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Jury's still out until January at the least IMO
that doesn't change the fact it was the best course of action..
Jury's still out until January at the least IMO
If AK could've been had, sure. Far from sure that was the case though.
I also like the Belli signing... I think it'll take him some time to fit in, but he'll be a valuable piece eventually, and he does look like a guy that really wanted to be with our team.
Hmmm. Wonder why the NBA looked into possible collusion between AK47 and Nets because he took LESS than other teams were offering him.
AK was never coming here. It was all smoke and mirrors to get him to Brooklyn, who is both a contender and is paying him more than any other team could possibly offer...regardless of what the number on his contract is.
First of all ElNono, Blair didn't have a role on this team. He was relegated to garbage time minutes. Ayres is actually in the rotation.
They also chose to use MLE money on Belinelli/Ayres instead of Kirilenko. Since when is it the priority of the off season to find Blair's replacement and then pay him nearly triple his salary? Ayres could have been had for the vet minimum.
They really didn't need a Neal replacement because they already had one in Mills. Kirilenko was more of a necessity than either of those two because of his ability to play backup SF. RC squandered opportunities to make this team better.
Belinelli's only other suitor was Cleveland. Ayres didn't have suitors and even if he did, would it be that much of a loss to lose him?
Last edited by Hoops Czar; 11-02-2013 at 01:10 PM.
And OKC
I stan corrected. But, I thought it was more of Durant wanting him rather than the organization.
Blair played 60+ games last season, averaging 15 mpg... his role was being a minute-burner in the regular season, which is not different than Ayres at this point. Eventually Blair couldn't even justify that after being 3+ seasons with the team.
How is it triple Blair's salary? Blair was paid over $1m last season (he's getting paid nearly $1m in Dallas right now)...
The Spurs went after Kirilenko, including contacting the Wolves to do a S&T, that Minnie had no intentions of doing. Don't know why you keep ignoring that.
They needed to replace Neal, because Mills and DeColo were so bad last season that they had to call up Cojo to fill in the backup PG position. With Pop resting Manu for a bunch of games, they're going to need a full-time backup SG, that's why Belli was a need.
Blair made $1.08M his last year here. Ayers is making $1.75M this year. You need a math refresher course.
It isn't "much of a loss". The Spurs simply moved on from AK47 because they couldn't sign him, period. So they filled the roster with other guys, including Ayres, which they're seemingly very high on.
He either is going to match the expectations the coaching staff has on him, or he won't. But they aren't paying a fortune by NBA standards to find out.
The mini-MLE (bi-annual) exception, which normally fetches fairly marginal talent, pays upwards of $2m this season.
People still bringing up AK47? I'm not sure how much $10mil is in rubles but he's making north of that this season tbh.
Ayers has been meh so far but he's got decent size/length/athleticism and should be a decent 4th/5th big by mid season. Were people expecting another McDyess or somethin'?
Just awful looking.that jumpshot tho
Commentator- "Ayes for the jumper"
Ayers Misses jumper
Hubie Brown "....Yeah thats not his shot"
I don't think NBA big men get any worse than Ayres. And even if Belli is no longer available we could always resign Neal. Not like Belli is any better than him.
IMO, it was worth the risk to try to get AK. Belli/Ayres were lateral moves that aren't going to help us much in the long run.
Yeah, he was a minutes burner. He got the occasional 2nd quarter burn and then the entire 4th quarter of blow outs. Those numbers are a bit skewed by Blair being pressed into duty because of injuries. I can't re-call him playing crucial minutes of a close game in the 4th quarter of a game the Spurs were trying to win. So far, I haven't seen anything out of Ayres to justify not resigning Blair if his sole purpose was just to eat minutes. I certainly wouldn't have made it priority #1 of the off season. Even if Blair wanted to leave because he didn't want to be a bit player, that doesn't justify signing Ayres at all. Why do the Spurs sign a player like Baynes at all if the intention wasn't to use him as a possible replacement for Blair?
Yeah, I'm fully aware Baynes layed an egg in yesterday's game, but his upside and potential trumps Ayres in every conceivable way.
Your right, he made $1.05M last season which is still almost double (700,000).
I'm not ignoring anything. It's not easy to do a S&t when you have to get a third team involved. Minnesota didn't want the the Spurs were dealing and I for one, don't blame them. The only way the Spurs were going to get their hands on Kirilenko was through free agency.
That was managements fault from the beginning. Neal isn't a pg and should never have been asked to play one. Mills is basically Neal with slightly better handles and De Colo is a joke. I also don't see how signing Belinelli is going to lessen Ginobili's minutes. When Manu is playing the two, Belinelli's playing the three or vice versa depending on the matchups. I still don't know if the Spurs have a consistent competent backup PG in place for TP which means it wouldn't entirely surprise me to eventually see Manu running the point again, which will probably leave him overworked and gassed by the time the playoffs arrive, which was exactly what they wanted to avoid coming into the season.
Maybe this is a knee jerk reaction on my part. It's a long season and things could still work out but anyone who thinks Ayres is going to make Bonner expendable, which was the thinking by many coming into the season, better rethink it.
Last edited by Hoops Czar; 11-02-2013 at 02:42 PM.
what contenders offered him the same money? the answer is none.
The NBA is chock full of subpar bigmen... Blair, Mahinmi, Evans, Hill, etc they all have a job... guys that are undersized, unskilled, have no jumper or back to the basket game... Ayres might end up being worse than all of them or not, but making that assessment after barely playing 2 regular season games on a new team and a new system is asinine.
As far as AK, the Spurs did try to get him. It didn't work, so they moved on. That's all there is to it.
You're reading too much into two regular season games. This is the time Pop uses to play mad scientist. He'll give Ayres a shot. And eventually Baynes will get his chance. Blair had 4 seasons to show what he could do and unfortunately for him, he just wasn't very good or very happy with being just a minute burner (much like Bonner these days).
Kirilenko walked away from $10m guaranteed in Minny. Any sane mind would conclude he would want at least $8m, that's why the Spurs simply moved on. That he ended up signing up for $3m is a different story altogether and the Spurs could've easily waived Bonner and eat his $3m to get Kirlenko for that money, but AK knew where he wanted to play.
Belli will help when we play back to backs and Pop decides to rest Manu (or he gets hurt). It's going to be Green and Belli manning the SG position those days. When Manu is available, Belli can also backup Kawhi at SF, which isn't ideal, but it's much better than having to trot out there a 3 undersized guard lineup (Mills-Manu-DeColo/Cojo)...
You might not agree, but you have to look at the offseason under the premise that they wanted to have the same exact team they had the year before. And the decisions were made based on that.
He went through the free agency process as a diversion tactic. He's not dumbass. He goes straight to the Nets immediately after bailing on 10 million and Stern would be in his ass like a bad case of hemorrhoids with a full investigation.
He's a deep bench player and the Spurs are two games into an 82 game campaign. Is this worth of a thread? Give him time!
There's a ton of misconceptions in this thread that I can't fully address on a phone. The short of it is that Belinelli cost the Spurs as much as Ayers did which is to say not at all. The team could have signed AK for a lot of money had they wanted to make the appropriate moves, but they didn't think of was worth it. That's it.
Ayers showed he could hit fun midrange earlier in his career. The shot will recover. He's not the only member of the team who looks really rusty.
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