timvp
06-30-2007, 01:55 AM
Spurs unlikely to alter roster - Little chance draft picks will be with team next season
Mike Monroe
Express-News
Judging from what the Spurs have done since sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, the team's basketball operations staff is committed to defending the title with the 2006-07 roster nearly intact.
The Spurs took Tiago Splitter, a 6-foot-11 center-forward from Brazil, with the 28th pick in the first round of Thursday's NBA draft. Five spots later, in the second round, they selected Marcus Williams, a 6-7 forward from Arizona.
Neither figures to be to be on the roster next season.
Splitter is under contract to Tau Cerámica of the Spanish League for the 2007-08 season and has a hefty buyout clause that effectively prevents the Spurs from even considering bringing him to training camp.
Williams may be in Spurs training camp, but likely will spend the regular season with the Austin Toros, the National Basketball Development League team the Spurs are in the process of buying.
Everything that has happened since the Spurs' victory parade points to the club's commitment to the roster that went 16-4 in the postseason:
Starting big guard Michael Finley's decided to exercise the final year of the three-year contract and stay put.
Starting center Fabricio Oberto opted out of the final year of his deal, but has said he intends to re-sign with the Spurs.
The team has said it plans to fully guarantee the final seasons of the contracts for starting small forward Bruce Bowen and super-sub Robert Horry.
And the draft-day selections of players believed useful in the future, rather than next season.
"Unless circumstances change, I would imagine we'll do what we can to keep as much of the team intact as we can," general manager R.C. Buford said in response to a question about the Bowen and Horry contracts.
"Our intention is to give these guys a chance to defend their title."
Unless the Spurs waive Bowen and Horry by 12 a.m. Sunday, their partially guaranteed final seasons automatically convert to fully guaranteed deals.
Forward Matt Bonner and point guard Jacque Vaughn become unrestricted free agents Sunday. The Spurs are expected to make every effort to re-sign both players within the guidelines of their business model.
Drafting Splitter and Williams fits that model. Because Splitter won't sign a rookie contract this summer guaranteeing him at least $782,000 under league guidelines for first-rounders, the Spurs save that amount on next season's salary cap figure.
Splitter, who has played professionally since age 16, likely would have been a lottery choice Thursday had it not been for his current contract with Tau Cerámica.
The Spurs can afford to wait.
They continue to wait on Splitter's Tau Cerámica teammate, Argentine forward Luis Scola, their second-round pick in 2002; and on Ian Mahinmi, the French forward who was their first-round selection in 2005.
"Splitter's contract is more defined (than Scola's)," Buford said. "There shouldn't be a problem a year from now. That had a definite impact on him being available for us this year. That, and the fact there were no freshman-eligible draft candidates a year ago, pushed more players into the draft this year and maybe pushed some selections back that wouldn't have been there before."
Splitter has played in Europe since 2001, for Tau Cerámica since 2003. He has intrigued NBA scouts since submitting his name as draft-eligible in 2004, when he impressed scouts at a pre-draft workout in Chicago. However, he withdrew his name then, and again in 2005 and 2006. Many NBA player personnel officials had him projected as a lottery pick in 2005 and 2006.
Last season, Splitter averaged 11.2 points per game, on 61.3 percent shooting, and 5.2 rebounds in 28 games with Tau Cerámica in Spanish League play; and 10.7 points per game, on 58 percent shooting, and 6.0 rebounds in 20 Euroleague games.
A member of the Brazilian National Team, Splitter was the youngest player in the 2002 FIBA World Championships in Indianapolis, playing at age 17.
Buford said the Spurs had only one player ahead of Splitter on their draft board, but he was gone long before it was the Spurs' turn to select.
"I don't know that anybody was going to help us next year," Buford said. "We were hoping to find young talent to be able to help us after this team transitions. Hopefully, it continues winning and transitions to another group that competes, and Splitter gives us that opportunity.
"There were some players we were interested in that might have been on the roster sooner that were also considered. It wasn't a situation where we were just going to take a player and leave him over there. He was No.2 on our draft board of the picks that were realistic for us, so we were excited to get him."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA063007.01C.BKNspurs.draft.349698b.html
Mike Monroe
Express-News
Judging from what the Spurs have done since sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, the team's basketball operations staff is committed to defending the title with the 2006-07 roster nearly intact.
The Spurs took Tiago Splitter, a 6-foot-11 center-forward from Brazil, with the 28th pick in the first round of Thursday's NBA draft. Five spots later, in the second round, they selected Marcus Williams, a 6-7 forward from Arizona.
Neither figures to be to be on the roster next season.
Splitter is under contract to Tau Cerámica of the Spanish League for the 2007-08 season and has a hefty buyout clause that effectively prevents the Spurs from even considering bringing him to training camp.
Williams may be in Spurs training camp, but likely will spend the regular season with the Austin Toros, the National Basketball Development League team the Spurs are in the process of buying.
Everything that has happened since the Spurs' victory parade points to the club's commitment to the roster that went 16-4 in the postseason:
Starting big guard Michael Finley's decided to exercise the final year of the three-year contract and stay put.
Starting center Fabricio Oberto opted out of the final year of his deal, but has said he intends to re-sign with the Spurs.
The team has said it plans to fully guarantee the final seasons of the contracts for starting small forward Bruce Bowen and super-sub Robert Horry.
And the draft-day selections of players believed useful in the future, rather than next season.
"Unless circumstances change, I would imagine we'll do what we can to keep as much of the team intact as we can," general manager R.C. Buford said in response to a question about the Bowen and Horry contracts.
"Our intention is to give these guys a chance to defend their title."
Unless the Spurs waive Bowen and Horry by 12 a.m. Sunday, their partially guaranteed final seasons automatically convert to fully guaranteed deals.
Forward Matt Bonner and point guard Jacque Vaughn become unrestricted free agents Sunday. The Spurs are expected to make every effort to re-sign both players within the guidelines of their business model.
Drafting Splitter and Williams fits that model. Because Splitter won't sign a rookie contract this summer guaranteeing him at least $782,000 under league guidelines for first-rounders, the Spurs save that amount on next season's salary cap figure.
Splitter, who has played professionally since age 16, likely would have been a lottery choice Thursday had it not been for his current contract with Tau Cerámica.
The Spurs can afford to wait.
They continue to wait on Splitter's Tau Cerámica teammate, Argentine forward Luis Scola, their second-round pick in 2002; and on Ian Mahinmi, the French forward who was their first-round selection in 2005.
"Splitter's contract is more defined (than Scola's)," Buford said. "There shouldn't be a problem a year from now. That had a definite impact on him being available for us this year. That, and the fact there were no freshman-eligible draft candidates a year ago, pushed more players into the draft this year and maybe pushed some selections back that wouldn't have been there before."
Splitter has played in Europe since 2001, for Tau Cerámica since 2003. He has intrigued NBA scouts since submitting his name as draft-eligible in 2004, when he impressed scouts at a pre-draft workout in Chicago. However, he withdrew his name then, and again in 2005 and 2006. Many NBA player personnel officials had him projected as a lottery pick in 2005 and 2006.
Last season, Splitter averaged 11.2 points per game, on 61.3 percent shooting, and 5.2 rebounds in 28 games with Tau Cerámica in Spanish League play; and 10.7 points per game, on 58 percent shooting, and 6.0 rebounds in 20 Euroleague games.
A member of the Brazilian National Team, Splitter was the youngest player in the 2002 FIBA World Championships in Indianapolis, playing at age 17.
Buford said the Spurs had only one player ahead of Splitter on their draft board, but he was gone long before it was the Spurs' turn to select.
"I don't know that anybody was going to help us next year," Buford said. "We were hoping to find young talent to be able to help us after this team transitions. Hopefully, it continues winning and transitions to another group that competes, and Splitter gives us that opportunity.
"There were some players we were interested in that might have been on the roster sooner that were also considered. It wasn't a situation where we were just going to take a player and leave him over there. He was No.2 on our draft board of the picks that were realistic for us, so we were excited to get him."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA063007.01C.BKNspurs.draft.349698b.html