Monroe: Spurs roster analysis/Finley joke

[Spurs Brazil]

Spurs roster analysis

Web Posted: 05/31/2008 09:52 PM CDT

San Antonio Express-News

Express-News NBA beat writer Mike Monroe breaks down the status of the team's players, who are listed with their position and age:


Tim Duncan, 32, PF/C

•Contract status: Signed through 2011-12 season.

•Season wrapup: Had a relatively healthy season, missing only four regular-season games after spraining right ankle in early December. Made All-Defensive first team for 11th-straight season.

•What future holds: Signed contract extension as season began that makes him a Spur for life and will help the team remain competitive, since he took less money to provide more salary cap flexibility. Remains game's best power forward and one of best centers, too. No question he is the most important Spur.

Tony Parker, 26, PG

•Contract status: Signed through 2010-11


•Season wrapup: Had up-and down season because of recurring pain in heel. Still, he averaged 18.8 points and 6.0 assists.

•What future holds: Won't be playing for French team this summer and vowed to work on perimeter shot and free-throw stroke. Youngest of the Spurs' Big Three, he will be counted on to shoulder an even bigger share of scoring next season.

Manu Ginobili, 30, SG

•Contract status: Signed through 2009-10

•Season wrapup: NBA's Sixth Man winner averaged 19.5 points per game, highest of his six seasons with the Spurs and tops on the team. Finished in top 10 in voting for league MVP.

•What future holds: Will leave for Argentina in late June to train for Olympics. That means he will be training and playing for a full month, with about five weeks to recuperate before training camp. Look for Spurs to cut down on his wear and tear next season, whenever possible. But when he plays, look for him to be Manu.

Bruce Bowen, 36, SF

•Contract status: Signed through 2009-10

•Season wrapup: Another season, another selection to the All-Defensive first team. Missed first game since 2000-01 season after being suspended for allegedly kicking Chris Paul.

•What future holds: May have lost half a step, but it was hard to tell. Spurs' best perimeter defender will turn 37 in two weeks. Slowdown seems inevitable, even for a player Robert Horry calls “as wiry as a 12-year-old.”

Fabricio Oberto, 33, C

•Contract Status: Signed through 2008-09 (partial guarantee in 2009-10)

•Season wrapup: Another quiet-but-solid season, starting center's interior passing enhances his game.

•What future holds: Older than Ginobili, but Spurs are less concerned about his participation in Olympics because he does not have to play big minutes. Should stay in rotation, even if Spurs sign another “big.”

Michael Finley, 35, SG/SF

•Contract status: Unrestricted free agent

•Season wrapup: Had injury-free season and averaged 10.1 points. Shooting was streaky, but hit 37 percent of threes. Defense continued to improve.:lol

•What future holds: Not ready to retire, and prefers to re-sign with Spurs. Spurs will discuss what they can afford to offer. With Ginobili playing for Argentina this summer, Spurs may not be able to afford to let him go.

Brent Barry, 36, G

•Contract status: Signed through 2008-09 (partial guarantee for 2009-10)

•Season wrapup: Hampered by injuries and traded away, but he returned when Seattle waived him and got back in playoff playing rotation.

•What future holds: Proved value in final games of conference finals. Court savvy and 3-point accuracy have aged nicely.

Kurt Thomas, 35, PF/C

•Contract Status: Unrestricted free agent

•Season wrapup: It took him a while to learn Spurs' systems after arriving in trade deadline deal in mid-February, but was valuable off bench.

•What future holds: With 2007 first-rounder Tiago Splitter unlikely to join Spurs this fall, it is vital they return Thomas. Money will be the big factor that determines whether or not he returns.

Robert Horry, 38, PF/C

•Contract status: Unrestricted free agent

•Season wrapup: Personal problems cost him training camp and injuries did rest. Played 45 regular-season games and made only 31.9 percent of his shots.

•What future holds: Though he swears he is still “up in the air” about retirement, it's likely because options will be limited.

Jacque Vaughn, 33, PG

•Contract status: Signed through 2008-09

•Season wrapup: Emerged as primary backup to Parker.

•What future holds: Playing time dropped in playoffs, and Spurs are likely to seek more help for Parker.

Ime Udoka, 30, SF

•Contract status: Signed through 2008-09

•Season wrapup: By end of season had worked his way into regular playing rotation. But fell out of rotation in final game of conference finals.

•What future holds: Spurs will look for typical jump in performance by player in his second season with team. They value his defensive toughness and 3-point shooting.

Matt Bonner, 28, PF

•Contract status: Signed through 2009-10

•Season wrapup: Shooting percentage dropped from 2006-07. Fell out of regular rotation by end of season.

•What future holds: Contract is manageable, so may be shopped.

Damon Stoudamire, 34, PG

•Contract status: Unrestricted free agent

•Season wrapup: Never shot as well as Spurs anticipated when they signed him in early February.

•What future holds: May be back in NBA next season, but not as a Spur.

Ian Mahinmi, 22, PF/C

•Contract status: Signed through 2009-10

•Season wrapup: All-NBDL player with Austin Toros.

•What future holds: Still raw, will get a long look in preseason and into regular season. Could crack rotation, especially if Spurs can't find another “big” in offseason.

DerMarr Johnson, 28, SG/SF

•Contract status: Unrestricted free agent

•Season wrapup: Late-season signee, “insurance” against injury.

•What future holds: Might come to training camp, but only with a “make-good” deal.

[Anti.Hero]

Finley GTFO. Please go out like a man and quit HURTING THE TEAM SON!

[pawe]

I actually have lots of confidence in KT. He's a perfect fit for the Spurs with his toughness, defense and the spot up shot . I hope the Spurs would keep him specially when shaq, Bynum, Oden and all the other bigs are coming in next year.

[SenorSpur]

So far, I've read nothing to indicate that the Spurs are "turning the page" and getting younger in the process. The departure of both Finley and Horry should be no-brainers. Don't know why there would be any hesistation.

[Spurtacus]

So far, I've read nothing to indicate that the Spurs are "turning the page" and getting younger in the process. The departure of both Finley and Horry should be no-brainers. Don't know why there would be any hesistation.

I thought the same thing after reading this. It seems like we're going to go into next season with old blood.

[mrspurs]

talk about going nowhere fast.....if we dont turn these 30 yr olds into 20 yr olds what makes anyone think these guys are gonna get better? faster? shoot better? guard better?....they aint...not even parker, parker needs to know his teamates are good, or parker gets scared.....oh well go spurs go

[Extra Stout]

So "getting younger" consists of replacing Robert Horry and finding a younger scrub to back up Tony Parker. They're going to count on Michael Finley to carry a big load at shooting guard, because Manu's going to be gassed all season.

Ian Mahinmi "might" break the rotation.

:bang

Toddlers aren't stupid enough to buy this spin, so they must be pretty desperate. There are just too many holes to fill and not enough resources to fill them because of past personnel mistakes.

[Supergirl]

Just signing a couple rookie 20 year olds isn't going to help, really. These are Parker and Duncan and Manu's best years. What we need are guys who are experienced and savvy but still have the legs left for 82 games plus the playoffs. Finley is still good enough for limited minutes, but only at vet min. The way he played last year, he may be available for that.

Spurs need to add 1-2 younger but experienced players into their rotation, but not go all out for a revamping. And Thomas and Oberto are better than any Cs currently available on the market, and should be great mentors to Mahinmi.

[spurschick]

I fell in love with Kurt Thomas during the playoffs - when we needed the rebounding desperately, he stepped up. I wouldn't mind signing him to a small contract.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Michael Finley, 35, SG/SF

•Contract status: Unrestricted free agent

•Season wrapup: Had injury-free season and averaged 10.1 points. Shooting was streaky, but hit 37 percent of threes. Defense continued to improve.

•What future holds: Not ready to retire, and prefers to re-sign with Spurs. Spurs will discuss what they can afford to offer. With Ginobili playing for Argentina this summer, Spurs may not be able to afford to let him go.

If we're going to rely on Finley's broken ass next year as a rotation player, we aren't winning the title then either.

What part of Finley not playing any defense the last two months and being a pussy on offense against LA did this front office miss? Gimme a break!

The scary thing is the way the articles are reading in the E-N it sounds like the decision has already been made to keep this geriatric piece of shit.

If Finley comes back that would be grounds for firing RC and Pop. It's that stupid.

[ducks]

•What future holds: Won't be playing for French team this summer and vowed to work on perimeter shot and free-throw stroke. Youngest of the Spurs' Big Three, he will be counted on to shoulder an even bigger share of scoring next season

I guess more people next year will say he is a bigger ball hog next year if his scoring increases

[ElNono]

So far, I've read nothing to indicate that the Spurs are "turning the page" and getting younger in the process. The departure of both Finley and Horry should be no-brainers. Don't know why there would be any hesistation.

You won't read anything because it's not going to happen. Did you see Pop in the post-game interview? He said: "Oh, now that we lost, we're old and we need to retool"... sarcastically of course. He just said that they're going to retool a bit, 'What we always do', and that's it...
Now you tell me, what have they retooled in the last few seasons? Bringing in more vets? Check. Resigning our older vets? Check.
I think they might give Mahimi some playing time at the beginning of the season to see if he can earn a spot on the rotation. But I wouldn't be surprised if that's as young as we're going to get.

[Emanuel20]

I don’t want to see Finley in spurs uniform. We can’t live/die by jump shots. We need more players able to create their own shots. Since, this season our problems came from the offensive side, we can’t rely on a player like Finley or we will die with no damn trophy in our grave.

[T Park]

:lol @ people taking everything word for word from the Express

[ElNono]

I don’t want to see Finley in spurs uniform. We can’t live/die by jump shots. We need more players able to create their own shots. Since, this season our problems came from the offensive side, we can’t rely on a player like Finley or we will die with no damn trophy in our grave.

We have a coach who is a defensive expert. He had no idea how to kick start our offense when we went on 4, 6 minutes scoring droughts. Our offense is limited to pick and roll, 4 down, and high screen for Tony/Manu. The rest is ripoffs from the Argentina NT, which we don't run pretty much anymore.

[T Park]

We have a coach who is a defensive expert. He had no idea how to kick start our offense when we went on 4, 6 minutes scoring droughts. Our offense is limited to pick and roll, 4 down, and high screen for Tony/Manu. The rest is ripoffs from the Argentina NT, which we don't run pretty much anymore.


The offensive droughts were due to number 20 not being number 20.

Look at the droughts, when they came. When the subs are in and Ginobili is at the main point.

The offense and ball movement wasn't great, but it was good enough if shots are made to get to the Finals.

[kobyz]

we must get Ryan Gomes, he is perfect!

[Emanuel20]

The offensive droughts were due to number 20 not being number 20.

Look at the droughts, when they came. When the subs are in and Ginobili is at the main point.

The offense and ball movement wasn't great, but it was good enough if shots are made to get to the Finals.

I thought that was one of the dumbest moves Pop has done: Putting Ginobili to run offense on one leg with no tony or Timmy. I mean they can double, blitz....and ginobili can't do anything about it.

[SpurOutofTownFan]

I don’t want to see Finley in spurs uniform. We can’t live/die by jump shots. We need more players able to create their own shots. Since, this season our problems came from the offensive side, we can’t rely on a player like Finley or we will die with no damn trophy in our grave.

Well as I said many times already - please please do not resign Finley for the love of God. And this isn't something against him as a person but from all the players in the team he had the most responsibility on this season's play. He was awful all year long so the core players had to carry most of the scoring load. He was so awful Manu had to start several times during the season (altough that wasn't the only reason manu started).

Finley just didn't deliver and there's no signs he will deliver next year. He ended this postseason in a very pathetic way. Very weak D, no shooting stroke, poor rebounding.

When you do that the entire season you aren't carrying your own weight.

[ElNono]

The offensive droughts were due to number 20 not being number 20.

Look at the droughts, when they came. When the subs are in and Ginobili is at the main point.

The offense and ball movement wasn't great, but it was good enough if shots are made to get to the Finals.

In Game 1, we still had a sizeable lead when TD and Tony came back. We still couldn't buy a bucket. To put it on Ginobili is simplistic. We had nobody from the bench scoring other than Barry. And 3 of our starters are offensively challenged (Bowen, Oberto and Finley). Finley being the only one that, theoretically, can create his own shot. All three of TD, TP and Manu had to play extended minutes the whole season for the sole reason we suck on offense. We always think we can offset it on defense, but for a whole load of games this playoffs, we couldn't.

[YoMamaIsCallin]

People wake up. The Spurs did not lose the WCF because they are "old". They lost because they ran into a better team.

There is no magic formula that says "replace older players with younger ones and you'll be successful". That's like saying "lose weight and you'll be more attractive to women." The one doesn't necessarily have to do with the other, even though you can observe that the guys getting hot women are not fat.

Kobe has finally figured out how to play with a team, and make them successful, just as Jordan finally did after years of frustration with the Bulls. Plus, the Lakers got Gasol and Fisher gift-wrapped and dropped off on their doorstep. Without those three things all happening at the same time, the Lakers would still be a tough-first-round-and-out-in-the-second team. BTW do not understimate the impact Fisher has made. I think the Lakers could win without Gasol, but I don't think they could win without Fisher. I bet the Jazz are feeling like they were really taken advantage of by Derek.

Look at what the Spurs did. They beat, handily, a team specifically built to beat them, the Suns, with two former MVPs on their roster plus a first-team All-NBA player. They also beat the up-and-coming Hornets in game 7 on the road, after being down 0-2, and against the next coming of Jesus Christ (CP3) plus another all-star who played really well (West). That is most definitely not Chopped Liver. Those are championship level performances.

Frankly, if the Lakers don't beat the Celtics in 6 or better, I will be shocked. They are just on that good of a roll.

This does NOT call for blowing up the team and "going young". This calls for tinkering and re-tooling.

GET SOME PERSPECTIVE CLIFF-JUMPERS.

[Emanuel20]

Well as I said many times already - please please do not resign Finley for the love of God. And this isn't something against him as a person but from all the players in the team he had the most responsibility on this season's play. He was awful all year long so the core players had to carry most of the scoring load. He was so awful Manu had to start several times during the season (altough that wasn't the only reason manu started).

Finley just didn't deliver and there's no signs he will deliver next year. He ended this postseason in a very pathetic way. Very weak D, no shooting stroke, poor rebounding.

When you do that the entire season you aren't carrying your own weight.

Absolutely agreed. I just have the feeling that Pop will try to bring him back and then...

[roycrikside]

•What future holds: Won't be playing for French team this summer and vowed to work on perimeter shot and free-throw stroke. Youngest of the Spurs' Big Three, he will be counted on to shoulder an even bigger share of scoring next season

I guess more people next year will say he is a bigger ball hog next year if his scoring increases

He's always working on his shooting. When is that news? Next you'll tell me that Tim will be working on his mastery of Grand Theft Auto 4. Just one offseason I'd like to read that Tony will be working on his PLAYMAKING. It'd be lovely if he spent a few months curled up in the film room with some tapes of Paul and Nash.

[MannyIsGod]

Finely at the end of the bench would not be a bad thing at all. Finely coming off the bench isn't even bad. It just depends on who the Spurs can get in the offseason. First day of June and people are already bitching.

[kace]

He's always working on his shooting. When is that news? Next you'll tell me that Tim will be working on his mastery of Grand Theft Auto 4. Just one offseason I'd like to read that Tony will be working on his PLAYMAKING. It'd be lovely if he spent a few months curled up in the film room with some tapes of Paul and Nash.

guess Pop needs to see some tapes about them also since last time i checked it's him that decide how tony has to play. you know like when he says about 20 times in the season "i want tony to be very aggressive and to score". maybe it's too difficult for you to understand after all.

and i really wonder who the hell would be scoring in this team if not tim and tony in these PO. it would have been great to see tony throw some alley hoop to the very athletic Oberto, or even KT and Tim like Paul does. or to see him feed Finley for a 3 in transition like Nash does. it definitely would have worked well and Pop would have loved that :rolleyes

[mrspurs]

thats not parkers game....no matter what sport you play...you play with what you got...pop tried teaching parker how tobe a passing point guard and it didnt work...now pop lets tony free, and believe it or not.....it works.....get rid of the choker fab, replace with a big who can still jump a few inches and maybe manu can find some alley-oops...go spurs go

[Texas_Ranger]

If we wont get any new forces sign Mike, but otherwise I wouldn't give him another chance.

[loveforthegame]

I don't see what the big deal is if Finley's at the end of the bench this season. It doesn't mean that they won't get a young 2/3 in the draft or free agency.

And just because Finley would like to return to the Spurs it doesn't mean they want him back. He already said he knows it's a business and that he might have to look elsewhere.

[Avitus1]

I'd like to see Finley go to Dallas or even New York anything is better then him being in San Antonio again. I am now see why the Mavs got rid of him.