Spurs' future draft picks

[Darkwaters]

Frankly, I would like to see the Spurs trade up with a team like Charlotte, Golden State or the 76ers to get a higher pick in the draft (so we can get RUDY!). Another prudent move would be to dump our 58 for another higher future second rounder (a la, the Damir Markota trade). Obviously this plan could change depending on who this year's Marcus Williams is and ends up slipping. But here is my plan assuming that we make no trades:



I like this hierarchy of picks if any of these outcomes occur:
A) Fernandez is still on the board at 28 (regardless of Pruitt's status)
B) Pruitt is NOT on the board at 28

28: Fernandez or Belinelli (if Pruitt isn't around)
33: Byars or Dudley or Almond or Fazekas or Dowdell or Tucker
58: DJ Strawberry (if we don't take Dudley, Byars, Almond, or Tucker) or Yue or Random as of yet unnamed Euro



Probably my dream scenario is to take Fernandez with the first and snag Byars in the second. You then fill out the final pick with a random Euro. I imagine at least ONE of the three picks will be a foreigner and the quality of foreigners is far higher in the first round than in the second (obviously). Rudy Fernandez is going to be a beast in this league. Dudley, Byars and Almond would all help us fill out the wing and could help immediately as would Dowdell at the point. Having a rotation of Ginobili/Fernandez/Byars in a couple years makes me salivate. I still am unsure how Fazekas will stick in this league but if he comes at 33 I have absolutely NO problems as he could be an absolute steal there. I wouldn't mind taking Alando Tucker with this pick either. But I'd rather take any of those other guys first. Picking up a guy like Strawberry at the 58 would be nice if we don't get a wing that we will bring in next season. He would probably ride the bench and learn the system for a year but could play some in year two whenever Bowen, Finley, Barry and White all come off the books. Plus, at 58 its a gamble you can definitely afford to take. If we already take a wing though I don't see any room for Strawberry. A player like Sun Yue is very intriguing and might as well be taken with the 58 at that point. Of course, its pretty much a crapshoot this deep in the draft.

If Fernandez is gone but Pruitt is there at 28.

28: Pruitt
33: Byars or Dudley or Almond or Fazekas or Tucker
58: Draft and Stash (Yue?)



If Pruitt is there but Rudy isn't then Pruitt is a Spur. Period. He will be a capable backup PG while also being able to play off the ball on occasion. This is important since the Spurs wings are getting older and older and having two good ball handlers and playmakers in the backcourt is a look that the Spurs haven't really been able to go to as of late (appologies to Brent Barry). I still think a true wing is a necessity in this draft especially if we're not stashing one abroad this year. If Byars, Dudley and Almond are all off the table though I'd still be open to taking Fazekas and just trusting in Pruitt's two way ability. As well, I like the possibly of exploring taking Strawberry at 58. Tucker is still on the board, but his limited NBA game makes me like rolling the dice on the kid from Nevada more. Draft and stash the last pick.

If Fernandez, Pruitt and Belinelli are all gone then:

28: Byars or Dudley or Almond or Koponen
33: Fazekas or Tucker or Dowdell (unless Koponen is taken) of Mark Gasol
58: DJ Strawberry (if no wing is drafted) or draft and stash



Chances are that Fernandez is gone by 28. Pruitt could be gone too and Belinelli could pull out of the draft entirely. Obviously, those 3 are the players that I hinge this draft on. This is the plan in case all 3 slip through our fingers.

[AFBlue]

Still a chance to get Dudley or is he up in the 1st round?

He had a productive draft camp, where he showed pretty good defense and a reliable mid-range shot...both will help him in the upcoming draft. He should be there in the early second round unless a team absolutely falls in love with his intangibles in the First Round.

I'd say the Spurs should go for talent with their first pick and solid intangible guy with their second....

#28 Fernandez/Belinelli/Pruitt

#33 Dudley/Fazekas

Spurs just won their 4th in nine, and this draft should help them gather role players for runs in the next 5 or 6 years...all players listed above could be huge for them, and there are plenty more that would fit as well....I'm excited!

[Darkwaters]

I'm warming on Fazekas too. But I still think the best fits for this team are Fernandez/Belinelli/Pruitt/Dudley and Strawberry at the 58.

[AFBlue]

I'm warming on Fazekas too. But I still think the best fits for this team are Fernandez/Belinelli/Pruitt/Dudley and Strawberry at the 58.

I wouldn't be suprised if the Spurs go draft-n-stash with the 58th pick. My favorite would be another French PG...

Rodrigue Beabois, 19yr 6'2 170lb, France

There's alot of "projectability" with a player as raw as him, but he has great length (6'9 wingspan), athleticism, and defensive intensity. It seems like a place the Spurs have gone before (raw Frenchmen) and a place their likely to revisit.

[AFBlue]

I'm warming on Fazekas too. But I still think the best fits for this team are Fernandez/Belinelli/Pruitt/Dudley and Strawberry at the 58.

Your dream scenario (Fernandez at 28 and Byars at 33) isn't much different from mine. It's likely that the Spurs wouldn't be able to add two more players to their current roster, so one of them just might be a foreigner...and none is better at #28 than Rudy. He could stay overseas for one more year, wait until the contracts expire for Barry and Fin, then come over for the 08-09 season.

Byars/Dudley/Fazekas probably wouldn't get much "burn" either, but they'd be there for the long-term future of the Spurs and would hedge against possible trades or departures in FA (Barry, Fin, Bonner, Ely, Oberto).

[Darkwaters]

I wouldn't be suprised if the Spurs go draft-n-stash with the 58th pick. My favorite would be another French PG...

Rodrigue Beabois, 19yr 6'2 170lb, France

There's alot of "projectability" with a player as raw as him, but he has great length (6'9 wingspan), athleticism, and defensive intensity. It seems like a place the Spurs have gone before (raw Frenchmen) and a place their likely to revisit.

If this guy is available at 58 then you take him. Period. But I promise you he won't be there. Hes probably going to drop out of the draft anyways. But if hes there he is said to have gotten upwards of 6 second round promises. We would have to trade up to grab him.

[Darkwaters]

Your dream scenario (Fernandez at 28 and Byars at 33) isn't much different from mine. It's likely that the Spurs wouldn't be able to add two more players to their current roster, so one of them just might be a foreigner...and none is better at #28 than Rudy. He could stay overseas for one more year, wait until the contracts expire for Barry and Fin, then come over for the 08-09 season.

Byars/Dudley/Fazekas probably wouldn't get much "burn" either, but they'd be there for the long-term future of the Spurs and would hedge against possible trades or departures in FA (Barry, Fin, Bonner, Ely, Oberto).

Exactly. And I'm thinking largely long-term with many of these picks. Two things are generally true about the Spurs:

1) We're old and getting older
2) Our system is complicated and generally takes a year to learn

That being said, it makes sense to draft some young guys and give them a year on the practice squad (a la, James White, Jackie Butler, Stephen Jackson, Fabricio Oberto etc). Within a year several of our old guys will be gone and some of our new guys will be tenured enough to contribute. A player that goes in the second round would have a year to learn the system and then a year to prove he is worth retaining. At under 500k a year that is definitely a player we can afford to pay. Even late first rounders are going to be under the veteran's minimum and won't hurt our 08 Masterplan too much.

By the way, I've been seeing more indication that Belinelli is slipping into the second. If we could draft Rudy AND Belinelli (unlikely) then I would be absolutely giddy.

[yavozerb]

The Spurs' Michael Finley can opt out of the final year of his contract ($3.1 million) at the end of this season and become a free agent. He said he hasn't made a decision yet but likes being with the Spurs. Robert Horry is a free agent and says he wants to play one more season and could stay with the Spurs or rejoin Shaquille O'Neal with Miami. Fabricio Oberto has a player option and Beno Udrih, replaced by Vaughn, is under a team option. Vaughn also will become a free agent.



Copyright © 2007, The Chicago Tribune

Is this true on beno, I thought he had one more year?

[Darkwaters]

The Spurs' Michael Finley can opt out of the final year of his contract ($3.1 million) at the end of this season and become a free agent. He said he hasn't made a decision yet but likes being with the Spurs. Robert Horry is a free agent and says he wants to play one more season and could stay with the Spurs or rejoin Shaquille O'Neal with Miami. Fabricio Oberto has a player option and Beno Udrih, replaced by Vaughn, is under a team option. Vaughn also will become a free agent.



Copyright © 2007, The Chicago Tribune

Is this true on beno, I thought he had one more year?

Beno did have a team option. But you have to pick it up like 1 or 2 years in advance of the season. So we picked it up months ago. Horry is NOT a free agent. He has one more year on his contract which is only partially guaranteed.

After the emotions that Finley displayed last night I wonder if Antonio McDyess was watching...?

[pad300]

Given some of the names being tossed around here, we might want to all take a good look at this article. Although not perfect, it does have some good points to consider:

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=2116

As far as my perfect offseason, we need to consider the signed roster next season :

Bigs - Duncan, Horry, Elson, Oberto, Butler
Have: 5, 1 Superstar (Duncan), 2 reliable (Elson, Oberto), 1 old as dirt (Horry), 1 journeyman who hasn't broken out yet (Butler)
Need: 6, 4 reliable or better

Wings - Manu, Bowen, Finley, Barry, White
Have: 5, 1 Star (Manu), 1 Reliable (Finley), 2 Old as Dirt (Bruce, Barry), 1 Journeyman who hasn't broken out yet (White)
Need: 6, 4 reliable or better

PGs - Tony, Beno
Have: 2 1 Star (Tony), 1 Crap who might get it together for another team(Beno)
Need: 3, At least 2 reliable or better

Draft/Signing/Trade:

Sign and trade Udrih for James Singleton (Clippers) on an extended contract. Singleton is currently earning $770610 in 07-08 on a team option. Do a sign and Trade of Udrih (earning 1,747,096 in 07-08). To make this work, Singleton gets a raise to $1.3 million, with a 2nd year as a team option, with no percentage increase.

+1 Wing, -1 PG

Trade Scola and #28 for #17 (Nets) and draft McRoberts

+1 Big

Re-Sign Jaques Vaughn (he was acceptable this year)

+1 PG

Pick #33 Draft Koponen/Pruitt/Dowdell (Whoever is available, in that order)

+1 PG/SG

Pick #58 Draft best available Euro Project/Sun Yue. NOTE we will not have roster space for this player, unless we make a 2 for 1 trade. He will have to stay in Europe or move to europe or we will lose his rights. The alternative is to trade this pick...

Projected Roster
Bigs - Duncan, Elson, Oberto, Horry, Butler, McRoberts
Wings - Manu, Finley, Bowen, Barry, White, Singleton
PGs - Parker, Vaughn, Koponen (by choice)

[Darkwaters]

Ummm, thats a horrible plan. James Singleton? Really? Thats almost depressing. What about our MLE money? And why hold onto an expensive expiring contract (Barry) when you could use him to leverage a guy like Nocioni away?

[Mr. Body]

I'm not big on James Singleton, but for one year, and instead of Beno Udrih, it's not that bad.

I'd like the Spurs to somehow take a gander at Alonzo Mourning and Antonio McDyess. They both have opt-out provisions, I believe, but there are restrictions to talking to them. Mourning isn't as important now that Oberto has turned it on, but I'd freaking love to have McDyess. Him alone would make my off-season.

Resolving the Scola sutation is key. My feeling is we'll have +1 Argentinian on the squad, either him or Nocioni, although trading up in the draft would be fine. I simply don't see who'd be available in the late teens who'd be that attractive to burn him up, though.

[Darkwaters]

Singleton is a PF and undersized at at that. I don't see how he plays into our plans or needs.

I was thinking about Zo the other day. I would love to grab him up. But McDyess would probably be the better pickup if we could only get one. I'm dreaming of some of our frontcourt rotations next season:

Duncan/McDyess/Horry
Oberto/Butler/Elson

And then if we grab Nocioni we could have another "PF" to boot.

[Mr. Body]

McDyess would be incredible. He's still a great bench player, but at the same time it's always good to have that insatiably hungry guy on the squad who wants a championship more than anything.

I'll call it now: we get McDyess and Nocioni.

We don't lose a game after the All-Star break.

[AFBlue]

I think two things have muddied the waters a bit in the past couple months....

1. Horry saying he'll be back for one more. I think this spells disaster for Matt Bonner, who likely won't be re-signed because of lack of roster space and who didn't enhance his market value because of lack of on-court time. But it also puts the Scola situation in flux, because the Spurs are clearly running short of roster spots and if they truly want to bring him over this upcoming year, every spot counts...

2. Oberto's playoff run. He seemed to really jell with the starters and the Spurs are in love with his at ude and BBIQ. Problem is, alot of other teams would value those qualities as well, and for a compe ive price. If Oberto opts out, it seems readily apparent that the Spurs SHOULD go for Scola as the replacement, but they might just throw their lot in with Oberto and try to deal Scola.

Bottom Line: Alot of what the Spurs do, both with the decision to sign Scola and the decision of who to draft will depend alot on those two players.

[Marcus Bryant]

McDyess would be incredible. He's still a great bench player, but at the same time it's always good to have that insatiably hungry guy on the squad who wants a championship more than anything.

I'll call it now: we get McDyess and Nocioni.

We don't lose a game after the All-Star break.

I can definitely see McDyess opting out this summer. Too much uncertainty in Detroit. The problem is, will coming off a championship make it harder to recruit former star free agents (of course, McDyess did join the Pistons after their last le)? You don't become an elite player in this league without some kind of ego. Would you rather be known as the guy who took a team to the next level versus someone who just joined the champs? Then again, perhaps earlier this season there was definitely the perception that the Spurs were starting to fade from being a serious contender.

[Darkwaters]

McDyess would be incredible. He's still a great bench player, but at the same time it's always good to have that insatiably hungry guy on the squad who wants a championship more than anything.

I'll call it now: we get McDyess and Nocioni.

We don't lose a game after the All-Star break.

Damn...imagine this squad next season....

Parker/Papaloukas/Vaughn
Ginobili/Finley/White
Nocioni/Bowen/Dudley
Duncan/McDyess/Horry
Oberto/Butler/Elson

(Plus we get the rights to Rudy Fernandez and Sun Yue)

An offseason like this is not unreasonable and yet it shores up all of our current needs and stores some away for the future. Papaloukas is far advanced from Beno's abilities and Nocioni gives us that long, strong tough defender that can also play the small ball 4. Dudley is an added bonus as he will fit perfectly playing Spurs ball and could find a similar niche to Nocioni. McDyess shores up the front line and gives them that "hungry" guy to drive us forward (as you said). This team would be absolutely dynamic and would have a good shot at repeating.

...plus in a year whenever Bowen and Finley leave you have Rudy Fernandez waiting to step in. Not to mention Mahinmi.

[Mr. Body]

1. Horry does 'muck' things up a little, since we all thought he was basically retiring. (Funny we made that decision for him.) Golden State might have extended his career by a season. I agree that Bonner could be on the outs.

Ely is gone, so there's at least one spot. I feel they'll try hard to package up two-for-one and finally say goodbye to Barry and Udrih.

2. I don't see any way Oberto goes elsewhere, even for a bit more money, unless a team is crazy enough to throw way too much money at him for too many years. But I don't see him voluntarily opting out - this situation is perfect for him, one of his buddies is here, and he has the starting spot on a smart, experienced, championship team.

... So we're down to essentially one spot. Three draft picks... I've said for a while that I saw two new rookies coming in, but that's not abundantly clear anymore. The Spurs do need to make a couple moves to compete better against Dallas and get more flexible and young, but it's not clear what yet.

[Marcus Bryant]

First things first, hope Oberto doesn't opt out.

[AFBlue]

First things first, hope Oberto doesn't opt out.

I like Oberto and all, but if he does opt out to sign elsewhere (like Body, I think he stays), at least the Spurs have a backup plan in Scola.

[Marcus Bryant]

Maybe he opts out to get a new contract while his value is high. Frankly he wouldn't be getting good advice if someone told him not to. More $ committed to today for the current team makes it less likely they will be willing to spend $ on new acquisitions.

[Mr. Body]

I can see Chicago interested in Oberto. Not sure who else (who he'd return interest).

[Darkwaters]

I can see Chicago interested in Oberto. Not sure who else (who he'd return interest).

I believe Memphis had some interest in him. I'm not sure if he knows Gasol...but that might be intriguing to him if he does. Of course, Memphis is NOT San Antonio. And the guy is getting a good rep around SA as a fan favorite. Why ruin it? Besides, with Manu and maybe Scola around town San Antonio just seems too desirable.

[AFBlue]

Here's my point in bringing up the recent developments....

I'm not so much concerned about filling out the 15-man roster as I am about who will get the opportunity to get on the court...because both Horry and Oberto are "rotation" roster guys. That leaves me wondering about Jackie Butler's opportunity to take some minutes in his second year. Then add the possibility of bringing in Luis Scola, who I seriously doubt will be okay with riding the pine, and I don't see how it all meshes together....even with Bonner and Ely being let go, who dresses out and who loses minutes?

Side note: I also see this occuring with White again as Barry, Bowen, Finley, and Manu should all be back.

Bottom Line: It'll be interesting to see how the Spurs handle this roster crunch, and more importantly how they handle the rotation crunch.

Personally, I'd like to see Butler get the chance to overtake Elson on the depth chart...

[AFBlue]

I believe Memphis had some interest in him. I'm not sure if he knows Gasol...but that might be intriguing to him if he does. Of course, Memphis is NOT San Antonio. And the guy is getting a good rep around SA as a fan favorite. Why ruin it? Besides, with Manu and maybe Scola around town San Antonio just seems too desirable.

Correction: Jerry West had interest in him, and he's on the outs in Memphis. But, I'm sure there will be interest in him regardless.

[Marcus Bryant]

Phoenix would be a nice fit for him. The Suns weaken the Spurs with such a move. The window for them with Nash is closing. One would think that the fans in the desert would be a little more skeptical these days about their postseason moves and looking for a little more deftness instead of just another athlete to run along with Nash and crew.