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I'll take it!
this deal makes more sense when you consider that elson and horry are free agents and neither seemed likely to be brought back.
I'll take it!
It's finally official ...
SPURS OBTAIN KURT THOMAS
Francisco Elson, Brent Barry And A 2009 First Round Pick Sent To Sonics
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have obtained Kurt Thomas from the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for Francisco Elson, Brent Barry and the team’s 2009 first round draft pick.
“Kurt Thomas is a tough, physical player who can defend, score and rebound,” said Spurs General Manager RC Buford. “We feel he will be a great addition to our roster and will add depth to our frontcourt.”
The 6-9, 235-pound Thomas has appeared in 789 regular season games in his 13-year NBA career. He has career averages of 9.9 points and 7.5 rebounds in 27.6 minutes per contest. He has also seen action in 60 playoff games, averaging 6.6 points and 5.6 rebounds in 21.2 minutes in postseason action.
Thomas, who is 35-years-old, was acquired by the Sonics from the Suns on 7/20/07. During the 2007-08 season he is averaging 7.5 points and 8.8 rebounds in 25.2 minutes while shooting .513 (139-271) from the field. He earned 39 starts in 42 games with Seattle.
A Dallas native, Thomas was selected by the Miami Heat in the first round of the 1995 NBA Draft, with the 10th overall pick. During his NBA career he has played for Miami, Dallas, New York, Phoenix and Seattle. For five straight seasons with the Knicks – from ’00-01 to ’04-05 – Thomas averaged over 10 points per game. He averaged a career-best 14.0 points – along with 7.9 rebounds – in 81 games in 2002-03. During the 2004-05 season he averaged a double-double, with 11.5 points and 10.4 rebounds, in 80 games.
During the 1994-95 season, as a senior at Texas Christian University, Thomas led the nation in both scoring (28.9 ppg) and rebounding (14.6 rpg).
Barry signed with the Spurs as a free agent on 7/15/04. In four seasons with San Antonio he averaged 7.3 points in 259 games. During the 2007-08 season he is averaging 7.3 points in 18.7 minutes in 29 games. He has played for the Clippers, the Heat, the Bulls, the Sonics and the Spurs during his 13-year NBA career.
Elson was signed by the Spurs as a free agent on 8/2/06. In two seasons in San Antonio he averaged 4.5 points in 111 games. During his five-year NBA career he has played for Denver and San Antonio. He has posted averages of 3.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.0 minutes in 41 games during the 2007-08 season.
Sorry, I was kidding.
It was a lovely hug
Now I like this trade
Much better.
So we'll get him back ?
Definitely strategic. Small ball suddenly isn't as big of a concern as it was a couple of years ago.
I think Pop was worried about the idea of Oberto and Elson trying to defend guys like Shaq and Yao in the playoffs. Plus, Thomas can defend guys like Bynum.
I'm hoping, as you said, that Duncan and Thomas can co-exist in the post. If they can, this is a great move from Tim Duncan's standpoint. KT will force teams to play us honestly in the paint and TD should be freed up some both offensively and defensively.
It's our way of easing the pain after seeing a fan favorite go.
It's all been said, but I'm optimistic about this trade. Thomas brings smarts, low post man-on-man D, a sweet midrange jumper (he'll camp out at the FT and elbow and knock that down all day), and team-first play. He's a great fit except for his lack of mobility, and Elson was an empty uniform (Pop had totally lost confidence in him).
Losing Barry is a real pity - I love his hustle, bball IQ, passing and shooting. I've always really liked Barry and will miss him (come back Brent!).
The 1st-rounder is an annoying asset to use at this point given that next year the team will require a mini-rebuild, although I still think that can be done without too many problems (basically need to find two swingmen for the MLE and a $2mil trade exception, as I understand it - we look good for bigs going forward with Splitter and Mahinmi).
Overall, decent trade and personally I'm happy that Thomas and not Artest will be here. With the West getting bigger, it takes some pressure off Timmy.
When the did Brent play for the Miami Heat?
I thought he went from the Clippers to Chi-town. Then on to Seattle and so on...
Ultimately, this worked out for both the Suns and the Spurs.
The Suns were, quite frankly, stupid for giving up KT. He is a VERY VERY good player. Not a star, but a workhorse that you can depend on for defense and even offense.
But since this ultimately lead to the flexibility (or the desperation) to acquire Snaq. And, all things being equal, Snaq>KT.
Spurs don't have to deal with KT's defense, instead, get a dependable post defender to help the spurs against the Lakers and Suns.
I doubt the Spurs could have ever gotten KT from the Suns directly.
Interesting stuff.
I'm not worried about Spurs future at PF/C. Spurs have Duncan, Oberto, Bonner, Splitter and Mahinmi under contract until at least 2010.
The real trouble is at SG/SF :
In 2009, Spurs will have Manu, Udoka and Bruce.
In 2010, Spurs will have Manu and Bruce.
As much as I like Bruce, he will be 39 years old for the 2010 playoffs.
Another reason of the trade was to go under the tax. I'm not sure Spurs would have given up a first round pick for old Kurt Thomas without the luxury tax factor.
The reason why Spurs were above the tax before the trade is that they randomly called up the whole Toros team.
I find that Spurs have done a poor job at managing their money. They have spend a lot of money on quite useless things that could have been spend elsewhere.
I hate to lose the possibility of Brent coming back and playing the way he was before the injuries, but this team desperately needed a bigman who could grab a board. Barry was a steep price to pay, but I hated not having a good bigman outside of the starting lineup.
Wow.
Obviously, this is a great trade for the Spurs.
This is too funny, though. The Suns traded for Shaq in order to match up better with the Spurs. Now the Spurs trade for KT (former Sun who should never have been traded--not to mention along with TWO first-round draft picks for nothing) in order to match up better with the Suns!!
That KT trade last summer though could really go down as the worst trade in Suns history now.
My initial reaction is to keep Oberto as the starter. However, inserting Thomas into the starting lineup makes sense for a couple reasons:
1) Manu and Oberto can play together more often if both are coming off the bench.
2) Thomas can always take the tougher post player, allowing Duncan to stay out of foul trouble.
3) Thomas sets good screens and could work well with Parker in that regard.
4) He has a better jumper than Oberto ... which would allow even more space for Duncan to operate.
5) He can impose a physical presence from the beginning of the game.
I'm still not sold because Duncan and Thomas is a very slow frontcourt. A lot of teams could expose that alignment.
HEB knew something was going down. That's why they worked Manu in earlier. It was a try-out for Barry's replacement!The key question for me is, can Kurt Thomas fill Barry's role in the HEB commercials?
I highly doubt it.
Maybe now we won't be giving up key rebounds in the last 2 minutes of play.
Not saying he should be above Oberto though. Oberto is still
Oberto isn't exactly a speed burner...
Thomas will be the Spurs best rebounder behind Duncan. That's worth noting considering how dramatically the rebounding ability on this team falls off after TD.
I don't think the SPURS got KT for any particular matchup problems...we just were weak at the C position. We needed to correct that weakness...regardless of what any other team was doing.
very key fact.
I was wondering what the rotation would look like. And whether Pop would keep Finley on the bench or would he be inserted back into the starting lineup once Parker returns?
Oberto - Horry - Thomas - Mahinmi
Duncan - Thomas - Bonner
Bowen - Udoka - Finley
Finley - Ginobli - Udoka
Parker - Stoudamire - Vaughn
I'm also assuming the Spurs go after another perimeter player. I doubt Bonner gets you that so maybe sign someone like DerMarr Johnson or Jeremy Richardson should Atlanta release him? Unless of course Barry is waived and returns.
no kidding. Spurs got some help on the glass
Thomas > Rasho, Elson
i like the trade, like kori said way early in the thread, we don't really know if barry is even gonna be fully healthy this year, so i'm not to worried about giving him up since we have manu and finley to drain the threes, and pop most be comfortable with stodimire to go through with this trade
and elson is a bum, and doesn't deserve to be in the nba, so i'm happy he's gone
and a 1st rounder isn't that bad, it's always a late first rounder, and how often do we get a player that has made any sort of impact?? was tony the last first rounder to make a difference on this team?? so it doesn't matter to me that we are losing a late first round pick
I'm not sure what to say....
I liked Barry he was great, but I'm glad to see Cisco go.
KT could be good for the Spurs but I gotta see the guy play with them before I decide for sure. He'll def add another strong rebounder/defender to the team.
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