Diaw, Bobcats parting ways?
If you watched the San Antonio Spurs play the Bulls and Nuggets in the last week, you know the Spurs had trouble on the glass in both games.
With the trade deadline approaching, you're going to hear a ton of rumors that most likely won't come to fruition. Then a bunch of guys that didn't get traded are going to get bought out and be rumored to go to a contender. The Spurs will definitely be in on a bunch of those guys too.
Here's a new name for you. Boris Diaw. According to The Charlotte Observer (via Slam Online), Diaw's agent has asked the Charlotte Bobcats to buy out the power forward's contract.
“The chances of Boris Diaw not finishing the season with the Charlotte Bobcats are growing, with his agent inquiring about a buyout that would free Diaw to sign elsewhere. Bobcats president of basketball operations Rod Higgins said Tuesday that he met with Diaw before the All-Star break about Diaw’s role and his expiring contract. Higgins said he has since had discussions with Diaw’s agent, Doug Neustadt. ‘Boris and I had a meeting prior to the All-Star break, maybe Wednesday before. We talked about quite a few things,’ Higgins said. “The issue with the buyout, it was raised on their side, from Doug. We haven’t gone down that road any further."
You may have the same opinion of Diaw that I do. I don't want to come right out and say it, but if you google Diaw's name, the second thing that comes up is "Boris Diaw fat." He's always been the type of guy to play his way in to shape. Here's what you may not know about Diaw. For some reason, Phoenix thought they should sign him to a deal that pays him $9 million a year. Thus he pretty much became toxic despite being a decent player for Charlotte. This season, despite falling out of head coach Paul Silas' favor, Diaw is averaging 7.7 ppg, 4.4 apg and 5.6 rpg. Decent all around numbers.
Next question is how would he fit in with the Spurs. I think he'd be a decent fit in silver and black.
First, he can score from a couple different places on the court. According to the NBA.com Stats Cube, Diaw is shooting 53 percent in the restricted area and 43 percent from mid-range. 33 percent of Diaw's scoring comes in the restricted area, 13 percent comes from inside the paint but outside the restricted zone, 22 percent comes from the mid-range and 30 percent comes from non-corner 3's. So he shoots from all over, though he probably shouldn't be taking two and a half threes a game. His defensive rebounding rate is 17 percent (meaning he collects 17 percent of available rebounds) would be good enough for second on the Spurs. Also, according to Synergy Sports, Diaw ranks 23rd in the league in defending the roll man in the pick and roll. So there's three areas he'd help the Spurs in.
Another big bonus if the Spurs were to pursue Diaw is the fact that Tony Parker is his best friend. I'm sure Parker would say "Hey, come try and help us win a title, hang out at my place for three months and see where this goes". Lastly, black is a slimming color, which will help Diaw shed that not nice nickname about him.
What say you Spurs fans? Assume the Spurs can get Diaw for nothing, do you want him?
I hope this time around we can get this guy after seeing all of the players that the team pursued turned their backs and sign up to other teams. If he really is gonna be available, will got a good shot as he we have TP to convince him. Very very valueble as he is an all around player and is an above average defender. I like him more than kaman even if Chris is taller. Diaw plays taller than his height.
yeah he can help, he'd be better than dick jefferson who doesn't play defense at all and whose basketball IQ is as low as francisco elsons and at he least diaw can pass and defend the pick and roll.
if this were nba 2k i'd be super excited to pick him up, but can he play defense? he'd be a nice versatile 4 off the bench and would help spread the floor and move the ball around on the 2nd unit. pop and tp could probably light a fire under him to get back in shape.
For free - take him..then make him jog from Charlotte to SA to get in shape. When we played the Bobcats he was fat and ran out of steam in a hurry.
1 Like
if he could get in shape before playoffs, i wouldnt mind it. his numbers are pretty solid and show he has an all around type of game. yeah hes kinda short but hes shown he can bang around with bigger guys. the biggest thing for me though is he solves the big conundrum of a big with a reliable shot other than just posting up. last year we had mcdyess as a very reliable 15-18 foot shooting big man. idk why everyone kept complaining about mcdyess when he was our second best (and sometimes the best) post defender and freed up timmy to post inside without clogging the lane but whatever. now without mcdyess, pop has tried to transform timmy into that pick and pop player so that dejuan or tiago wont get trapped by two defenders underneath and honestly its ugly. I cant remember timmy ever shooting this inefficiently on a nightly basis cause he has to take that 15 footer and it pisses me off. so we try to solve it with matt bonner being in there so that timmy can go to work down low. i love bonner, but whenever we play a team with a good inside game or even a good driving game, he shows glimpses of why we'll get bounced easily in the playoffs. diaw would fill the bonner spot and help recreate what mcdyess did. his defense is a lot better than bonners (already liking the idea of diaw), he fights for boards really really well, he has a 15-18 footer and can even stroke the 3 if he gets hot. honestly you could pair him with tim or tiago without forcing either one to play out of their element and you wouldn't lose anything on defense. i think itd be a good quiet pick up but chemistry and minutes would have to be solved quickly if this were to happen
Well he did pretty good the following seasons while he was with the Suns and in the playoffs when the Spurs and the Suns met up, but that was years back and I haven't witnessed any same effect on the court. Although he's playing with the WORST team in the NBA, getting less playing time and not around much key-players. If he as a player could be the beast in the paint he was when the Spurs played him when he was in Phoenix than I would accept him as a player on the Spurs roster.
