The offseason so far

[strangeweather]

We traded Rasho, let Nazr leave, let Van Exel retire. Marks is likely to leave as well.

We didn't exercise our 2nd round pick for this year, but added a couple of 2nds for the future.

We added a veteran background point who can run the offense, defend, and penetrate, but that has no jumper. The backup point slot is still Beno's to lose, but we have a better fallback option than Van Exel.

We still have Manu, Finley, and Barry at shooting guard.

We added veteran Eric Williams and his expiring contract at SF. He may or may not have anything left in the tank. We still have Bruce and Finley.

We added Matt Bonner at the 4. Average rebounder and defender, plays with a lot of effort, decent range for spacing the floor. Likely to take Horry's spot in the rotation as Duncan's backup, since Horry looked like a fossil in last year's playoffs. We didn't try to bring in Scola.

We lost Rasho and Nazr at the 5, and replaced them with Francisco Elson. The front office all but apologized for the guy in the Ludden article, so clearly they aren't laboring under the impression that they signed the next David Robinson. We tried to sign Jackie Butler at the 5, but the Knicks have all but confirmed they will match. We blew Javtokas off, but we apparently have until Friday to try to kiss and make up.

Assuming the Knicks keep Butler, we still have just under half the midlevel, the LLE, and various spare parts to offer in trades.


Reasons for optimism: There's a lot of time left in the offseason. We still have assets to sign and/or trade for more players.

Reasons for pessimism: If the season started today, this is a weaker roster than last year's. Not a great sign.


Does that sound about right?

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Very Right.

[Slam Duncan]

I still think the Spurs are going to have trouble down low. Sure...We have Tim Duncan and Robert Horry, but now that we let Rasho and Nazr go we need someone else.

I'm not sure if Elson will be able to fill the gap or not. We'll have to see.

[Mr. Body]

One thing... this year's 2nd rounder was traded for only one future 2nd rounder, not two.

Looks correct. The conclusions are apt -- Butler will be matched. The Spurs likely do not go after another RFA (Ariza-type). They may not use any of the other money they have avail (LLE, 1/2 MLE).

Unless a trade is in the works, this is the team we have, and it looks distinctly worse on the boards than we were last year.

[strangeweather]

One thing... this year's 2nd rounder was traded for only one future 2nd rounder, not two.

We picked another up (for 2009) in the Rasho trade.

Looks correct. The conclusions are apt -- Butler will be matched. The Spurs likely do not go after another RFA (Ariza-type). They may not use any of the other money they have avail (LLE, 1/2 MLE).

Unless a trade is in the works, this is the team we have, and it looks distinctly worse on the boards than we were last year.

There are still other options at center -- though I don't know how happy we'll be with any of them. And I think a trade is a very strong possibility -- but when and for who is always a total crapshoot with trades.

[Mr. Body]

We picked another up (for 2009) in the Rasho trade.

Thanks. I missed that.