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Cheapskate....
Spurs: What's not to like about the Spurs? They are the best team in the league defensively, yet they are still finding a way to score 97 points per game. The have a legit MVP candidate in Duncan; Tony Parker continues to grow into an All-Star point guard; Manu Ginobili is lightning in a bottle (did you catch his 48-point performance against the Suns this weekend?); and they have the most underrated bench in the league.
Their coach, Gregg Popovich, is as steady as they come and has loosened the reins a little on his team offensively, which explains in part why Parker and Ginobili are having such great years. They have the experience it takes to go all the way. You'll be hard-pressed to find an executive in the league that doesn't have this team penciled in to go all the way. "We used to be like a swamp that (bred) mosquitoes," said former Spurs star and current television analyst Sean Elliott. "Our offense was totally stagnant. We would dump the ball into the low post, and everybody would stand around and watch Tim (Duncan) and Dave (Robinson). Now we have people who cut, move, pass. We can score with anybody in the league, and defensively, we're better than everybody."
What can they do to seal the deal? Their frontcourt is a little soft, especially at center. Rasho Nesterovic is having an off year and hit the injured list this weekend with a sprained ankle. The team is still holding out hope that Karl Malone will join the team. If Malone is fully healthy, the Spurs can move Duncan to center, Malone to the four and bring Nesterovic off the bench. Malone has been coy about his intentions so far, but league sources claim that if he does decide to play this year, the Spurs are the heavy favorites to get his services.
If Malone doesn't come back, expect the Spurs to remain active on the trade front. They recently tried to pry away Tyson Chandler from the Bulls and continue to look for a long, athletic big man who can block shots and rebound. They're offering Nesterovic as trade bait but would be willing to give up anyone not named Duncan, Parker or Ginobili if they could find the right guy.
Suns: After a red-hot start, the Suns have lost six of their last seven, prompting the team to take some pretty strong medicine on Friday when they traded Casey Jacobsen, Maciej Lampe and Jackson Vroman to the Hornets for veteran Jim Jackson. While everyone knows that the loss of Steve Nash led to the Suns' six-game skid, the trouble Phoenix experienced without him in the lineup underscored a general feeling upstairs: The team desperately needed more help off the bench, and management seriously believes it can win it all this year.
By pulling the trigger on this trade, the Suns believe that they've significantly narrowed a pretty wide chasm between their fifth man and their sixth man. Jackson is a significant improvement over Jacobsen and should fit well into the Suns' style of play. Now, if a Suns starter gets injured, the team shouldn't suffer quite as much drop off.
Despite rumors to the contrary, the trade wasn't made in preparation for a bigger trade involving Joe Johnson, sources told Insider this weekend. Talk of a swap with the Clippers for Chris Wilcox or with the Sixers for Samuel Dalembert is bogus. We've been writing in this space for more than a month that the Suns have interest in Dalembert, and they still do. But they've been given zero indications that the Sixers would be willing to swap him for Johnson and/or the pick they own from the Bulls. Will the addition of Jackson be enough to justify trading away big for small and young for old? Obviously the answer is yes if the Suns win the le. If they don't? The team gave up two young centers that they were high on because they weren't ready to contribute this season. If Jim Jackson, who turned 34 in October, fails to provide the expected kick, the trade could hurt them down the road. I understand why they did it, but if Lampe or Jacobsen kick-start their careers elsewhere, the team could be kicking itself down the line.
