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Lets see how he works out in Utah, and maybe get him back later
Devin Leaving? A Numbers Game
http://www.woai.com/spurs/story.aspx...9-7539F9657905
By LJ Ellis
SpursZONE.com
Devin Brown has played virtually his whole basketball life in San Antonio. From high school, to college and into the NBA, Brown has called the Alamo City home. Those days, however, appear numbered.
Brown signed an offer sheet with the Utah Jazz that calls for him to make $2.5 million this upcoming season. The Spurs have seven days to match the deal, which also contains a team option for a second year.
At first glance, the deal doesn’t look too overwhelming. If the Spurs were to match, they’d only have Brown on the books for one guaranteed season, during which time the team would get a good look to see how healthy his back is.
Sounds like an ideal situation for San Antonio, right?
The problem lies with the Spurs’ current cap situation. With the team right at the luxury tax threshold, matching the offer to Brown would be costly. Since San Antonio would be taxed dollar for dollar the amount they are over the threshold, Brown’s deal would end up costing the Spurs $5 million.
The only way it would make sense for the Spurs would be to find a team willing to trade for Brent Barry. If they can find a trading partner with sufficient cap space, the Spurs would be able to deal Barry and his near $5 million salary without taking a contract back in return.
In that scenario, the Spurs could then match Utah’s offer to Brown. The savings for next season would be around $2.5 million, with a long term savings of around $15 million.
However, trading Barry wouldn’t be easy. The market for 33-year-old guards with three years left on their contract isn’t a deep one. Plus, Barry’s performance late in the playoffs proved just how valuable a contributor he could be to this team.
Devin’s Future: All That Jazz
If San Antonio does indeed say goodbye to their homegrown hoops hero, Salt Lake City will welcome him with open arms.
Although Brown is 26-years-old, it’s hard to predict how good he’ll eventually become as an NBA player. Last season he had flashes of brilliance, but his year will be remembered for the back injury that sidelined him for final 15 games of the regular season. Brown never found his rhythm in the playoffs, as his spot in the rotation was taken by Barry.
The Jazz are hoping that Brown can fully recover from his back injury and that those flashes of brilliance will come more regularly. If his numbers in March of last season are any indication, the Jazz might be on to something.
Extrapolating Brown’s March numbers to starter's minutes (35 minutes per game), it comes out to 15.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per contest. If Brown can put up numbers remotely as good as those, his signing would be a huge coup for the Jazz.
Follow Jam: Charity Stripe Blues
In response to yesterday’s article regarding Finley and Van Exel, a reader at SpursTalk.com made a valid point. While the new duo will help the team from beyond the arc, Finley and Van Exel won’t do much to improve the team’s overall free throw percentage. Though they are both good free throw shooters, neither player is too adept at getting to the charity stripe.
Code:Free Throws Attempted Per 40 Minutes Played Duncan 8.3 Ginobili 8.1 Mohammed 5.4 Parker 4.7 Marks 4.6 Brown 4.2 Horry 3.1 Udrih 3.1 Barry 3.1 Finley 2.3 Van Exel 1.8 Bowen 1.7 Rasho 0.7
Lets see how he works out in Utah, and maybe get him back later
In fact if Spurs trade Barry for cap space and match utah offer, they would save $3.2 million.
When I see Evans earning $1.5 million; $2.5 million for Brown seems a little high (even if his contract is shorter).
I saw the thread le and thought this was gonna be a Buck Harvey column.
This is a no-brainer -- keep Devin at $2.5 million with a team option for the next year. He has big upside for the future and is insurance if aging Barry, Bowen, NVE or Finley start to wear down.
If Devin is chronically injured, the price was low to find out.
The state of the Spurs' dynasty down the road may depend upon this choice.
The number game with is is more like L2-L4 (spinal disk numbers)....
He's one bad move away from being on the bench for months on end. It's a serious medial liablity when you have a multimillion dollar investment. He's no 50.
Interesting. So you think Holt should bite the bullet and pay the $5M it would take to keep Devin in town?
Nicely done L.J.!
Buck Harvey who!
= )
I think it's less than $5 million. Maybe $3.5-4 million. But for one year, why not?
Devin could absorb some minutes and save Barry, Bowen, Finley, etc. some wear for the playoffs. This seems like a no-downside move to me.
Unless, of course, they know he's really finished (which I doubt).
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