Spurs in Serious Talks with Belinelli (Edit: signed to 2 year/$6M)

[DesignatedT]

Belinelli is a great shooter. Career 39% from three. He played in a horrible offensive system last year in Chicago and they were also dealing with major injuries all over the play including Rose.

Delfino is coming off a broken foot and he's 4 years older than Belinelli. He can shoot but that's about it at this stage of his career.

As for playing SF, the Spurs will add another forward to the roster. And I definitely don't want Delfino guarding Durant.

[DAF86]

I hope that we're going to get a Durant defender with our MLE. We're trying to replace Neal right now.

While Belinelli is %38.7 career three pointer, Delfino is %36.5. Marco's average was little dipped last year since he was playing in short-handed and defensive minded Bulls.

I would have rather got a big wing for this kind of money and a bigman with the MLE, tbh.

[DAF86]

Belinelli is a great shooter. Career 39% from three. He played in a horrible offensive system last year in Chicago and they were also dealing with major injuries all over the play including Rose.

Delfino is coming off a broken foot and he's 4 years older than Belinelli. He can shoot but that's about it at this stage of his career.

As for playing SF, the Spurs will add another forward to the roster.

Did you watch some Rockets' ball last season? He would regularly take it to the rim, play the pick and roll and make some nice assists to the bigman rolling. Not to mention what I have already said about the size and rebounding. Delfino has always been a well rounded player, just not talented enough to be anything more than a role player in the NBA.

[tuncaboylu]

I would have rather got a big wing for this kind of money and a bigman with the MLE, tbh.

I got your point but I'm not sure that Delfino can help as big wing.

And in this league MLE is not for the bigmen. Most of them are playing veteran minimum or much more than MLE.

[CitizenDwayne]

So compared to Green and Neal how would you describe his ball handling?

He's an improvement over those two, but they're both godawful. Some here seem to think Beli is gonna be crossing people up or something.

Either way, he's a catch-and-shoot guy. Heralding his ball handling ability is just misleading

[SpursDynasty21]

If it's for the room exception, it will be very interesting to see what moves are made to create cap space.

Was Belinelli signed for the room exception?

[DesignatedT]

Did you watch some Rockets' ball last season? He would regularly take it to the rim, play the pick and roll and make some nice assists to the bigman rolling. Not to mention what I have already said about the size and rebounding. Delfino has always been a well rounded player, just not talented enough to be anything more than a role player in the NBA.

I like Delfino. Just think this idea is 2-3 years too late.

[DesignatedT]

Was Belinelli signed for the room exception?

We don't know yet. Say a prayer tonight that he was.

[SpursDynasty21]

We don't know yet. Say a prayer tonight that he was.

Thanks.

[poeticism707]

Nice Pickup Spurs. Good shooter, decent defense, C+ to B- playmaker.

Pop, you must have just started AA after the Manu signing, or Spurs fans wouldn't be getting any moves that make sense.

[pgardn]

He's an improvement over those two, but they're both godawful. Some here seem to think Beli is gonna be crossing people up or something.

Either way, he's a catch-and-shoot guy. Heralding his ball handling ability is just misleading

Pop always wants a guy who can shoot the 3. That's a given.

Put him on the floor when a team sees all they have to do is pressure Green or Neal?
God we could have used him against Miami. I also think he will get better looks than he has ever seen in the NBA if we can move the ball around like we did last year.

He is a solid role player on a team that thrives with known capabilities.

[Stabula]

I am certainly ready to see Big Balls Belinelli step into silver and black! This guy was pure heart in the playoffs.

[DPG21920]

The room exception for Belinelli is hardly a ripoff? 2 years 5.4M? That's a great contract.

We don't know if it was the room exception quite yet though.

[CitizenDwayne]

Pop always wants a guy who can shoot the 3. That's a given.

Put him on the floor when a team sees all they have to do is pressure Green or Neal?
God we could have used him against Miami. I also think he will get better looks than he has ever seen in the NBA if we can move the ball around like we did last year.

He is a solid role player on a team that thrives with known capabilities.

I agree. Playing for the Spurs is any 3 shooter's dream.

People citing his %s from last year should remember: just how good at 3s were Kawhi and Green a few years back?

[angelbelow]

Don't know Belinelli's game too well. Can this guy create for himself/others on an average level at least?

[Redshadows]

Spurs have too many SG now and they still need a backup SF.

I am waiting to see the no-American second unit with Joseph, Ginobili, Belinelli, Diaw and Baynes.

[spursince#99]

I have a strange feeling that someone is getting traded tomorrow.

[tesseractive]

I have a strange feeling that someone is getting traded tomorrow.

I don't know about tomorrow, but soon. No way do we go into the season with 7 guards on the roster again.

I'm thinking the balance of the off-season is a combination of a trade and spending the other half of the MLE on someone like Oden, Casspi, or Aminu.

[AASATX]

This kind of came out of nowhere. Not complaining though, I think he will be a perfect fit on the Spurs. Nice to know he took a pay cut to be on the team.

[spurman123]

Did you watch some Rockets' ball last season? He would regularly take it to the rim, play the pick and roll and make some nice assists to the bigman rolling. Not to mention what I have already said about the size and rebounding. Delfino has always been a well rounded player, just not talented enough to be anything more than a role player in the NBA.

He was awful when I watched him play against the thunder in the playoffs this year

[dg7md]

This is a great signing. I think he's a better player than Neal, even if Neal did bail us out in some sticky situations.

[coachmac87]

Don't know Belinelli's game too well. Can this guy create for himself/others on an average level at least?

He's a better playmaker than Neal. Bulls ran pick n roll with him in the playoffs...but his strength is obviously shooting the 3 ball..

[milkyway21]

Ex-Spurs Nazr Mohammed, congratulates Marco

Thursday, July 4 2013

Nazr Mohammed: Congrats to @Marco Belinelli on signing with the Spurs. U will be missed in Chicago but ur joining a great organization and team. Twitter @NazrMohammed

[benefactor]

That Dude gonna all over his haters next season.

[coyotes_geek]

No one said he was Bruce Bowen, but he's an improvement over Neal.

Debatable. Not that it matters though. Debating Neal's D vs Belinelli's D is like trying to decide whether it's better to fall off a tall building or a tall bridge. The end result isn't going to be pretty no matter what the answer is.

Spurs are basically swapping Neal for a clone of Neal who will play for less money than Neal. So long as he's brought on board with the room exception and not a chunk of the MLE, I'm just fine with the swap.