Offseason thread... MLE,Draft, and all the other stuff...

[SD2042]

With ATL trading the majority of their expiring contracts to Sactown for Bibby. The Hawks don't have salary to sign both Smoove and J-Chill. With that, J-Chill I believe will be with another team come next fall. How much will he demand, I can't say. Personally, I'm 50/50 about his skills due to that I still think he leaves a lot to be determine.

[Ballings7]

Another guy I really like (since his rookie year) is Rodney Carney. Not sure how much Philly will want him back, but if we decide we want to go even younger (than like who's been talked about), Carney would be quite a pick-up IMO. Has had his ups and downs so far, but very long, very athletic, and easily one of the quickest SG/SFs in the league. Has significant defensive ability and up-side, and can shoot out to three. Active player in the paint.

I just love watching him

[mudyez]

some nmes I'd ike to see in black n' silver:

as for insideplayers we will have duncan, splitter, oberto, bonner...maybe thomas but if thomas leaves I'd love us to get our hands on desagana diop as he is more of a big center to go against the al jeffersons, shaqs and bynums!...cant think of another possibility

as for wings, we should have udoka, bowen, manu...maybe barry...there surely is need for an athletik wing and I really like josh childress or devin brown here...while udoka can take some of finleys minutes...quinton ross may be a nice player too at the wings

as for PG we have parker and vaughn...I'd love to get the hands on chris duhon, as he is a nice complement to parker and he can play pretty good defense...jason hart would be an option too.

so diop+childress+duhon would be perfect(though I'd like to retain thomas over getting diop)...but maybe to expensive

[Tribbiani]

I was talking about that in my blog (in spanish) www.texaspurs.blogspot.com
I hope translate every section of my blog to english soon.

Point Guards:

-Chris Duhon (perfect back up for Tony P)
-Carlos Arroyo (great scorer,soft defender)
-Salim Stoudamire (His cousin is playing bad for us,but he was a hell of shooter in Arizona and could be of big help for us if we lost Barry this summer,he

[Blame Rasho]

i think with what delfino brings in athleticism/measurables (6'6", 230, great mix of ability on the athletic front), combined with his solid defense and quality rebounding for his position (nearly double the rebound rate of navarro) and you have a player that should really be drawing some interest from the spurs.

The thing about Delfino is that he is a drama queen... he always bitched about PT with the Pistons his role would be the same. He has all the physical qualities that you would want but his mindset isn't exactly what i would want from a player. There are times that he will be in the doghouse and he is going to have to shut up and deal with getting spot min at times esp if we have a groove going on.

The thing about Childress that I really like is that he is effective without the ball. He is a respectable defender and is a very high percentage shooter/scorer on a bad team. In other words he doesn't take stupid shots or plays recklessly. He is a Spur type of guy. Jeez... the guy is shooting 57% percent and he is a swing player.

[Blame Rasho]

-= original quote snipped =-



This also crossed my mind. But do you think Atlanta will match a full MLE offer for Childress?

Well they have their hands full with Smith becoming a FA and honestly do they really need another swing player? I don't think he is a lock to stay with the Hawks.

[ss1986v2]

The thing about Delfino is that he is a drama queen... he always bitched about PT with the Pistons his role would be the same. He has all the physical qualities that you would want but his mindset isn't exactly what i would want from a player. There are times that he will be in the doghouse and he is going to have to shut up and deal with getting spot min at times esp if we have a groove going on.

i disagree to a point. i dont think its fair to bring up his situation in detroit without looking at it from all sides. i dont think delfino was complaining about having limited minutes (ie, being a role player), but not having any consistent minutes. delfino would go stretches where he wouldnt see the court but for the last 5 minutes of blow-outs. and it wasnt like he was being worked into the team (ie, udoka). after 2+ years, he was still getting the same treatment. id be ticked too if i was him.

its the nature of every nba player; you want consistent minutes, even if they are limited. and delfino, at times, wasnt getting that from detroit. that wouldnt be an issue here, as he would easily step right into either the starting sg spot (if manu is off the bench) or possible the first wing off the bench. i dont see how his role would be the same here and now, as it was in detroit then.

i dont want to make it out like its not an issue at all. any time you bring a player into the fold that has a history (even a limited one) of being a vocal dissenter, its got to raise flags. but i just dont see it being as big an issue now as it was then. delfino has established himself of being able to handle sixth-man level PT, and there would be available minutes on this team next year. he would be getting consistent minutes, even if there were limited at the start.

as for chillz, mark me down in the minority on him; id rather the spurs not waste time on him. his game has quite a few deficiencies that dont get reflected in the box scores. he gets credit for being a good defender, but his athletic ability severely limits him in this regard. hes too weak to cover bigger small forwards, and he doesnt have the foot speed to hang with most/any point guards. and those two things combined make him a less than desirable match-up against the elite shooting guards of the league either.

his outside shot is worse than streaky, bordering on not there (think a slightly better tony parker). he hits a decent clip (35% career) but averages less than 1 attempt a game, even less this season. check out his hot zones from last season: of his 517 fg attempts last year, 339 came from withing 2 feet of the basket. the bulk of his point come on cleaning up around the basket. his midrange game is almost non existent (he shot 31% on 103 attempts in the midrange last year). and he gets ripped by some hawks fans for spending the bulk of his time on the offensive end sitting around the basket looking for garbage points, instead of out on the wings. a quote from a hawks fan, and although hes a bit of a chillz hater, ive seen this same sentiment from other posters as well:

The reason they don't run plays for him is that he can't shoot unless he has a Wal-Mart's worth of room in front of him.

It isn't like he can come off a screen to shoot a jumper. He can't post up unless he has a pg on him. he can't beat guys off the dribble.

The reason the other players shoot worse when he is playing {refering to teammates shooting percentages while chillz is on the floor} is that he hurts the spacing. He isn't a perimeter threat at all and so he hangs around underneath the basket. That makes it easier on the defense and makes it tougher for us to get open shots.

from everything ive read, and from what ive seen, chillz seems to be the kind of player that fills a box score pretty well, but can actually have little to no impact on overall successfulness of the team (not always, but sometimes). i dont think hes a horrendous player or anything, i just dont think he really fits the wants/needs of a wing player for the spurs.

[Blame Rasho]

dont think its fair to bring up his situation in detroit without looking at it from all sides...etc

I never liked that he was bitching about his playing time to the mass media. I think that is a big no no if you are just starting off in the NBA that has goals for a championship. It isn't like he set the world on fire when he did get mins. I just get the impression that he would be in Pop's doghouse like Rose,Udrih and company. I have not seen him alot, I will honest about that but there isn't anything that screams to me that we should go balls out and sign him. I don't really think of him as a starter worthy player. I am also not a fan of a guy who is a career 40% shooter. You got to be Bowen on D for that to be overlooked. We just scored 8 points in a qtr and even before than 5 points in a qtr. I am not sure if he is all that different from Finely if can't shoot a better percentage. It isn't to say I wouldn't welcome him here if we did indeed sign him. We need an injection of youth and he is that but I wouldn't have high expectations of him being a valued contributor.

I don't think Childress is really remarkable. I see him as a system player that can mesh well with the Spurs. I think he is the best "fit" for our team given the FA's that could be had. None of our players have great speed or are really strong but we play good as a unit. I think he is a good rebounder for a swing player, and has length to really bother some players if we have TD manning the post. I just don't want some guy who is shooting jumpshots after jumpshots if he can't make them. I hate it when we have Finley shooting some contested jumpshot which he does far too often. I value a player who knows his limitations.

[Blame Rasho]

Oh do you like anyone in the draft ss1986v2? I would really be happy if some how some way we could get Donte Greene. Last year I thought it was a long shot to get Tiago and we landed him.

[ss1986v2]

i get the issues with delfino and understand, and dont totally disagree. i think the finley comparison may be a bit apt. but i think he is better than finley, from both a offensive and defensive front, as well as being a much better athlete and very good rebounder (but losing out in the leadership category by a good bit). if delfino could simply be a better version of finley has been, id be ecstatic. guess i just have a lower ceiling as far as expectations go lol.

as for the draft and greene, i feel the same way about him as i have about all tweeners; im not the biggest fan. not that im against the fundamental idea, just that in practice, the results never seem to meet the expectations. id much rather have a player with a much more defined skill set (say, good outside player, poor low-post player, or vice versa) rather than a player that is simply passable in both areas (ok outside player, ok inside player).

he is very interesting, and id love to have a shot at him. but if tiago was a long shot last year, the chances of landing greene is right up there with haleys comet. if he comes out, hes got lottery potential written all over him (and without any the contractual issues that caused tiago to drop).

as for other prospects that are in our range, and with looking to a wing player as the likely pick, im in love with courtney lee at the moment.

not the "long three" that so many seem to covet, hes a true shooting guard. 6'5", 200 lbs with an average wingspan. buts hes a good enough athlete (not explosive, but fast enough and strong for his size). he has a good outside shot (right around 40% on around 5 attempts per game). hes a born team player, and a half decent defender. but while he was the sun belt player of the year, its still the sun belt, so the level of competition hes faced may be an issue. but he may be the most nba ready wing available around our pick. check out his draftexpress page for a more indepth analysis.

but if the spurs look to sign a wing player this summer, he would be a fine 5th wing, either getting spot minutes, or possibly spending the year down in the dleague for stretches to get PT.

[Ballings7]

Ryan Gomes (great rebounder who has improving his scoring hability,can play as SF or PF)

I agree. Different kind of swing player, but still one I think would be a solid addition to the team. Bringing a different dimension, good size, gets after it, and has some athleticism.

[lukeridenour]

out of the names mentioned i would love to have kelena azibuke or ryan gomes. both players are very talented and both rebound well. i would prefer these 2 because i dont think they will command the full mle. i could be wrong about gomes tho.

childress would be the full. and if we do get him it'll be a hit or miss. if he struggles, we just cashed 5.6 mil on him for multiple years. if he pans out and plays above his value, that would be ideal.

[Ballings7]

I know it was against the Knicks, but Childress had a heck of a hustle game a couple games ago... 22 pts, 9 rebs, 3 steals

Aside from a three, 3 trips to the line (off a foul draw on a cut, a fast-break lay-up attempt, and something else), all his points were at the basket on put-backs, dunks. He's quite a smooth athlete.

[co_laper]

Considering the Spurs had trouble with Diop before, i think the Spurs FO will be high on him.

Anyways, we can go on a lot of ways here. I think it depends on how we get beat in the playoffs. Like for instance, if we got beat because of athleticism, I think the Spurs will try to address that first and foremost. And who wins the title and how they win it will like have an effect.

For instance, we won because of experience last year and suddenly the market is open again for veteran players. Teams use the champion as an example. That's why the market is open for PJ or Penny or Allan Houston. Guys start taking a look.

And if we got beat for example because we couldn't stop Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol, i think the Spurs will go and take a look at athletic Big Men.

So i think it's 2 things that's gonna effect our summer.
1. Who wins the title?
2. How we got beat?

[mudyez]

and if become champs, just resign everybody!

[Ballings7]

Anyways, we can go on a lot of ways here. I think it depends on how we get beat in the playoffs. Like for instance, if we got beat because of athleticism, I think the Spurs will try to address that first and foremost. And who wins the title and how they win it will like have an effect.

For instance, we won because of experience last year and suddenly the market is open again for veteran players. Teams use the champion as an example. That's why the market is open for PJ or Penny or Allan Houston. Guys start taking a look.

And if we got beat for example because we couldn't stop Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol, i think the Spurs will go and take a look at athletic Big Men.

So i think it's 2 things that's gonna effect our summer.
1. Who wins the title?
2. How we got beat?

I think that approach is going to be an underlying aspect of the off-season.

Because, regardless of what goes on in the playoffs, we're going to have to get younger on the perimeter, and add a defensive big man with some experience.

Because those areas of question, favorability, certainity, and addressing aren't going to change, relating to:

- Horry retiring
- Barry staying around as third stringer (think the agreement was a 2-year deal) or retiring
- Finley not being re-signed or retiring or third string
- Possibly upgrading at back-up PG with Vaughn going to third string
- Kurt Thomas possibly retiring, or not being brought back
- The remaining bigs after the season aside from Duncan, being Bonner, Oberto, Splitter, Mahinmi

With Barry/Finley, I would think that only one of them would be back next season, in a limited role. Maybe not either of them. Anyhow, a new back-up SG/SF or starting SG (Manu off the bench) will be added.

Considering the Spurs had trouble with Diop before, i think the Spurs FO will be high on him.

Agreed, I'd love Diop here. Him going to the Nets really makes it a serious possibility. Since then, I'm actually kind of expecting us to sign him this summer.

[lukeridenour]

theres a possibility that finley is going to want to stay another year. if so do spurs fans want him back?

[Ballings7]

Sure. But he may have to move to third string. We need somebody who's younger to add to Bowen/Udoka/Ginobili on the wings.

Barry I think may be back as third string also, because he wanted more than one year on his 2nd contract. Or could retire, declining to come back.

[Hedo05]

assuming Splitter comes over next year, you don't need neither Kwame nor Diop.

You guys need to get a young and athletic wing player.

James Jones would be the perfect Spurs' player but I guess the Spurs will sign Mickael Pietrus from GS.

[lukeridenour]

childresss seems to be having a great PO series i assume everyone here is stil high on him.

hopefiully we do gett younger on the wing whether thru the draft (rush) or FA (azbuike or childress.)