Report: Kaman staying in New Orleans, won't be bought out
With the NBA trade deadline over, the San Antonio Spurs made a huge splash by acquiring former Spur Stephen Jackson from the Golden State Warriors for Richard Jefferson, T.J. Ford and a first round draft pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.
Many Spurs fans were ecstatic but the move still didn't address the Spurs' need for size.
Earlier today, a report came out that New Orleans Hornets' Chris Kaman would be bought out and had narrowed his team of choice to the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and Spurs.
And as many Spurs fans might be beaming at the thought of adding a quality big man to play along side Tim Duncan, they might want to temper their hopes.
According to Hornets GM Dell Demps (via Jimmy Smith of the The Times-Picayune) Kaman will not be bought out and will remain in New Orleans this season.
OK Spurs fans, so Kaman is out. Does this mean Duncan, Tiago Splitter, DeJuan Blair and Matt Bonner are the bigs San Antonio will go into the playoffs with? It might be. Though it won't fill Spurs fans with confidence if the Spurs face the Memphis Grizzlies again in the playoffs.
Unless Demps is just saying this now as a bluff, then the Spurs will have to look elsewhere. Do the Spurs run a risk and go after Celtics' Jermaine O'Neal if Boston buys him out as he requested?
Perhaps the best thing is to just stand pat at the center position.
hey what about ronniw turriaf? he does the small things and is going to be bought out in denver....
I really don't want mister glass J'Oneal. He is always hurt. I dont' like Boris "pass the pastries" Diaw either. He is not a true big man and is soft in the middle in more ways than one. If we had to go through Memphis, i am not as concerned. I don't see Zbo getting to 100 %. They don't have Battier, who gave us problems, and i know it sounds crazy, but they seem to play worse with Gay in the line up. They also dumped Sam Young who played well against us. They picked up Speights who played well, but I am just not afraid of that team. Plus if we have a healthy Manu and Jackson, that helps a lot. Green is better than RJ was in that series last year as well and Leonard gives us some athletiscism. If there was a way to get Kaman, I would, but it looks like he has played so well that they will keep him. Talent wise (not talking $ or contracts) the Hornets would be better off dropping Okafor than Kaman
A few items here that are flying a bit under the radar... 1) When the FA dust settles there will likely be a serviceable big or two available, or as mentioned previously, some D-League options. 2) One of the advantages of the trade was trading the salary cap hit of Ford (despite the 'retirement', we probably wouldn't have relinquished his rights/salary until after the season is over and verify he isn't coming back). This frees up a bit of salary cap space, though we are still borderline luxury tax (haven't seen the exact numbers in the salary exchange between Capn Jack and RJ). 3)McDyess could come back for the playoffs (don't think we have cleaned him off the books yet. 4)we could drop McDyess off the books completely to open up more cap space. 5)We can avoid Memphis. 6)We can play Memphis with a healthy Manu and beat them straight up.
Just a short note and question. I see that we traded a Leeson(not sure of the spelling of his name) from the Toros to another D-League team several weeks ago. He was reported to be an excellent big. In return we got several players, or maybe just one, for the Toros. The talk was he was an excellent big, albeit a little rough on the edges. Why don't the Spurs sign him to a 10-day contract and throw him into the mix. The only way you can find somebody is to try them. At the time, I felt that the Spurs traded him to get another good player, and maybe were playing poker with his abilities, and trying to hedge their bets by getting another good player for the Toros, and knowing the abilities of this man. Now is the time to wrap him up by signing him to a 10-day contract and seeing just how good he is. From what I read of him at the time, he was a good, aggressive big man who might be able to spell us for a short period in games. How do you think we get good cheap players? By signing them cheap and then trying them out. We need a big man under the basket. And at this stage, anyone will do. We need someone aggressive under the basket, who is cheap, and wants a chance at the big time. Before someone else snaps him up. We gave Scola away, time to cash in and get a potentially good big for cheap. How about it Spurs fans?
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With TP giving his seal of approval for Diaw, don't be surprised Boris is a Spur if he gets bought out.
Having O'Neal would pretty much set us ready for the playoffs. Picking up O'Neal and acquiring Justin Dentmon from the Toros to be our backup PG make me think that we would be serious championship contenders.
@spurs123 Thank you! Someone agrees to get Dentmon and put Joseph in toros for a while. Maybe he might get enough experience to come back at playoffs but I think he should stay til next training camp. Dentmon knows the system since the toros run it.
C'mon R.C. make some moves for a quality big man. All we need is a body (that is not fat and flabby like Boris Diaw) to bang with the bigs from LA and Memphis and we will be set.
