Ginobili: "I'd love to see him play with us."

Written by Jeff Garcia on 22 June 2010.

With all signs pointing to San Antonio Spurs' 2007 NBA draft pick, Tiago Splitter, coming to the team next season, Spurs fans will finally get to see what he can do in the NBA as well as Spurs' guard Manu Ginobili.

Here is what Ginobili had to say about Splitter in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News:

"I've heard he's developed his game so much over the past couple of years," Ginobili, himself an international icon with Argentina, said Tuesday. "I'm dying to see him. I'd love to see him play with us."

Add Ginobili to the list of those eager to see Splitter wear the Spurs jersey after he was drafted three years ago.

The Bloguin 2010 NBA Mock Draft

Written by Jeff Garcia on 22 June 2010.

Why wait for the NBA Draft on Thursday to find out who the San Antonio Spurs select?

The NBA bloggers here are Bloguin got together and did a mock draft. Here is who the Spurs selected with the 20th pick by Ed from Bloguin's own NBADraftBlog.com:

#20 - San Antonio

With the 20th pick in the NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs select Avery
Bradley.

At this point, the Spurs just go with the best available player. Bradley could have gone has high as the lottery, so to get him at #20 is a steal. He will be groomed to eventually take over for Tony Parker and allows the Spurs to shop George Hill while his stock is at its highest. In the meantime, Bradley can backup both guard positions.

Interesting. He passed up on players such as Damion James, and Larry Sanders. Also, interesting to note a big-man wasn't drafted. Perhaps it wasn't needed with all signs pointing to Tiago Splitter coming to the Spurs.

As for Bradley, he is a 6'3" guard and played with the Texas Longhorns averaging 11.6 points, 2.1 assists, and shot 43.2% from the field in 2009-2010.

To see the complete mock draft, click HERE.

Spurs to work out Tucker

Written by Jeff Garcia on 22 June 2010.

Just a few days remain until the 2010 NBA Draft arrives and the San Antonio Spurs will be selecting at number 20 and 49, and the Spurs are still working out players.

According to the American Chronicle, Clay Tucker will be working out with the Spurs:

"I have a tryout with (NBA) Washington this week, then one with the Cavs," Tucker said. "I also have one with San Antonio. I'll see if I have a legitimate chance to make a club. If not, I'll go back to Spain. It's a win-win situation."

Tucker has been playing in Barcelona, Spain, including last year playing for DKV Joventut Badalona in the professional ACB League.

Tucker is a 6'5" guard who averaged 16.2 points, shot 41% form the field, 41.3% from the three-point line, 81.5% form the free-throw line, and 3.4 assists with DKV Joventut in 2009-2010.

A look at Texas' Damion James

Written by Jason Rogers on 22 June 2010.

Though he has not participated in any pre-draft workouts for the San Antonio Spurs, there is quite a bit of Internet chatter about the possibility of Texas Longhorn star forward Damion James becoming a Spur on Thursday.

In their mock draft, The Sporting News says this:

20. San Antonio. Damion James, SF, Texas. The Spurs would like to move up to get a solid wing player like Paul George or Xavier Henry but, failing that, James would help fill their small-forward need.

For those of you that don't bleed burnt orange, James has been a four year starter for The University of Texas at Austin. He is 6'7" 225 lbs. with an athletic, muscular frame. Though he was a very successful small to power-forward for the Longhorns, he will be a little undersized in the NBA and doesn't come in with a real position niche. That being said, James has made a real statement at Texas and was a genuine leader on a very good basketball team.

He has also left his mark for posterity, becoming the Big XII all-time leader in rebounding in 2010. A conference with the nation's highest RPI last season. Not an easy feat. Last season he averaged a double-double for Texas with 18 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. In his four years for the Longhorns he has never averaged less than 25 minutes per game, so he is battle tested and has proven consistency. He has even showed a lot of success from the three-point line, shooting over 38% in the 2009-2010 season. He was the guy you want to have the ball with the game on the line if you were a Longhorn fan.

Draft Express has said this about the Texas star:

Offensively, James showed great variety in how he was capable of scoring in the scrimmages, looking very comfortable operating in isolation situations, which were heavily featured for all players. Not the best advanced ball-handler in the world, James showed a very good grasp of ball fakes and jab steps, and with his excellent length (7’1 wingspan), he has little trouble getting separation for his shot when pulling up.

James also showed some nice flashes when attacking the basket, doing a good job of finishing through contact at the rim. He doesn’t have the greatest first step, but his size, length, and strength allow him to create good shot opportunities even when he can’t get past his man’s hip

As someone who has seen James play in person on many occasions, I can tell you he is a difficult player to evaluate outside of game situations. This is where he excels. His on the court personality is very reminiscent of Spurs' guard Manu Ginobili in that he is the kind of individual who constantly competes and makes the big plays which often don't show up in the stat-sheet.

This holds for him as a defender as well. Texas' coach Rick Barnes often had James guarding the opposing team's best scorer. He has the quickness of a shooting-guard but knows how to use his body in physical inside play. Here's Draft Express on James' defensive abilities:

Defensively, James was similarly impressive, looking comfortable defending on the perimeter, especially in pick-and-roll situations, where he showed excellent awareness. James’ lateral foot speed isn’t elite and his hips are a bit high, but he does an excellent job of bodying up and using his physicality to make up for it, showing an excellent level of effort and focus here.

James has the personality that Spurs fans have come to expect from its stars. He has no penchant for the spotlight, bypassing the NBA Draft as a junior to return to the 'Horns for a chance to improve his game and take one more shot at the NCAA Final Four. He doesn't pound his chest, get in fights, talk back to coaches, or make controversial comments to the media. He just plays basketball and lets his performance speak for itself.

For a fan base that has come to value personalities such as David Robinson, Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili I think Damion James will fit right in.

And if all of this isn't enough to convince you James would be a great addition to the Spurs, I submit this for your viewing pleasure:

Ginobili: "The Spurs have been always very smart in making good choices. Especially in 1999."

Written by Jeff Garcia on 21 June 2010.

The 2010 NBA Draft is this Thursday and San Antonio Spurs' guard, Manu Ginobili, weighed in on the Spurs and the draft and feels the team made a good choice in 1999 with the 57th pick.

Bonner. To resign or not to resign.

Written by Lance Fell on 21 June 2010.

To sign or not to sign? That is the question. At least for the San Antonio Spurs' front office in regards to the "Red Rocket" Matt Bonner.

Bonner, who made a reported $3.3 million dollars last season and finished his third year with the Silver and Black averaging seven points and three rebounds in 18 minutes per contest.

Bonner is a part of the larger-than-life free-agent class of 2010, and with a fairly large amount of forwards and centers available, the Spurs could choose not to sign him and pick up a faster, bigger low-post player. The Spurs can offer Bonner the mid-level exception (MLE) which this season would be $5.8 million dollars, but that seems very unlikely. R.C. Buford plans to use the MLE to sign Brazilian power-forward/center Tiago Splitter. That is of course if Splitter wants to join the Spurs.

However, because Bonner has played for the Spurs for three seasons now, the Spurs could resign Bonner using their "Birds Rights" which allows NBA teams to resign any player that has been with the team for three years or more without changing teams and not be penilized for going over the luxary tax. According to "Birds Rights", the most the Spurs can offer Bonner is the MLE.

Still, if the Spurs are unable to sign Splitter, the question remains, "Should the Spurs resign Bonner?"

His numbers were down this season after having a good second year with the Spurs in which he shot 44 percent from behind the three-point arch. This year, the "Red Rocket" made 90 of the 231 three pointers he attempted, lowering his three-point field goal percentage to 39 percent. Not to shabby considering Boston Celtics' Ray Allen's field-goal percentage from behind the arch was 36 percent this past season, while three-point shooting champ Paul Pierce shot only 41 percent. Even with a fairly impressive three-point shooting percentage, many Spurs fans have become impatient with his progress and have had enough of his inconsistencies.

I was able to speak with a few friends who are also die-hard Spurs fans. Here is what they had to say on Bonner:

"I just want to rip out my hair sometimes when he wont stop missing!" says die-hard Spurs fan Robin Sunsong. "Sometimes he'll miss five or six in a row and just keep shooting. After the sixth miss I wonder why Pop still has him in the game."

Yet there are some Spurs fans who love Bonner and hope the Spurs resign him not only for his on court capabilities, but for his off the court commitments to the community says Spurs fan Janna Joseph.

"I love Matt Bonner," says Spurs purist Janna Joseph. "His three point shooting helps spread the floor. And he looks really cute in all those commercials you see on T.V."

Bonner's three-point range might help the Spurs spread out the opposing defense, but by stepping out and shooting threes, Bonner has left all the rebounding up to Tim Duncan or any of the other Spurs bigs. This season the Spurs weren't able to crash the boards like they use to, and their inability to collect rebounds was exploited in round two of the playoffs against the Phoenix Suns.

Bonner attempted 231 three pointers this season. No Spurs big man has shot anywhere near that amount of threes except for former Spur, Robert Horry. But the most Horry ever attempted in a single season for the Spurs was 149 in the 2007 championship season.

David Robinson, Rasho Nesterovic and Nazr Mohammed, the last three true Spurs center, have only shot a total of 117 threes combined. Needless to say they were some of our better rebounders.

There are many problems the Spurs need to address this off season. What is going to happen with Splitter? Are the Spurs going to move up in this summers draft and are the Spurs really going to shop Tony Parker? While Bonner might be the least of the Spurs' concerns, the outcome of his free-agency will have a huge effect on how the Spurs handle all three of those questions and more.

Spurscast #210: Talking Austin Toros and the NBDL

Written by Jeff Garcia on 21 June 2010.

On this episode of the Spurscast, Mike and I were joined by Matt Hubert from Blog Talk BayHawk to discuss the Austin Toros and the players from the NBDL who were with the San Antonio Spurs last season.

We review the play of Curtis Jerrells, Garrett Temple, and Cedric Jackson from this past season, discuss whether Ian Mahinmi has been an NBA bust, which players may be back with the Spurs for the 2010-2011 season and much more.

Thanks to Matt for joining us and don't forgot to check out his site, Blog Talk BayHawk, for everything about the NBDL's Erie Bayhawks and the NBDL.

The Spurscast! The first and original Spurs podcast.

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Was Rasheed Wallace right?

Written by Jeff Garcia on 20 June 2010.

During the 2009 San Antonio Spurs' off-season, the team tried to sign then free-agent Rasheed Wallace to address the need for a center. In the end, Wallace chose to sign with the Boston Celtics and the Spurs went on to sign Antonio McDyess.

One reason Wallace decided to sign with the Celtics, according to him, was he did not like the Spurs off-season moves. Spurs fans may have laughed in his face then but looking back, was he right?

Check out the video of Wallace and his remarks about the Spurs during a press-conference when he was introduced to the Boston media. You decide.

A look at things to come

Written by Jeff Garcia on 19 June 2010.

With all signs pointing to Brazilian, Tiago Splitter, finally coming to the the San Antonio Spurs next season, here is a look at things to come.

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Video: Ginobili's thoughts on the Spurs and the draft

Written by Jeff Garcia on 18 June 2010.

With every NBA fan and San Antonio Spurs fan trying to figure out who the Spurs will select in the upcoming 2010 NBA Draft, why not ask Spurs' guard Manu Ginobili his thoughts on the Spurs and the draft.