By Jeff McDonald - Express-News
The Spurs are apparently going hard to the hoop in their pursuit of free-agent forward Antonio McDyess.
According to an NBA source with knowledge of the negotiations, the Spurs are believed to have offered McDyess a three-year contract starting at the full mid-level exception, expected to be worth $5.854 million next season.
That third year, which is only partially guaranteed, could be what puts the Spurs over the top.
It has been widely speculated that McDyess, 34, only plans to play two more seasons. If the Spurs' rumored bid is true, they have essentially sweetened their best two-year offer by guaranteeing McDyess extra cash in 2011-12.
In a matter of hours, the Spurs appear to have moved on from their failed pursuit of Rasheed Wallace.
After Wallace agreed to terms with Boston on Sunday, the 6-foot-9 McDyess surfaced as the Spurs' new Plan A. Thanks to an aggressive supposed bid, they have emerged as the front-runner to land him.
Cleveland and Orlando are considered the Spurs' top compe ion, while the Pistons have hopes of convincing McDyess to return for a sixth season in Detroit.
Since a pre-draft trade sent big men Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas to Milwaukee in a package for swingman Richard Jefferson, the Spurs' top offseason priority has been to fortify their frontcourt.
McDyess, who averaged 9.6 points and 9.8 rebounds last season, would seem to fulfill that need. Should he accept the Spurs' offer, it would put an end their pursuit of other significant free agents — including their own unrestricted free agent, Drew Gooden.
A rugged rebounder and physical interior defender on the cusp of his 15th season, McDyess has been on the Spurs' target list for quite some time. The team cast overtures his direction as far back as November, when McDyess became a free agent following his inclusion in the Chauncey Billups-Allen Iverson deal.
McDyess eventually re-signed with the Pistons then, citing a loyalty to the organization and his desire to play for a championship-level team. Since then, however, the landscape has changed dramatically in Detroit.
The Pistons finished eighth in the Eastern Conference and were swept from the playoffs in the first round by the Cavaliers.
Then there is the matter of money. After committing most of their available cash to free agents Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva this summer, the Pistons will only have between $3 million-$5 million to offer McDyess — substantially less than other suitors.
The Spurs appear to have announced their courtship of McDyess in a big way. The ball is in his court now.
but y? he's over the hill & would b no more than a bench player. not saying bench is not important, but couldn't we spend that MLE on better talent?
last year Bonner was our starting center...a while ago it was Fab (and we won a ship)...Dyess at this point of his career still is head and shoulders obove those two!
I like the idea of bringing in some more young talent....but not over Dyess!
In point of fact, at the beginning of the FA signings, there were two bigs that were the best of the best, the creme of the crop.
One was Rasheed Wallace, the other was Antonio McDice.
Of those two, only Dice remains available.
They may be older, 34 for Dice and 35 for Sheed, but there are no other great bigs like them who are FA this summer, who can contribute significanly offensively and a bunch defensively, like these two.
Again, there are others, but these are the best. The Spurs have gotten younger this offseason BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS: but for the PF/C position, there is no point in them bringing in yet more youth at the expense of the aformentioned skills which they may NEVER EVEN DEVELOP.
If Dice doesn't choose the Spurs, then there will be plenty of searching other options. But if does, then the Spurs would be very foolish to not pick him up, ESPECIALLY AS SHEED IS ALREADY OFF THE BOARD.
The Spurs have made their choice and offered the MLE to Dice: now Dice must make his!
I doubt Dice would be coming off the bench, he will be the starting PF. I hate to break it to you, but he's still talented. Please name who's better than McDyess at this point that can has the size, strength and experience to help Tim Duncan in the paint?
Spurs got a truckload of young talent coming in - Blair, Haislip, Mahinmi, possibly Gist. But they are still unproven at the nba level. Hopefully all of these guys can becoming solid contributors this year. But its a crapshoot, nobody knows for sure. Out of those it seems Blair has the most potential to help right away.
McDyess is a proven vet with alot of experience and can give a team some quality minutes with his interior defense and rebounding, two things the spurs have been sorely lacking the past couple years. But that's not all, he is also lights out from 15-20 feet, something KT could never do consistently since joining the spurs.
And if anyone proved they were over the hill last year, it was Rasheed Wallace, not Dice. Course you were probably one of those riding Wallace's nutsack weren't you.
There are so many of these reports, it's hard to put too much faith in any one of them. But - this one talks about a three year deal starting at the full MLE. Then a partially guaranteed third year. That's a lot, considering he's two years older than Duncan.
One potential bright side - if he retires in two years, we would still have to pay the guarantee portion of his contract. But then we could use him in one of those phantom sign an trade deals.
So we'd have that going for us.
No one else is reporting this story. Until I see it reported from a 'credible' source, I ain't buying it.
damn! 18 million for a 34 year old dinosaur??? sounds crazy
spurs have to sign Dice
they have no other choice. He may be old and on the decline but he is a good jump shooter who can rebound.
the spurs have a 3 year window anyway for the duncan era and mcdyess will not even be around most likely for the 3rd year so this is a good offer.
Mcdyess is to perfect for the spurs. He has everything we need in one.
1. Good rebounder
2. good defender
3. tough
4. Consistent offense
5. Great at ude
6. PO experience
7. High bbiq
8. Not foul prone
9. Not technical prone(SHEED even though he is the man)
10.In game adaptability. Has the smarts to know when to stay out of duncans way and when to step out and hit his consistent, reliable mid range.
11. Pretty durable as of late.
He is the answer. Even at 34. Book it. We have athletisicm now. We need smart tough rebounding and defense. Dyess is no brainer.OVER THE HILL MY A**. He is on the right part of the hill and rigged to pull us to the top of the hill where we all wanna be.
UPDATE (OF SORTS): Some commenters seem to be worried about McDyess' age, and it's a fair point. One thing I'd point out: He's all of 10 days older than Wallace, the guy the Spurs were chasing up until two days ago. And though he's a year older than Tim Duncan, McDyess has played in 110 fewer games.
Good point.
Perfect mentor for our young bigs... experience is a requirement for that...
Having a great man hungry for a ring on the team will not only give the whole team energy, but it will probably leave an impression on the young players and make them more ring-hungry than most young players. Blair is hungry enough as it is!
Is McDyess really only 6'9"? He seems taller...he plays taller...
It would be funny if we ended with Odom instead of Dice
G-d forbid
Now spurs fans are ing about McDyess' age?
Shaq is 2.5 years older than McDyess and he's still going strong. 34 is not ing ancient folks.
Sure he's not the athlete he was at 25 but he's now tougher, smarter and more experienced which is exactly what the spurs need unless you want to head into the season with Bonner being the only guy with ANY NBA experience at all (besides Timmy).
Last edited by TJastal; 07-08-2009 at 09:54 AM.
Two words: Robert Horry
He does play "big". The few times I've seen him go head to head against Duncan he really gives Timmy fits.
People around here seem to think just cuz he was a 1/4 inch shorter than Wallace he's too short to guard the 7 footers. I'm saying that's a crock.
One word: No.
I agree, he has always seemed like at least a 6'10" player to me. Maybe he is only a centimeter or so off from being 6'10"? I don't know lol
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