According to AOL Fanhouse, Shaquille O'Neal would like to join the San Antonio Spurs to team up with Tim Duncan for a shot at winning one more NBA title:

The source said O'Neal said the Spurs and Atlanta are at the top of his list since there is interest with those teams on both sides. FanHouse's Tim Povtak reported Monday the link between O'Neal and the Hawks, and there were indications from San Antonio on Wednesday that the Spurs do indeed have interest.

"He'd really like to go to San Antonio and team with Timmy (Duncan), and try to win one more title,'' said the source about O'Neal, who starred in high school in San Antonio. 

Spurs general manager R.C. Buford declined comment.

While the source said O'Neal would go to San Antonio for the midlevel, he said his preference if he joined the Hawks would be to get more money than that.

Imagine that Spurs fans. Shaq in a Spurs uniform. Wonder how Spurs fans would receive him after all the battles he had with the Spurs.

However, this might be highly unlikely with all signs pointing to Tiago Splitter coming to the Spurs next season to address the need for a center to play alongside Duncan. Not to mention the Spurs' midlevel exception would be used on Splitter.

All the latest San Antonio Spurs free-agency rumors for Wednesday, July 7.

Heat interested in RJ

As was reported earlier, Richard Jefferson may soon be signing a five-year deal with the Spurs, but that won't stop other teams from trying to lure Jefferson until his name is on the dotted line.

According to the Miami Herald, after signing Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the Miami Heat will now look to fill out their roster, and Jefferson, among others are targeted.

Without Jefferson, Miami already has contender written all over them, but if they can get the Jefferson from the New Jersey Nets days to show up, they may replace that contender tag with championship favorites.

Bell getting interest from Spurs

While they are not on his short list, the Spurs are reportedly interested in Raja Bell.

In an interview for a Dallas radio station, Bell said Dallas Miami and Orlando were his top three teams.

Could the Spurs still be looking for that lockdown defender they had in Bruce Bowen? If they could sign him for the bi-annual exception, the Spurs would get better defensively and add another three-point shooter to the mix at a bargain.

Parker staying or going?

We've heard plenty from Amar'e Stoudamire over the past week about his interest in playing with Tony Parker and possibly getting him to join him in New York.

Apparently Stoudamire now has his eyes set on a different point guard.

While Amar’e Stoudemire would love to team up with point guard Tony Parker, a source told The Post the new Knicks power forward would prefer, given his choice of free-agent point guards, to pick-and-roll with Milwaukee’s Luke Ridnour.

The Post also said Stoudamire views Ridnour as Nash Lite. Only time will tell if Parker will remain in the silver and black.

James Anderson. Rookie on a veteran team. A team contending in its current make up. A situation that begs the age old question, "should James Anderson play immediately or ride the pine and learn the system?"

Can he make a substantive contribution in his rookie season?  I think he can and he will.

The San Antonio Spurs are most successful when they can create space for Tim Duncan through quality outside shooting or dribble penetration from their guards. But the Spurs have not had a pure shooter now for a couple of seasons and had relied on Bruce Bowen's corner threes for far too long. In the 2010 playoffs, the Spurs 33% from the three point line put them in the bottom half of all playoff teams.

In 2007, they were number one.

In their heyday, Michael Finley, Bowen, and Robert Horry all shot over 35% from long distance, making the decision to sag off of perimeter shooters and double team Duncan a lose-lose proposition for Spurs' opponents. In 2005, the numbers were even more impressive with FIVE players shooting over 40% from the three point line. It is easy to see the asset these role players were to the Spurs system of offense.

Enter Anderson. Perhaps the best pure shooter available in the 2010 NBA Draft. Anderson averaged 38% from three over his three seasons for the Oklahoma State Cowboys with a percentage as high as 41% in the 2008-2009 season. Here is what Hoops World has to say about him:

The San Antonio Spurs got their guy with the 20th overall pick in James Anderson from Oklahoma State. Anderson, arguably the best shooter in the draft, will give the Spurs the outside shooting threat that they sorely lacked last year.

Anderson has the potential to be another Spurs' steal. He was underrated throughout his entire college career and that didn't change on draft night, which suits the Spurs just fine. They've created a dynasty off of players who went overlooked in the draft.

There is no doubt it takes time for a college player to learn the system of an NBA team. He will make mistakes along the way but with a skill set like his, he can make an immediate contribution by knocking down jump shots the way he has for his entire career.

Interesting. One of the biggest factors missing from this Spurs team is one that Mr. Anderson brings to the table immediately.

It is no secret the Spurs do not have many more years left with Duncan. To put a weapon like Anderson on the bench when he can be a contributing role player in at least one more NBA Championship run for this team would be a sad sight to see. So I say play him, Pop and let's win some more hardware for Duncan's trophy case.

According to the nydailynews.com, the San Antonio Spurs could have a deal to re-sign Richard Jefferson for five years:

Clearly, there’s a side deal in place to re-sign him ($45M over five years) that starts at $7M. That allows San Antonio to get under the luxury tax and save roughly $20M, the $8M lopped off his original deal (doubled) and the $3M-to-$4M the team figures to pocket from the equally divided loot paid by the teams over the luxury tax.

Got to like the Spurs getting some financial relief if this report is true but not liking five more years of Jefferson in a Spurs uniform.

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According to noticiasdealva.com, Tiago Splitter's camp has urged the San Antonio Spurs to move quickly to make him an offer as his July 15 2010, deadline approaches which grants Splitter an exit from his contract with Caja Laboral:

A poco más de una semana de plazo para que expire la fecha límite (15 de julio) que le permite acogerse a una cláusula de salida y rescindir su contrato con el Baskonia para las dos próximas temporadas, los agentes del pívot brasileño ya han apremiado a los Spurs para que trasladen en el menor tiempo posible una oferta satisfactoria que haga realidad el sueño del todavía integrante azulgrana de cruzar este verano el charco.

A little over a week to expiry of the deadline (July 15) that allows you to benefit from an exit clause and terminate his contract with Baskonia for the next two seasons, officials of the Brazilian power forward and have urged Spurs to move as quickly as possible a satisfactory offer to make the dream of Barca integral still crossing the pond this summer. (translated using Google Translate)

I hope the mid-level exception (MLE) is satisfactory for Splitter as the Spurs have the MLE which more than likely will be offered to Splitter.

On this episode of the Spurscast, Mike De Leon could not make the show so I was joined by Project Spurs' writers, Jordan Rivas and Jeff Cerda. We talk about the Tony Parker trade rumors, if Tiago Splitter's game will translate into the NBA, Richard Jefferson opting out and much more.

Oh and Jeff Cerda "admits" he proudly owns two Ian Mahinmi jerseys!

The Spurscast, the first and original Spurs podcast.

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Music: "Stinkfist" by Tool

(note: recorded before a report the San Antonio Spurs do not want to trade Tony Parker to the New York Knicks)

No not with the San Antonio Spurs, but free-agent Roger Mason Jr., is close to signing a new deal which could be done by the end of this week according to his agent Mark Bartelstein:

“We’re going through it day by day,” Mason’s agent Mark Bartelstein said Tuesday. “We have to go through the process. There’s a domino factor to all of this.”

The teams which have expressed interest in Mason have been the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, and the Portland Trailblazers.

Mason went on to say this about his playing time and his drop in numbers:

“It started with me in the playoffs last year,” Mason said shortly after this past season ended. “That was the first time I had gotten benched by Pop. It’s kinda lasted a while.

“It hasn’t been ideal, but I think I’ve continued to improve as a player, which is weird because most times if you numbers look the way mine do from one year to the next, you think that you’re a worse player. But I actually feel like I’m a better player.”

(source NBA.com)

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Arianné is back for the latest Spanish edition of the Spurscast. In this episode, Arianne recaps the latest news on the Spurs' first-round pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, Richard Jefferson opting out of his contract and much more.

Remember, Project Spurs was the first Spurs blog to have a San Antonio Spurs podcast and the first to have a Spanish podcast for Spanish-speaking Spurs fans.

Arianne regresa con el Spurscast en Español mas reciente.  En este episodio Arianné repasa el noticias de la 2010 NBA Draft, Richard Jefferson y mucho mas notacias de los Spurs.

Y recuerden que Project Spurs fue la primera página de Internet en tener un podcast de Los San Antonio Spurs y la primera en tener un podcast en español para los fanáticos de habla hispana.

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Yesterday, free-agent Amar'e Stoudemire told the New York Daily News, he could lure San Antonio Spurs' guard, Tony Parker, into a New York Knicks' uniform fueling speculation that Parker could be traded to the Knicks.

According to TNT's David Alderidge, the Spurs have no desire in trading Parker:

Stoudemire said over the weekend that he thought he could lure both Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony and Spurs guard Tony Parker to New York, though both are currently under contract to their respective teams for another year. But a Spurs source said on Sunday that San Antonio has no interest in trading Parker to the Knicks in any kind of package involving Lee, the only significant chip the Knicks have left to use in a potential deal.

As the report states, the Spurs have no desire to trade Parker to New York but does it leave the door open for another team he could be traded to if the offer entices the Spurs?

Parker will be a free-agent after this season and he has expressed he would like to explore his options once his contract with the Spurs is over.

Hola amigos y fieles seguidores de los San Antonio Spurs. Hoy repasare unas noticias sobre los Spurs con ustedes.

Comenzamos con la emocionante noticia de nuestro mas nuevo jugador elegido la noche de la reclutacion de la NBA 2010, James Anderson. Este joven jugador fue reclutado de la Universidad del estado de Oklahoma. Anderson a sido uno de los anotadores mas productivos en la historia de baloncesto de los Cowboys ya que durante su temporada final con la Universidad del estado de Oklahoma, Anderson anoto 735 puntos,el segundo que mas ha anotado superandolo JamesOn Curry jugador de los Chicago Bulls ahora. Bueno pues felicidades a James Anderson de parte de la familia de Project Spurs y una cálida bienvenida. Esperemos que la llegada de James Anderson sea la nueva construcción de un equipo invencible.

Bueno y de esta noticia pasamos a otra bastante sorprendente ya que involucra a nada mas y nada menos que a Richard Jefferson. De acuerdo a el entrenador de los Spurs Gregg Popovich, el delantero Richard Jefferson a optado por quedarse fuera de su ultimo año de contrato. Esta decisión tomada por Jefferson le ahorrara a los Spurs $15.2 millones de dólares. Lamentablemente Jefferson mostró un puntuaje extremadamente bajo durante esta ultima temporada con los San Antonio Spurs y desde su comienzo con los New Jersey Nets. Bueno pues esperemos que esta decisión sea solo para lo mejor de ambos los Spurs y Richard Jefferson.

Continuamos con noticias de Tony Parker quien comento la posibilidad de no seguir siendo parte del equipo de los Spurs después de la próxima temporada que será su ultimo año de su contrato actual con los Spurs. El joven jugador a estado involucrado en rumores de ser intercambiado a otro equipo durante los últimos meses pero en una entrevista reciente con www.basketusa.com, Parker nos revelo sus pensamientos:

"Seran 10 años al final del próximo año, que eh jugado en San Antonio. Seria una buena vuelta y quizás un buen reto para mi irme a otro lugar. Si me voy, puedo formar otra carrera,8,9, años en otro club."

De acuerdo a las palabras del joven jugador, parece ser que a el no le incomodaría en lo mas mínimo el cambio.  Ciertamente hay que reconocer que Parker a sido un jugador elemental en nuestro equipo y francamente no seria una buena decisión intercambiarlo pronto.

Bueno amigos y fieles seguidores, eh llegado a el final de nuestras noticias. Gracias nuevamente por acompanarnos y hacer de Project Spurs su citio informativo de los Spurs.

English version

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