Spurs Offseason

[co_laper]

I'm with the feeling that we have enough youth and depth on this team. With Splitter, Blair, Kawhi, Neal, Green, Joseph on board, I'd really like us to go get a veteran now. We're not as old as we once were. It really looks like we'll have the same team out next year.

I believe we have MLE, and that will be used for Diaw or if he bolts, then to find his replacement.

That's probably our only major asset to improve the team other than via trade. And then we'll match offers for Mills and Green, unless they get something absurd. So I'm really expecting a very quiet offseason for us.

One thing that stands out is the need for a PG. Joseph and Mills don't cut it for me. I want a TJ Ford clone.

[Nolan]

I have a feeling its going to be another boring offseason for us. Resigning Green and Diaw are going to be our priorities.

And as always we need to find a backup PG. In a dream world i'd love to see us get Jason Kidd, but I just don't see that happening.

[Ballings7]

Getting Diaw and Green back is important, but we need another big with length too... and to expunge of Bonner being a rotation player... ideally I'd like to bring back Anthony Tolliver to replace him and get a Fesenko type of big who's got some dead-on toughness...

Diaw's presence offensively will more than make up for no more Bonner... I like Bonner's shooting, but he's like a more agile Scalibrine and drops off a lot in the POs with stunting defenses... third stringer and spot minute guy

[Frankie23]

Would like to see what De Colo and Lorbek can do for the Spurs.

And hope we can bring Hanga, Richards and Bertans to play in the summer league.. Let's see what the kids have..
Lets trade Blair for some future 1st round pick..

[co_laper]

Got to see how well Lorbek plays first before deciding to trade Blair.

I'm all for a Duncan-Diaw starting lineup. Splitter should play all of Duncan's backup minutes and a few more minutes next to him, so that should give him 20-25 minutes too. After that, I want Bonner out of here. The disappearing act in the playoff is getting too old. I don't care if he adds a fadeaway this year or whatever (he added that useless floater last season), I just don't want him playing anymore in the playoffs so him being in the regular season rotation just messes things up for the playoffs.

Right now, I want Blair to get the backup minutes of Diaw. Blair might not be good/dependable enough as a starter because of his size, but in theory Blair should be the perfect energy guy off the bench. He has a hard time guarding starting bigs, but shouldn't have trouble againts backup bigs. In fact, he should be better both offensively and defensively againts most backup bigs.

Lorbek, it's well chronicled that rookie bigs need time to adjust to NBA rules. That's why most young bigs have foul trouble issues. Lorbek isn't young, but he's not familiar with NBA rules either. Even if he's really really good defensively, it won't be until his second year that he gets familiar with the NBA. And for those who are talking about his offense, we are a team with.. Duncan, Manu, Parker, Neal, Jackson, Patty, Green, Splitter, Diaw, and even Kawhi. Unless Lorbek comes in as good offensively as Tim Duncan was, forget about the Spurs running plays for Lorbek to get post ups or shots. He's the 5th option whenever he steps on the floor. Even running plays for a Bonner 3 pointer is a better option than getting Lorbek shots because atleast there's one thing Bonner does that is elite. Shoot 3 pointers. So really, unless Lorbek is elite at the NBA level when it comes to shooting or posting up, forget about it.

De Colo, I just don't see where he fits in right now. Our roster is guard heavy. Even as a PG, we already have Joseph and Patty as our young project PGs. Having 3 PG in the roster is enough. I'd even entertain the idea of having 4 PG along with Joseph and Patty if that 4th PG is a veteran PG. But why have 3 young PG backing up Parker? That just doesn't make sense. And even as a SG, we're loaded at that position already with Manu, Green, and Neal. Just don't make sense having him here. Perhaps the year after when we're likely to let Neal go in Free Agency, or if Joseph shows us nothing/Patty not here. He just sounds like a summer 2013 addition. If he's gonna force his way to the NBA this season, I'm betting it's not gonna be in a Spurs uniform. He'll be traded for a future 2nd rounder to some team.

[TwentyOne920]

De Colo's D or lack thereof could also mean he could get beaten for a roster spot by Denmon.

As it is I think Pop is finally fed up with Bonner's disappearing act and has tasked RC to move him.

[Donald Kaufman]

I don't like our bigs rotation. They're fine for the regular season but too many of them disappear in the playoffs. Loved the addition of Diaw and hope we can re-sign him. Apparently Camby has limited his wishlist to 5 teams and we're one of them. I didn't see him play for the Rockets and he's ancient now but he was serviceable in Portland.

[Frankie23]

The difference between Bonner and Lorbek is that you can guard Bonner with Derek Fisher.. Cause only thing he has is his 3 point shot and a tier drop which is terrible with traffic.
Lorbek has a much better offensive skillset, so you can't play small ball with him on court.
Lorbek offense is much better than Splitter, Bonner and DeJuan Blair. (at least what he has shown in Europe). You can add Diaw to the list cause he's smaller and a passing first PF.
Of course he isn't Tim Duncan, but adding a big is not a mistake.

De Colo is because we don't have a back up PG (Mills opted out) and we may lose Dany Green or next year, Gary Neal.

Maybe adding players is cause they are considering a trade..

[Ballings7]

Even with the addition and infusion of Splitter most recently - this team still has to get bigger and have productive defensive size up front next to Tim... it's been an issue since 2008. It showed against OKC and at times against LAC, and would of against Memphis and LAL.

2005 - Horry, Nazr, Rasho

2006 - Horry, Rasho, Nazr (lost to Dallas, not the best match-up against Dirk, but who really is unless you're really agile and have good size up front too? Well, Miami was with their group. We took them to seven and the length up front helped here for sure). Oberto wasn't all in yet.

2007 - Horry, Oberto, Elson (he was hit and miss, yes, but his length and mobility was a constant off the bench... Elson was our last big with a notable combination of athleticism and size). Good group at that time in their career + Duncan.

2008 - Horry (still solid, but not quite the same as the years before), Thomas, Oberto. Couldn't really know how good and dynamic Boston/LAL would be in the middle of the season, but after that, LAL and Boston started a trend of teams getting better up front, and we never really changed and didn't get notably better until 2011. Injuries played a part, but still. I think we could of gave Boston a series in '08, but I'd lean to us losing against them to be honest. At this point, we didn't have that second big who was a real presence around the basket next to Tim. Kurt's never been that type of big guy, and Oberto is a second-tier helper, but was a good one.

I at times see this stuff like "the league has changed, you don't need much size anymore, just quickness and tenacity", no it hasn't... we've slowly gotten less competent up front defensively over time, and it's a serious issue the FO still hasn't addressed enough yet. Role-players getting older and retiring mean you go and replace them with similar or decent enough ones from what they provided before. Miami got away with their defensive style because almost their whole team is quick-footed and pretty smart defensively, but they still need more size.

I think in general, every team should have three bigs with length on the roster that can play in a rotation, either frequently or on a semi-regular basis. I really would of liked to see us sign Fesenko instead of Mills, to be honest.

Camby would be fantastic and could be used as needed in the regular season to keep him in shape, and then play more in the playoffs. His size, agility, and experience hasn't left him, this is why he's had such a long career. It was special in his prime and hasn't dropped off yet. Somebody like Varejao would be ideal.

I say definitely get him, before Boston does or Miami.

Regardless, more size is needed up front still IMO... I wouldn't feel satisfied at PF/C if we don't add any player who could help us there.

[Donald Kaufman]

It's funny that every team wanted to get bigger to compete with the Lakers, and now the Lakers aren't the team to beat in the west anymore. I don't necessarily think a lack of productive bigs was the main reason we lost to the Thunder.

Parker getting locked down by Sefolosha was a big factor, plus as much as it pains me to say it, Pop was outcoached again. It happened last year against Hollins in the Grizzlies series and it happened again this year against Brooks. Pop is greatness obviously but he seems to get fixated on certain players and plays them too many minutes in key spots and seems stubborn to change. Plus his in-game adjustments are not great. He tends to be reactionary rather than dictating the way the gameplan is executed. As soon as he started playing Blair big minutes in the WCF I knew it was over. Pop panicked and that was it.

[Ballings7]

Productive size around the paint in multitude form still matters, just because it isn't prevalent around the league like it was 2-3 years ago and prior, doesn't mean it shouldn't be sought. We should do that as much as we can, and with another solid big with length around to help Duncan, that'd be great for us. It'd be the best front-court since 2005 and 2006.

The bigs behind Thabo helped, too.

Duncan/Splitter/Diaw and someone like Camby or Fesenko or Hadaddi (not the strongest, but really good length in bench minutes) or K. Brown (say what you want, but I still like his presence defensively) would be sweet. A good mix of offense and defense.

Hell, I'd take Ben Wallace with ease right now over Bonner...

[Frankie23]

I like Camby, but i don't think we can pay him more than a vet contract.. I don't see him coming to San Antonio.
Fesenko hasn't prove that he's an NBA player.. He's big, but he's not even in the Bobcats rotation..
Defensive bigs are needed, but offensive bigs too. Of course the combination of those is better.
We have Splitter, Duncan, Bonner and Diaw.. We need someone more..And it has to be better than Blair which should be traded for a 1st round pick.
Let's give Lorbek a chance..

[co_laper]

I at times see this stuff like "the league has changed, you don't need much size anymore, just quickness and tenacity", no it hasn't... we've slowly gotten less competent up front defensively over time, and it's a serious issue the FO still hasn't addressed enough yet. Role-players getting older and retiring mean you go and replace them with similar or decent enough ones from what they provided before. Miami got away with their defensive style because almost their whole team is quick-footed and pretty smart defensively, but they still need more size.

IMO, offensively the league is geared toward a perimeter oriented game ever since the "no handcheck" rule is made. Small Ball is the new NBA. Tweener SF/PF are the NBA PFs. Right now when I think about Centers, it's a must that teams need an athletic shotblocking Center. I wish we have that. Duncan and Splitter (our centers) are locked to the ground. Diaw and Blair are to small to challange shots at the rim. Shotblocking is the one area where none of our bigs (outside of Duncan) actually provide. Splitter provides some low post scoring. Blair rebounding. Bonner shooting. Diaw everything and passing. If we are to add a big man and actually expect this guy to get some rotation minutes, then he must impact the game in a way that none of the other bigs can. And the one area left to do it at is Shotblocking

In other news, Danny Green tweeted "SA I'm back"

I'm guessing he got a deal sorted out.

[Curtis Lemansky]

How much cap room does Spurs have? I think Ersan Ilyasova can be a good target (maybe a s&t with Blair?)

[franktony]

Got from ST

Equipe France Basket ‏@FRABasketball

Nando De Colo est à San Antonio pour passer des tests physiques dans le cadre de sa négociation de contrat avec les Spurs. Retour le 6.

Nando De Colo is in San Antonio to pass physical tests as part of its contract negotiations with the Spurs. Back on 6.

Looks like he is coming. Thank God we finally get a decent backup PG. It was painful to watch Neal trying to play the point.

Hopefully we can bring Lorbek as well.

[Ballings7]

Small ball works in spurts, periods, but you can't use this as your main line-up and expect to win a title without playing two actual big men for a significant amount of the game or series.

I also would love to see Miami play a team with bigs like LAL or comparable versatile production because of size and creativity. In a year or two from now with trades and drafts after this off-season, it looks like well-rounded size will be making a return to the league.

A guy who's got some real agility, the kind of big we have lacked for years, since, well, Elson, Horry, and D-Rob... can't really get away with too many undersized bigs, in any situation.

[Donald Kaufman]

Yeah Neal should never be allowed to handle the ball. Just catch and shoot and nothing more.

[Ballings7]

Fesenko hasn't prove that he's an NBA player.. He's big, but he's not even in the Bobcats rotation..

Fesenko is defintiely an NBA defensive big man, and still has a lot of time to refine himself.

I don't think you saw much of him with Utah - guy has good agility for a 7 footer with a pretty good build... a defensive presence when he's out on the floor, he's also not bad at finishing around the paint. He's active and has a motor to him, not passive. Indiana signed him because he can play in this league, he just went to a deep front-court'ed team.

I'd love it if we got Fesenko as a third C

[co_laper]

I'm fine with Neal's ballhandling skills honestly. Looking at when Pop was juggling players at that backup PG position (Green was tried there also), it was clear that Neal was the best ballhandler. His problem is his shot selection. Guy takes worse shots than Manu's earlier years. Damn I really miss TJ Ford. Ford ran that backup PG spot better than any backup PG we've ever had in the last 15 years.

[Donald Kaufman]

TJ was exactly what you would want from a backup point.