After reports the San Antonio Spurs and their 2007 NBA Draft pick, Tiago Splitter, reached an agreement, some Spurs fans might still be holding their breath waiting to see if this is true. It seems Spurs fans can exhale.

According to elperiodico.com, Splitter has decided to come to the Spurs:

After 10 years in the ACB League, the Brazilian power forward has decided to take the plunge and go to the NBA, where he was elected in 2007 at number 28 in the first round of draft.

Después de 10 años en la Liga ACB, el pívot brasileño ha decidido dar el paso y marcharse a la NBA, donde fue elegido en el 2007 en el número 28 de la primera ronda del dratf.

There has been reports that Splitter will sign with the Spurs as soon as this Monday.

According to Jim Bob Breazeale and Mike Taylor, hosts of Sports Talk San Antonio on the Ticket 760, the Spurs have reached an agreement with Brazilian center Tiago Splitter.

Ticket 760 has learned that the San Antonio Spurs have reached a contract agreement with Tiago Splitter. He is expected to sign the deal on Monday. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

If the reports are true, everyone around San Antonio can take a deep breath knowing Splitter is finally signed and we will finally see one of the Spurs foreign draft picks actually wearing a Spurs uniform.

Earlier this week, word from Splitter's camp is that they wanted the Spurs to make an offer quickly, but it appears they were just waiting for the Lebron James decision to be over, since it seems they have now signed both Bonner and Splitter.

My best guess is that he will sign for the full Mid Level Exception. This also rules out the Spurs chances of signing Shaquille O'Neal, who was likely a backup plan.

Update: Chris Duel and Jason Minnix from the Chris and Jason Show on ESPN 1250 just tweeted that their sources are indicating that Splitter has signed.

The San Antonio Spurs have agreed to terms to resign their free-agent Matt Bonner with a four-year contract (via unionleader.com):

The Concord native agreed to terms with the Spurs on a four-year contract extension through the 2013-2014 season.

"I'm just very excited. I'm really happy things worked out, and I can go back to San Antonio. I'm really looking forward to the future," Bonner said.

The new contract is expected to exceed the annual salary of $3.2 million he earned last season.

"In the end, if San Antonio was going to make a fair deal and give me a long-term contract, that's what I was looking for at this point in my career," Bonner said. "To not have to uproot my family and my living situation and go back where I'm established and where my daughter was born, it's a great feeling.

"That's the kind of long-term stability I was looking for at this point in my career. I get to exhale and start getting ready for next year.

Four years is a bit long in my opinion but it seems he did come "cheap" by NBA standards. However, I do not think Spurs fans will like this deal.

The good thing now is that Spurs fans won't have to burn any Bonner jerseys a la Cleveland Cavaliers fans when LeBron James decided to join the Miami Heat.

Now if he can only show up in games when it really matters -- the playoffs!

Thoughts Spurs fans? Go ahead and chime in!

(source unionleader.com)

According to the San Antonio Spurs, guard Malik Hairston will not be on the roster for the Spurs summer league team.  He has been replaced by guard Michael Cuffee from Middle Tennessee State.

Cuffee spent time in the NBDL playing with the Utah Flash and Bakersfield Jam in 2007-2008.

(source spurs.com)

According to the Express-News, the San Antonio Spurs and Matt Bonner are ready to get negotiations started now that LeBron James has made his decision to go to the Miami Heat:

“I think they were waiting for LeBron to get his thing done,” said Kenny Grant, who is representing forward-center Matt Bonner in free agency talks with the Spurs. “Now, I think they're ready to get started.”

Grant is hopeful the Spurs might now be free to talk more seriously about a new deal for Bonner.

Grant said Thursday he's talked with Spurs general manager R.C. Buford on multiple occasions since the start of free agency, but not since before Fourth of July weekend. Now that the free-agent market has clarified, he expects conversations with the Spurs to resume.

Bonner has also received interest from a handful of other teams, including Dallas, Denver and Chicago.

“Obviously, Matt wants to stay with the Spurs,” Grant said. “If that can't happen, he'll find somewhere else.”

The Spurs do hold Bonner's "Bird Rights" so that can be used to re-sign him.

Thoughts Spurs fans? Should the Spurs bring back Bonner or explore other options in free-agency?

On this episode of the Spurscast, Project Spurs and 48 Minutes of Hell join forces to discuss the latest news on the San Antonio Spurs.

On the show, Tim Varner of 48MoH joins myself and Mike to discuss the reports of Shaq wanting to join the Spurs, the latest on Tiago Splitter, Tony Parker rumors and whether he will be a Spur for the upcoming season and much more!

Oh and while I attempt to do my best Shaq impression, I try to get Tim to do his best Shaq impression. Did Tim do it? Find out on this episode of the Spurscast.

Thanks to Tim for taking time out to join us. Make sure to check out 48 Minutes of Hell.

The Spurscast, the first and original Spurs podcast!

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Music: "Wherever I May Roam" by Metallica

According to the Express-News (via Yahoo! Sports), the San Antonio Spurs might offer free-agent Richard Jefferson a multi-year contract slightly above the midlevel exception due to his market value shrinking:

On July 1, Jefferson opted out of a contract that would have paid him $15.2 million this coming season. The San Antonio Express-News is reporting that Jefferson figured he'd cash in on a long-term deal from one of the many teams that had made room under the salary cap for LeBron James. But, the paper reports, Jefferson's market is "shrinking daily" and he shouldn't expect more than a mid-level exception of $5.765 million. "The Spurs are expected to offer a multi-year contract starting at a shade above that," the paper notes.

Though Spurs fans might not like the team to re-sign Jefferson after his mediocre season, he does have one full season of the infamous difficult Spurs system and might have a better second season.

With Jefferson on the back-end of his career, a multi-year contract might be a bit long. However, a reduced contract might be on par on what he does produce for the Spurs.

In part two of the San Antonio Spurs Family Tree, let's take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of head coaches who were at one point Spurs “students," and their success, or lack thereof, after leaving the San Antonio.

Avery Johnson

Better known in San Antonio as the “Little General,” he played for the Spurs in the 1990-1991, 1991-1993, and 1994-2001 NBA seasons. As a player with the Spurs, Johnson averaged, 10.1 points, 6.8 assists, 2 rebounds, 28.7 minutes per game and appeared in 725 games -- all stats including regular and post season.

Spurs’ coach, Gregg Popovich, knew Johnson would become a coach since 1999 and would often refer to him as “Coach Johnson” during Spurs' games and practices. Seems Popovich was right.

After retiring as a player in 2004, he became an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks under Don Nelson. Nelson left the Mavericks on March 19, 2005, and Johnson took over as head coach. He led the Mavericks to a 60-22 record in his first full season in 2005-2006 and was named the NBA coach of the year.

Under Johnson, the Mavericks reached the NBA Finals in 2006 but lost four straight games to the Miami Heat after taking the first two games of the series. He led the Mavericks to the best record in the league in 2006-2007 at 67-15, but the Mavericks lost in the first round to the Golden State Warriors.

He was fired after the 2007-2008 when the Mavericks lost in the first round of the playoffs to the New Orleans Hornets. For the past two years Johnson had been working for ESPN/ABC until June 9, 2010, when Johnson agreed to become the New Jersey Nets new head coach.

When asked his thoughts on Johnson, Popovich said the following:

“He’s got a special mind — you’re going to see it in New Jersey, even if they’re going to be young, taught himself what it takes to be successful in the league, and since then he’s taught others. He’ll get a defensive mentality established with the group. He’ll get Devin [Harris] in attack mode. He’ll adjust regardless of what personnel they get there.”

Popovich also added he thought Avery has a “brilliant basketball mind."

As a head coach, Johnson’s regular season record was 194-70 (.735 winning percentage) and in the post season he had a record of 23-24 (.489 winning percentage).

Was Johnson successful after leaving the San Antonio Spurs? Check out some more of his notable achievements and you be the judge.

• 2006 NBA Coach of the Year
• Fastest coach to 50 wins, 100 wins and 150 wins
• Led the Dallas Mavericks to its first and only trip to the NBA Finals in 2006
• Named April 2005 Coach of the Month (only one month after becoming head coach for the first time ever)
• Named November 2005 Coach of the Month (also became first ever coach to win back to back Coach of the Month awards)**

**April was the last month of the regular season and November was the first month of the next season.

Vinny Del Negro

The former Chicago Bulls' coach, played with the Spurs from 1992-1998 and averaged 10.1 points, 3.4 assists, 2.5 rebound and 29 minutes per game and appeared in 479 games (stats include regular and post season play).

After retiring in 2001 and a small stint as a radio commentator for the Phoenix Suns, Del Negro was promoted to Director of Player Personnel for the Suns in 2006. The next year he was promoted to Assistant General Manager along side of Steve Kerr. Del Negro was part of the front office which was responsible for making dramatic changes to the Suns roster from 2007 to 2009. He was a major influence of Phoenix adopting the “run-and-gun” style of offense.

He was recognized for all of his work by the Bulls in 2008 when he replaced Jim Boylan as the new head coach. Del Negro finished his first season as head coach of the Bulls with a 41-41 record, sufficient for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. That year the Bulls played a seven-game series against the Boston Celtics, featuring a record seven overtimes, before losing.

The next year the Bulls finished with the same 41-41 record and gained the eighth seed in the East but lost to the Cavaliers Cavaliers in five games. It also didn't help De Negro's case with reports about he getting into physical altercations with Bull's front-office personnel. The Bulls dismissed Del Negro as head coach on May 4th, 2010 and but has been hired as the new coach for the Los Angeles Clippers. 

Was Del Negro successful after leaving the Spurs? Check out some more of his statistics as a head coach and you be the judge.

• Regular season record of 82-82 (.500 winning percentage)
• Post season record of 4-8 (.333 winning percentage)
• Del Negro never made it past the first round of the playoffs

P.J. Carlesimo

Carlesimo was an assistant coach under Popovich for the Spurs from 2002 to 2007. He was part of the coaching staff that won three championships in a span of five years, winning in 2003, 2005 and in his last year with the Spurs 2007.

On July 5, 2007 he was hired to become the then Seattle Supersonics head coach. After Carlesimo coached one year in Seattle, the organization would move to Oklahoma City and be renamed the “Thunder."

After a lousy 1-12 start in the 2008-2009 season, Carlesimo was dismissed from his duties as head coach, making it the second consecutive head coaching job he has been fired from.

Things may be looking up for Carlesimo. On May 31, 2010, he reached an agreement to join the Toronto Raptors as an assistant coach under Jay Triano.

Was Carlesimo successful after leaving the San Antonio Spurs? Check out some of his statistics and you be the judge.

• Regular season record: 21-74 (.221 winning percentage)
• Postseason record: 0-0 (did not make playoffs as head coach after leaving San Antonio)
• Finished 25th out of 30 teams in the NBA in the 2007-2008 season
• Fired on November 22, 2008 after 1-12 start of 2008-2009 season

As you can see Spurs fans, sometimes it doesn't end up "roses" when a former Spurs player or a coach leaves. In this case, you have the "good" with Johnson, the "bad" because of how it ended in Chicago with Del Negro and the "ugly" with Carlesimo.

Come back next week for part three of this series.

HEAD COACH: Mike Budenholzer
ASSISTANT COACHES: Jacque Vaughn, Bret Brielmaier, Kevin Hanson, Darko Rajakovic, Sharon Drucker
TRAINER: Nixon Dorvilien

(Source Spurs.com)

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.