Currently Under Contract
1 Parker
2 Ginobili
2/3 Udoka
3 Bowen
4 Duncan
4 Bonner
4/5 Mahinmi
5 Oberto
Player Options For Next Season
1 Vaughn
2 Barry
Draft Picks
1 Hill
2 Hairston
3/4 Gist
Hold Player Rights
2/3 Sanikidze
4/5 Javtokas
5 Karaulov
5 Splitter
Free Agents
1 Stoudamire
2/3 Finley
2/3 Johnson
4 Horry
4/5 Thomas
Cap Exceptions
Mid-Level Exception (~$5.5 mil)
Lower-Level Exception (~$1.9 mil)
Trade Exceptions
Beno Trade (~$1.9 mil)
Scola Trade (~$400K)
Thomas Trade (~$400K)
First, I would hope that Vaughn and Barry do not become free agents. Vaughn is almost a perfect fit as the 3rd point guard with a prospective rookie backup point. Barry becoming a free agent would create another hole to fill and at a minimum would eat into their MLE.
Second, I would re-sign Kurt Thomas. I think they can retain him for something like 2 years and $10 mil. Thomas is a solid rebounding and defensive big who should improve some in his first full season with the Spurs. Shaq is still in the Western Conference.
Third, I would count on Ian Mahinmi joining the rotation.
With Hill and Mahinmi joining the active roster and assuming the Spurs retain Vaughn, Barry, and Thomas, the Spurs would have 12 players under contract.
The primary need to fill in free agency will be someone who can start at the 2 or 3 and play approximately 25 minutes a night. At a minimum, that someone should be able to shoot, defend, run the court, and pass. It would be nice if they could score on their own. Swingmen available in free agency are:
First Tier
Corey Maggette
JR Smith (RFA)
Josh Childress (RFA)
Ron Artest
Ben Gordon (RFA)
Kelenna Azubuike (RFA)
Second Tier
James Posey
Mickael Pietrus
Ricky Davis
Sasha Vujacic (RFA)
Ryan Gomes (RFA)
Matt Barnes
Bostjan Nachbar
Carlos Delfino
Walter Herrmann (RFA)
The Rest
Tony Allen (RFA)
Maurice Evans
Gordan Giricek
Devin Brown
Antoine Wright
Derek Anderson
Kirk Snyder
Eric Piatkowski
Kareem Rush
Marcus Williams (RFA)
Quinton Ross
Ira Newble
Casey Jacobsen
Dorell Wright (RFA)
Awvee Storey
Ideally, the Spurs would be able to acquire Maggette, Childress, or Smith. Maggette seems likely to receive a contract above the MLE in a sign and trade. Smith may be available from the Luxury Tax saddled Nuggets, but that's not clear. The Hawks would likely match the Spurs' top offer (full MLE for 5 years) for Childress. Gordon will command far greater than the Spurs can afford as well as what would be prudent. Artest? Is he opting out or not? In any event, I don't see him as a Spur due to mutual non-interest.
Azubuike is interesting, if mostly for his age and potential availability. The Warriors also have Monta Ellis and Andris Biendrins as restricted free agents and seem primed to retain both. They also have Pietrus and Barnes as free agents. They may deem Azubuike too expensive to retain if he signs a large offer sheet. Then again, they may be willing to eat the short term expense in favor of keeping him long-term.
Out of the second tier, I think Posey would be the most desirable for the next couple of seasons as someone who knows how to play championship basketball and hit big shots. He is an unrestricted free agent. I would expect the Celtics to offer him close to his top free agent price and of course there will be some pressure to stay with the Champs.
Davis would be someone who could put up a good number of points a night for you, I'm just not sure if you can count on his commitment come the postseason.
Vujacic and Gomes are two players I would expect to see back with their teams unless someone signed them to a full MLE offer sheet for 5 years. But I don't see that happening.
Herrmann is a tricky call. I think Detroit matches any small offer. Of course, he's not worth a large one.
Barnes would not be a bad fit in SA. Would he want to leave Northern California? Delfino has had a less than stellar NBA career. Could it be revived in SA playing alongside two of his fellow countrymen? Nachbar would be a nice pickup, though I see him as more of a reserve 3 than anything.
I think Pietrus is the logical choice for the Spurs. He's unrestricted, which will make his acquisition considerably easier. He's athletic, long, and can shoot the 3. He's used to playing a wing spot on an up and down team which the Spurs have become more as of late.
After that, perhaps Delfino would be worth considering in a sign and trade for Bonner. But that would only make sense if the Spurs then devoted their full MLE to Eduardo Najera. Other candidates to replace Bonner would be...Robert Horry and Robertas Javtokas.
Assuming the Spurs sign a swingman outright in free agency, the Spurs will have 13 players under contract. That would leave 2 spots, likely IR spots, open. Hairston and Gist are candidates for those spots. In addition, the Spurs may consider a young free agent big for assignment in Austin. They should be able to use the LLE for this. Patrick O'Bryant is a possibility. Viktor Sanikidze might find a way onto IR with a great performance in Summerleague play as well as in training camp and the preseason.
The Spurs are looking to add some youth, athleticism, and length to their supporting cast. Their draft picks showed as much. Mahinmi falls squarely in this vein. Pietrus is the one free swingman free agent who fits this kind of profile.
I don't expect the Spurs to have much of a blockbuster free agency haul. Pietrus would be a solid pull. The Spurs don't need a superstar out of free agency. They need someone who fits the program. Pietrus isn't perfect, but then again, the Spurs don't have unlimited cap room nor unlimited resources.
Next season's opening night roster could very well look like:
Starters
1 Parker
2 Pietrus
3 Bowen
4 Duncan
5 Thomas
Bench
1 Hill
2 Ginobili
2 Barry
2/3 Udoka
4 Bonner
4/5 Mahinmi
5 Oberto
IR
1 Vaughn
Hairston or Gist
5 O'Bryant
That would give the Spurs a nice blend of youth, athleticism, and experience.
I'm sure many will complain, but this team was one normal Ginobili playoff series performance away from being back in the Finals yet again last season. Now's no time to panic.
-MB
Last edited by Marcus Bryant; 06-30-2008 at 09:56 PM.
Marcus Bryant, do you have any idea if the NBA will ever implement a rule allowing a team to have more than 15 players on the roster, if the players exceeding the 15-count are playing for the D-league affiliate? As in, 12 active, 3 IR, and maybe 2 assigned to D-League...
Not sure, but that would nice, especially for the Spurs right now.
I would hope that if changes to contract rules or roster rules are made in relation to teams owning a D-League team, I would hope that it happens first, which acts as an incentive for more NBA teams to buy one second, instead of the other way around (NBA teams don't buy a D-League team until favorable rules are already in place), so that the Spurs can get a bit of a reward for investing so early.
Nice write-up as usual Marcus... I agree that Pietrus is the logical choice and like that roster you have listed. I would not be surprised though if Hairston or Gist makes the team as a 3rd string and not IR...both might make it and one would go on IR...
Nicely done, MB. Thanks, appreciate the thoughts.
Imo the spurs should let go 3 of this players list in order to have some roster flexibility : horry ( i want him to stay) , vaughn , finley , bonner , barry.
I hope barry and horry will stay here.
Pietrus seems to be the target because he will make less money than others and will be a good fit imo in sa's system , if devenr won't match a good offer for smith look at him too and also azabuike
they are the three realistic targets who can become a spur with a good offer
then adjust the roster , bring a big : o'bryant or a young guy who will not play next year ... and then adjust after the sl with gist or hairston staying or not
if rookies weren't succesfull bring back finley or another young wing like evans ....
I would like to see the NBA have a practice squad type thing.....call it a Developmental Squad. Give each team a 5 player limit for the squad. Make it to where these players are assigned to the list just prior to the start of the regular season. Once a player is placed on the list, he cannot be called up to the main 15 man roster at any point during that season. Also, once added to the list, a player remains on the list for the entire season, unless season ending injury occurs. At which time, a team can reach an injury settlement with the player, release him, and then add another developmental player as his replacement.
Once placed on the DS, all player rights belong to that team, and no other team can sign him during that season. All DS contracts are for 1 year, never to exceed 3 contracts for any one player for that team. So if the Spurs sign Joe Schmoe to a DS contract, they can only do it 3 times. After that, they must either sign him to the main roster or allow him to go elsewhere.
On a similar note, I wish the NFL would allow each team to bring 100 players instead of 81 to training camp. I wish the overall roster would be 60 instead of 53 (with a game day limit of 50 players). I wish the practice squad would be decreased from 8 to 5. It would allow for more depth and flexibility for every team.
Herrmann is pefect to replace Horry and I like JR Smith but I'll take Pietrus or Azubuike and of course resign Thomas and we are set
Bowen is in old.
i would like childress over smith and maggette, but either of those 3 would be nice.
Priorities:
1. Maggette
2. JR Smith
3. Artest/Azabuike
Artest's agent said he is not opting out
I think Posey is first tier. In fact, out of everyone available - including JR Smith - I'd gladly take Posey.
Nice writeup
I agree with just about everything you said. Vaughn is just about the best third point guard in the league, all things considered. If the Spurs have a roster crunch, he might have to be the one let go due to his low potential but if things work out as expected, I have no problem bringing him back. Barry needs to come back and Thomas for a 2-year, $10M deal makes a lot of sense.
Pietrus is far from my favorite choice in free agency but the more I think about it, the more he makes sense. Not only is Pietrus unrestricted, he's also friends with Parker -- which gives the Spurs a better than usual shot (especially if everyone is just offering the MLE). He has a low basketball IQ but the nice thing is that Ginobili can come in and do the heavy lifting late in games and Pietrus can sit. When (or if) Pietrus ever figures it out, then he might get an extended role.
One free agent who isn't getting a lot of mention who may make sense is Quinton Ross. Eventually Bowen will have to hang it up. Ross is a similar type defender who could step in and learn from the master before it's too late. Udoka and Ross are a bit redundant, but Udoka isn't a very similar to Bowen defensively. Ross is.
The most difficult spot to fill was going to be that backup point guard spot because of limited resources and limited options. Right now, the Spurs addressing that in the draft looks like it was the right move.
Scooping up Pietrus in the next 48 hours would be a success. The Spurs may shot for the stars and go after a Smith or Azubuike but if that doesn't work out, San Antonio would suddenly have to go after the scraps of who's left ... someone like Giricek.
Posey is another very good option but he'd be difficult to steal away from the Celtics. If it's possible, I'd be all for it.
When it comes to someone like O'Bryant, I'm not he makes more sense than a rookie such as Gist or Hairston. Not that Gist or Hairston are better but because young veterans like O'Bryant aren't eligible for D-League. I think best case scenario is to have Vaughn and two Toros-eligible players on IR. Vaughn can step in whenever needed and the two Toros can better themselves in Austin for the year -- whether that's Hairston, Gist or whoever else.
Scratch Artest, reports are he's not opting out.
Well bring on Azabuike! If GS doesn't resign him.
I forgot all about Q... yea I think he would be a good fit too.. I think he might take more than the MLE though...
Well done Marcus.
I'm sure all the local sports guys appreciate you doing their job for them.
Pietrus looks like the main target.
I sure hope so.
I wonder if Holt has the private jet all gassed up.
Excellent summary, sir!
bring in either or center or jr. smith...thats what pop said last night in the news
So Barry has opted out (thanks for the update, McDonald). Not a bad decision on his part, as he stood to make the minimum (or in its vicinity) for one more season if he did not. Now he puts himself in a position to receive a significant raise and perhaps two guaranteed years instead of one. Maybe if he waits long enough a team will give him half of the MLE, though I'm not sure about that. The most I could see the Spurs offering would be the LLE for 2 years.
Should the Spurs lose Barry, that would give them greater roster flexibility, though it would create another hole to fill. Still, the Spurs may be able to sign two younger, more athletic swingmen now instead of just one. They could sign one to take the Finley role (Smith or Pietrus) as one who starts when Ginobili comes off the bench and one to take the Barry role as a reserve wing (Barnes or Delfino). The Spurs would likely have to use a sign and trade to acquire that second swingman. Bonner to Toronto for Delfino would make sense for both the Raptors and the Spurs. I could see Bonner and a 2nd round pick for Barnes, especially given Nellie's lust for bigmen who can shoot the 3. Another possibility might be Giricek for the LLE for 2 years.
Bonner and a 2nd for Barnes? are you kidding me? Then we would have to go to trial for raping the Warriors....and with all the evidence, we would definitely be found guilty as charged.......BTW, I would do this deal in a heartbeat if it were available.
Then perhaps we can use some of those trade exemptions to get Pecherov.
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