Timvp bringing the goods.
You've stirred similiar thoughts of Vinny in my own head.
I confess. Out of all the players that have come and go through the Spurs organization, Del Negro is probably the one I hated the most - and for all the aforementioned reasons listed above. He was soft defensively and he weak mentally. He did personify all that was soft - whether actual or perceived - about the Spurs at that time.
Case in point, the '95 WCF playoff series versus the Rockets. That series was billed as Hakeem Olajuwon versus David Robinson - and rightfully so. While everyone focuses on how Hakeem "wiped the floor" with Dave, people forget that Dave have a great series statistically and did his own work against Olajuwon. People also forget that Olajuwon had plenty of help from complimentary players like a young Robert Horry, Sam Cassell and veterans like Otis Thorpe and Mario Elie. On the other side, Dave got some help from Dennis Rodman, but very little from anyone else - especially Del Negro, who choked away under the playoff pressure and wilted at having to go up against the defensive-minded Elie in each game. Elie reduced Del Negro to playing like a scared little girl. No one knew it more than Pop and Avery Johnson. I'm not surprised at all to hear that AJ led the charge to get him dismissed, while courting Mario Elie. The Spurs simply had to get tougher and Elie brought the unmatched toughness.
Del Negro NOT working out with the team, during that '99 strike season, was a selfish act and a career-ending decision for him in a Spurs uniform. Besides, he was probably out working on his golf game, at the time. I remembered hearing that story of Del Negro either asking for an autograph or soliciting MJ's participation in a golf tournament, while both were standing next to one another at the FT line. Whatever the case, that sealed my dislike for the guy.
For me, Del Negro was the 90's version of Matt Bonner. He'd convert a gang of open shots in a meaningless regular season game versus an inferior opponent, but then he'd be invisible against an upper-echelon opponent. And don't get me started on the playoffs, where, like Bonner, his mental cowardice would be on full display, while his jump shot was missing in action. Like Bonner, he was a one-trick pony, who, if his jumper was on vacation, he was of no use to the team.
Unlike Del Negro, I will give Bonner this. He is a team guy through and through. While he still gets thrown around in the post too often for my tastes and has yet to shed his label as a perennial playoff choker, he has improved his positional defense and has certainly developed a comfort level with taking opponents off the dribble and making shots in the lane.
Back to Del Negro though, reading Timvp's post only reminds me of a time, where I was actually ashamed at the decision of the Spurs to invest 6 years in a guy, whom former Spurs President Bob Bass publically proclaimed, "would be a suitable replacement for Rod Strickland", who was a solid and fierce PG the Spurs traded away and a player, whom I adored.
In the end, I don't remember why Del Negro left, but I certainly was one that rejoiced when he did.