Just an idea, crap on it if you want...

[aaronstampler]

How about we look at the playoffs like we're underdogs and we don't have it this year and whatever good happens is a bonus?

I mean, it's a lot of pressure to always be the 1 seed, to always be expected to win. Even last year, even though we weren't officially the 1 seed because of Tim's ankle, nobody in their right mind thought the Suns would beat us. And after the first two games of the finals, the championship was ours to lose.

This year, there's just too much negativity with Tim's FP, and Manu not being able to string 10 healthy games together, and the centers stink, and the rebounding stinks, etc...

Let's just approach the playoffs as underdogs and be happily surprised by whatever success we have. Nobody thinks we're gonna repeat anyway. Let's just take the high road for once... We're not the Boston Red Sox here.

[T Park]

Im interested to see what happens this offseason.

I think all the bigs will be different sans Horry and Oberto.

Javtokas and I think Scola will come.

I think there might be a shot at signing a Chris Wilcox.


If they win, great, if they dont? So freakin what.

You cant win the damn thing EVERY year.

[Kori Ellis]

aaron - Whatever makes people feel better I guess. The Mavs lost 3 out of 4 just a week or so ago. The Suns aren't going far in the playoffs without Amare. The Spurs still have the best record in the West. I don't know if anyone can pretend they are the underdog.

TPark - Unfortunately, my guess is that Wilcox is going to get upwards of $40M.

[Kori Ellis]

Dallas, Phoenix, Clippers and Denver are all 5-5 over their last 10. I wonder if they have a huge contigency of fans jumping ship too.

[T Park]

TPark - Unfortunately, my guess is that Wilcox is going to get upwards of $40M.

Damn.

Were fucked :lol


Maybe Scola, Javtokas, and, uhhhhh, I dunno will be good enough.

[Kori Ellis]

I wonder if Scola will be able to get his buyout lowered to a reasonable amount.

[T Park]

Oh yeah.....

Spurs wont have enough money under the cap to bring him over more than lkely.

Javtokas, and see if they can swing a sign and trade with Mohammed and Wilcox??

Knowing Pop he prob doesnt like Wilcox cause he only blocks 1.5 blocks a game.

[Kori Ellis]

Knowing Pop he prob doesnt like Wilcox cause he only blocks 1.5 blocks a game.

Wilcox is a pretty bad defender. I watch all the Sonics games now and it's amazing how much he gets beat.

I like him because he's only 23 and I don't think he's had proper coaching or a chance yet. But he's pretty horrible on D. On 82games.com, he (and Luke Ridnour) are the worst defenders on the team by their breakdowns.

[Kori Ellis]

Knowing Pop he prob doesnt like Wilcox cause he only blocks 1.5 blocks a game.

Unfortunately he only averages .4 blocks per game.

[T Park]

There ya go, that pretty much seals Wilcox's fate.

Id bring him in, but Pop prob wants a whiter, more international sounding guy.


He'll prob try to trade for Brezec.

[Kori Ellis]

Wilcox is putting up big offensive stats lately though. He had that 26 pt, 24 rb game last week. So I think someone is going to throw some fairly big money at him.

[T Park]

Seattle would be wise to resign him.

Theyve done well since that trade IMO.

A good draft pick, bringing over Gelabale, develop Felix, trade Ridenour and start Watson.


Future looks bright for Seattle IMO.

[Kori Ellis]

Seattle is super cheap. So I don't know how high they'll go for him.

They need to decide if they are extending Ridnour and Collison this summer. Then try to re-sign Wilcox. Bring over Gelebale if he can get a buyout from Real Madrid. And then I would think they will trade Fortson's expiring contract for something.

They have a team option on Noel for next year. So we'll see how that goes.

[JamStone]

Even if you go into the playoffs with an underdog mentality and not expecting to go all the way or even deep in the playoffs ...

LOSING SUCKS.

You might be pleasantly surprised if the Spurs then end up winning it all. But, if they don't, it will still suck, even if you didn't expect it. Losing sucks and it will always suck. Changing your approach as a fan to not expecting much doesn't change that, unfortunately.

I wish it did. But, sadly, it doesn't. Losing sucks.

[Kori Ellis]

By the way, sorry Aaron for turning your thread into a Chris Wilcox/Sonics thread.

[JamStone]

So Wilcox is asking for a six year deal at about $60 million? Dude is crazy. Since the MLE would be about $32-34 million over five years, you would have to assume a few teams like Chicago, Atlanta, Toronto, and New Orleans would offer a bit more than just the MLE so the other teams couldn't afford him.

Even though he's probably not worth it, Wilcox will probably get a contract in the neighborhood of $40 million.

And, Kori is right about Wilcox. He's a pretty bad defender. He's pretty athletic and strong. But, his defensive positioning, footwork, anticipation, frame, and overall defensive awareness all need to improve. He gets rebounds off raw talent. He doesn't block shots or get steals. In fact, he doesn't even alter shots or deflect passes that much at all either. Because of his athleticism, you would think good coaching, a good system, and better teammates could make him a solid defender. But, then again, many people thought Stromile Swift would be an all league caliber defender by now.

[Kori Ellis]

No, Wilcox isn't asking for six year/$60M. Most people are saying that they are guessing he'd get upwards of $40M. But weirdly enough, yesterday he said he wants a short-term deal. His agent thinks that 2-3 years from now, he can cash in on a huge payday, so they might want a short contract.

[aaronstampler]

I'm not upset the thread turned to a Wilcox thread Kori, but I am upset with your notion that I am jumping ship. That is not the case at all. I root for the Spurs to win every game they play, and I always will. But I refuse to act like some ungrateful Yankee fan, always yelling at the team "What have you bums done for me lately?" The only point I was trying to make with my post is that I appreciate the team, and I appreciate what they have done to this point. To have the opportunity to repeat as champions, you have to be champions first, and I think a lot of people here forget that.

I still think that when we play our A game, nobody on the planet can beat us, including the Pistons. Unfortunately, I don't know if Tim's injury will enable us to be able to play our A game 4 times in a 7 game series.


We'll see in the playoffs I guess. I've never seen Timmy in this bad shape though. I think we should rest the big three as much as possible til the playoffs.

[ALVAREZ6]

That actually isn't a bad idea.


Last year, I got a little worried about the Spurs championship chances before the playoffs started. But they won.

[Bruno]

I wonder if Scola will be able to get his buyout lowered to a reasonable amount.

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1256

Scola has a $3M buyout that can be split up into $1M/year on 3 years.

[angel_luv]

I like the idea of believing the best.

I wouldn't call us underdogs. I think we are a very good team who has to face some equally good teams.

If we keep our cool and play our game, our chance to win is a good as anybody's.

[TDMVPDPOY]

wow i thought scolas buyout was around 10-15mill b4 last season, how come all of a sudden its only 3mill?

I say we try and give wilcox a short deal, then who knows once he learns how to play d, sum team is goin to offer hiim money, we can always sign n trade him.

Javtokas will probaly be our short term answer at the center, i think we should try and move up teh draft in the comin draft or next seasons draft.

[T Park]

No one this year in the draft IMO is worth a crap center wise.

Wait for Mahinmi, bring over Javtokas for that rebounding, shot blocking tough guy.


Id like to package Barry, Nesterovic to get something, ANYTHING!!!

[boutons_]

"The Mavs lost 3 out of 4"

I looked this up yesterday. It was actaully 5 L out of 7 games.

Sun 19 @ New Jersey L 89 - 100
Tue 21 Houston W 88 - 72
Thu 23 Golden State L 121 - 122
Sat 25 @ Atlanta W 98 - 83
Tue 28 @ Detroit L 90 - 97
Wed 29 @ Cleveland L 94 - 107
Fri 31 @ Orlando L 99 - 108

[pking]

There's no way the defending champs are going to look like underdogs going into the playoffs. Especially not if they do (which is obviously hiiiighly likely) end up with the top seed in the west.



Yea, Mavs are 5-5 in their last ten.

[ChumpDumper]

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1256

Scola has a $3M buyout that can be split up into $1M/year on 3 years.
Tau had a very legit reason for holding onto Scola so tightly last summer -- qualifying to stay in Euroleague competition for the next few years. Now that they have achieved that, Tau may be willing to let Scola go for less rather than losing him for nothing the following summer. There may actually be negotiations this time.
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=741703&highlight=scola#post741703

kluby time again if that's true.

[Bruno]

kluby time again if that's true.

They still aren't qualified for euroleague for the next 3 years. They have done a major step by wining the "copa del rey" at the end of february.
The main reason why they will let Scola go is that they will sign Kaya Peker this summer (if rumors are true).

[ChumpDumper]

That's interesting - they could lose both Scola and Splitter. Peker doesn't seem like enough of a fill-in to make them comfortable. I wonder if the reduced buyout was in the original contract. I do suppose they are expecting Splitter to stay awhile.

[Bruno]

I don't know for Splitter because TAU's president has said he will be back but with a $3M buyout, Scola can easily sign with Spurs. NBA teams can give $500k for the buyout. We can sign him to a 3 years, $9.5M contract starting at $3M. He will earn $7M/3years on this contract, it seems enough.

[Kori Ellis]

That's very interesting if the buyout is $3M now. I wonder if the Spurs still want him here.