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Again, I'm waiting for Peter Holt to ask what the Ratliff was doing collecting a paycheck all season if this was the plan for him.
Ratliff trade brings financial relief
Jeff McDonald
PHILADELPHIA With time running out on the NBA's trading season, the Spurs completed a deal Thursday that won't help coach Gregg Popovich's team much on the court, but does stand to help chairman Peter Holt's pocketbook.
The Spurs sent little-used center Theo Ratliff to Charlotte, in a deal that narrowly beat the 3 p.m. trade deadline. In exchange, the Spurs received a conditional second-round pick in 2016 and, more importantly in the near term, financial relief.
Dealing Ratliff allows the Spurs to shave more than $800,000 off their pending luxury tax bill this summer.
Ratliff, 36 years old and a veteran of 15 seasons, signed a free-agent deal with the Spurs in July, but has essentially been the team's 12th man. He played in 21 games, averaging 1.6 points and 1.9 rebounds.
Thursday's trade will reunite Ratliff with Bobcats coach Larry Brown, who coached Ratliff for four seasons in Philadelphia from 1997-2001.
Rebounding machine: Tim Duncan's 4-for-23 shooting night in Wednesday's 90-87 win at Indiana marked the third-poorest of his 13-season career.
That Duncan compensated for his bricklaying with 26 rebounds, 11 offensive, was not lost on his coach or teammates.
It just shows what kind of class he has, coach Gregg Popovich said. He couldn't buy a bucket, couldn't make a basket. And he goes out, and he gets all those rebounds and does what he can to help his team. He doesn't give in.
Duncan came within one rebound of matching his single-game career high of 27, set Jan. 27 against Atlanta. He is the first Spurs player to record multiple games of 25-plus rebounds in the same season since Dennis Rodman did it four times during the 1994-95 campaign.
Duncan is seventh in the NBA at 11.0 rebounds per game this season.
That's the great thing about Timmy, Tony Parker said. If he has a bad shooting night, he's always going to do other stuff. He's just a presence.
Parker's hip trouble: Popovich said he had hoped to hold Parker, who has a strained left hip flexor, to fewer than the 39 minutes, 11 seconds he logged in Indiana.
I could have managed it better, Popovich said.
Having not played since Feb. 8, Parker said he was surprised the injury began to flare up on him late in the game against the Pacers, and cast his availability for tonight's game at Philadelphia in doubt.
Parker likely will be a game-time decision.
Again, I'm waiting for Peter Holt to ask what the Ratliff was doing collecting a paycheck all season if this was the plan for him.
Great. Parker a game time decision. Doesn't look like the rest at the All-Star break helped him much.
Why does this feel more like doing an assist for an old friend than any sort of salary cap or long-term team building stuff?
More like......
Black Guy - SpursTalk posters
White Guy -
Make no mistake, what this is is a clear admission that the front office doesn't think this team can win a championship this season. It's not that Ratliff is a savior, but it's symbolic. If this team really thought they had a chance, they'd have kept him. Let's face it, the savings are mere pennies, in relation to money in the NBA.
Game. Set. Match.
The thread should end on that post.
Well said.
With TP in such bad shape, why is he talking to the press about playing for the FNT this summer? I love his playing, but his plantar fascitis needs to be dealt with or his value as an elite NBA player is going to drop like a rock. We'll really need the rest of the guys to step up in Philly.
I'd like to see a quote from Pop or RC about the Ratliff trade. It'd be nice if they at least threw us a bone and pretended that the trade was partly to open up an active spot for a young player.
Theo Ratliff, total waste of a training camp spot, and waste of a per-minute shot blocking tool, and overall the minutes given to him these past 52 games felt pretty insincere. Leaves us scrambling through the WW. I'm going to assume Ratliff at his age just wasn't proving serviceable enough for Pop's offense (seems to be our focus) this year either in-game or in practice. I hope this, and Mahinmi's somewhat small option for next season being turned down, doesn't mean Duncan is going to be the "Lone Center" as long as the Spurs are financially strapped. We've heard RC talk about Splitter coming over for next season, I at least hope dumping Ratliff in someway helped.
Holt did not know that rj would not fit in & we would suck this bad, ratliff was signed as a defensive clog on a team that was supposed to compete for the championship...thats not happening, so he might as well save some money & get something out of him...hence the trade.
I've heard the 2016 draft is going to be DEEP.
As for Parker, it's just a damn shame. He ruined himself by playing for the French National Team in some worthless tourney. Now he can barely walk. Best of all, he's apparently planning on going back.
Lame.
Literally.
Waits for Bruno to come in and slam post.
at a 2016 pick....WOW.
Not even Bruno could defend TP playing for the FNT at this point.
I don't know that he will.
IMO the plan was for Ratliff play spot minutes, but no one expected Blair to be this good so soon. Ratliff became expendable.
Ratliff an asset? More like an 3rd or 4th bigman. As far as long-term, think Hill, Blair, and hopefully Splitter, Hairston, and Gist.
Trading Theo Ratliff for a second round 2016 top 55 protected pick to Larry Brown who is an old friend of Pop. Larry Brown, the guy coaching the team that just traded for Ty Thomas and has some injury problems with Tyson Chandler? Neither Ratliff nor the second round pick are "assets"; but Ratliff likely will be more helpful for the Bobcats than the Spurs. Ratliff's salary cap hit is also less than Mason/Finley/Bonner/Mahinmi (I think), so all this talk about it being purely salary cap relief rings hollow. Especially when hey had larger contracts they could have dumped.
So, to recap for you: Ratliff not an asset. 2016 2nd round pick not a long-term asset either. And his salary cap savings is minimal versus other players they could have just salary dumped. Hence, my thought that it was done to as a favor to Larry Brown. Kinda like when Pop clued in Brown to Raja Bell.
Oh and the Spurs are not going to be building post Big 3 around Hill/Blair/Splitter/Hairston/Gist. They are decent rotational players, but none is a franchise player.
F'd up..
Honestly TP, is the only tradeable asset that will give you something significant in return. TP is not the key to success any more, not when LA front court is stacked. Spurs failed to evolve. It's like if Pop said, screw it Shaq has gone East, we don't another big to help Timmy.. Pop is guilty of trying to do too much with too little. It gets to a point where you are playing too many vets and not doing enough to develop talent. I don't see the Spurs attracting any big names this off season.
way to raise the bar by insulting anything outside the NBA.
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