people use the cliche, “leave it all on the floor”, it usually goes in one ear and out the other, even for the people who use the words. What was truly left on the floor by the Spurs and Pistons? I believe it was the love of the athletes’ game. In my book, that means it was a special thing. “Sweet” is putting it mildly. The players and teams gave each other, and the game, a gift. And we were allowed to watch it.
It was our privilege. So, what about the privilege it is for the players and coaches who participate? If we’re saying playing the game is a sweet and loving science, I don’t understand the way Nate was made out to be a victim by writer Mike Kahn. Getting the chance to coach the Sonics, or any team in the NBA, is an awesome deal – assuming you have the requisite ability. And McMillan certainly proved he did. Was McMillan really left out to dry by the trade of Gary Payton? His team was losing when it made the move for Ray Allen.
And so what? So what if the Sonics drafted a few white guys in the draft? The Sportsline piece took offense at their race, and implied that so did Nate. I would doubt he did. For instance, consider that he had a white man’s white man, Vitaly Potopenko, guard Tim Duncan in crunch time of the two closest games in May’s tough series with the Spurs. I would think that the Sonics’ front office took the best available players in those drafts, or picked according to team needs. The picks happened to be white. As we speak, no team in the league would turn down having Radmanovic, Collison, or Ridnour on its roster.
But really, Nate did need the change, just as he said at his Portland news conference. And the Seattle front office did set expectations too high in their 2004 training camp comments...or did they? Look at what the Sonics and McMillan accomplished in 2004-05! But for a few injuries, who knows how far Seattle might have gone in the postseason? Wally Walker and Rick Sund aren’t perfect, but neither is Portland’s management. Most people would say that the Blazers let Maurice Cheeks much further out to dry than Nate was left out wet in Seattle.
I just think that having one of those 30 NBA coaching jobs for as many years as McMillan held down his spot with the Sonics is special in its own right. Whether it’s true or not, Sportsline’s overly dramatic presentation made Nate look like an “sense of entitlement” guy who was treated shabbily in the Emerald City. The truth is probably something in the middle of the extremes. If McMillan really has slipped to that level, too bad for Portland. Maybe the kitchen got too hot for Nate, and now he can cool off taking the easy way out at PDX, with low expectations and high salary. Or maybe...just saying, “Watch your back, Coach.”
Seattle gave Nate a fantastic chance. A chance. That’s all anyone can ask for in the NBA, yet many people then want more. A chance is what Gregg Popovich got with the Spurs. Yeah, he got Tim Duncan in the draft. And that was like a second chance, but a coach still has to make his way. Somehow Pop has made his way with a payroll typically in the lower third of the league. With a sense of entitlement, Pop could have hit the road over that fact. But the guy has enough perspective to realize he’s got a good thing going. The humility he prizes keeps an entire franchise in balance.
Most other NBA franchises and coaches are constantly – always and endlessly – in flux, and that makes things so much easier for the stable Spurs to succeed. You have reports of Larry Brown openly focusing on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ situation, and the media’s coverage of it, during the Eastern Conference Finals. That kind of thing makes it very difficult for Joe Dumars to bring Larry back next season. And that kind of flux means the door is open wider for the Miami Heat to win the East next year. Shaq has already guaranteed a Championship in his era in Miami.
When Shaq speaks like that, I tend to listen. He knows what he’s talking about. The effect in San Antonio is that perhaps the trading of Rasho Nesterovic can wait. The faint rumblings of his trade have started in Spursland, just as they did with Malik Rose. But the Rose swap took well over a year to actually happen. In the intervening time, Malik played some pretty good basketball. The Spurs can only hope Rasho can do as much. But what the heck happened to him last year...at age 28, when a solid player like him should be holding his own or growing further? Before he joined the Spurs, Rasho was scoring double figures for Minnesota.
But his scoring dipped below 6 PPG last season. In 2003-04, when Tim Duncan missed several games with a kneecap problem, Rasho was double-double for the Spurs in virtually all those tilts. Last season, Duncan again went down for weeks, this time with a sprained ankle. But Rasho didn’t particularly step up this time. His averages in these games were little changed from the rest of his season, despite a boost in minutes. This summer, teams around the league have to wonder if Rasho is really a starting NBA center, and that is a change from one summer ago.
Out of all the exit interviews the Spurs had, Rasho’s must have been the most interesting. Nesterovic is in his prime! Surely the Spurs expect more of him than 6 points and 7 caroms a night for his nearly $7 million per season! His minutes fell last year to 25 a night. But considering the situation, the Spurs’ best course is probably to hold on to the player for 2005-06 unless a suitable replacement is found, knowing that a San Antonio series against Yao Ming and/or Shaquille O’Neal could be played next Spring. Rasho plays them pretty well.
Worst case, Rasho becomes the Spurs’ version of Memphis’ Jake Tsakilidis...a specialty reserve for facing certain teams and situations. No...an even worse case: That Rasho would actually be content with that. And I fear he actually might be. "Egoless", as the Spurs are sometimes called, is not at all what you really want from a great team. Egos under control is what you want.
Who might Rasho be traded to this summer? Top possibilities include Toronto, Atlanta, Washington, and also Cleveland or Minnesota. Possible principles from the Raps would be Aaron Williams (he’ll be 34 soon, big scrapper would fit the Spurs’ system), Eric Williams (33, offensively challenged PF could be a deep reserve), Lamond Murray (32, bulky non-defender combo-forward who can really shoot from distance or score on the block...at this point, re-signing Glenn Robinson makes more sense for SA than Murray). The Hawks’ Tony Delk (31, competitive little guard with a jumper) or Boris Diaw (young, long, unselfish, athletic 3-man without a jumper) are two Atlanta guys who can probably play in the Spurs’ system.
Not that Steve Blake (Wiz’ big reserve combo-guard with handle and jumper) couldn’t play for Pop, but Washington would give the Spurs nothing San Antonio would want...a third team would probably have to be used. Ira Newble (offensively challenged wing defender) could play for the Spurs, and could be on the way out in Cleveland as youths LeBron, Larry Hughes, Luke Jackson, and Sasha Pavlovic take over. Spurs reserve PG Beno Udrih also might fit in Cleveland. The T-wolves would offer nothing the Spurs would want, and Kevin Garnett didn’t especially value Rasho back in the day. As with Washington, a 3rd team could be used. Some of the above trades would require other players to be included under NBA rules. Rasho has had two unbelievable chances! Far more than most people get. Played with KG. Played with Tim. I’m disappointed, but unless a team blows the Spurs away with an offer, I’m asking for yet one more chance in San Antonio for Rasho Nesterovic.
With Robert Horry having agreed to stay with the Spurs, a sign & trade for Toronto 4-man Donyell Marshall is now less likely, unless the player really yearns to join the Spurs. Marshall was more of an exciting Plan B in the event of Horry departing. Amid Danika Patrick, Michelle Wie, and Lance Armstrong stories, the local televison guys are lobbying hard for Shareef Abdur-Rahim to be acquired. I have no idea why. Perhaps he’s given them some good fantasy league games before, although I’ll concede that Shareef does bust the 16-footer almost every time. Abdur-Rahim sounds more like another Plan B that’s not currently operative. Argentina’s Luis Scola (listed 6-9, offensive worker on the box, facing up from middle distance, setting the pick & roll) is the next focus.
Looking across the league scene, the Heat, the Suns, and the Mavericks (secondarily, the Pistons, the Rockets, and the Nuggets) present the clearest threats to dethrone the Spurs. San Antonio will have a sense of ownership on the trophy, but hopefully enough perspective and maturity to make the most of their next opportunity. Tim Duncan, a throw-back to decades past when Champions simply shook hands and walked off the field after winning it, still leads the Spurs. Damn the chest-thumping, MTV generation; based on last season, Duncan and his teammates now know that the giving, the sacrifice, the love is what can win it.