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baloney. the dude said the guy wasn't coming back, how is that in any way a slight?
Duncan in the best shape of his career?.. that just gave me goose bumps! Oh I cant wait!
baloney. the dude said the guy wasn't coming back, how is that in any way a slight?
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketb...action?mode=PFSpurred into action
Time to ante up in San Antonio
By Peter May | August 16, 2009
For years, the San Antonio Spurs were the avatars of economy and frugality. They’d somehow find a way to win - or at least compete - and do so while keeping their payroll under control. There may have been one crossover into Luxury Tax Territory a few years back, but it was small and short-lived.
Now, all that is gone. Like Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson and Bob Dylan going electric in 1965, this cons utes a certifiable shocker. The Spurs are spending. They are doing so knowing the consequences and risks. They will be big-time luxury tax payers and, according to coach Gregg Popovich, it simply had to be this way.
“I didn’t think it was going to work any other way,’’ the Spurs’ hoops boss said last week while on the road to his vacation abode in Maine. “We could have waited until next summer and seen if LeBron [James], [Dwyane] Wade, and [Chris] Bosh all decided to come join us. But I had trouble seeing that happening.
“Our time is now. Timmy [Duncan’s] time is now. He has three years left on his contract. Something tells me that you don’t have to be too smart to figure out that the next three years are probably going to be better than the three after that.’’
Toward that end, the Spurs have made some changes, and according to Popovich, “If we can stay healthy, we are back in the championship talk.’’ They added Richard Jefferson via trade, signed Antonio McDyess as a free agent (along with Theo Ratliff), and drafted burly DeJuan Blair in the second round.
The additions of Jefferson and McDyess pushed the Spurs well over the tax limit (almost $9 million, according to one account) and required some arm-twisting of longtime owner Peter Holt.
“We told him that if we were going to compete, we had to go over the [tax threshold]. He did not like that answer,’’ Popovich said. “But he also said, ‘I don’t like it, but I understand it, so go out and do what you need to do.’ ’’
Jefferson is the biggest of the new arrivals, a scorer, a wing player who still has a few hops left. Popovich got to know Jefferson during the 2004 Olympics (as did Duncan, a US teammate) and looks forward to having the ex-Net, ex-Buck on the team.
“He’s a grown-up. He doesn’t have to be developed,’’ Popovich said. “And personality-wise, he fits. He has a great sense of humor. You can coach him and he can respectfully talk back to you. Timmy enjoys him.’’
McDyess is also a grown-up. “He’s Kurt Thomas, but a better scorer,’’ Popovich said.
As for Blair, the rebounding machine from Pitt, Popovich said, “He’s going to play right off the bat for us. He can rebound. I’m not going to teach him how to shoot threes. We know what he can do.’’
But just as crucial is the return to health (and good form) of the Big Three. Duncan, according to Popovich, is in the best shape of his career and eager to win a fifth ring. Manu Ginobili, who has been hurt in each of the last two postseasons, is healthy. Popovich said “my heart sunk’’ when he heard that Tony Parker had hurt an ankle while playing for France.
“It makes me sick,’’ he said. “There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s frustrating. But it’s a minor sprain. From what we read, it could have been a whole lot worse.’’
Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili all were big players in the last three San Antonio championships (2003, 2005, 2007). Another was 38-year-old Bruce Bowen, who went to Milwaukee in the Jefferson trade. The Bucks waived him at the end of July and he is a free agent. Might he be part of another Spurs run, albeit in a subordinate role?
“I’ve given him no such indication,’’ Popovich said. “He might come back with the right team in the right situation, but it’s probably not going to be San Antonio.’’
Popovich still puts the Lakers on top in the West, but the reconfigured Spurs have him energized as he prepares for his 13th full season as the main man in San Antonio.
“I’m really excited,’’ he said. “If we had come to training camp with the same group we had at the end of last year, everyone would have gone into major depression. I would have been saying, ‘follow me,’ and turned around to find nobody there. It was time to change the music and I think we’ve done that.’’
Too bad-I miss Bruce.
Wonder if he'll go to Boston, Cleveland as rumored or retire? He has had a good career and 3 championship rings.
Nice article. When the most inside about Spurs comes from yahoo and Boston's newspaper, there must have something wrong with SA local press.
Damn..
It makes perfect sense that the time would be now to win, with Tim still relatively near the top of his game, but Pop really makes it seem that Duncan's retirement is a forgone conclusion at the end of his current contract.
Given Pop's quote, I tend to agree.
I don't see the prevailing wisdom that Pop has dismissed Bowen with these comments. In fact, the way he made sure to state that there was no prearranged agreement that Bowen would be back, almost seems like someone making sure to say the right things; in terms of the league office.
Pop says he probably won't be back and it might even be likely, but it's not something I view as definite.
Pop's hoping he can get by without Bowen and that Jefferson can be everything they need him to be defensively. But, with Hairston potentially being the only other defensive-wing to throw at the elite scorers, I don't see him closing any doors.
Pop will give his team, as currently constructed, the opportunity to prove they don't need Bowen or someone of his ilk, but he'll definitely look to make a trade or sign Bowen mid-season if the team's proved incapable.
It's not like the paper hired a beat writer that was new to the profession and lacked any ties or in-depth knowledge of the local team..
yeah...Been looking for this for a while. Fukken saved.
I thinkshould be wordfiltered to :SA210
I love my Spurs man. I watch every single damn game, but Bruce being gone bothers me so damn much, I believe it's a huge mistake that people for some reason can't see right now.
I don't see how trading 38 year old bruce for 29 year old Jefferson is a huge mistake.
^^^ Losing Bruce is the mistake, Not bringing him back is the mistake. Not playing him last year is the mistake. Possibly ending his career when it shouldn't have was the mistake. Us getting our ass handed to us by Kobe and others when RJ and Manu can't stop them is the mistake.
If we lose to the Lakers or any other team cuz we couldn't gaurd Kobe or whomever else, then would it really have been a great trade? Did the trade matter in the end if we lose anyway?
And there are people who still defend McDonald...
Peter May has a great reputation amongst sport writers
Assuming the Spurs brought Bowen back for next season, who would you propose sits during crunch time: Parker? Ginobili? Jefferson? Duncan?
If none of those guys, then if the Spurs bring back Bowen to be a meaningful part of this team, are you proposing that the Spurs go small in crunch time?
Damn, Peter Holt is really a cheap bas
It took Pop to convince him to spend some $$$
agreed.
People forget that although he was no weapon, bruce used to be able to hold his own on the offensive end of the court. Not just a corner threes either, he could run on fastbreaks, as well as dunk. His defense is still good but he's just a void on offense and thats not going to cut it when you're going up against teams like LA and Boston.
We lost with Bowen playing minutes in 08, why the would it be different with him being 2 years older?
RealGmGregg Popovich believes that Bruce Bowen could fit in with the right team, but it probably won't be the Spurs.
The Bucks waived Bowen at the end of July and the forward is now a free agent.
"He might come back with the right team in the right situation, but it's probably not going to be San Antonio," Popovich said, according to the Boston Globe
The offseason: where one Spurs story becomes every thread on the front page.
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