Kori Ellis
01-18-2007, 02:26 AM
Spurs notebook: Ailing Elson shoots for Friday
Web Posted: 01/18/2007 12:59 AM CST
Johnny Ludden
Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA011807.07C.BKNspurs.notebook.224858e.html
Francisco Elson wore his usual black sports jacket to Wednesday's game. Come Friday, he might be able to leave it in his closet.
Elson, who has missed the past 11 games with a right shoulder injury, could be back in uniform as soon as Friday, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
He will participate in his first contact workout today.
"If that goes well, then I think he's cleared to go," Popovich said. "On a limited basis, probably."
The Spurs play New Orleans on Friday.
Elson suffered a small tear in his rotator cuff in the Dec. 26 loss to Milwaukee. Until this week, he had been limited to conditioning work and some light shooting.
Blame 'Nellie': Popovich wasn't surprised by Wednesday's eight-player trade between Golden State and Indiana. Not when he knew who helped engineer the deal.
"Nellie was involved," Popovich said of his friend and former boss, Warriors coach Don Nelson. "Nellie loves to make trades and very few of them are one-for-one."
While Popovich said it's too early to judge the impact of the trade, he does think it might cause other teams more aggressively evaluate their own rosters.
"It might make some other teams think about doing something earlier than usual," he said, "instead of waiting until the day of trade deadline and holding your cards until then.
"If you're going to do something, get it done, so you can get your new team and start working with them."
The Spurs continue to look at ways to upgrade their athleticism on the perimeter, but Popovich said the team didn't have a deal imminent.
Storm nearly maroons Lakers: The ice storm that struck San Antonio wreaked havoc with air travel and nearly kept the Lakers stranded in town overnight.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson said the team had to arrange for a charter aircraft to be flown to San Antonio late Wednesday night to shuttle the team to Dallas for tonight's game against the Mavericks.
Jackson said a shortage of de-icer at San Antonio International Airport made it impossible to use the jet they arrived in Tuesday.
"The two planes that are here that are from our (charter) group are stranded here and it will probably be a couple more days, at least one more day, before they can get the ice off it. They'll bring in another plane to ferry us up to Dallas tonight."
Surprised by Horry: Jackson said the Lakers never expected that Robert Horry still would be playing three years after they opted to let him become a free agent in 2003.
"We had an option to continue on in a way that would have taken us into another salary situation," Jackson said of Horry's free-agent summer of 2003. "We certainly didn't see him playing (three) years later. We thought he had a couple years with us, the way he had to work that last year he was with us. It took a lot of effort for him. But he's maintained it."
Horry recently has acknowledged there are some nights that fatigue prevents him from giving a great effort.
Jackson maintains Horry will be fine come playoff time.
Web Posted: 01/18/2007 12:59 AM CST
Johnny Ludden
Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA011807.07C.BKNspurs.notebook.224858e.html
Francisco Elson wore his usual black sports jacket to Wednesday's game. Come Friday, he might be able to leave it in his closet.
Elson, who has missed the past 11 games with a right shoulder injury, could be back in uniform as soon as Friday, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
He will participate in his first contact workout today.
"If that goes well, then I think he's cleared to go," Popovich said. "On a limited basis, probably."
The Spurs play New Orleans on Friday.
Elson suffered a small tear in his rotator cuff in the Dec. 26 loss to Milwaukee. Until this week, he had been limited to conditioning work and some light shooting.
Blame 'Nellie': Popovich wasn't surprised by Wednesday's eight-player trade between Golden State and Indiana. Not when he knew who helped engineer the deal.
"Nellie was involved," Popovich said of his friend and former boss, Warriors coach Don Nelson. "Nellie loves to make trades and very few of them are one-for-one."
While Popovich said it's too early to judge the impact of the trade, he does think it might cause other teams more aggressively evaluate their own rosters.
"It might make some other teams think about doing something earlier than usual," he said, "instead of waiting until the day of trade deadline and holding your cards until then.
"If you're going to do something, get it done, so you can get your new team and start working with them."
The Spurs continue to look at ways to upgrade their athleticism on the perimeter, but Popovich said the team didn't have a deal imminent.
Storm nearly maroons Lakers: The ice storm that struck San Antonio wreaked havoc with air travel and nearly kept the Lakers stranded in town overnight.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson said the team had to arrange for a charter aircraft to be flown to San Antonio late Wednesday night to shuttle the team to Dallas for tonight's game against the Mavericks.
Jackson said a shortage of de-icer at San Antonio International Airport made it impossible to use the jet they arrived in Tuesday.
"The two planes that are here that are from our (charter) group are stranded here and it will probably be a couple more days, at least one more day, before they can get the ice off it. They'll bring in another plane to ferry us up to Dallas tonight."
Surprised by Horry: Jackson said the Lakers never expected that Robert Horry still would be playing three years after they opted to let him become a free agent in 2003.
"We had an option to continue on in a way that would have taken us into another salary situation," Jackson said of Horry's free-agent summer of 2003. "We certainly didn't see him playing (three) years later. We thought he had a couple years with us, the way he had to work that last year he was with us. It took a lot of effort for him. But he's maintained it."
Horry recently has acknowledged there are some nights that fatigue prevents him from giving a great effort.
Jackson maintains Horry will be fine come playoff time.