Would Webber be able to rotate on Dallas shooters raining threes on us? Will he be able to defend the pick and roll against Nash in any form or fashion?
No, absolutely not.
I don't think we'll have to worry about it. I'd be extremely surprised to see him become a Spur.
We'll still be left to ponder how we're going to stop the things you mention, only without Webber.
The long three and a backup point guard are definitely the true needs of this team.
Elson did a good job on Dirk in game one. Since them Pop pretty much put him on ice in game two and his shoulder put him on ice in game three. Elson has the foot speed to stay with Dirk and length to bother him a bit. I'd like to think Pop is holding him back until playoffs to drop him on Dirk and AJ.
webber would be great for the spurs against certain teams. against teams like houston, lakers, utah, and some of the eastern conference teams, he'd be very useful. versus dallas and phoenix he wouldn't be much help, but that's what elson was signed for.
i'd rather try and snag mcdyess if webber goes to detroit.
That's the problem. The Spurs interior defense is poor as it is. Adding the worst bigman defender in the league could spell disaster. If the Spurs signed Webber, they'd get even older and even slower and even smaller and less able to guard the Mavs.The half-court, team-tilted Spurs would offer the lead-legged Webber defensive protection and a platinum prospect of getting off the championship schneid.
That's intriguing to me too. I wonder if they waive Dice with the Webber signing?
I'd take Artis Gilmore out of retirement before I'd take Webber.
SPECIAL WEEKEND EDITION Where will Webber wind up?By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Editor's note: ESPN.com senior NBA writer Marc Stein supplies each item for this around-the-league notebook edition of the Daily Dime.
Chris Webber will soon be a Detroit Piston.
Just as he always dreamed.
Unless ...
Phil Jackson or Pat Riley or Isiah Thomas can somehow talk him out of it.
Amid a growing belief that the NBA's hottest free agent will be unable to resist the prospect of playing for his hometown team, Webber was planning to speak directly Friday to the Lakers, Heat and Knicks. Maybe Minnesota as well.
Orlando is another team he's listening to, according to NBA front-office sources, although Webber has not wavered from his stated desire to join a le contender that will give him the chance to start.
The Pistons thus remain an overwhelming favorite, but neither Detroit's pole position nor external skepticism about how much game the 33-year-old has left seems to be discouraging suitors.
The Webber Landscape as of Friday afternoon, with no firm decision expected before Saturday according to agent Aaron Goodwin:
DETROIT PISTONS
Webber wants to play significant minutes, compete for a le and resuscitate his career before re-entering the free-agent market in July. The Pistons are widely considered his clear-cut top choice because they potentially offer all of that and something bigger that Webber can find nowhere else. The chance, namely, to rebuild his relationship with the community that watched him grow up.
Webber is well removed from his days as a local icon and openly shunned by the university where he became a famous name. I'm told he badly wants to reconnect with Detroit at large and sees this opportunity -- helping a splintering team regain their standing as an East beast -- as a golden opportunity, in spite of any initial public resistance he gets and the Pistons' less-than-harmonious mood lately.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
You surely heard Webber in his TNT interview. He barely mentioned the Pistons and sounded more excited about playing for the Lakers than anyone else. Kobe Bryant has already called to make his pitch, sources say, and Webber is admittedly mesmerized by the bright lights of David Beckham's town as well as Jackson's triangle offense.
Since Webber can't actually sign with the Pistons or anyone else until Tuesday, restricted to verbal commitments between now and then, Jackson might have enough time to convince the ex-King that he'd be better off returning to California, scene of his greatest pro successes.
The Lakers, furthermore, have a need for Webber now and later, with Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown injured at present and a squad short on playoff experience, Bryant aside, even when their starting big men are healthy.
FLORIDA
The Heat have some interest and the wherewithal to outbid Detroit and L.A., teams that can only offer Webber a pro-rated share of the veteran minimum ($1.2 million) for the rest of the season. Yet as covered in Box 6, you question how much playing time Miami can really promise Webber if Shaquille O'Neal will indeed be back this month to rejoin a frontcourt rotation that already features Alonzo Mourinng and Udonis Haslem.
Orlando would seem to be the better Florida fit, with Webber and Dwight Howard sharing Goodwin as an agent and with the Magic looking even younger and greener than the Lakers apart from Grant Hill. But the Magic, sources say, remain a serious long shot, even though the Howard connection is strong, because Webber targeted the league's elite teams from the start.
TEXAS
The Mavericks and Spurs were prominent on Webber's initial five-team wish list. But Dallas never had the minutes to be a top contender, canceling out any edge Mavs coach Avery Johnson had after playing with Webber in Golden State.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, meanwhile, also has a Warriors link to Webber, as a former Don Nelson assistant in the Bay Area. Yet Pop's Spurs made the call fairly quickly that they wouldn't pursue this, keeping faith with the big men and combo forwards who play alongside Tim Duncan -- Fabricio Oberto, Francisco Elson, Robert Horry and Matt Bonner -- and preferring to focus on its ongoing search for a jolt of youth and athleticism at the swing positions.
THE FIELD
• Webber and Isiah Thomas have been tight for years, but you suspect even Thomas realizes that Webber will field the Knicks' proposal purely out of respect for one of his boyhood heroes.
• Kevin Garnett wants Webber in Minnesota, so Kevin McHale is obligated to pursue it, but that won't go any farther than a Webber-McHale chat.
• The Cavaliers could seemingly use a big man with an eye for the pass, but decided early that they have no room in their frontcourt.
• The Nets, by contrast, do want Webber to give them a look, but face two obstacles:
1. After trading Jeff McInnis to get under the luxury-tax line last week, New Jersey doesn't want to use any of the $3.8 million it has available from its midlevel salary-cap exception because it'll be a tax team again if it spends more than $1 million.
2. Orlando is the only new team on Webber's list, sources say, getting any serious consideration.
• Talk back to ... Marc Stein | The Daily Dime gang
Not a chance. Shop him around, possibly, but actually waive him? Never.
I agree with a lot of you that McDyess could be good for the Spurs, but he simply won't end up one. McDyess would have to be traded in order to switch teams this year, and I find it highly unlikely that Detroit would want to deal him to San Antonio.
Yeah he wouldn't want to sign with a team that lost to the Bobcats at home.Still, adding him to Detroit's churning urn of burning funk would further mess up a mix that was manhandled Wednesday in Auburn Hills by the 10-23 Bobcats.
To me this comes down to asking one question: Would you rather have Eric Williams or Chris Webber?
For me, as long as he agreed to a possible reduced role, the answer is undoubtedly Chris Webber.
Wasn't Webber drafted by Orlando and then traded for Penny Hardaway? That'd be crazy if they finally got him.
Webber said last night he wanted to play on team for the NBA le?
Heat? Lakers? Wolves? Knicks?
I think CWebb would actually be a good fit on the Lakers, until Odom came back and then he would just be in the way.
<excerpted from my site>
I find it extremely unlikely the Spurs would entertain the notion. They already have 15 players under contract. And Pop and company have to know the answer to their problems isn't getting older and less mobile.
I wish Cuban was still in "collect veterans" mode, but I am afraid he's wised up too much to bring in Webber. The Lakers make the most sense, with their dearth of big men thanks to injuries. Webber, with his passing ability, could prove useful in the triangle offense... presuming Phil Jackson could figure out a way to electroshock him every time he shot the ball.
If I were the Spurs, at least show interest and see how much he wants. If he's willing to accept what we can give him and expect to be the fourth option, sign him. He'll give us around 12 and 10 probably. Better than anything we have right now. Too bad he'll probably look to be a top option.
Wonder if they'd take Williams' ending contract + filler to make it work to get out of one year of paying him to sit on the end of the bench?
At this point I'd roll the dice due to his ability to rebound and put up points. Not a perfect fit, but given what the Spurs have, it's worth it.
i keep reading he can't rotate to shooter and can't guard dirk, who can. problem is he would not be covering dirk, he would be guarding eric freaking dampier and his slow replacement. Because of his nice outside touch, he would be opening the middle up for timmy because their bigs would not be able to double team. pop does a decent job of hiding weaknesses, he would just be another piece. i am not all that excited about him, but i do believe the elephant cemetary would wait a season or two for this fossil
Detroit would never make that trade, especially to a potential opponent like San Antonio. I think McDyess is a good enough player that in order for it to be worth trading him, Detroit has to actually get something worthwhile in return.
Damn Pop, Webber would have been perfect for the Spurs
There are too many uncertainties with Webber and I don't think we are in a position to take chances that maybe he will be able to contribute. We could take him on should the Maggette deal go through as we would have an open roster spot, but that would still leave a hole at the backup point, which is definitely more important. It's almost a toss up as to whether or not CWebb will be of benefit to the team. We want to get faster and more athletic, not slower and older.
Sometimes I think Vescey writes to make teams react stupidly. He wants it to happen because this will make the Spurs weaker...not stronger.
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