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I told you all yesterday they had someone in mind.
Spurs release three players, set roster for season opener
Web Posted: 10/27/2005 12:35 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...r.b9b9146.html
The Spurs pared their roster Wednesday afternoon, with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili apparently surviving for at least one more season.
Melvin Sanders, Sharrod Ford and Stephen Graham — the team's three remaining training-camp invitees — were waived after Wednesday's practice, leaving the Spurs with 13 players, all of whom have guaranteed contracts.
Sanders may have been the most difficult player to cut. A 6-foot-5 guard who spent the previous two seasons in the CBA, he played on the Spurs' summer-league team and quickly became a favorite of the coaching and front-office staffs for his work ethic and personality. But given the Spurs' payroll situation — they are about $600,000 over the luxury-tax threshold — he didn't perform consistently enough for team officials to justify keeping him.
Ford, a 6-9 power forward from Clemson, totaled 13 points and six rebounds Oct. 13 against Washington, a performance that drew interest from Wizards officials, as well as a few other scouts. But despite showing flashes of NBA potential, neither Ford nor Graham displayed the same work habits as Sanders.
The Spurs don't have immediate plans to add another player, but will monitor who becomes available as other teams make their cuts. Ronald Dupree, an athletic 6-foot-7 swingman the Spurs tried to sign a year ago, is battling for the final roster spot in Detroit.
The Spurs, coach Gregg Popovich said last week, are "always in the market for a young (small forward) who can defend."
"Every year, the (small forward) position is really a critical position in the league, and the way we play we like that guy to be a defender," Popovich said. "So we've looked for the last couple of years, and are continuing to do so, to find another (small forward) for down the road. We thought Devin Brown might be that guy but decided otherwise."
With the Spurs' roster fairly settled now — they'll have to place one player on the inactive list no later than an hour before each game — the team can focus on its final week of preparation before Tuesday's opener against Denver. The Spurs conclude their preseason schedule tonight against Philadelphia.
"It's tougher to find the motivation you're going to have in a week," Ginobili said. "But, still, we should be playing better. We're not as sharp as we should be at this point."
The Spurs' reserves have played well the past two games, in particular Fabricio Oberto, Nick Van Exel and Michael Finley. The three newcomers totaled 56 points against New York and Indiana.
The same couldn't be said of the performance of the Spurs' starting backcourt Tuesday against Indiana. Ginobili and Tony Parker combined to miss 13 of 16 shots. The Pacers throttled the Spurs in the second quarter en route to taking a 21-point lead.
If nothing else, Tuesday's loss gave the Spurs an idea of what they should expect during the regular season.
"The whole Indiana team is tough," Ginobili said. "They play rough. So we have to get ready for that.
"We have to remember we are the champions, so everybody is going to try to come hard at us and try to prove themselves against us. Every game is going to be like that."
I told you all yesterday they had someone in mind.
I'm sure they have a lot of people in mind. But they'll just have to weigh if they are worth the luxury tax implications.
I just meant there are others that could become available that they would rather have than those 3 guys.
1) Spurs still looking for athletic 3 that can defend. I would think he should be at least 6'7" without sneakers.
2) Everyone will play the Spurs physical; Manu and Tony especially. Get ready to "MTFU" fellas. It is going to be a rough one.
3) If TP's jumpshot is inconsistent, teams will assume that smashing him in the mouth will keep him out of the lane, or at the very least, give him something to think about.
I can't wait to see just what unfolds during the course of this season and the playoffs.
Well I think they really considered Sanders and if they weren't over the luxury tax, he would have probably made it. So whoever they consider will have to be well worth it.
For the record, contrary to other articles that said cuts had to be made by Thursday (today), they don't. The last time to cut a player to get your roster down to 15 is Monday Oct 31 at 6pm. But most teams will be cutting them sometime before Saturday so that they can clear waivers in time for other teams to pick them up before the start of the regular season.
That is considerate of them.
I wish that NBA teams had an option of keeping a player and sending him to the development league but the player NOT counting against the 15 man roster (even if that meant paying them less than an NBA salary). That would have promoted the DLeague as more of a farm system and would have allowed NBA teams to retain the rights of certain players they are interested in.
Or against the cap? Wasn't that an issue as well?
Either way . . . I think it was good of the FO to get them gone with time for other teams to get them if they want them. I hope they do ok.
What happened with Noel Felix, Kori?
If a player is cut after today, the team will have to pay the first two days of the season.
For Dupree, I was just thinking of him yesterday. Detroit have 16 players under contract, they will waive Acker, Dupree or Hunter.
It will be likely Dupree. Hunter has had a big surgery and won't be ready for the start of the season, they need Acker as 3rd PG. They could waive Hunter if they feel that he won't come back from his injury.
Whoa, thought we would hang on to Sanders.
Surely we won't go with no-one in that roster spot.
Is the playing roster still set at 12? Then bringing in another player or two would simply mean more bench players on an inactive roster at game time.
Any word on how most teams are going to handle this?
He's fighting for the last roster spot in Seattle. If he doesn't make it there, I believe two other NBA teams still have interest.
The active roster is 12 and the inactive roster is 3. But teams can change who is active and who is inactive from night to night. How I understand it they have to turn in their active roster within 1 hour of tipoff each game.
Last edited by Kori Ellis; 10-27-2005 at 12:02 PM.
So is it like the team average of having 14 players works out for Spurs because some other teams will have 15 on their roster?
I was hoping they keep Sanders. Hopefully Dupree will be on board.
I'm not sure how they would control the average, but a lot of teams are carrying 15.So is it like the team average of having 14 players works out for Spurs because some other teams will have 15 on their roster?
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