Why not create this thread in the Spurs Think Tank Forum, since thats where all the "realist" are during the season. Just another garbage thread.
The players will use their ultimate trump card and decertify the union before they ever accept that kind of provision. The NBA needs the union.
No union, no CBA.
No CBA, no salary cap, no maximum salaries, just chaos.
Can you imagine Cuban, the Russian billionaire, Paul Allen, and the Knicks bidding on LeBron's services with no labor agreement in place to limit the size of his contract?
A guy who might be available at the end of the lottery - decent athlete, good 3pt shooter and passer, strong. Maybe we should try for a better athlete, but there aren't too many in that part of the draft by the looks of it. If we fall a bit lower, Quincy Poindexter might be the way to go?
I admire your optimism, but I just haven't seen them do any of those things you list at an elite level for an extended period, and that is what you need to win an NBA championship. Also, when have you seen them play truly great defence? Defence that has led to 5+ stops in a row? I can't recall that once this year.
No doubt there is talent on this team, but it simply hasn't come together, and I'm afraid I don't see it magically happening for a list of reasons:
*TP's injuries;
*Manu's athletic decline;
*Dice's inexplicable decline;
*RJ inep ude;
*George and Grizzly's youth;
*lack of a true stopper;
*lack of a true 3rd scorer.
All the indicators point to a first-round flameout, or a plucky second round loss for mine. We'll have to agree to disagree.
I'm starting to suspect that the coach is Nellie with a mask. Until we figure out what's wrong with him, it doesn't matter what we do.
How high do you think it's go? 60mil a season? 80?
However, if it comes down to a retroactive clause for keeping BRI at 55%, maybe it happens. The players are going to have to give up quite a bit to get an agreement, and they will hurt if there isn't one because most of them don't know how to manage their money. We shall see.
Freshman guard that plays for the Kansas Jayhawks, Lottery talent, maybe a 1 and done guy. Highly doubt The Spurs would be able to get this guy in the draft.
If Manu and RJ can step it up on a consistent basis, this Spurs team can compete.
The Spurs won in the past because their players understood the defensive system. Granted, having a one-on-one defensive player like Bowen helped; but the Spurs were always known as having one of the most tenacious team defenses. Not necessarily being stacked with one-on-one outstanding defenders - arguably, in the last few years the only one was Bowen. So, at the onset, I do not think the model the Spurs have used to win the last few years is necessarily 'dead'. It's not even a talent issue (since this team is one of their most talented and deepest on paper) it's an experience/basketball IQ/pieces issue.
As with Obstructed_View, I also do not believe that the Spurs window this year has closed completely. However, that's not necessarily what you are asking to discuss here. So...
IF the Spurs are staying pat and walk into the offseason with essentially the same roster. A core of TP/Hill/Blair/TD can be built around. I still advocate resigning Manu. Signing Splitter as well is a must. If the choice is between resigning Mahinmi and keeping Dice, I would actually consider keeping Dice. Dice as a fourth big who can come in and spell TD/Blair/Splitter to defend post players is valuable. Mahinmi, while having potential as a help defender, will likely be too light to ever be an effective post defender.
I wouldn't be surprised though if RJeff and Dice's contracts could be used in any sort of sign and trade deal during the offseason. Say what you will about the Spurs FO, they have done a good job of setting up flexible and attractive contracts.
The likelihood is that this offseason will have a lot of decent mid-tier players floating around and slipping through the cracks. Value could be there as the big cap teams chase after the top heavy superstars. I doubt Salmons will exercise his option to stay with the Bucks, so he could be a solid target in the offseason.
I really don't know what the spurs need to do but, I feel bad for saying that, maybe it should be with another coach. I don't think pop is capable willing to build a new team.
On a side note I'm watching mavs / suns and I was thinking damn Haywood would have been great for the spurs and then I realized we have a similar model to develop with Ian but guess what ? he is on the bench meanwhile RJ is playing PF.
Yeah, Haywood would have allowed us to go back to a stifling twin-tower defensive style. Even though he's an FA after the season I'm sure Cuban will over pay to keep him.
This team will never win another le with Tim, Parker and Manu as their top 3 players.
absolutely no way Cuban will let him go, he is already making a difference for the mavs with his big presence in the paint, he obliges the suns to take more risks with their shots in particular nash who has been bloked by haywood near the 3 pts line. Ian is capable to do that too
I agree with the post 100 percent. Lets keep this team and give our best shot. In the offseason lets add Splitter and another solid free agent plus shed Finley and Ratliff and we have a great shot at contending.
Since Jan. 20 Manu has been averaging 16.3 ppg, 5 apg, and 4 rpg...Dice has been proving the notion that he's a second half player true as well and playing better as of late. The young guys are bringing it, and Timmy has been his old Groundhog Day self. Ultimately the X-factor is RJ, if he can up his game as well I still have hope for the team.
It might be blind homerism to expect RJ to turn it around, but still its even more ridiculous to throw in the towel and want to miss the playoffs...especially when we're still very much in the running to win the division and get a top 3 seed.
(1) Yes it is.
(2) No it isn't. This team can't beat poor teams convincingly like great teams do, nor can it consistently beat contending teams... it is homerism to consider us a contender at this point. That being said, I don't think we will miss the playoffs, but it might be better for us in the long run if we could snag a young athletic scorer with our lottery pick.
Ah so Ruff is asking for the Spurs to tank..
Gorgeous....
Yeah he's cranked it up and RJ the last couple games looks good.
get a couple more things into line and things will start looking better...
No, actually I'm not. I just think it is a possibility that we will miss the playoffs. It's more likely that we'll make them as a low seed and get knocked out early.
Because of this team's core that is getting older and Pop's man-love for over-the-hill veterans, draft picks are becoming more precious and vital to the team's future for success.
If I had to choose between keeping a 2010 1st-rounder or giving it up to get Ty Thomas, I would keep the pick. I mean we all see Blair as a 4 and Thomas is best suited as a 4. For all we know, Thomas's play would not fit with our style of play and would just end up as another Gooden on the way out, only this time we sacrificed our much needed 1st rounder in the process. Or maybe Thomas uses his size, plays the 5 and does prove to be successful. It's a large gamble.
But in keeping that draft pick, we can finally hope that the team picks a center with the best mix of athletic and defensive skills, whether it be DeMarcus Cousins, Jerome Jordan or Solomon Alabi. If this team focuses too much on a win-now mode, Pop and the FO will very likely drive this franchise into the ground for the next decade. Believe it or not, there is still some time in the Duncan era for the "Build for the future" project to make the team le contenders again.
Oh and if there was any trade involving Mason that the Spurs should pull the trigger on, it should simply be for more draft picks, preferably a 1st rounder.
Well, maybe it is if you expect this team to make the leap that has happened in previous championship seasons. But I think that is highly unlikely at this point. All the signs point the other way. This hole is a lot bigger than the one we pulled out of in 2007. Back then we were still able to lock teams down, something this team utterly fails at. On the flipside, if RJ had gelled and we had become a fabulous scoring team, that might have given us reason for hope, but we're just a bit better than average on offence.
Nope, I don't think this thread is premature, and I brought it up now so that people could discuss players available at the deadline who might help us next year (like, say Antawn Jamison... although now he's gone) and beyond.
Really, unlike a lot of SPurs fans, I can see the writing on the wall (we are done as a contender without a miraculous trade that rids us of RJ and brings in both an athletic big and a bona fide scorer), so I want to see a full-blooded youth movement. People say that would be a waste of Tim's last two years, but I see it from the other side - imagine what he could instill in a bunch of youngsters over the next two years! Management could probably sell him on that too because Duncan is the kind of guy who sees the big picture.
Nice post.
As for the emboldened bit, my thoughts exactly.
The LLE (low level exception) is also called the bi-annual exception and cannot be used two years in a row.
I thought it was used this year to get Ratliff but somebody here told me it wasn't so it should still be available along with the MLE this summer.
Tim has maybe 2 years left as the center piece of a championship team(counting this year)..
He doesn't have the pieces around him this year and won't get them next year(plenty of teams are going to be in the running for the free agents).
Tim needs to be traded and he needs to be traded now...
Give him a chance to win another ring or 2 as a centerpiece while getting a jump on the rebuilt
Duncan to the Rockets for McGrady and some draft picks, make it happen for the good of all involved
I agree to a certain extent. The formerly Big 3 can still be the core of a championship team. But unlike years past the supporting cast has to be better; they can't rely on using plug-in-play specialists. It's obvious they realized this with the trade for Richard Jefferson and the signing of Dice.
Too bad that Jefferson failing to integrate, coupled with Hill/Blair becoming major components of the rotation but still being relatively inexperienced (not a critique, but it is obvious that they will be better in the system next year than this year), Dice struggling, TP injured, and Mason pulling the minutes/contract card has been too much for the team to overcome.
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