Think Spurs were his third choice. Thunder were rumored first, but didn't have access to MLE and moved onto Patterson. Heat (lives in Miami) were likely second, but choose Olynyk over him.
Don't know what to make of this . . .
- On the one hand, they needed to raise their ceiling and if he looks reasonably well recovered, it's a low risk, somewhat high reward gamble because the philosophical change of two bigs to one could improve the offense. Most perimeter based skills he was average at as an SF, he should be above average at as a PF and the same goes for Aldridge.
- On the other hand, getting further and further away from "Spurs basketball" with a third ISO forward.
- There is no rim roller/glass cleaner in the starting five and none of the former in the rotation period
- Is Aldridge on board with less minutes/touches/primarily playing C? Is Gasol on board with less minutes? Will Gay, in search of one last big pay day, be willing to sacrifice counting stats?
Then there's the matter of too many rotation bodies . . .
- Does Gay free them up to trade Aldridge for a pick/prospect?
- Does this mean they're less likely to match on Simmons or Ginobili is retiring?
- If it means none of the three, then that leaves one rotation spot for Anderson/Bertans and Hanga on the outs because the final roster spot will have to go to a true C.