Elson gives Spurs speed: Nuggets castoff eager to run with Parker, Ginobili
Web Posted: 10/03/2006 11:29 PM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...n.3362d86.html
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
LYON, France Francisco Elson didn't need to look far down the Denver Nuggets' roster this past summer to know his chances of re-signing with the team were slim.
The Nuggets had $114 million invested in starting center Marcus Camby and power forward Kenyon Martin, another $60 million earmarked for center Nenκ's new contract and they were talking about bringing back free-agent big man Reggie Evans.
Denver officials liked what Elson provided in relief of Camby and Martin, but considered him an insurance policy. Coach George Karl even stuck him with the nickname "GEICO."
"They wanted smaller guys," Elson said, "or guys not like me."
The Nuggets' Odd Man Out could become the Spurs' Man in the Middle this season. After Rasho Nesterovic was traded to Toronto and Nazr Mohammed signed with Detroit, the Spurs signed the 7-foot Elson to help fill the hole in the center of their lineup.
"We love his versatility," coach Gregg Popovich said.
Elson's most valuable skill also is the simplest: He can run the floor. Elson is one of the league's fastest centers, something the Spurs saw firsthand when he swept past Tim Duncan, grabbed a pass in stride, dunked and screamed at the team's bench in Denver's Jan. 22 victory at the AT&T Center. Elson finished with 13 points and six rebounds while often beating the Spurs' big men down the floor.
"The Spurs have a lot guys who can run the floor, too: Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Michael Finley," Elson said. "Now they have another big who can run with them and get easy buckets.
"If you look at the whole league, a lot of teams are trying to get more athletic and a lot quicker."
Phoenix, which also expressed interest in Elson, and Dallas the Spurs' two biggest rivals in the Western Conference both like to play small and fast. Nesterovic and Mohammed combined to total only 27 minutes in last season's conference semifinals series against Dallas.
Elson's speed, however, isn't the only reason why the Spurs gave him a two-year, $6 million contract. He averaged just .63 blocks in 21.9 minutes last season, but his length should help Duncan protect the rim. Nesterovic and Mohammed both saw their per-minute block averages e after joining the Spurs.
Elson also has a decent mid-range jump shot, which should help space the floor for Duncan.
"And he likes shooting it," Popovich said. "I don't have to talk to him about it. He'll let it go."
Elson averaged 4.9 points (on 53.2 percent shooting) and 4.7 rebounds in 72 games last season. The Nuggets went 32-22 in the 54 games he started.
Elson's role with the Spurs has yet to be defined. The team also signed former New York center Jackie Butler, who could be more of a project than an everyday contributor.
If the season began today, Fabricio Oberto likely would start next to Duncan, who also will play some center. Oberto knows the system better than Elson and has played well in training camp and informal workouts.
The message to Elson is clear: If he wants the starting job, he's going to have to earn it.
The opportunity to play more is one reason why Elson signed with the Spurs. The contract, which Denver declined to match, also represented a nice bump in salary from the $719,373 he earned last season.
Elson didn't know any of the Spurs' players well, but he liked what he had seen of them.
"Their camaraderie and the way they played together," he said. "It was a chance to go further in the playoffs much further than I'd been going with the Denver Nuggets. That was a plus for me."
Though the 30-year-old Elson is another addition to the Spurs' international contingent, he isn't foreign to Texas. Raised in the Netherlands, he attended Kilgore Junior College for two seasons before transferring to California. The Nuggets took him in the second round of the 1999 draft, but he played four seasons in Spain before joining the team.
Denver's coaches thought Elson, at times, put too much pressure on himself. To succeed in the Spurs' defensive system, which is predicated on funneling the ball-handler into the team's shot-blockers, he's going to need to react quickly. Scouts have criticized him in the past for sometimes being a step slow to the ball.
"This is a championship-caliber type team and they have a lot of stuff (to learn)," Elson said. "You've got to pick it up quick like a sponge ... or you're going to be left behind."
Notebook: Popovich said Beno Udrih (strained right hamstring) won't play Thursday in the team's first exhibition game. Robert Horry (sore left Achilles' tendon, sore right shoulder) is questionable.
Elson's most valuable skill also is the simplest: He can run the floor.This what I have been saying since the acquistion. Appreciate him for what he can do -- run/hit jumpshots. But don't expect him to be a banger/enforcer/big rebounder/shot blocker.Elson also has a decent mid-range jump shot, which should help space the floor for Duncan.
"And he likes shooting it," Popovich said. "I don't have to talk to him about it. He'll let it go."
how long will those two Horry and Beno recuperate? Are they expected to play when the season starts?
Horry's Archilles' tendon injury started since last yr, right? And that tight shoulder since the 2005 finals and hasn't fully healed?
Being a step slow in the Spurs' defense is death.
Hopefully the Spurs see something I don't.
its ashame the Nuggets will go further than the Spurs this season, sorry Frankie
no wait, i predicted b4 that the Spurs would win the championship.
If the season began today, Fabricio Oberto likely would start next to Duncan
Woah! Don't say things like that, friend, them's some serious acusations! Is Ludden serious? If Oberto is our starting centre to begin the year, I am a little worried. , they'd be better off starting my skinny white ass, at least I like to bang...
Okay, uh-huh, and how does that work again? You have a roster so unbalanced it makes Charlie Manson look sane, full of injury-prone players and overpaid primadonnas (K-Wart specifically), and a coach who is notorious for losing his players after the honeymoon wears off, but somehow you're going to do better than the Spurs this year? Yeah, uh-huh, sure you are.its ashame the Nuggets will go further than the Spurs this season, sorry Frankie
no wait, i predicted b4 that the Spurs would win the championship.
The only scenario under which the Nuggets outperform the Spurs this season is if Nene goes for 15/10 per, Camby has another career year, and JR Smith becomes a 15-20pt, 50%/40% from 3 shooter. Otherwise, your hacks won't get past the first round, if they get that far.
No offence, at times (eg. the Mutumbo days) I have loved the Nuggets, but I just don't see the balance or leadership or experience or talent there to make a major dent in the NBA this year.
At the end of sunday's practice, Spurs have finished the practive with a 5 on 5 scrimmage. Oberto was with Spurs starters (Parker, Ginobili, Bowen and Duncan). I guess he will too start thursday's friendly game.
I don't think he will be our starting center against Mavs, but it's up to Elson to get the starting post. If he doesn't outplayed Oberto, he won't start.
Yeh i know, im just playin'
The only positive thing about the surplus is that big men are at a premium in the league and there are so many different possible scenarios the nuggets could look at during the season in trades. If Nene, Camby and K dont stay healthy then the Nuggets may need their 99 big men
The signs out of training camp are good so far. Kmart is pain free and says the knee pain is behind him now. Diawara is proving to be a stopper as expected, JR Smith is shooting lights out (just needs to work on D), Nene is there and still improving and of course Melo is set for a big season and will take on a leadership role.
Of course its only early and every team releases good news about training camp but its great that its finally getting near to the season
Centers are premium, PFs aren't.
what i meant was that its easier to trade a big for a small. Decent big men are harder to come by than decent guards.
I know what you mean and I disagree.
Decent centers are hard to find. Decent PFs like Martin, Smith, Evans, Najera or Kleiza aren't hard to find. It's more difficult to get a good PG than to get a good PF. Just look at others teams rosters and you will see that few teams need a PF.
Oberto would start!?
wow, I love Oberto bc he's arguie but ... for some reason I started to miss Rasho
Wecome Elson, I hope you have better hands than Nazr, and better jump than Rasho.
If that's the case, why did the Raptors GM get fleeced by every analyst of note for trading a PF for a PG (Villanueva for Ford)?
Beyond that, several of the Nugget bigs can play both positions and/or share similarities with true centers (Nene - size, Evans - rebounding, d, and Camby, the thinnest of them all, is the C b/c he can block). This speaks to the evolution of Today's NBA where the "true" center is not the most sought after position. Instead, teams are looking for versatile bigs.
You don't even have to look past our own team to find this....Why else did we trade Nesterovic for Bonner and lose Mohammad in favor of Elson? We needed speed and athleticism.
Having said that, most of the Nuggets assets are virtually untradeable because they're good, but they're certainly not worth $10-20 mil a year and no one would be crazy enough to pay them that....except for the knicks.
Oberto will start on opening night. I told people that the day Rasho got traded. Pop was clear about giving Fabricio the chance to show what he can do because he never really got that chance last year.
I have a feeling this is the year Horry starts to decline rapidly like NVE did. Good thing we got Bonner for insurance.
Because Villanueva has more upside, is younger and his contract is better.
Evans can't play center. Camby and Nene can play center without a doubt but I don't think that Nuggets will trade them, that's why I haven't included them. They will likely trade Martin, Evans or Najera.
Spurs have traded Rasho to dump his contract. Nazr was a free agent.
Spurs are one of the few team that can have some interest for one of Denver's PF (in a deal like Najera for Barry) but it doesn't change that there are more teams looking for a PG or a C than teams looking for a PF.
Solid Responses all-around. The Nuggets really don't have that many assets. Najera and Kleiza are 3-4 tweeners and Martin has bum knees.
The only thing I'll take issue with is Evans not being a Center. I never said he could be a Center, just that he had center-like qualities, namely rebounding. I doubt a team would pass on trading for him because he's 6'8, if they need a rebounder.
I just disagree on the whole with your premise that "Centers" are sought after and "Power Forwards" are not. In today's NBA, the line between those two positions is blurry. Some Centers pass (Brad Miller), some Centers run (Amare Stoudemire), some Centers shoot (Kristic, Brezec), some are small (Ben Wallace), and some are big (Rasho). There are "Power Forwards" out there that do all of things and are all of those things as well.
Ultimately what makes a player desirable is what they can DO and how that relates to team needs, more than what position that person plays.
instead of speed how about some rebounding?
So many people post about how the Spurs veterans and coaching staff, especially Pop can bring out the hidden talent or remold a player's faults into strengths. I don't really keep up with the people who believe this myth but it's an interesting theory.
That being said, I wonder if these folks getting on the Elson bandwagon and predicting his defense will improve because of the Spur's influence?
I've said it before and I will say it again: I like Elson. He was a solid pickup that I think will really help us. Here's how I define "help":
- He will have permanently claimed the starting role by All-Star break
- He will contribute offensively to the extent that the opponent will not be able to double off him, e.g. Bruce Bowen.
- He will be important enough to the system that, when evaluating the Spurs' chances against an opponent, he will not be counted as a weakness or liability.
I cannot and will not put statistics to his play, because those are largely dependent upon the play of others. But I honestly believe he is going surprise some people. The Spurs don't get player if they can't play a role.
I think Elson's role, and his fulfillment of such, will really help us.
If not, I'll be happy being the one who eats the crow.
One thing's for sure.. Elson knows how to play small ball
Well it'll be damn nice to have someone over seven feet tall playing it for a change.
just like the rest of em'......TIMMAAY will make him look good!
TIMVP4LIFE
He's athletic, young, and quick. I think he'll be able to guard the quicker forwards.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
