The 4-Down Podcast, Episode 58: RRT

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Wednesday marks the beginning of another Rodeo Road Trip, the annual rite of passage for the San Antonio Spurs. Traditionally, this is where the team comes together, the new pieces gel and San Antonio rips off a bunch of wins. Well, there are no new pieces (except for Nando, I guess) this year and the team is currently riding a 10-game winning streak. That could mean the Spurs come out the other side even better or we’re in for a slight let down.

Considering the silver and black will be without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili an indeterminate amount of time on this road trip, I would expect some bumps and bruises along the way. On this week’s episode of the 4-Down Podcast, Matt Tynan of Pounding the Rock steps in to help out in Graydon’s absence. We discuss the rodeo trip and give our thoughts on Tim Duncan’s scary knee injury from this past weekend.

We also talk about the Nuggets and Lakers, one team making a surge in the Western Conference standings and another that could be poised for a run. There’s also talk of the five year anniversary of the Suns trading for Shaquille O’Neal, signaling the end of the Seven Seconds or Less Suns, and breaking down Tim Varner’s trade ideas.

We encountered some of the same audio problems from last week, but everything was ironed out about halfway through the show, so please bear with us for the first 20 minutes or so. Next week’s podcast should be perfect in that regard.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=173600134 Ryan McShane

    I was just looking at the Spurs’ contracts next season… and they’re going to have a lot of cap space. If they re-sign Jackson and Ginobili for $5M less than they’re making now (Ginobili $14M -> $9M, Jackson $10M -> $5M (reasonable when compared against Duncan’s contract reduction)), don’t extend Joseph, and don’t resign Blair, they’ll have a maximum of $(70-(41+9+5+3))=$12M to use on a free agent if they want to be under the tax and also leave space for two minimum deals. Ginobili would be signed after the FA with his bird rights and Jackson would be paid with the under-the-tax-the-year-before MLE. Every dollar they’d want to spend more on the FA would come from either Ginobili or Jackson’s pocket. Or the Spurs could just ride their bare-minimum salary for a while since they have trouble attracting quality free agents (other than maybe the Duncan-adoring Al Jefferson).

    In short, the Spurs are in a really good place right now.

    So I have a few questions:
    1) Do the Spurs want to keep Jackson for the right price next season?
    2) Do the Spurs want a near-max free agent? Can they attract him?
    3) Could the Spurs expect Jackson to come back if they trade him to the Jazz for Millsap or Jefferson? Wouldn’t it be better to keep him on board and show him loyalty and then cash in next year?
    4) What position/type player do the Spurs need/want going into next year? Is there anyone matching that description coming off of someone’s books this summer?