SequSpur
11-01-2004, 11:39 PM
ESPN
SAN ANTONIO -- Another season for the San Antonio Spurs, another tension headache followed by relief for Tony Parker.
Last year the headache was brought on by the Spurs' zeal to bring Jason Kidd to San Antonio to replace Parker at point guard. This time, it was the Spurs' hesitation to sign him to a long-term contract before Wednesday's opener at home against Sacramento.
But late Monday, just before the league's signing deadline, the sides agreed to a long-term deal that will keep Parker, one of the NBA's best young point guards, with the Spurs.
The team would not reveal terms of the contract, but previous reports had Parker (14.6 points, 5.5 assists per game last season) willing to accept $66 million over six years while the Spurs were dug in at $64 million.
Parker, going into his fourth NBA season at age 22, and Spurs management were scheduled to discuss the deal at a Tuesday news conference.
Nearly all of San Antonio's key players are back from last year's team that won 57 games during the regular season before being eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
And as usual, the notoriously slow-starting Spurs expect the regular season to serve as an extended training camp for the playoffs.
"We're going to use 82 games to get where we want to get to, so we'll progress along the season," said forward Tim Duncan, the team's leading scorer, rebounder and inside defender. "We'll go through some highs and lows, and we'll enjoy it."
Duncan (22.3 points, 12.4 rebounds) is coming off a relative low this summer in Athens, when the heavily favored American team he led had to settle for Olympic bronze.
A gold medal came back to San Antonio draped around the neck of Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who led Argentina to a semifinal victory over the United States and the championship win over Italy.
Ginobili (12.8 points, 4.5 rebounds) says he expects his Olympic success to give him some lift in his third NBA season.
"Winning such a big and important tournament against many of the best players in this league gives you a lot of confidence and the feeling that you're doing things right," said Ginobili, who will return to the starting lineup after Hedo Turkoglu signed with Orlando in the offseason.
San Antonio addressed two of its most glaring weaknesses -- reliable perimeter scoring and free-throw shooting -- by signing free agent guard Brent Barry in July. Barry's career 3-point accuracy tops 40 percent and he's an 82 percent foul shooter.
"He's a player that knows how to play the game," Ginobili said. "Very smart overall player because he knows how to pass, he also rebounds strong and handles the ball, so he is going to be backing everybody up."
Barry (10.8 points, 5.8 assists for Seattle) should get playing time at both guard positions and at small forward. He is still learning the Spurs' defense-first system and waiting to see how and where he will fit in.
"The roles throughout the year for every player on the team if your name's not Tim or Tony seem to change, and you just have to adjust with that," said Barry, who went 4-for-5 on 3-pointers in Friday's final preseason game against New Orleans.
While Duncan and Ginobili were playing in Athens, center Rasho Nesterovic was adding weight and strength to his slender 7-foot frame and losing some of his inhibitions on the court.
Nesterovic (8.7 points, 7.7 rebounds) was signed before last season to take some pressure off Duncan, but he had trouble holding his ground against other big men.
"Offensively, we've convinced him that we want him to be more aggressive," coach Gregg Popovich said. "I thought he deferred too much to Tim Duncan last year. ... When Tim was out (with injuries last season), Rasho scored and rebounded very well and when Tim came back, I think he just wanted to fit in."
Small forward Bruce Bowen, named to the All-Defensive first team last season, is back, as are a large group of reserves: forwards Robert Horry and Malik Rose, center Sean Marks and guard Devin Brown.
Behind Parker at the point will be rookie Beno Udrih, a Slovenian drafted late in the first round. Other new faces include forwards Tony Massenburg and Linton Johnson III, and guards Mike Wilks and rookie Romain Sato.
SAN ANTONIO -- Another season for the San Antonio Spurs, another tension headache followed by relief for Tony Parker.
Last year the headache was brought on by the Spurs' zeal to bring Jason Kidd to San Antonio to replace Parker at point guard. This time, it was the Spurs' hesitation to sign him to a long-term contract before Wednesday's opener at home against Sacramento.
But late Monday, just before the league's signing deadline, the sides agreed to a long-term deal that will keep Parker, one of the NBA's best young point guards, with the Spurs.
The team would not reveal terms of the contract, but previous reports had Parker (14.6 points, 5.5 assists per game last season) willing to accept $66 million over six years while the Spurs were dug in at $64 million.
Parker, going into his fourth NBA season at age 22, and Spurs management were scheduled to discuss the deal at a Tuesday news conference.
Nearly all of San Antonio's key players are back from last year's team that won 57 games during the regular season before being eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
And as usual, the notoriously slow-starting Spurs expect the regular season to serve as an extended training camp for the playoffs.
"We're going to use 82 games to get where we want to get to, so we'll progress along the season," said forward Tim Duncan, the team's leading scorer, rebounder and inside defender. "We'll go through some highs and lows, and we'll enjoy it."
Duncan (22.3 points, 12.4 rebounds) is coming off a relative low this summer in Athens, when the heavily favored American team he led had to settle for Olympic bronze.
A gold medal came back to San Antonio draped around the neck of Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who led Argentina to a semifinal victory over the United States and the championship win over Italy.
Ginobili (12.8 points, 4.5 rebounds) says he expects his Olympic success to give him some lift in his third NBA season.
"Winning such a big and important tournament against many of the best players in this league gives you a lot of confidence and the feeling that you're doing things right," said Ginobili, who will return to the starting lineup after Hedo Turkoglu signed with Orlando in the offseason.
San Antonio addressed two of its most glaring weaknesses -- reliable perimeter scoring and free-throw shooting -- by signing free agent guard Brent Barry in July. Barry's career 3-point accuracy tops 40 percent and he's an 82 percent foul shooter.
"He's a player that knows how to play the game," Ginobili said. "Very smart overall player because he knows how to pass, he also rebounds strong and handles the ball, so he is going to be backing everybody up."
Barry (10.8 points, 5.8 assists for Seattle) should get playing time at both guard positions and at small forward. He is still learning the Spurs' defense-first system and waiting to see how and where he will fit in.
"The roles throughout the year for every player on the team if your name's not Tim or Tony seem to change, and you just have to adjust with that," said Barry, who went 4-for-5 on 3-pointers in Friday's final preseason game against New Orleans.
While Duncan and Ginobili were playing in Athens, center Rasho Nesterovic was adding weight and strength to his slender 7-foot frame and losing some of his inhibitions on the court.
Nesterovic (8.7 points, 7.7 rebounds) was signed before last season to take some pressure off Duncan, but he had trouble holding his ground against other big men.
"Offensively, we've convinced him that we want him to be more aggressive," coach Gregg Popovich said. "I thought he deferred too much to Tim Duncan last year. ... When Tim was out (with injuries last season), Rasho scored and rebounded very well and when Tim came back, I think he just wanted to fit in."
Small forward Bruce Bowen, named to the All-Defensive first team last season, is back, as are a large group of reserves: forwards Robert Horry and Malik Rose, center Sean Marks and guard Devin Brown.
Behind Parker at the point will be rookie Beno Udrih, a Slovenian drafted late in the first round. Other new faces include forwards Tony Massenburg and Linton Johnson III, and guards Mike Wilks and rookie Romain Sato.