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timvp has been fighting the battle to add depth to the swingman rotation since August. He was met with resistance by Spurs fans saying that the Spurs were deep enough. Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen, Brent Barry and Michael Finley were said to be an unbreakable quartet of players.
That lasted all of three regular season game. Now the Spurs are desperate for swingman help.
Devin Brown was signed by the Jazz this offseason. The Spurs brass wanted to keep him but they couldn't get ownership to sign off on the luxury tax that the contract would cost the team. Spurs fans waived goodbye to their hometown hoopster pointing to the recent acquisition of Finley as proof that the Spurs no longer needed Brown's services. This was the Dream Team remixed, or Spurs fans claimed at the time.
Now here we stand on November 17th, with the morning dew still on the season. The Spurs have just signed their second perimeter player in hopes of filling the void that never should have existed in the first place. Either the Spurs got y and thought that they didn't need a fifth swingman or ownership wanted to keep the purse strings tied up.
In addition to the lack of depth, the Spurs are now tempting fate with this short of a swingman rotation. Like clockwork, the Spurs enter the season with an idea of how the swingmen rotation will work out and it almost never ends up like that.
1998
The Spurs went into the season with four solid swingmen in Sean Elliott, Vinny Del Negro, Chuck Person and Monty Williams. Their fifth swingman was little known NBA journeyman Jaren Jackson. By the end of the season, Jackson was starting.
1999
Mario Elie started the year coming off the bench. He ended up starting and leading the Spurs to a championship.
2000
Chucky Brown was the opening day starter at small forward. He was soon released and was never seen from again.
2001
Danny Ferry and Terry Porter were starting in the playoffs. Who saw that coming before the season started?
2002
Charles Smith II entered the season as the 15th man on the roster. He ended up averaging over seven points per game.
2003
The Spurs entered the season with Bruce Bowen, Steve Smith, Manu Ginobili, Steve Kerr and Danny Ferry as the players who were expected to produce at the swing positions. As Spurs fans know the SIXTH swingman Stephen Jackson was the one who came in and helped win the championship.
2004
The Spurs entered the season with Bruce Bowen, Hedo Turkoglu, Manu Ginobili and Ron Mercer penciled in as the team's swingmen. In the playoffs, it was Devin Brown who came up big in the pressure moments.
2005
Glenn Freakin' Robinson got playoff minutes. 'Nuff said.
2006
The Spurs began the season with Bruce Bowen, Manu Ginobili, Brent Barry and Michael Finley at the swing positions. How this ends up is unknown, but Spurs fans should have learned to expected the unexpected.
Now what can be done to help solve the lack of depth on the perimeter? Well what won't work is signing non NBA caliber players like Melvin Sanders and Alex Scales. Those players will be forgotten about in a couple months.
The Spurs missed out on all of the young, cheap talent that was available this summer. Now they have to settle for the older players who are still looking for a job or troubled younger players looking for a chance.
Latrell Sprewell, George Lynch, Wesley Person, Ndudi Ebi and Rodney White come to mind. Would you as an overconfident Spurs fan want to see one of these guys added to the mix or would you rather hope and pray that what you see is what you get in regards to the swingman rotation come playoff time?
I want the Spurs winning championships. I don't want something as simple as a lack of a fifth swingman to come in the way of that. Right now that is a valid concern and a glaring in the Spurs armor.
What to do?
Question.
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Good synopsis. I will add that the Spurs had a number of seasons in which they did not have the ability to add quality depth. That's not the case this year. For whatever reason, the Spurs seem allergic to giving up any of the luxury tax distributions. It's almost as if ownership thinks it's enough to be able to get to the Finals. Financially, that may be the case. But is that all that fans want?
Nick Van Exel would qualify as a swingman if you're going to include Steve Kerr. Essentially we have one more point guard and one less "swing" player. Sure, it would be nice to have five... or six... or a 20 man roster. But whatever this roster is lacking in comparison to other Championship teams seems to be satisfied, at this point, with Van Exel.
NVE playing extended minutes at the 2 is not working.
Who Gives A .
We aren't even ten games into the season, these guys will be back. Actually if this were the playoffs they would probably be playing, well maybe Brent and surely Mike.
We are also what, six and two? That's not bad at all.
It's easy to say you would have paid millions to retain Devin and to say you would have paid the luxury tax penalties, but in the real world, not behind a keyboard, it's a different story.
How do you quantify "not working"?
Steve Kerr never played extended minutes at the 2 either. He never played extended minutes period.
And why are you referring to yourself in the third person, who are you Bob Dole, or Stacy Patton?
The Spurs tried to play Kerr at shooting guard at times, but that failed. It wasn't until he was strickly a point guard that he produced to the level he did in the 2003 playoffs.
Van Exel is an even worse defender than Kerr was. He is so bad of a defender that the Spurs went out and got a 6-foot-2 shooting guard to make sure Van Exel doesn't have to play that position.
So you are happy with four swingmen?
Spurs need a 5th swingman for the regular season.
You speak a lot of playoff, but you can have only 12 players.
You need five bigs (foul trouble, against Shaq)
You need too 6 PG/SG/SF (TP, NVE, Manu, Barry, Bowen and Finley).
The real question for playoff is :
- Should we cut Beno for the playoff roster for a SG/SF and play Manu or Barry at PG in case of emergency ?
or
- Should we have 4 SG/SF with NVE or Beno playing some SG in case of emergency ?
I prefer 4 SG/SF and 3 PG because even if a SG/SF is injury we still have 3 left.
Big dog was the 4th swingman during the playoff last year.
My POV :
Spurs should sign a 5th swingman (a SF) as 14th man for the regular season.
None of the training camp guy were good enough to be this guy and I don't like the Scales signing.
PM5K has been saying all year that Timvp is full of , and that's all I have to say about that...
So are you are all for the Spurs taking a risk so that Holt can save $350K? I'm not.
The Spurs lobbied to keep Devin but ownership refused.
I'm on the right side.
timvp wants me to tell you to shut it.
Of those guys, I'll take Rodney White (as I told you yesterday). I understand he comes with a mohawk and some baggage, but I wouldn't mind his talent sitting on the bench.Latrell Sprewell, George Lynch, Wesley Person, Ndudi Ebi and Rodney White come to mind. Would you as an overconfident Spurs fan want to see one of these guys added to the mix or would you rather hope and pray that what you see is what you get in regards to the swingman rotation come playoff time?
For those who says "so what?" to the injuries of Barry/Finley. People shouldn't be so quick to think that these injuries are nothing. Remember Nazr Mohammed had lingering effects from a groin strain for several months last season. And Spurs fans should know by now that back injuries usually aren't temporary. Hopefully Barry and Finley will be healthy soon.. but I still think that having a fifth swingman on the roster is a necessity not a luxury on this team, considering the age of the bench.
Lynch and maybe Ebi are the only guys that really fit the Spurs' need unless White is primed for a defensive epiphany.
I'm all for locking up a true SF or tweener who has a conceivable chance to make the playoff roster. Otherwise I'll wait til March to panic. We did sign the aforementioned GRob in April after all.
I'd rather they use whatever money they would have spent to sign one player on signing enogh to fill out the roster, there is plenty of talent out there that can be had at a reasonable price.
Well you tell Timvp that PM5K said that PM5K never even opened his mouth.
With the new rules regarding naming your active roster one hour prior to tip off, perhaps teams will now be able to utilize their entire 15 man roster in the playoffs.
Anyone know?
If that is the case, that is another HUGE reason the Spurs should have signed a fifth swingman. If someone goes down in the playoffs, the new rules may allow you to sub in a replacement.
Hopefully the Spurs can plug this hole in time.
Get over yourself and your Brown Loving Holt Hating antics.
Why does it matter? Right now you have NVE playing out of position and you have Manu forced to play while he should be resting. You also have TP forced to log heavier minutes right now because NVE is at the 2. Is it really worth doing that to 2 of your Big 3 right now?
Now this guy sees that light.
Congrats.
In addition, beyond the value of depth in time of injury, there is also the opportunity to use the IR spots to sign young prospects with the purpose of developing them for the future.
Manu shouldn't be resting, the season just ing started, what kind of pussy is he? TP is averaging the same ammount of minutes that he has for pretty much his entire career, and he's what, twenty-three? Tell him to get some nipple patches for energy like Timmy...
It's not about Devin Brown. There were about ten available swingmen who could have been had for peanuts. Ownership didn't allow the Spurs to sign any of them.
Who do you side with? timvp, Pop and RC or Holt and Holt's Cat?
Honestly, with Stoudemire basically out for the season, the Spurs should make it to the Finals while sleepwalking. It almost seems like ownership is content to make it that far and then whatever happens, happens. Sure, that probably makes sense if you are a fan of the Spurs' financial statements.
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