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I agree.
Too bad Evans will go for the money more than likely.
And the Spurs prob don't even have him n their radar.
After finally starting to get over the Spurs blowing an opportunity to win the fourth championship, I began to ponder what this team needs to be successful in the future. Sure San Antonio has great talent, but they are a piece or two shy of being a true dynasty.
My first thought was the Spurs need an agile power forward (or long three, whatever you want to call it) who can shoot, pass, rebound and defend. That's what the Spurs need next to Duncan in this new era of speed basketball. I looked over the free agent list and didn't see any names that made sense.
How about trades? Again, I didn't see anything that worked. Yeah, Andres Nocioni, Lamar Odom or Boris Diaw would fit the bill, but those guys aren't going anywhere.
So then I got to thinking ... what do the San Antonio Spurs really need. They have the shooters. They have enough good passers. When matched up properly, they defend well. What the Spurs lack is rebounding.
Think about the Mavs, for instance. The Spurs currently have no chance to keep up with them on the boards. Dampier and Diop get about the same amount of boards as Duncan gets. Dirk Nowitzki is a great rebounder. Josh Howard is a very good rebounder. For the Spurs, Bowen, Parker, Ginobili, Finley, Horry ... none of them are that good of rebounders. It just doesn't add up. We saw that Pop can't (or won't) play a center versus Dallas and the rest of the players can't make up for not having a center out there. As is, the Spurs can't compete with the Mavs in rebounding.
This is where Reggie Evans comes in. Although he had a junk grabbing incident added to his resume this post-season, there's no denying his rebounding prowess. The guy is a great, great rebounder.
What I also like about him is he's mobile. At 6-foot-8, he can go out on the perimeter and defend. Against the Mavs, I can see doing a decent job on Dirk. He has the motor and the energy needed to chase him. Of course he won't shut him down, but he could help wear him out.
Offensively, he's a work in progress. He has some basic post moves but he'll get most of his points off of offensive rebounds.
Overall I see him as a potentially Ben Wallace like player. Wallace didn't have his breakout season until he was 27. Evans just turned 26. They both bounced around early in their career. It wasn't until the Pistons gave him extended minutes did Wallace become the player he is today.
I think if the Spurs sign Evans and put him next to Duncan, he could lead the league in rebounds. Just looking at numbers, he's a better rebounder than Ben Wallace. In fact, Evans might just be the best rebounder in the league.
What Evans can't do is block shots. That's the big difference between the two players. Then again, Reggie Evans has played for defensive geniuses such as Bob Weiss and Bob Hill in his career, so it's tough to tell what he's capable of doing.
If you can sign Evans, then you can have Evans, Horry and Nesterovic next to Duncan. That'd be a wicked threesome with varied skills. Evans would be the tough guy who can pull down the boards. Horry would be the hired gun who can hit shots, pass and defend the post. Nesterovic would be the guy you bring in to go against the Shaqs, Yaos and other centers. This three-headed monster would give the Spurs supreme versatility.
Last year, Evans turned down a two-year, $10M contract offer from the Sonics. While he played well for the Nuggets after being traded there at the trade deadline, Denver is stacked with post players (Camby, Martin, Nene, Najera, Elson). I think that if the Spurs go after him hard, they could get him with part of the MLE. Dangling a starting spot next to Duncan should do the trick.
Evans just needs a chance. And honestly, it wouldn't be that much of a risk to pay him decently to come here. Rebounding is one stat that doesn't lie. Rebounders can rebound. Put Evans on the Spurs and the missed rebounds that cost them against the Mavs would be gobbled up ... and then some.
I know he isn't the perfect candidate for what the Spurs and Spurs fans are looking for, but I believe that he's the best man for the job. Rebounding wins championships and Reggie Evans can rebound.
Reggie Evans for 2006-07.
I agree.
Too bad Evans will go for the money more than likely.
And the Spurs prob don't even have him n their radar.
Here is an article by John Hollinger written on March 9, 2005 about just how good of a rebounder Reggie Evans is.
Evans challenges all-time champ Rodman
Care to guess who's having one of the best rebounding seasons in history?
Your first instinct might be to say Kevin Garnett, who's running away with the rebounding le. He's averaging 13.7 boards a game, which is nearly two more than his closest compe or. Considering his sizable lead, it seems heretical to suggest somebody else is the league's best rebounder. But it's true. Though hardly a household name, the Seattle SuperSonics' Reggie Evans is putting Garnett to shame with his rebounding exploits.
How did I arrive at this conclusion? It all starts with a simple premise: A player can't get a rebound unless somebody misses a shot. Following from that logic, the best way to rate rebounders is by the percentage of missed shots they reel in, not by the amount they pull down per game or even per minute.
Consider the following example.
Player A gets 10 rebounds in a game with 20 missed shots, while Player B nabs 20 in a game with 100 missed shots. Player B has twice as many rebounds, but is he really better? Player A grabbed a Herculean 50 percent of all the missed shots in his game, while Player B took in only 20 percent. We shouldn't hold it against Player A that there were so few missed shots for him to rebound.
This is where my tool called Rebound Rate comes in. By measuring the percentage of available rebounds that a player gets while he's on the floor, Rebound Rate makes Player A's superiority obvious.
To calculate a player's Rebound Rate, start by adding all the rebounds and opponents' rebounds in his team's games. Multiply that result by the percentage of the team's minutes that player has played. This gives you the approximate number of rebounds available while he was on the court. Finally, take his total rebounds, divide it by the available rebounds, and multiply by 100.
And there you have it – a player's Rebound Rate.
Using this calculation, Garnett's Rebound Rate is exceptional. Since there are 10 players on the court at any time, an average Rebound Rate is 10.0, but Garnett pulls in 20.3 percent of the available rebounds when he's on the court. Basically, he's doing the work of two people. The reigning MVP's effort is doubly amazing considering how much time he spends playing on the perimeter on both offense and defense.
However, a few players have been even more exceptional than Garnett, most notably Evans.
He has yanked down nearly a quarter of the missed shots when he's been on the court, making him the runaway winner in Rebound Rate. Two spots behind him is teammate Danny Fortson, who led the league in this category in 2001-02 and again last season (Garnett was third) and is in the running this year. Seattle's dynamic duo doesn't possess glitzy per-game averages – 9.3 for Evans and 6.1 for Fortson. But once you consider that each averages fewer than 25 minutes per game, it becomes easy to see how they can rank at the top.
For further evidence of the Seattle duo's impact, just look at the Sonics' overall Rebound Rate.
They grab 52.1 percent of missed shots, the fifth-best mark in the league, and that's almost entirely due to the efforts of Evans and Fortson. Nick Collison is the only other Sonic regular with a Rebound Rate above 12, while the five Sonics who play the most minutes – Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Luke Ridnour, Vladimir Radmanovic and Antonio Daniels – all are in single digits. With so few teammates pulling their own weight, it's extraordinary that Evans and Fortson can more than make up for them in their limited minutes.
Garnett, meanwhile, is fifth, right behind Indiana's Jeff Foster. Garnett's Rebound Rate is still amazing, especially since he can't focus single-mindedly on rebounding as the four players ahead of him do. But for pure rebounding excellence, the two Sonics are a cut above right now.
As a matter of fact, let's get some historical perspective on Evans's extraordinary rebounding performance. Based on the Rebound Rates for every player since 1970-71 when the NBA started tracking opponents' rebounds, Evans is moving into the exalted territory previously occupied by only one man: Dennis Rodman.
The seven best Rebound Rates since 1970-71 all belong to the Worm during seven consecutive seasons from 1991-92 to 1997-98.
In six of them, he grabbed more than a quarter of the available rebounds, the only player in the last 35 years to do so. But with just a slight increase in the season's final 25 games, Evans could be joining Rodman. He's already broken into the bottom layer of Rodman's era of dominance, eclipsing the former Mr. Electra's 1997-98 campaign. Except for the Ruthian exploits of the Worm, Evans is having the best rebounding season in the past four decades.
Understanding Rebound Rate also makes it easier to comprehend the Sonics' staggering improvement this year. With Evans and Fortson making up for their teammates' biggest shortcomings, the Sonics have gone from being one of the league's worst rebounding teams to one of its best.
Thus, while Garnett's gaping lead in rebounding average garners the spotlight, a much more amazing feat is being accomplished in relative obscurity. Reggie Evans cleans up on KG – and everybody else.Rebound Rate Top 10
Min. 500 minutes (through 3/6)
Player Team Rate
Reggie Evans SuperSonics 24.5
Dan Gadzuric Bucks 21.3
Danny Fortson SuperSonics 21.2
Jeff Foster Pacers 20.8
Kevin Garnett Timberwolves 20.3
Tim Duncan Spurs 19.8
Joel Przybilla Trail Blazers 19.2
Tyson Chandler Bulls 19.1
Troy Murphy Warriors 19.0
Ben Wallace Pistons 19.0Best Rebound Rates
Since 1970-71
(min. 500 minutes)
Player Year Rate
Dennis Rodman 1994-95 29.7
Dennis Rodman 1993-94 29.6
Dennis Rodman 1995-96 26.6
Dennis Rodman 1991-92 26.2
Dennis Rodman 1992-93 26.0
Dennis Rodman 1996-97 25.7
Reggie Evans 2004-05 24.5
Dennis Rodman 1997-98 24.0
Ben Wallace 2002-03 23.2
Moses Malone 1979-80 23.2
I don't think the bidding will get that high. He never got an offer last season from anyone other than the Sonics.
He'll be sought after, but if the Spurs go after him with the MLE and a starting spot, I think they could get him.
Pop has been complaining about the lack of rebounding since the series started. The Spurs better take a good look at getting the best rebounder in the league.And the Spurs prob don't even have him n their radar.
Hmm, I really don't know if I like it. He's a guy who hits the boards hard and he could generate offense simply out of that, but how is he at setting screens and moving in a motion offense? I don't know what kind of a defender he is because I haven't seen him play much, but I do remember that last year I wasn't impressed when I saw him in the playoffs outside of his rebounding numbers.
I don't know if he's the type of player I would throw the MLE at though.
It's funny that after giving up someone like Malik Rose, we're going for someone just like him (Evans) again.
Give or take 3 inches and a lot more rebounds.
Why wouldn't they? It's pretty obvious that Horry can't cut it as the starter when we use a small lineup, so I hope they're turning over all kinds of rocks looking for guys.
Rose was a good rebounder.
Evans could lead the league in rebounding pretty easily.
I think he's a great rebounder. I just don't know if he's a personality fit (and not because of his nut grab). He has kind of a surly reputation. And maybe a rep of not being quite a team player.
Spurs need some toughness. They have enough nice guys. I wouldn't mind a guy who would do anything to win.
If the Spurs do go the Evans route, you can pretty much be sure that small ball will play a much larger role next year. I'm not sure that isn't pretty much inevitable either way because there just doesn't seem to be a decent big man that we can go grab for the money we have.
If thats the case, then I can see the case for brining in a guy like Evans.
Dirk would torch Evans on the perimeter if that's who you plan on having guarding Dirk.
With Duncan at center and a regular power forward in the lineup (like Evans or anyone else), I don't call that small ball. Small ball to me is when you have one big on the floor like we did in the Mavs series.
Isn't Evans an undersized PF though? Not in the mold of Malik persay, but undersized none the less. I think what I mean to say is that you basicaly forget about the foundation of the Spurs defense for the past 8 years or so: Twin Towers.
Evans is long, and pretty athletic,Dirk would torch Evans on the perimeter if that's who you plan on having guarding Dirk.
with the right coaching he could guard Dirk very well.
Surly 6'8" pure rebounder who doesn't always get along with his team and has virtually no offensive game? Doesn't that make him Danny Fortson redux?
Evans isn't perfect but after looking at the free agent list and players available throughout the league, I don't see a better fit. Chicago isn't going to give away Deng. Spurs aren't going to sign a Ben Wallace or an Al Harrington. There are some players that make partial sense like Radmanovic or Przybilla.
But all in all, I think rebounding is what the Spurs lack most and Reggie Evans is a realistic addition and he would correct that weakness fast.
So if we throw half of the MLE to Evans, which I doubt will be good enough for him, will only half of the MLE satisfy Scola? Or do we just trade his rights?
If not Scola, does the other half go to a backup pg? Or try to grab a SF like Jumaine Jones or John Salmons?
Reggie Evans and Ben Wallace are about the same height.
Evans could buy minutes on him. There's nobody available who can guard Dirk but a mobile big like Evans could at least attempt to guard him.
Yeah, one thing that is a fact is that the free agent pool is dry as all . I don't mind bringing in Evans, but I do question the price. I would like to see Scola come over so that we can see what he can do. If we can trade his rights, thats fine too but I don't see us getting the appropriate value in a trade.
i'd rather have Jared Jeffries, he's more versatile and a better defender. 6'10 240, just like derrick mckey... hmmm
Well you'd have to pay Scola at least $4M/year. I'm a little skeptical at that price.
Right now I take Evans over Scola. Scola is a scorer who doesn't rebound or defend that well. Evans is a rebounder and a bully around the basket. IMO, Spurs have enough scoring.
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