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Yup tough offseason but rarely do we get that wow factor from Sa .guess all we have is another 50+ win season and atleast a west semifinal run to look forward to
Was referring to RJ.
Yup tough offseason but rarely do we get that wow factor from Sa .guess all we have is another 50+ win season and atleast a west semifinal run to look forward to
Impact player
Yeah disappointing off-season indeed, the Spurs had a chance to rise head and shoulders above every team in the west. In the end, I still think the Spurs have the least flaws out of every western conference contender. Time will tell though a lot will change between now and April.
Every single person around the NBA thought he is an impact player and he is the missing piece to get back to contending.
I know and I was referring to Diaw.
When I say "impact player", I'm not necessarily talking about a player at an allstar level. For example, a good role player like Trevor Ariza would have been fine by me.
And the lesson of the RJ failure isn't that a high caliber player can't make Spurs better, it's that you had to look on how he will fit with the team skill-wise, mentally-wise and chemistry-wise.
I've said it before, but the Spurs' biggest free-agent acquisition of the past eight or so years is Danny Green. Their biggest trade acquisition is Kawhi Leonard.
I think the team could have added a really good player by being smarter with its finances, but I don't see the point of change for change's sake. The two most gut-wrench post-season exits before this year (.4 and Ginobili's foul) were both followed up by les the next season. The Big Three, I think are mentally tough enough to bounce back again, and Green, Leonard, Joseph and Splitter should all be stronger for it.
And 99.9% of ST said the same thing. In the end, things didn't get better for the Spurs on the court until they unloaded the guy that helped them win the summer of 2009.
The same could be said of Kirilenko. If the Spurs had created enough cap space, and offered enough years, they may have been able to get him. That they were only interested in him at a certain price is evidence, to me, that they learned the lessons of the RJ failure.
And a Diaw type acquisition is still possible. The discussion here was about stretching resources to get a higher priced player.
You act like the Kawhi Leonard trade wasn't a big deal...
It's not about change for the sake of change it's about moral and fresh blood.
They are tired, old and demoralized, about to start a long season that will probably see Duncan and Manu get quite a bit worse, maybe even Parker...
Imo they're thinking that it can't go any better with what they have currently, 7th, 6th and 5th seed in the way to the Finals? Can you say that the red sea parted itself? Healthy Manu and injured Westbrook, was it real life??
They need some reason to feel good about their chances I agree with Bruno 100%.
I for one know I'm not renewing my league pass next season if the roster stays the way it is, I know how that movie gonna end already...
Bruno is right. They've given the players (particularly Duncan and Parker, who put them about as close to a championship as you can be without winning it and who are both significantly underpaid) nothing to get excited about or rejuvenated with and anyone who thinks some big move is coming by the deadline obviously hasn't paid attention to how this franchise operates over the years. They won't actually go and make a move for the sake of bettering themselves, they'll only do so if catastrophe strikes.
And if they weren't going to get an actual name, like Kirilenko or Millsap, there were still numerous SF's/combo forwards (Wright, Clark, Brewer, World Peace, Dunleavy, Miller, Delfino, Copeland, Johnson, Casspi) they easily could have afforded, yet we never heard of them being interested in one.
At those clinging to the Jefferson fiasco as some sort of cautionary tale. I guess because that didn't work out, they should never take a risk again. I guess they'd be better of hoping everything falls into place . . . and if by some miracle it does, I'm sure they'll find a way to throw it away again.
Last edited by TD 21; 08-07-2013 at 04:22 PM.
Well, I don't see why Kirilenko would have been cheaper through a S&T than through a cap space signing. The reason why they went after him through a S&T and didn't have as fallback plan to sign him with cap space will remain a mystery to me.
it, but this is true. I will never forgive Pop for game 6.Bruno is right. They've given the players (particularly Duncan and Parker, who put them about as close to a championship as you can be without winning it and who are both significantly underpaid) nothing to get excited about or rejuvenated with and anyone who thinks some big move is coming by the deadline obviously hasn't paid attention to how this franchise operates over the years. They won't actually go and make a move for the sake of bettering themselves, they'll only do so if catastrophe strikes.
And if they weren't going to get an actual name, like Kirilenko or Millsap, there were still numerous SF's/combo forwards (Wright, Clark, Brewer, World Peace, Dunleavy, Miller, Delfino, Copeland, Johnson, Casspi) they easily could have afforded, yet we never heard of them being interested in one.
You lost me. There were reports after he signed in Brooklyn that he turned down 3/21 from Minnesota. I assume that his asking price at the outset of free agency was for 4 years at a higher average salary. To me, it makes sense that the Spurs would lose interest in a straight FA signing if that was his asking price. As time passed and it became obvious that there was no team that would met his price, they revisited an acquisition via S&T. Whether that process broke down because Minnesota didn't want to deal or because Kirilenko wasn't interested in the contract offered by the Spurs, or both, we'll never know. We only know that a deal wasn't reached.
And regarding the lack of a true back up SF, there are two specific questions I wonder:
1) Why Spurs spend most of their MLE on a SG like Belinelli instead of a SF?
2) Why Spurs haven't signed a SF at the min for depth purpose.
For 1), the two most obvious answers would be that Spurs didn't like the available FA at the SF spot or that they rather have Ginobili playing SF than SG. Given that they agree to a deal with Belinelli very soon in the off-season (July 4th), I would think that it's more because that wnat to play Ginobili at the SF spot.
For 2), it could be because Spurs are still waiting for a specific player or because when there will have minutes available at SG/SF, their intent is to give them at De Colo. Spurs were ready to fill their 15th roster spot on Oden so my guess is that want to keep some minutes to De Colo by not adding another SF.
Honestly I just don't see lack of excitement being a problem for this team. Maybe - maybe - there would be a bit of a hangover for the first couple of weeks of the season that a new and exciting player would help avoid. But I don't think this would be the type of thing that would last very far into the season.
The mystery to me is that either:
- Spurs, a damn smart organization, didn't plan that the market for Kirilenko was small and that he maybe could be had for less money few days later.
- They knew that his market value could drop and they decided not to wait and signs a marginal player like Pendergaph.
I might not say it the same the way, but I came to the exact same conclusion a long time ago. The Spurs went all the way to Game 7 of the NBA Finals playing a four wing rotation of Leonard, Green, Ginobili, and Neal. I believe that they would have have been perfectly happy to bring back the same group. If Neal was willing to take 2/6.5 (or anything up to about 2yrs/8M) on July 1st, I believe he would still be on the team. When his initial request was much higher in years and dollars (my assumption), the Spurs quickly signed an affordable Neal replacement.
Yeah I don't understand the SF thing either, especially since it seems that they want to play De Colo at the 2, there's zero use in having both De Colo and Belinelli... And exactly like last year they created another logjam of guards and left a "hole at SF" according to Buford himself...
On the other hand having 2 real SFs seems crucial in the current league to have a good small ball lineup defensively and Pop was all about defense last time I checked...
And that assumes that Kirilenko would have had any interest in such an offer. We'll never know. We do know that the Spurs had contact with Kirilenko at various stages of free agency until he signed with Brooklyn. It is certainly possible that Kirilenko's minimum demand was always more than the Spurs were willing to pay.
Woj reports that Spurs were talking with Minny about a S&T. If they were doing that, Spurs and Kirilenko should have reached some kind of agreement on a potential contract.
That's not an assumption I would make.
Well you can look at it like Spurs having 5 players to play SG and SF with Leonard, Ginobili, Green, Belinelli and Green. 3 of them (Leonard, Green and Ginobili) can play SF and 4 of them (Green, Ginobili, Belinelli and De Colo) can play SG.
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