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#1
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Ray (San Antonio, TX): Give me a Spurs question Marc, please! No Scola, Oberto not looking great, no real offensive pickups in the offseason! What are my Spurs doing? It looks like Dallas and Pheonix are moving forward and the Spurs are running in place. Any chance we can convince Duncan to play the 5 and pick up another strong 4 (or bring Scola in)? They don't look like an elite team to me next year with this bench. Marc Stein: (1:42 PM ET ) What? I thought the Spurs had a quietly HUGE week last week. I'd much rather have Elson and Butler splitting $5 mil than Mohammed. I'm betting on the Spurs to make a player out of one of them at the least.
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#4
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"Quietly had a HUGE week..." Exactly. Upgraded (at least, stood pat) for a lot less cash...
__________________ ![]() "Into Sean Elliott. He fires the three. AND HITS IT!" |
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#7
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Marc Stein is one of the few who actually studies each NBA team week by week, and gives them an unbiased grade on their performance. Unlike other "reporters" who only report on their favorite or most popular team at the moment. I respect what the man has to say about our Spurs whether it's good or bad.
__________________ ![]() SILVER & BLACK...WE GOT IT LIKE THAT! |
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#8
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Sure, both of them are better than Nazr for the same price. I think the doomsday was because some thought Spurs could have had Jak instead of Elson, and still had Butler. In the end, it's still a step up. I'm excited to see if Butler becomes a player.
__________________ “I went to Zimbabwe...I know how white people feel in America now, relaxed! Cause when I heard the police car I knew they weren't coming after me!” - Richard Pryor (1940 -2005) |
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#9
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#11
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You get rid of Rasho's montross of a contracl for 2 expiring ones and then you sign 2 guys who will play 5 years collectively for about 1/2 of what Nazr was going to make? Yeah, that is a HUGE week. The Spurs kept themselves in the elite class without overspeanding and ruining their salary cpa for years to come. I would have loved to see either Jak or Scola here, the off-season has been a good one for the Spurs. Although, I expect one more trade....maybe involving Barry and Bonner.
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#12
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Man, last week I did a post saying I thought the FO did "good", and people said no, they just did "okay". Now they're saying it was "HUGE". I'm sticking with they did good, under the circumstances. A year from now, when we're still celebrating our latest championship, then I'll say it was "HUGE".
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#14
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And I guess if you think hard about it, the spurs managed to: Remove Rasho and Nazr at 11 million AND Add Bonner, Williams, Butler, and Elson at 11 mill with half of that salary expiring in one year. It hasn't really impressed along the way, but looking back now, you realize that the spurs won in several ways. It wasn't spectacular, but it improves the health of the franchise financially.
__________________ Is our defense that good? I think so. And the scary part is that the whole team seems to take a sadistic pride in shutting people down. What is Pop feeding them? They looked brainwashed out there, a single minded machine that just eats up their opponents. -----pjrfan |
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#15
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Eh, "huge" is relative because we could still be without a true center. Nabbing two restricted guys is great, and the price (although bloated because they're RFA's) is right, but we'll see if either of them can fill that "hugeness."
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#19
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We aquired 3 big men with very different skill sets. Like Stein mentioned, the Spurs will likely make a serviceable starting center out of atleast one of them. And we have increased flexibility in skills to create or alleviate matchup problems that present when playing teams across different styles/players. This offseason seems pretty mundane--but one never knows. The right catalyst doesn't have to be a star, just a player who performs better than expected. |
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#23
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__________________ In the face of adversity I still say...Go Spurs Go |
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#24
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__________________ ![]() |
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#25
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If they don't use their current assets to build a trade in midseason for an actual contributor, then it seems fair to say that the Spurs will not have gotten better talentwise this year.
__________________ Whatcha gonna do when Huxamania runs wild on you?!! |
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#27
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All teams that rise to the challenge..that make it all the way...have their contributors for that year that otherwise were just ordinary players.
__________________ In the face of adversity I still say...Go Spurs Go |
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#28
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Stein couldn't be anymore right. Spurs have lost nothing this offseason when you think about it. The two stiffs we had didn't produce one moment in the playoffs to say they were anything more than bench warmers. They couldn't run or shoot or do anything that benefited the spurs last year. They won 63 games with basically everybody but them. But this team is a work in progress just the way pop likes it. I believe they are a lot more versitile with this team. I feel that barry needs to be moved. Hopefully the spurs took Horry's advise, get in shape, which I'll bet most if not all of them are doing.
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#29
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#30
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__________________ "He's an ultimate warrior and that's what we see from him night after night." - Popovich on Manu, 2-12-06 "Getting a Sixth Man award is like being the best left-handed guard," Ginobili said. "I believe you're either the best player or not." 3-26-07
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#32
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now that Marc Stein has called the Spurs offseason "huge" (and consequently has become the most respected authority for SR people). how would he call the Spurs offseason, if it wasn't plan L or M that finally somehow worked, but plan A or B? immense? gigantic? cyclopean? astronomical? |
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#34
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Overall i think they landed on their feet. Butler sounds like he has potential, Bonner will be useful in certain situations, Elson (= 6 fouls?) who knows. I don't think they have lost anythng in essentialy trading Rasho and Nazr for the above, but not sure they have gained much other than cap flexibility and maybe- just maybe a more versatle roster. The key to the moves in my book is Butler- if he improves then they make out like bandits. |
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#35
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I liked the signings. Nazr is what he is - an average Joe who has bounced around the league because he's not special at any one thing. Elson is just a space filler and 6 extra fouls, but Butler will develop into a legit upper-tier starting PF/C in the league. He's only 21 and took some bad career advice early on, otherwise, he would have been a top 5 pick in this year's draft. I think the reason he was available was that everyone assumed the Knicks would match any offers, but with $100 million owed to Curry and James, they decided to be cheapskates with the guy who had the most upside. He could easily become a more motivated/more consistent version of Eric Dampier. A solid 10/10 guy every night. |
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#36
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#38
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i still think the Elson signing was kind of desperate move. i would like this signing, if it was for 1 million and Elson was our 3rd center. people argue like: he can run the court faster than Rasho or Nazr. ok, so what? on defense he will make the foul and on offense he will be useless. after all Nazr was a very good offensive rebounder, this has some value, even if this player can't do much else on offense. Elson is a very bad offensive rebounder for a 7 footer. people look at his regular season numbers and call him "compareable to Nazr". that's BS. look at his PO numbers. in the PO he was lost on the court like Major Tom. i never thought that i will ever catch myself with a thought like: we should have tried to get Lorenzen Wright for the 3 million/year. (maybe Wright was plan G anyhow, but we never heard about it) about Butler. all like this signing and i also do, because it opens some room for hoping that a player might develope and flourish. but right now it's no reason for excitement. if the argument that Elson can run the floor well is used, people can't supress the fact that Butler is slow. very slow to tell the truth. he's lazy on defense and has an elevation like an elephant. he has a very long way to go and more important work hard to become an impact player. such a big guy who can catch the ball like Butler will always get some nice numbers in garbage time. but it might take years till he's an impact player when it really counts (in the PO). that's the problem i have with his signing. not that the Spurs took a gamble on a young player, but that we need impact players right now. Elson isn't such a player and Butler might need 3 or 4 years till he will be one. do we really have a more versatile roster? only because Elson runs faster than Rasho did and Butler can catch passes Nazr would have droped? we gave up some offensive rebounds, some blocks and what most called "position defense" for that. i'm not sure that it will equalize the production. so i now hope for two things: a midseason trade for a better PF/C (Magloire?, Foster?,Pachulia?) or an athletic SF/PF (Khryapa?,Jeffries S&T?,Najera?) and an unlikely but not impossible breakout season of Oberto. |
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#39
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Rasho + Nazr >> Elson + Butler $Rasho + Nazr$ >> $Elson + Butler$ = less talent, but save money + prospect in fat Butler = more time TD has the Ball !!!!! = tiMVP = Win = playoffs = same as last year so we'll be fine. have a chance to win it again... but it'll be a bunch of game 6 and 7s |
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#40
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from the front page of the Spursreport... Quote:
I know he was 7 foot and reasobly cheap, but there has to be more than that, right? |
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#41
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So, my take is, let's see what he can do within the Spur's system before we trash him. |
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#43
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Elson and Butler hopefully fill the role of center for the Spurs and do at a price that allows the Spurs to make upgrades in other areas should those opportunities arise.
__________________ FTL (F*** the Lakers), Inc. Est. 1980 "Hating the Lakers for over two decades" |
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#44
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let me re-phrase my question slightly- Based on the Denver article the Spurs tried to make sure that Elsons' contract was not matched- so was this just a desperation/cap move (if so at least they did not overpay like NY did for James) or is there something they like about this guy? This is a player nobody else seemed interested in. Butler I can understand the interest; he is very Young- had a decent last month of the season (21 minutes .638%, 9.3/5.5). I know the availability of top qaulity centers is low and that Rasho and Nazr where not great- but I haven't heard one word from the Spurs FO about Elson. Even Bonner they talked about his specific strengths etc. |
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#45
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the spurs figure elson will allow them to better match up when phoenix or dallas because elson is much more equipped to run the floor and can play with their small lineup moreso then rasho or nazr.what they lose in strength and experience they gain in speed and quickness.granted he and butler were like their 5th and 6th choice respectively sooo well c how they both fit in
__________________ ![]() thanks Jc u da man!!! |
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#46
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#47
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It isn't just about Dallas and Phoenix. The Spurs needed a 7-footer to play Yao and some of the other really big centers out there, during the regular season as well as the playoffs. Elson was probably about as good as they could get this summer, considering they didn't want to pay out millions more than they gave Elson. Was it a desperation cap move? Yeah, pretty close to that, but they also must have seen some positives in him.
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#48
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I don't think Elson is bulky enough to guard big guys down low.
__________________ “I went to Zimbabwe...I know how white people feel in America now, relaxed! Cause when I heard the police car I knew they weren't coming after me!” - Richard Pryor (1940 -2005) |
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#49
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#50
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