Mason will stay with Spurs; Ratliff to Bobcats
Jeff McDonald
PHILADELPHIA — The NBA trade deadline came and went Thursday afternoon, with Roger Mason Jr. unable to see his fondest wish granted. When the sun set in Philadelphia, Mason was still a member of the Spurs.
As far as consolation prizes go, it was none too shabby.
“I meant it when I said I wanted to finish my career in San Antonio,” said Mason, who nevertheless had informed the Spurs earlier in the week he wouldn't mind being traded to a team that could give him more minutes. “I love the guys on this team, and I've fallen in love with the city. I plan to live here when I retire.”
A free agent this summer, Mason might not yet end up being a Spur for life. With the Spurs unable to move him before the clock struck 3 p.m. in New York on Thursday, he remains a Spur for now.
The Spurs did consummate one minor trade in advance of the deadline, barely beating the clock to deal 12th man Theo Ratliff to Charlotte for a future second-round pick and luxury-tax relief. As far as landscape-altering NBA swaps go, it fell several notches shy of the 2008 blockbuster that shipped Pau Gasol from Memphis to the Lakers.
When the Spurs hit the floor tonight in Philadelphia, they will be much the same team, personnel-wise, that has both teased and confounded this season, going 31-21 to begin Thursday tied for fifth in the West with the Thunder.
Thursday made it official. The Spurs are who they are going forward. Over the final 30 regular-season games, they hope to be who they are, but better.
“We got what we got,” Spurs captain Tim Duncan said. “We'll roll with that, and either we'll figure it out, or we won't.”
The Spurs harbor no delusions about their status in the NBA pecking order. They are not in the same class at the Lakers in the West, or Cleveland in the East.
If they are going to get there — which was the goal when team chairman Peter Holt committed to an $80 million payroll in the offseason — the answers must be found within the walls of their own locker room.
They will need Richard Jefferson to be the slam-dunk addition everybody thought he would be when the Spurs traded for him in June. He showed signs in Wednesday's win at Indiana, scoring 13 points, grabbing six rebounds and providing a collection of hustle plays off the bench.
They will need their Big Three of Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker to reconvene at an elite level.
And they will need to press fast-forward on the ongoing chemistry project, the meshing of new players with old, that has consumed far too much of the season already.
“We're still confident we can continue to get better,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Thirty games is a lot of games.”
Just because the Spurs didn't significantly change their roster doesn't mean there won't be other alterations to come.
“(Popovich) is going to make some changes internally, lineup-wise, play-calling-wise and everything else to get us to turn that corner,” Duncan said.
In Indiana, Popovich started his 17th unique lineup, replacing Antonio McDyess with Matt Bonner at center and Jefferson with Keith Bogans at small forward.
This is the fivesome he plans to use going forward. Popovich said his bench rotation will begin to take on an air of permanence over the final 30 games as well.
“There's no more time for re-evaluation,” Popovich said. “We've got to get solid with who we have and how we're using them.”
Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, that includes Mason. A Spur for now, he remains committed to the team, even after urging the front office to shop him.
“I don't want to cause a ruckus,” Mason said. “I want to do my part to help this team win.”
*********************
NBA deadline deals
Notable acquisitions Thursday:
Bobcats: Tyrus Thomas, forward (from Bulls); Theo Ratliff, center (from Spurs)
Bucks: John Salmons, guard? (from Bulls)
Celtics: Nate Robinson, guard (from Knicks)
Grizzlies: Ronnie Brewer, guard (from Jazz)
Knicks: Tracy McGrady, guard/forward (from Rockets)
Rockets: Kevin Martin, guard (from Kings)
“(Popovich) is going to make some changes internally, lineup-wise, play-calling-wise and everything else to get us to turn that corner,” Duncan said.
Strange quote.
This is the fivesome he plans to use going forward.
Interesting. I wonder if Tim talked to Pop about the 'changes'...
Yeah... stands out...
I think Pop has concluded Dyess and Blair are better off the bench, therefore he's left with Bonner.
I guess, if I know.
Duncan I gaurantee has alot of say over moves and who should play and who doesn't.
Duncan is a HUGE HUGE Finley lover, which is why I always laugh when people say "Duncans gotta be pissed everytime Finley is out there"
Shoot Duncan might have an equal mancrush on Finley as Pop does.
Although if there was a mancrush its not much of one as Finley played as many minutes as I did.
Parker-Hill-Bogans-Duncan-Bonner
OMG worse than last year's starting lineup.
Hill being in there instead of Finley makes it better.
IOW, I'm going to keep on playing small ball until we flame out...
IOW, I'm going to keep on playing small ball until we flame out...
How the do you interpret that?
Well, "we have to get solid with what we have and how we use them"...
How the do you interpret that?
To me that sounds like "We have to get solid playing RJ at PF"...
What the . At least it's some kind of plan.
Or "we have to get solid with Bonner starting"
Or "we have to get solid with Bogans being our perimeter stopper"
Or "we have to get solid with Dice playing 7 minutes if the other scrub team plays small ball"
You get the gist...
This is bull . Judging from the fact the Memphis was most certainly in the market for a shooting guard, the Spurs could've and should've at least pursued a Mason trade with them. Judging from what Utah was able to do, the Spurs could've flipped Mason's exprinig contract into an asset and at least all would not have been lost.
Instead, Utah took advantage of the situation.
http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ar...st_round_pick/
Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor announced today that the team has acquired a future first-round pick from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for guard Ronnie Brewer. Following the trade, the Jazz roster now stands at 12 players. “We would like to thank Ronnie for his contributions over these past three-plus seasons,” said general manager Kevin O’Connor. “We felt that this was the right move for the future of the Jazz organization at this time, and we wish Ronnie the best of luck in the future.”
And BTW... I think it's kinda odd that Pop is sorta saying that we need to stay the course with what we have and the way we've been doing, while Tim talks about Pop making changes...
man i can see pop wanting to try and move RJ to the bench for bogans but i see no reason whatsoever to move dyess back to the bench after how well hes been playing of late.
Tony
Hill
Bogans
Duncan
Dyess
Manu
RJ
Blair
Bonner
Mason
is what it should be IMO, if hes stuck on Bogans.. in that order as well.
pop has gone into this "people play better off the bench" theory that he wont let go of.... It worked back with Manu for all those years... we would have our 4 starters "start" and manu would come in and close with them... acting as the 5th starter.....
now what are we going to do???? we start and end games with a totally different lineup? lmao
Damn we're going to have to play catchup right off the bat then in every damn game left... the Pacers started blowing us out as soon as we started that piss poor lineup.
So, Pop's answer to all our defensive issues is to play a 6'2" combo guard at SG, a 6'5'' below average player at SF and a guy who can neither defend the paint nor rebound at PF? God, this guy has lost his in' marbles..
What the happened to winning with defense? This team is basically a middle of the pack team, why see if Hairston and Ian can change things for a game or two? Instead, the coach believes that a ultra-small starting line-up will help this team win....
Good grief, we've become the ing Golden State Warriors and Pop is doing his best Nellie-ball impression.........
lol this team is going nowhere, seriously i hope we dont make the playoffs
I have lost a lot of respect for Pop this past year.
Looks like we are going to start these last 30 games from behind then. Sounds great...
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