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You have to be getting the soft pipecleaner arm kid mixed up with someone else.
Wow, pinked for thinking that?any poster who says they'd rather have Splitter than Pau should be pinked outright. That is madness. And I like Splitter, but Pau is remarkable.
Someone needs rittalin.
You have to be getting the soft pipecleaner arm kid mixed up with someone else.
Quiet night for Paris then.
The Bucher Tweet
48MoH reader mattmo28 exchanged tweets with Ric Bucher last night:
mattmo28@RicBucher Whats the deal with the Spurs not pushing for Sheed? Who are we after? Who fits best?
about 4 hours ago from web in reply to RicBucher
@mattmo28 Have heard McDyess and Frye. There’s a chance Tiago Splitter could be coming over, which would solve a *lot* of problems.
If you’re keeping up, which is a difficult task at this point, the Spurs are connected to a lot of free agents. Channing Frye, Brandon Bass, Rasheed Wallace, Marcin Gortat, Lamar Odom, Antonio McDyess, Morris Almond and Josh Childress. Here’s what I take from it: no one outside the Spurs brass is privy to their targets, and I suspect that they’ve not limited themselves to a single name just yet.
Prior to July 1, the Spurs had to make a decision of whether to strike fast in free agency or to sit out the initial frenzy and let other teams set the table for them. By all appearances, they’ve chosen the path of patience. The disadvantage to this decision is that your best options–Rasheed Wallace, as an example–will receive lavish invitations from elsewhere prior to speaking with you. If the money is more or less equal, a big showing of love is the deciding factor. Or so goes the thinking of GMs who spent the initial minutes of July 1st knocking on a free agent’s door. There is a certain logic to this approach, a logic that falls apart as soon as Marcin Gortat commits to Dallas. Nevertheless, Joe Dumars landed his guys by striking fast. It can be the right move.
But patience has its rewards. The Spurs can take advantage of the successes and failures of other teams. Who knows, maybe the Lakers acquisition of Ron Artest will cause Buford and company to rethink their targets. Or maybe the domino effect of that signing indirectly favors San Antonio. Another advantage to waiting is that the Spurs can more accurately evaluate cost. Rasheed Wallace is visiting San Antonio next week. Boston reportedly offered Sheed the MLE for two years. So, if you’re the Spurs….
The longer the free agent season drags out, the less money there is to spend. Or, put differently, a player’s ability to leverage one team’s cash against another’s decreases. The Spurs are putting themselves in a position to bargain hunt.
Worse case scenario: the Spurs have to choose between Drew Gooden and Zaza Pachulia, or some such. That’s not so bad. It’s still an upgrade over last year’s team, with a healthy Ginobili, a freshly acquired Jefferson, and young players such as DeJuan Blair, George Hill and Ian Mahinmi in the mix.
The curious thing about the Bucher tweet is the inclusion of Tiago Splitter’s name. Here’s the deal: rumors have circulated for a month or more that Baskonia might be open to letting Splitter go for a fee. The short explanation says they’re going through a minor rebuild, and it might make more basketball and financial sense to part with Splitter now rather than later. For Splitter, there is the opportunity to step in and play important minutes on what has the promise of being a championship contending squad. But nothing has come from Splitter or the Spurs to this end. The Spurs have maintained that Splitter is not in their plans this summer; Splitter remains under contract in Spain. I’d guess that Bucher has heard this chatter, but little else.
Don’t get your hopes up about Tiago Splitter. And besides, some of the other free agent options might be better fits for the Spurs. As a friend recently half-joked, the Spurs are in danger of getting too young too fast. Tim Duncan will feel like he’s running a daycare if flanked by DeJuan Blair, Ian Mahinmi, Tiago Splitter and James Gist.
The lesson within the Tiago Splitter rumor is that the Spurs’ front office is juggling more balls than we know about. They might surprise us.
Now that we’re a full 48 hours into the free agent period some fans are frustrated that the Spurs haven’t been more aggressive. Where is the full court press that is required to sign a name like Rasheed Wallace? But we should relax a bit. The Spurs have lots of options at their disposal, and the offseason is young. Let it play out. The team will come out just fine.
http://www.48minutesof .com/2009/...-bucher-tweet/
The reason it makes sense for Splitter to join this summer as opposed to the next one is twofold. First, he starts the clock on his NBA career. His first contract in the NBA will be small, regardless if it's rookie scale (if he signs this summer) or not (next summer he'd likely receive the 3 years/$9 mil that Scola received). Once he completes that contract, he will probably be able to receive a long term, big money deal. In addition, he increases the likelihood that he will be able to get a 2nd large contract during a prospective NBA career.
The second reason is that right now the starting 5 spot would be his for the taking. The longer he continues to stay in Spain, the greater the likelihood that the Spurs will fill out their bigman rotation and he wouldn't have a chance at a spot in the starting lineup and the opportunity to establish himself as an elite NBA bigman and cash in on that. One can imagine that the Spurs would find a way to address their bigman needs, perhaps via trade. While, yes, Splitter would prefer to sign a deal unlimited by the rookie scale next summer, perhaps the Spurs will be in a position in which they don't need him, but also don't deal him. He could, of course, attempt to force their hand, but the Spurs could very well be content to see him play a few more years in Europe at that point if they have filled out their bigman rotation.
If Splitter wants a NBA career and the large guaranteed long term money that is commonly thrown at decent bigs, then it makes a lot of sense for him to join the Spurs this summer.
From the Spurs' perspective, I think they have in mind a few free agents who they are pursuing to start for them and are offering a full MLE contract. If those don't pan out, the Spurs could very well offer the starting 5 spot to Splitter and then use the MLE to add a proven backup bigman to round out the rotation. That would explain why the Spurs have been linked to interest in Gortat, Bass, Frye, and Davis this early in free agency. It would make plenty of sense that if they strike out on Wallace, McDyess, and Pachulia that their next move would be to bring over Splitter on the rookie deal (and agree to make him an unrestricted free agent in 3 years) and then use the MLE, LLE, and/or a trade involving their expiring contracts (ie Bonner and Finley) to add a reserve big and fill out the rest of the roster.
Also, I'd say that Scola's ability to make the jump from the ACB to the NBA works in Splitter's favor as the Spurs are likely to feel more comfortable in assuming that he could start in SA.
True. After a certain group of free agents commits, then you are going to have a remaining group of solid players competing for a dwindling amount of free agent money. The Spurs still have their MLE and LLE. They could really fill out their roster if they go that route. And I suspect that we will see one more trade, which could be another great basketball trade like the Jefferson one. They have expiring contracts in Bonner, Finley, Mason, and Williams. In Williams' case, his deal is fully nonguaranteed until at least August 3rd. A team could cut a lot of payroll by making a deal with the Spurs which included Williams.
Of course, if the Spurs were able to land Splitter on a rookie deal, then they could not only go into bargain hunting mode, but they could also make a run using their full MLE at a restricted free agent whose team might be forced to let him walk due to financial concerns.
What's the deal with Shawn Marion? How come no one is talking about him?
He's a .
raptors offered marion a four year deal at 32 mil http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archiv...our_year_deal/
Splitter should be a fine player in the NBA. If Spurs can get him on the rookie scale this summer, it will be awesome.
A full MLE run at Josh Childress would make a lot of sense if the Spurs were able to sign Splitter and acquire a solid reserve bigman via trade (ie Foster), for example.
I was thinking about this last night maybe its not such a pipedream after all... hmm RC did say it was time to bring in some of the over sea prospects maybe i'm reading to far into this but still who knows whats going to happen i just feel like something is brewing and its going to be bad for the rest of the nba! haha
If Splitter doesn't come over this summer I am going to be really disappointed. He has the chance to be a starter on a championship calibre team, and start next to one of the top big men of all time in Tim Duncan. It would be like Barcelona, AC Milan, or Man U wanting Jozy Altidore to start for them now. Why would he say no? Does he lack confidence? Is he taking advice from an agent that could care less about him? It is getting really ridiculous.
If that happens it would change the complexion of this FA period. The FO for SA is freaking quite as , it is like New England in the NFL. No one talks, not the players, not the staff, no one. Frustrating for fans good for business.
The guy that doesn't talk is the most dangerous!
for sure. your sig is hilarious
MB: when would be the earliest the Spurs could get Splitter? The 8th?
Also, RC was pretty direct when asked about Splitter coming over. He said he is not coming over or that it was highly unlikely.
How does Childress make sense after signing RJ?
Didn't he also mention bringing one or two of their guys from Europe (and this was prior to the draft)?
Gist is almost certainly one and I doubt the other is Sanikidze or Javtokas.
I just want a concrete reason as to why Splitter doesn't come now. Money isn't a reason. If they don't want him, trade him, then say he sucks after the fact, no sense in decreasing trade value.
Spurs FO needs to poop or get out the port-a-potty those things stink
Childress can play the 3 and 2 and wouldn't be a bad small ball 4. It certainly wouldn't hurt the team to have a tall, multiskilled wing like him.
I believe that they can sign him at any time, unless draft picks are subject to the moratorium (I have forgotten). If Splitter is a possibility to come over if the starting 5 spot is open, then it would make sense that he would be signed if they strike out on Wallace and McDyess.
Even if he is not going to start right away and we sign McDyess for insurance we should get him here to work his way onto the floor.
I hear you, but we have more pressing needs now IMO, like a PF/C. We have enough swingmen. Bass, Zaza, Dice, Sheed, Gooden, Maybe the LLE for Sheldon Williams(or is he a complete bust?)
This sounds right to me, and I hope it does happen this way. After weighing the Rasheed vs Dice question for the last few days, I'm going with Dice-- his offensive rebounding and total rebounding #s are better, and Rasheed's FG% is just way too low. Plus, with Dice there's little fear of not fitting in or acting up.Here's how it will play out:
Sheed to Boston
McDyess to SA
Varejao stays in Cleveland
Orlando steals Bass (but overpays for him)
Gortat to Dallas
...then, and only then, will the world take a chill pill and calm the down.
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