Nesterovic isn't that bad.

[Marcus Bryant]

What matters is how he fits in with the team. From an offensive perspective he's great. He's fleetfooted for a center with a good J, can put the ball on the floor, will fight for offensive boards, and has good hands. He's going to be a great fit for TD's post game.

Defensively he's certainly not a top post defender. I rate him as below average but he does block shots. But that doesn't mean he's worthless on D. His quickness and size make him useful whenever the Spurs play any version of a zone D. Also, if TD takes on the top defensive assignment then Rasho will be very effective coming from the weakside.

I think that Pop wants to play a more 'Euro-style' offense with all 5 players being triple-threats. Nesterovic fits right in with that.

You can't have an All-Star at every position. What you can have are quality role players whose skills complement your stars' skills the best.

The key now is for the Spurs to add a consistent scoring swingman. That way your 'Top 3' are TD/TP/Scoring Guard.

What Spurs fans should understand is that they have been spoiled by having two future Hall of Fame bigmen on their favorite team. It's time to accept that times change and move on.

Before I forget, many of you have complained about the Spurs' post-oriented offense. Pop is obviously doing what he can to change that and create a more well-rounded threat. Nesterovic is a piece to that puzzle.

[Whottt]

Me personally I like the Spurs post oriented offense..I just didn't like the inability of our perimeter guys to be effective in it VS the Lakers..but we fixed that problem and sure enough we won a le.

Rasho isn't that bad and truth be told he's got a very difficult job in front of him replacing the Admiral.

I don't care what 7 footer we get, they are going to look sluggish and unathletic even compared to a 38 year old DROB..DROB still made Duncan look unathletic at times.

But no coming away with Rasho isn't going to be enough. If we can get Brand or Odom we could start either Odom or Duncan or Brand at SF.....man that is a sweet young frontline...and when you pair them with our young and talented guards who have championship and high pressure experience..including knocking off the 3 time defending champs...we got to get this done. It's just that simple.

Think about it...a defending champion returning 3 or 4 players to a starting lineup in which the oldest starter is 28 and that has an average age of 25...

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I look at it like this:

Zo and his kidneys: 4.9 million

PJ Brown: 8 million

Kandi: looks to be 8-10 million range when he gets done with Jerry West

So we got our DRob replacement for 6 mil? Bargain.

AHF

[exstatic]

^^^^RACK THAT!

[T Park Num 9]

Rasho at 6 mill >>>>>>> Kandi at 10 mill+PJ Brown 8 mill

[ChumpDumper]

Hey, we stole the starting center from a division rival for less money than they were offerring.

Damn.

[Ghost Writer]

I don't think we need a swingman. We got Jackson and that Ginobili guy still, right?

I think now it's essential to upgrade Bowen to Odom. Odom's 6'10 body will give us additional post presence sice Nesterovic is not the stoutest of defenders.

And MarcusBryant continues to dismiss the real reason the Spurs are high on Nesterovic — he scores without dominating the post, because he has a reliable 10-15 foot jumper and plays a Robinson-esque face-up offensive game.

Nesterovic, even though he's not the sexy star we all coveted, is a nice replacement for Robinson of the Twin Towers Era.

That much we can agree on.

[Admiral]

So is Rasho's contract backloaded?

I'm a bit disappointed that he's our only acquisition thus far, but given the cir stances we did great. I would probably rather pay Rasho $6.5 million or so per year than P.J. Brown $10 million per (at age 33, on a four or five-year deal).

Good job, Pop and R.C. Now let's get Brand.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Oh yeah, one more thing:

Shaq has to deal with the Twin Towers some more, AND Minny doesn't have a center anymore, unless you count Loren Woods.

AHF

[Jimcs50]

Glad to see that I am not the only one happy with this acquisition.

[Solid D]

He's pretty good at all three facets of the game: Offensive, Defensive and Specialty Teams....

Ooooops, sorry that's football...my bad.

[Marcus Bryant]

Ghost spews:

And MarcusBryant continues to dismiss the real reason the Spurs are high on Nesterovic — he scores without dominating the post, because he has a reliable 10-15 foot jumper and plays a Robinson-esque face-up offensive game.

Yet in my original post I said:

What matters is how he fits in with the team. From an offensive perspective he's great. He's fleetfooted for a center with a good J, can put the ball on the floor, will fight for offensive boards, and has good hands. He's going to be a great fit for TD's post game.

Not only can Ghost not post a decent take, he can't read.

[Bounce580]

We got a little better, and made a division rival a lot worse. Pretty good deal.

[exstatic]

Admiral - Almost all contracts are "backloaded". If you do the math, and start him at $6M, adding $600K every year for 6 years, you will hit the total figure. The average is misleading, because it does start so low.

[Shelly]

Quoteth my 10 year old..

"He can't guard Shaq!"

[Admiral]

Thanks ex, that's what I thought.

[picnroll]

On D the only thing that Rasho doesn't give us is the man on D against the bangers. We can still play our channeling to baseline D for the smaller players because Nesterovic can block, he can rotate. The one that saves TP and, when he gambles, Manu's ass. He's quick enough to jump the pick and get back. He'll work hard. He won't replace DR and if that's how you measure him you won't be happy. But face it on his good days, when he wasn't stiff, a broken down 37 yo DR played better, smarter D than Duncan.

On O Rasho will be a significant upgrade from DR. Better hands. Better outside shot. Even better in the low post. Watching some Minny games it was impressive how well Rasho moved off the ball and worked with KG. High low TD and Rasho is going to be sweet.

[baseline bum]

I'm hugely disappointed in the signing, but it being a 6 year, 45 million dollar deal at least allows the Spurs to offer max to Brand or Odom if the cap comes in at a little over $42.2 or so.

Bad signing and I hope the next one makes up for it.

[Whottt]

Base would you rather Olo?

[KoriEllis]

I still don't like Rasho, but he fills a need and he came relatively cheap. (Note to Spurs Fans: You ed when Malik got a similar contract, but it's okay for Rasho?)

[Jimcs50]

"He can't guard Shaq!"

WTF can????


WTF can guard Tim???

My point is, we can not find any one player than can guard Shaq, we have to play him the way we always played him, by commitee, just as everyone else has to do with Tim.

[Marcus Bryant]

Once we see what Pop puts together on the floor get back to me on this being a "bad signing."

-MB

[Whottt]

Rasho by himself doesn't sound that spectacular, but if we do end up getting Brand or Odom...this offseason is going to start looking pretty damn good...better than just picking up Kidd, O'Neal, or Brand by themselves.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

base,

Compare signing him to the relative costs of Zo, PJ, and Kandi.

This kid's a bargain. And we stick it to Minny, who was looking decidedly better considering their recent trade. Now Cassell might have to play center.

AHF

[Shelly]

Jim--he's 10! Give him a break!