With backup point guard Nick Van Exel intent on retiring after a disappointing season and an even more disappointing playoff performance, one of the Spurs' primary off-season priorities will be to find a reliable backup for All-Star point guard Tony Parker.
The search may take them no farther than their own locker room.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who doubles as the club's senior executive vice-president for basketball operations, said Beno Udrih, who ceded the backup job to Van Exel after a shaky performance in the 2005 NBA Finals, will have a chance to re-establish himself in the position next season.
However, Popovich stopped far short of saying the backup job was Udrih's to lose.
"We've got to make a decision in that situation," Popovich said. "Are we going to give the ball to Beno and say, 'Go ahead, young man. It's yours?' or are we going to look around? What are we going to do?"
Udrih played in only seven of the Spurs' 13 playoff games, a total of only 47 minutes. During the regular season he played in only 54 games, averaging 5.2 points and 1.7 assists. He played in 80 games in his 2004-05 rookie season, averaging 5.9 points and 2.0 assists.
"For right now I can say that Beno is a very talented young man," Popovich said. "His rookie year he played very well for us, for a rookie. Very well. This year we just made the decision to go with Nick's maturity and experience. That was tough for Beno, so I think he deserves an opportunity to come in and see what he can do."
Popovich said some of Udrih's problems on the court stem more from his concern about the coach's lack of confidence in him than in doubt in his own abilities.
"Tony Parker and I had to work through that situation," Popovich said, "and now Tony is a pretty confident, accomplished young man. That same sort of thing would have to happen for Beno, too — to know that I want him on the court and playing for us."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....172f41e2.html
Beno is talented enough to be the backup PG and he is cheap.
I would like to have Beno as backup PG for next year with two conditions :
- Pop should trust him : as said in this article, Beno need confidence.
- A solid 3rd PG : not a talented guy that can threat beno but a solid vet that can be use if Beno has troubles like against Detroit in his rookie year. a guy like Milt Palacio, Jacque Vaughn, Jason Hart, Moochie Norris or Mike Wilks.
Beno is done with Spurs, use him as a trade bait.
i agree, but jacque vaugh is more of a small 2. which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. i would like to see a backup point who can defend and not make pop running a 2pg lineup who gives up instant offense for the other team.
Just what exactly do you think his trade value is, anyway?
He's got a low guaranteed contract, and he's worthless on the trade market. I can't see that there's anything to do but keep him for the last year of his contract and see if he ever ends up developing.
Is this about winning now or is it about massaging Pop's ego?
WTF?
Beno and Rasho suck. They don't need any chances.
Well Pop, if you knew what the problem with Beno was, WTF did you not sit him down and tell him that you had confidence in him and would not pull him the minute he messed up?
I rue the day that we signed NVE. That signing totally stifled Beno's developement, because had Beno played NVE's minutes this year, he would have been ready to really help come playoff time and that might have been the 1 pt difference in this series, and SA would be meeting Phoenix tonight, instead of Dallas.
Pop bit the weenie on this one, bigtime.
his values:
young player
low contract
good shooter
good passer
perfect for teams where sg is the main ball handler.
Vaughn isn't a SG or a PG on offense : he just can do nothing.
The way I see the thing : if Beno can't handle the ball, we put a solid guy whose only tasks are to defend, to bring the ball up and to give the ball to Manu to create the offense.
So who do you think wants Beno, and what do you think they would be willing to trade?
If the staff doesn't have confidence in him, get him out of here and get someone in (perhaps a Marcus Banks) that can do the job. I just wish they'd stop experimenting with the latest "old guy of the year". We've already seen the how that works.
No,signing totally stifled Beno's developement
Beno stifled Beno.
With the pathetic showing against the Clippers when Tony sat out, and that debacle of a game against Houston at the end of they year when the Spurs leaned on him.
Quit sucking his and wake up, the kid sucks.
UUUhhhh....h.hh.! How mature!
So your hate is in direct relation with him backing up your beloved Tony? What do you think about Eva?
Thanks to the cap, you can't always patch all your holes with guys in their prime every year. Van Exel was willing to play for the minimum, or we wouldn't have signed him. The alternative was another whodat of the year, like Hart or Garcia were when they came in.
Edited to add: in retrospect, another Jason Hart would have been nice to have. But I think Van X looked more appealing last fall.
I'll pass on Beno.
I'll also pass on any has-been, out of shape, over 30 PG.
i agree.Vaughn isn't a SG or a PG on offense : he just can do nothing.
The way I see the thing : if Beno can't handle the ball, we put a solid guy whose only tasks are to defend, to bring the ball up and to give the ball to Manu to create the offense.
we tried to pawn him off on the blaze for jarret jack. i wish we had been able to make that trade.
Nothing personal.
Trade him for someone better and already developed/confident.
He gets too flustered. He's got the well-rounded talent for a PG, good shooter, good passer, but never showed it on the floor consistently when pressured.
He'll probably succeed better on a less talented team with a bigger role. Right now his talent hasn't shown through because we've been filled to the brim with veterans.
Trade him before he wastes our time.
No kidding. And if someone wants to take Beno off our hands for someone worth having, done and done. I just don't think there are many teams queuing up for him at this point.
Who should know better, you are still sucking Nick Van Bust.
If I remember correctly, Pop has no mercy for TP in his first year. TP choked in PO, but hey, here was a veteran to save him. Spurs now have young and experienced PG in TP, why did Pop not make same with Beno.
Instead of pushing Beno all regular season long, unquestionable genius put Beno on the bench. TP is veteran enough to take care of PO (obviously), but there was nobody on the bench to back him. When genius decided to play small (spells fast) ball, Spurs were already doomed. With already retired veteran and sop re without PT, there is just no chance.
If genius would have push Beno we would know something: Beno is great back-up PG with high trade value (if necessary) or Beno is total bust, his value is expiring contract only.
Now we have PG without any trade value and don't really know hid potential (except for T Park with his mantra: choke, choke, choke...)
Last edited by ata; 05-24-2006 at 12:07 PM.
Tpark i understand the hate, i have never liked van x even when he was in lakers uniform for some reason, but i don't understand you backing up hate with 1 or 2 games and then sucking up to another player who sucked for whole year with exception of few games. Nick was great for most of his carear, but he laid an egg this year.
Beno himself probably can't bring any quality player (especially with his low contract), but he can make Rasho's or Barry's contract look more atractive if added to the package.
Haha, great post.UUUhhhh....h.hh.! How mature!
So your hate is in direct relation with him backing up your beloved Tony? What do you think about Eva?
Pop said on the Pop Show yesterday that they need to figure out if the backup point guard is going to be Beno or perhaps someone else. So I imagine that they'll look around this summer for other options, but Beno still has a chance to be here.
However, I can imagine that if they needed to use him in a trade package, they will. He doesn't make much, so his contract alone isn't worth anything but I imagine that a lot of teams may be interested in him.
We'll see what happens.
Probably needless to say, I want Beno here again next year.
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