Has Boban played his way into future plans?

[Cklbmk]

Could he be the starting center post Duncan era? He's only 27 with low milage he could have another 10 years easy.

What kind of offers will he get this offseason?



Have they made jerseys for him yet??

[Mr Bones]

He'll get offers-- that's the problem. He outplayed Okafor badly for 10 minutes in Philly, which will have every scout in the league keeping an eye on him...

Wait, I take that back-- the fact that the Spurs signed him had every scout looking at him closely, and now that will just intensify.

[Old School 44]

I can see Cuban going after him just to needle us. The Mavs like former Spurs' bigs - Mahinmi, Blair.

[cjw]

Not sure about the 10 years, as guys his size do not age well ... only one guy has made it past 36, which is nine years from now, though he's another guy who joined the NBA later in his career (Sabonis).

Sabonis, Eaton, Ilgauskas and Smits were the only ones of the 19 retired guys 7'3" or taller to have long, generally injury-free careers. Granted, many never even reached Boban's skill level but the list is plagued with guys who had serial injury issues. Boban has seemed pretty healthy to date, but don't forget he had the ankle scare this summer.

You take what you can get out of these giant guys. If he can put in good ball for the next 5 years, all the better. He's never going to be a guy you can run out there for 30+ minutes a night though.



# of seasons
Last season
Player


7
38
Arvydas Sabonis*


11
36
Mark Eaton


13
35
Zydrunas Ilgauskas


9
34
Chuck Nevitt


12
33
Rik Smits


11
33
Randy Breuer


12
32
Shawn Bradley


10
32
Manute Bol


9
31
Ralph Sampson*


8
30
Yao Ming


2
29
Swede Halbrook


6
28
Gheorghe Muresan


2
28
Aleksandar Radojevic


2
24
Priest Lauderdale


3
23
Keith Closs


2
21
Pavel Podkolzin


1
21
Slavko Vranes


2
20
Ha Seung-Jin


1
19
Peter John Ramos







Active
Current age
Player


1
27
Boban Marjanovic


1
26
Tibor Pleiss


5
26
Hasheem Thabeet


1
23
Walter Tavares


1
22
Sim Bhullar


1
20
Kristaps Porzingis

[Johnny RIngo]

Starting center for the Spurs? Doubt it. He's a big guy at nearly 300 lbs - I don't think he has the endurance for the job. He needs to prove he can play 15-20 mpg first(though this would require Pop actually giving him some playing time).

[Chris]

He'll get offers

I agree, he will get stolen away similar to an Aron Baynes (RIP :cry)

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The rub is David West who deserves playing time. He still is trying to work in the offense and hasn't taken a lot of shots. He doesn't appear to be really looking for his shot at all. In the playoffs off the bench, I like him a lot.

If he were already established or if he were playing poorly then I think Boban would get minutes. As it stands Pop will honor the sacrifice West made. Popovich appears to think along those lines.

Between his play on Okafor and Gortat, I imagine people across the NBA including the Spurs took notice. His ceiling appears very high.

dominant size and strength
plus quickness
plus stop start
plus body control

I think he compares very favorably to Fatboy Gortat in the above 4 attributes. I think he is faster than Gortat though.

He sees the court well. obviously
He has a good sense for spacing and touch passes.
He has touch on a jumper from the slot and around the high post.
The 9'7" standing reach allows him to take up enormous space on defense without leaving his feet and he knows how to leverage it.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Starting center for the Spurs? Doubt it. He's a big guy at nearly 300 lbs - I don't think he has the endurance for the job. He needs to prove he can play 15-20 mpg first(though this would require Pop actually giving him some playing time).

It was only 20 minutes or so against Washington but he was flying down the court for those 20 minutes and seemed fine. His stamina is actually good enough that he could easily log more minutes particularly when hes not trying to show off in short minutes.

I think if nothing else he's proven he can run the floor in the NBA game. The Wizards are a transition team and he kicked their butts.

[ceperez]

I don't think he can survive a grueling 80 games required for the regular season.

I also don't think he can play for 30-40 minutes a game.

I think though that he can be a backup center in similar way as to what Baynes provided.

He definitely has upside, but I don't want him to reveal that upside before he is completely locked up by the Spurs.

[SAGirl]

I wish we keep him.
He has shown he can play and not only is he a fan favorite, but teammates love him.
I think the question is: do we see D.West still here next season? Maybe not. He will have to give up minutes to Boban and maybe some to develop a young big like Cady. I think Spurs would want to keep West but he would not have guaranteed minutes or a role. Like Butler this season. He git the spot some games, but the younger wings did too, and as soon as they started to show signs of improvement, and good play their development takes precedence over the veteran's minutes.

Not sure West is ready for that.

[monkeypunk]

I love him but others are correct here that his size will limit his career. Bodies aren't meant to be that big so his knees, feet and ankles will get progressively worse over time.

I am all for using him now while he is capable and then cutting him loose once his body deteriorates, ala Blair.

[steeledl]

I only want him at less than 5 mill per. I'm sure some team will gamble and pay him much more though .

[Spurtacular]

Boban would probably have to sign for less to stay with the Spurs, tbh.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

There is no question that they should put some priority on resigning him. Cap is set to expand significantly and we will most likely tender his RFA qualifier.

[thiste]

He definitely has upside, but I don't want him to reveal that upside before he is completely locked up by the Spurs.

Are you serious? That ship has sailed already. Have you seen the "Spurs have the best bench in the league" article? They already had an entire section of the article on him, and he's only been here for like 2 weeks...

[Mel_13]

There is no question that they should put some priority on resigning him. Cap is set to expand significantly and we will most likely tender his RFA qualifier.

Tendering the QO is about as close to as sure thing as anything we're going to guess about happening next summer. I believe they'll be prepared to match any reasonable offer, but I also believe that the most likely outcome is that he signs with the Spurs without even testing the market.

[maverick1948]

The biggest question is what will the Euro teams offer him to play at HOME?

[SoonerSpur512]

Splitter will replace him next season

[k_nguyen93]

The biggest question is what will the Euro teams offer him to play at HOME?
I had the same thought but supposedly he got big offers after his monster season in Europe playing on one foot. Judging from social media, he left his wife and family in Serbia and took less money to play for the Spurs. Might be a number of factors. Perhaps he goes and makes his money if the Spurs win this year. Duncan/West potentially retiring could open up some playing time. We'll just have to wait and see. I do think some NBA team will throw money at him though.

[100%duncan]

If he's the starting C post TD, we're fucked :wow