Jeff McDonald: Day 11 of the Beno watch

[Spurs Brazil]

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/courtside/archives/2007/10/jeff_mcdonald_d.html

Jeff McDonald: Day 11 of the Beno watch
The Spurs returned to the practice floor Monday morning after taking Sunday off. Well, most of the Spurs returned anyway. Robert Horry took an extra day to deal with some personal business. Jacque Vaughn rested his sore calf. Tony Parker rested his sore everything.

And, for the 11th consecutive day, Beno Udrih sat out with a broken left index finger.

This has been the worst possible preseason for Udrih, who was going to have to fight for his spot on the bench even before he fractured his finger.

Do the math: This offseason, Spurs returned all 12 players who were active during last year's playoffs, plus added a semi-major free-agent acquisition in Ime Udoka -- who they would like to play. Only 12 of those 13 players can be active for any given game this season.

Right now, it's looking like Udrih will be the one in a sports coat instead of a uniform for opening night against Portland. And if the Spurs ever get comfortable with Manu Ginobili as a viable emergency No. 3 point guard, the more likely it becomes that Beno will remain behind the bench instead of on it.

[VaSpursFan]

sweet...best possible scenario without flat out waiving his pathetic ass.

[SenorSpur]

What happened to Beno? At one time, he carried such promise? Why has he simply not developed into a productive player?

[exstatic]

What happened to Beno? At one time, he carried such promise? Why has he simply not developed into a productive player?
He's a good passer, and was a good shooter, but a PG who can't bring the ball up the court under pressure is pretty well useless in the NBA.

[SenorSpur]

He's a good passer, and was a good shooter, but a PG who can't bring the ball up the court under pressure is pretty well useless in the NBA.

Yeah, visions of that 2005 NBA Finals versus the Pistons are coming back.

Beno was awful against pressure.

[HighLowLobForBig-50]

i dont know why in hell we still have him. is it rasho syndrome ? do we have so much vested in him and he knows our system so well we just want him to work , er what? is he so worthless we cant trade him. we dont need to wave anyone with the semi new rule. wave his ass!!

[ChumpDumper]

Even shitty point guards are hard to find.

[HighLowLobForBig-50]

im scared of whichever elite in the west gets gilbert next year. WE MUST REPEAT !!!

[thispego]

cut his bitch ass, im tired of seeing his face in the Dynasty issue of the SA express news pinned up in my cubicle.

[jmard5]

Hmm... even Beno Udrih gets to have an article of his own. Spurs are obviously a pretty boring team alright. :lol

[Extra Stout]

What happened to Beno? At one time, he carried such promise? Why has he simply not developed into a productive player?
Development requires effort. Therein lies the rub.

[SequSpur]

Hello! WTF have I been saying?

Welcome to Fucking Reality.

[Dingle Barry]

Can someone explain to me what is the downside to waiving him? I don't really understand NBA waivers

[BeerIsGood!]

The writing's on the wall with Manu getting preseason burn at PG, and if Beno doesn't even have enough gumption to fight through a broken finger to even attempt to reclaim his job then he's less than worthless. I don't understand his actions here because he wants a PG job elsewhere, but this is all public knowledge and every team in the league is seeing him as a useless weak ticket. You'd think he would at least use this season to audition for an NBA job next year.

[THE SIXTH MAN]

Damn at this point Beno seems like a complete loss. He's been part of numerous trade discussions during deadlines. And still no takers. Now this? I don't even think wnba teams would give the dude a look. No lie.

[Dario]

He is as stupid as a man can be. Nothing more to say

[AFBlue]

Can someone explain to me what is the downside to waiving him? I don't really understand NBA waivers

In all likelihood Beno would clear waivers and the Spurs would end up eating his $1.7M salary. But to my knowledge, that salary would still count against their cap number.

So you're basically throwing away $2M. Beno isn't worth that much money, but he's better than nothing at all.

Bottom Line: If there are no trade opportunities, let Beno ride the pine for one last year while the Spurs scout more viable alternatives at PG.

[AFBlue]

The writing's on the wall with Manu getting preseason burn at PG, and if Beno doesn't even have enough gumption to fight through a broken finger to even attempt to reclaim his job then he's less than worthless. I don't understand his actions here because he wants a PG job elsewhere, but this is all public knowledge and every team in the league is seeing him as a useless weak ticket. You'd think he would at least use this season to audition for an NBA job next year.

IMO, the writing is on the wall for him to go back to Europe after this year. He seems like a prime candidate and might actually get a decent deal overseas.

[urunobili]

What happened to Beno? At one time, he carried such promise? Why has he simply not developed into a productive player?

please don't be sarcastic... IMHO he never deserved a spot on this team... tell me of ONE game he shined for us or whose contribution brought a big time win?

luckily he was a mistake from the FO without a lot of colateral damage.

[Obstructed_View]

So it keeps sounding like Beno has a torn knee or something. For God's sake, it's his finger. He's still practicing with the team and running, right?

[Slomo]

please don't be sarcastic... IMHO he never deserved a spot on this team... tell me of ONE game he shined for us or whose contribution brought a big time win?

luckily he was a mistake from the FO without a lot of colateral damage.I hate the guy as much as anybody, but that's just not true. He played well until the all star break of his rookie year (I believe he was rookie of the month in December?). I also remember a game where he was in the starting lineup around the AS break (TP was injured) where he really played well, and despite chocking in the playoffs he was a rookie at the time and he could have improved - the problem was/is that it would require hard work on his part.

As for cutting him it doesn't make sense. The cost to the Spurs is the same whether he's on the team or not. So I guess if they're paying for him they might as well keep him just in case Godzilla attacks south Texas or something as probable as that...

The only nice solutions I've seen is Bruno's scenario (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2005907&postcount=77) of beno for a trade exception - other than that I guess we're stuck with him.

[Obstructed_View]

tell me of ONE game he shined for us or whose contribution brought a big time win?
Last season, Nov 14, against the Rockets in Houston. The Spurs were 5-1 and the Rockets were 5-2. Udrih brought the Spurs back from a 19 point deficit.

You may not like him, I don't either, but there's no denying he had the talent to compete with Parker for the starting job at one point. The fact that the gap between them is so vast just a few years later is a testament to the work ethic of both players, and is why Udrih needs to just go.

[mountainballer]

right now I also don't see anything happen.
the chance that Washington impresses that much in preseason, that the FO decides to cut Beno and just swallow his salary to open a roster spot are very small- almost non existing.
but when deadline comes, I do see a chance to finally get rid of him. I'm sure the Spurs will explore different options, to many expiring contracts to not try. the boarderline PO teams will be good options.
I watch out for Charlotte being a in the mix. out of shape McInnis will have fallen apart at this point of the season and the Bobcats will be desperate for PG help, even for the standard Beno can deliver.

[hater]

Beno is more worthless than a pile of cow shit

[SAGambler]

please don't be sarcastic... IMHO he never deserved a spot on this team... tell me of ONE game he shined for us or whose contribution brought a big time win?

luckily he was a mistake from the FO without a lot of colateral damage.

IIRC he was the big force in the comeback against Houston last season.

I just wish 2005 finals hadn't ruined his confidence. He certainly at one time had the potential to become a two headed monster at PG with Tony.

I, for one, don't think the FO made some huge mistake bringing him here. He just become one of many in a long line in every sport that had it and then lost it.

Shit happens.

[picnroll]

Beno started sucking right after all-star break of his rookie year. Teams learned his game and he was no longer effective.

[Obstructed_View]

Beno started sucking right after all-star break of his rookie year. Teams learned his game and he was no longer effective.
Beno stopped improving at that point and the world has been steaming past him ever since.

[picnroll]

Beno stopped improving at that point and the world has been steaming past him ever since.
Agree. A lot of rookies hit the wall, partly because the league catches on to their limited game. Then they either have the talent and work ethic to add on to their game and succeed or they don't. Don't know if Beno had the inate talent but he clearly didn't have the work ethic.

[Mitch Cumsteen]

The Beno bashing has become so commonplace here, that I was starting to feel bad for him.... until I remembered what a gigantic piece of crap he has become out of what was so promising of a rookie season. Of all my years of watching basketball, I can't remember a player who was so outstanding for half of a rookie year and then hit the rookie wall, and never even attempted to get back up. I swear I thought he was going to be better than Parker.

My gut feeling on Beno is that he realized that he was going to get guaranteed money for 3 years no matter how hard he worked. He never had any incentive to improve his game, and he wasn't going to start over Parker. Why should he go to the gym and work on his ball handling when he could go mack on little mexican hotties, eat Taco Cabana, and post gay pictures of himself on Myspace? He was going to make the same cash either way.

[E20]

Beno has the oppurtunity of a lifetime playing in the NBA. He has talent, but no desire to play or try/competitivness. He's a waste of talent, someone give me his talent.FUCK :pctoss

[Holt's Cat]

Beno is much more talented than Jacque Vaughn. Vaughn has no business being ahead of Udrih in the rotation, but such is the case. Why? Because Vaughn is a professional and is diligent about working on his game while Beno would rather be spending a Night at the Roxbury (or whatever its equivalent is in SA). Oh, and Beno's a big fucking pussy.

The Spurs would be somewhat better if Beno really cared.

[thousandth]

The Beno bashing has become so commonplace here, that I was starting to feel bad for him.... until I remembered what a gigantic piece of crap he has become out of what was so promising of a rookie season. Of all my years of watching basketball, I can't remember a player who was so outstanding for half of a rookie year and then hit the rookie wall, and never even attempted to get back up. I swear I thought he was going to be better than Parker.

My gut feeling on Beno is that he realized that he was going to get guaranteed money for 3 years no matter how hard he worked. He never had any incentive to improve his game, and he wasn't going to start over Parker. Why should he go to the gym and work on his ball handling when he could go mack on little mexican hotties, eat Taco Cabana, and post gay pictures of himself on Myspace? He was going to make the same cash either way.

more incentive than play in a champs team? I don't know why but Popovich or RC never encourage Beno to be more professional.

[angel_luv]

i dont know why in hell we still have him. is it rasho syndrome ? do we have so much vested in him and he knows our system so well we just want him to work , er what? is he so worthless we cant trade him. we dont need to wave anyone with the semi new rule. wave his ass!!


Please do not compare Beno to Rasho.

It is so unfair to Sho!

[Holt's Cat]

If only Beno had Radoslav's sense of professionalism. I was no fan of Radosoft, but he was committed to the team and his role as best I could tell.

[nkdlunch]

Please do not compare Beno to Rasho.

It is so unfair to Sho!

I agree. Rasho was soft but a hard worker and professional.

Beno is a maggot

[BILLYE]

please don't be sarcastic... IMHO he never deserved a spot on this team... tell me of ONE game he shined for us or whose contribution brought a big time win?

luckily he was a mistake from the FO without a lot of colateral damage.

actually, he was somewhat vital in 2004-2005 season during a road game @ Phoenix when Spurs made huge comeback mainly thanks to Ginobili....Udrih actually hit some 3's and made a couple of good defensive plays. I remember this, b/c he hasnt done jackshit since then....lol