On the prospect of trading Antonio McDyess
Antonio McDyess is the chillest chill bro in the Association.
He’s Serge Gainsbourg, stubbled, disheveled, and in love. McDyess is the serpentine rise of smoke from Tom Waits’ cigarette. He’s Chet Baker’s My Funny Valentine—the especially long version that forgets you’re listening. Antonio McDyess is all  these things and a Quitman smile.
Antonio McDyess is my favorite Spur. Â And he’s playing great basketball this season. For most of the season Dice has been San Antonio’s best interior defender.
Coming into the season, I gave Dice even odds to be gone by mid-February.
The Spurs have precious few trade assets. And, at the time, it didn’t seem like the Spurs were talented enough to compete with the Lakers. Antonio McDyess is a nice trade chip. With a salary of 4.8 million this season and only a partial guarantee next year, he comes cheap. There isn’t a team in the NBA that wouldn’t benefit from his presence, on and off the court. The Spurs, I thought, might upgrade their reserve forward with a younger model. They’d want to think about the future.
Now it’s impossible to think of the Spurs without Dice. He’s placed his germ in the Spurs’ collective blood stream. His presence in the locker room makes him indispensable. The Spurs will absolutely need him in April and May. He’s a game-changer.
But beyond all this, he’s just so damn likable.
With Dice as a starter (in the playoffs), I expect much better results from the front-line. He’s a better all-round player than Bonner/Blair/Splitter. He should get a start against the front-line of the Lakers/Celts. There’s no way Pop will start Blair in the playoffs against Bynum/Gasol or Perkins/Garnett.
I don’t expect anything from Splitter in the playoffs…much like Hill’s 1st season with the Spurs…Pop mentioned something like, “these playoffs are not for George”…why should we expect anything different with Splitter…he’s a project with lots of potential…but it’s not happening this year for him. All the more reason we need Dice this year.
The Spurs should consider trading McDyess if they believe he would be bought out and returns to the Spurs. It can and does happen. It happened with McDyess when he was traded to Den. in the AI/Billups deal and it happend just a year ago when the Cavs traded Big Z to the Wiz for Jamison knowing he would be bought out and likely to return. They would have to talk to McDyess before the trade went through but I think he would understand and like to return. He could help the Spurs land a player like McGee, Blatche, or other.
@Espoon
I could see the Spurs doing that, but remember last year with Big Z and the Cavs. Big Z did not return until a month later and during that period Shaq got injured, resulting the team without any true center. The absense of McDyess can really hurt the team and an injury to an another big can endanger the team’s momentum. So I personally think it’s not worth trying to make that attempt.
Heh, “old man Dyess.”
He should take up blues-singing when he decides to retire.
I do love Dice. I think he’s a Spur through-and-through. And I think if the right partner can be found, a trade (and subsequent buyout) would benefit everyone – an add’l piece for the Silver and Black and a little bit of a breather for McD until he can resign w/our guys!
What teams out there would fit this criteria?
Upon reading the article headline, I briefly freaked out. Were there rumors about the Spurs trading McDyess? Why in the heck would they want to trade him when he has been the team’s 2nd best big?
Nice write-up, Tim. MyDyess is pretty much indispensable at this point. The team is playing so well, I don’t think there is anyway you want to mess with team chemistry. Especially given how much we know that new players struggle with the Spurs system.
this is why i love the spurs. each post-practice interview brought up humbleness. stay great, stay humble, and win. that’s why we have the guys we have (old man dyess, bonner, GH, gary neal) role players who play the game and ignore the noise.
At the beginning of the year, my dad attended the Spurs’ intra-squad scrimmage, where he caught a t-shirt that said “winner” and the number 34 on it. Turns out that shirt was a ticket to join the team on the floor and meet the player whose number was on the shirt. That, of course, was Dice. Dad said that Dice greeted him with a huge smile and seemed to genuinely enjoy the mixer. He gave his scrimmage shirt to my dad after autographing it, then led my dad over to several other players, including Manu and IndyG, who all signed my dad’s “winner” shirt.
Now, everytime Dice does something good in a game, I get a text from my dad, reminding me that he has Dice’s jersey.
To make a long story short, Dice made a lifelong fan in my dad and the rest of our family by being a classy man.
@ThatBigGuy
nice story, Spurs players are all very nince when approched for an autograph.
Go Spurs Go!!
It would be tough to see McDyess in another uniform but Im glad the Spurs have him for the time being. He will be a valuable asset during the playoffs. I think SG might be right, with starting McDyess in the playoffs. He should be rested enough coming off the bench this season.
I for one, don’t think hes going anywhere… I would also love to see McDyess retire after this year with a hopeful ring…
I’ll be the first to admit I wanted Rasheed Wallace much more than Dice. Boy was I wrong.
@SG
On the money… I really like what he did with Dirk last year in the playoffs. As a starter you have Blair and his energy cmoing off the bench against No. 2′s and not starters. For all the good things Blair does, he also committs some silly fouls and is constanly trying to slap the ball away for a steal down low (ala Karl Malone). He’s young, he’ll learn but going against the second unit Blair will really shine. And Dyess… well he’s Dyess, he’ll be fine.
Oh yeah and how can you not be a fan of any writer outside of France that drops a Serge Gainsbourg reference. Brilliant!
Looking at this team from a playoffs view point, we may have too many pieces. I think Pop is doing a good job (evidence 35-6) even if Splitter does not get as many looks as many of us would hope for. Come actual playoffs, I could see 10-12 players getting on the court in any given game (Anderson and Splitter the last 2). I think that’s a lot of minutes to spread. Dice has been working great for the team, especially as he is not needed for every game like last year, and we definitely need him for key teams (Lakers, Mavs). But with such a large cast, it may be best to find suitors for Dice (as long as we won’t see them in the playoffs).
@SG
“I don’t expect anything from Splitter in the playoffs…much like Hill’s 1st season with the Spurs…Pop mentioned something like, “these playoffs are not for Georgeâ€â€¦why should we expect anything different with Splitter…he’s a project with lots of potential…but it’s not happening this year for him.”
Not a major point of contention, but I just felt like I needed to correct the record. Pop did say he was disinclined to play George Hill in the playoffs during his rookie year. And during the first 2 games of that ugly first round loss to the Mavs, he stuck with the plan, playing him a total of 5 minutes.
But he played him significantly more minutes in games 3, 4 and 5. And while Hill didn’t blow the doors off in terms of stats, you may recall that he played with great energy and defensive intensity. In fact, it was the otherwise dispiriting series-ending game 5 that hinted at what George Hill could become.
During an embarrassing blowout, exactly four players competed with any kind of pride. They were Timmy, Tony, Bruce Bowen and George Hill (remember, Manu was out with an injury).
My point is two-fold:
1) Let’s not rewrite history- George Hill, as a rookie, made a valuable playoff contribution. I suspect Pop was kicking himself after the series for not giving the kid more time, earlier in the series.
2) Let’s not assume Pop hasn’t learned from that mistake. I’m not saying that Dice won’t get major playoff minutes- he surely will. But Splitter, and Gary Neal for that matter, are not rookies in any conventional sense. They both have extensive professional experience oversees. Splitter was his league’s MVP last season let’s not forget. There’s no reason to think Pop will hold him out of the post season like said he would with Hill. And I would argue that Pop’s experience with Hill as a playoff rookie means he’s MORE likely to play Splitter, not less.
There’s a lot of time left in the season and the suggestion that “it’s not happening” for Splitter this year strikes me as seriously premature. If he’s still logging 5 minutes a game in late-March, perhaps. But I’ll work on the assumption that Pop isn’t already writing off his 6-11, 230 lb, experienced, unselfish, highly mobile center.
You don’t trade Dice (not if you want a chance of winning it all).
It’s no coincidence that the Spurs best defensive games feature Dice playing bigger minutes, such as the recent Indy game (where he played the 4th quarter).
He’s the best defender for Dirk. Look at his +/- numbers from last year. He led both teams in that series due to his great work on Dirk and timely baskets.
He’s Horry without the long distance clutch shooting. In some areas, he’s better as a big than Horry, especially as a dependable scorer.
He should start or will play the majority of the other big man minutes with Bonner as the 3rd big.
I think McDyess is a key piece right now just as he was in last year’s playoffs. Right now when he gets into the game he acts as a stabilizing element. He doesn’t make much mistakes, executes the offense, and improves the defense and rebounding.
PtR has a good article about how McDyess was killing the Spurs in 2005 finals game 7 when Coach Brown decided to sit him because of fouls. (http://www.poundingtherock.com/2009/7/9/943443/get-to-know-your-new-spurs-3-san, towards the bottom of the page ). I think it’s almost like the Finley situation. The Spurs couldn’t get him the ring in his first year 2006 but they were able to do it in 2007. He’s a guy you would like to see win a ring because of how hard he plays.
I think he probably should start but I don’t think Pop wants to try to fix something that isn’t broken. The only problem is you don’t want to make changes in the playoffs but you might have to. You look at the Mavs in 2007, changing lineups maybe wasn’t a good idea against the Warriors. However I think last year against the Suns Parker should have started in game 1. I think Hill wasn’t ready to against Nash, meanwhile we had someone who had success against Nash sitting. I think the lead they got in game 1 gave them a confidence they never really released for the whole series.
OK ok coach pop we are doing well as of now we need Mcdyess dont trade him what we need to do is down this stretch we need to focus on getting Anderson ready but mainly we need to play Splitter more cause face it we gonna need him up to speed for the playoffs COACH POP TAKE THE HANDCUFFS OFF SPLITTER AND LET HIM PLAY MORE its a no brainer we dont need nobody else.Cause he can help our frontline if you let him play to get up to speed.
I freaked out too. But once I read the article and the subsequent comments I feel comfortable in saying that no spurs fan/coach/exec/owner/blogger in their right mind would trade Dice. Much too valuable of a piece to gamble with a trade and sign.
@thatbigguy
Good story. Def gonna hit up next years scrimmage
McDyess will be a big factor in our playoff run. Against some teams, his offense is right on time in coming from that position, and he the type of shots he takes -and makes- gives the Spurs another scoring dimension that was previously lacking. And don’t shortchange the playoff experience; Both Dice & RJ were in the Finals before–ironically, vs. Spurs (2005, McDyess with the Pistons; 2003, Jefferson with the Nets).
McDyess is indispensable for this team. He’s really the only guy on our roster that can guard mobile 4′s for long stretches (we certainly don’t want to put Bonner in that position for long stretches). And when you look at the top half of the Western conference, you’ve got Dirk, Odom, Jeff Green, David West, and Aldridge – all guys we could potentially face in the playoffs. Without McDyess, we’d be at a major disadvantage. No way we trade Dyess, even if we “think” he gets bought out. There’s no reason to take the risk of loosing a key piece in a potential championship season.
@syd
Very true re: Hill in his rookie season. I’ve been watching the Spurs for the better half of the last decade (haven’t missed a game in about 3-1/2 seasons), and I’d say not playing George Hill against the Mavs in 2008 is probably Coach Pop’s biggest mistake to date as a head coach. I was at Game 5 that year and Hill was great. He brought energy on both ends and was just about the only spark. I also think Pop realizes he made a mistake – I’m sure that’s pretty obvious once he went back and watched the tape. Hopefully that bodes well for Splitter. And judging from how he talks about Splitter, I think Pop is just waiting to start giving him a bigger role. And if he plays well, I don’t think Pop will keep him on the bench if he’s needed in the playoffs.
I wouldn’t trade McDyess either, and call me crazy, but I don’t think we need any trades this season.
If we packaged something like Hill, Neal, and draft picks for prime big man, then yes, that’ll strengthen up our front court, but significantly weaken our backcourt. We’d just be swapping around where we are excellent (guards) and where we are average+ish (big men).
Also, even with someone like Anthony Randolph being available for a first round draft pick, personally I’d rather save our picks. Hill was drafted #26? Blair was a second rounder, and both of them are logging meaningful minutes on the #1 team in the league, whereas Randolph (and any other project player) are bench warming for average, or bad, teams. So I’d rather hold onto those draft picks and see what the front office can find in the next draft.
Antonio Mcdyess will be our starting Center in time when the game matter most and Tim Duncan will be pounding the rock in the paint against opposing bigs. The rest of their Teammates will follow specially we have Manu War healthy and the rest of the team healthy as well this year? I can’t for the playoffs!!! Win or Lose Keep Pounding the Rock San Antonio and give every team we face this year 48 minutes of Hell Team Defense!!!
we can
can’t* trade mcdyess. too important to our interior defense for a playoff run. our team chemistry is excellent right now. plus it would be so damn sad if we traded away a retiring vet and voided his chance to potentially win a championship if he was traded to a lottery team. but hey, no emotions in business. i think giving splitter more regular season, developmental mintues is a better idea. i think once splitter gets some consistent court time, we will have awaken another sleeping giant and our defense will improve. i love that when opposing players post him, splitter simply puts two hands in the air rather than jumping one handed for a block. we need to use splitter in the regular season and depend heavily on mcdyess. by giving splitter more regular season minutes, he will be more ready to be called upon in the playoffs if needs be. dyess has such a mild ego that he doesn’t mind the lack of playing time. dyess should get garbage time, but also play against the elite bigs, although i think tiago can defend these guys better than we think.
I’ve already expressed my opinion more than once that I’m ready to do playoff battle with the army we have.
And as far as having too many soldiers? Nah…in the playoffs the rotations tighten up and you won’t see but 8 or 9 players get off the bench. BUT…that being said, what our depth provides Pop is the ability to match up with whatever lineup the opponent throws at us. Need to go big? We can. Need to play small ball? Ditto. Sustain an injury? Guess what? We’ve got players 11 or 12 deep that got valuable playing time during the season; and that includes Tiago, who I still feel can get his bearings over the last half of the regular season.
I love our team and I love being 35-6!!! Go! Spurs! Go!!!
Trade Dice is a misstake, don’t do that…We need him and need too Splitter, we can’t expect from Bonner in playoffs( this is my fear )…Splitter show good defense but sometimes he “sleep”, if give minutes Splitter will be better than Bonner, Dice, Blair. I really hope see TD and Splitter together and Dice supporting both in rotation.
I’m a big McDyess fan, but Duncan has been far and away the Spurs best interior defender. They’re more than eight points worse defensively with him off the floor. He’s still an elite anchor and has actually been better defensively this season than he has been the past few seasons.
McDyess is probably the Spurs best individual post defender, but that’s different than being their “best interior defender”.
LESS….. REMEMBER, (we owe Dice this much), his quote..If I don’t get a call from the Spurs I’m retiring………..Remember that folks?………………
In a few words: trade Dice? No dice
From a previous post I made:
“It could be done with a nod/wink and giving up Hill depending on how the Nuggets want to handle their season if Melo and Billups are traded.”
The nod and wink involving McDyess, the Spurs, and the Nuggets.
Here is the idea. The nod and wink is involving the Nuggets releasing Dice and the Spurs resigning him.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=64p7rfc
With Anderson due to return and Neal playing exceptional the Spurs backcourt would be fine without Hill while getting a huge upgrade in the post. McDyess returns and is already acclimated as well as getting much rest until the “resigning” occurs. Of course this would be all dependent on the Nuggets pre agreeing to not keeping McDyess. But they would be shedding an additional 11 mil per by trading Nene and giving the Nuggets draft choices and money to rebuild quickly. Spurs fortify their post while still being formidable in the backcourt.
Just have to say that the Spurs to me are one of the very few admirable things in professional sports…I have gone from barely tolerating basketball to loving it…From the fans to the coaches and the front office- to the entire team…a true class act…I never have to waste my time hearing or watching about drama, gangsta b.s. , whinning and complaining…and the fans are so classy! I cant stand being in a stadium where the fans cheer others injuries and are just plain nasty…
After finally getting to go to a spurs game—Im a big fan…As for the media, just keep overlooking the spurs and letting them play ball…
On a lighter side…you could jokingly call the trade a “Full Brazilian”.
Duh.
Can’t believe your stat guy picked the Spurs to win 48. How embarrassing.
As much as Dice is indispensable this season, I think, after he decides to retire, he would be obliged to grant the Spurs a favour via trade as an expiring contract. Who knows, if there could be a team that is desperate for salary cap relief during lock-out season and wants to drop a guaranteed contract. I am thinking… the Cavs with Anderson Varejao? The Raptors with Amir Johnson? or maybe even the Thunder with Jeff Green?
Would be foolish to give up Hill (at least this year). He’s the Spurs best defender. Anderson will have missed half the year. He’s not going to get the benefit of the doubt as a rookie. Neither is Neal. You stand pat because your years to win are limited.
After this season, is a different story. Trying to re-build might make sense if you don’t think you could win next year (regardless if you won 2010/2011 season or not).
What a coincidence, there’s an article about Dice’s retirement now on MySA.
—–
“If I could play here another year,†McDyess said, “I would definitely contemplate it.â€
For McDyess, “here†is the operative word. He has so enjoyed his season-and-a-half in San Antonio, he might be willing to put off the rocking chair for a third.
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2011/01/18/%E2%80%98old-man-dice%E2%80%99-rethinking-retirement-plan/
I have said it since his first interview that I watched on spurs.com last season, he’s worth his salary just for the post game and practice report interviews alone, and plain impossible to dislike. (Insert Four Letter Word) trading McDyess.
@grego
Your point of view makes sense regarding Hill, his perimeter defense, and Anderson/Neal being rookies.
However I am looking with this trade to help the team improve their chances in winning this year as well as helping prolong Duncan and McDyess’s career here in San Antonio. Nene would surely spell relief in minutes played by both to helping them extend their careers.
And though I would miss Hill on this team…my belief is Anderson would eventually surplant Hill’s production in the near future along with Neal improving as well to warrant such a trade.
I would be in disagreement though that losing Hill at this point to reducing the Spurs chances of winning a title this year if the team added a player like Nene and Anderson/Neal could make up for the loss of Hill.
Rob, I would not do your trade, and you’re forgetting one thing in your trade talk, why would the Nuggets do that trade? Even if they ship off Billups, they still have Ty Lawson, J.R. Smith, and Arron Affalo in the backcourt, so why would they need Hill?
Nene is by far their best big guy, who loves playing in Denver, and is a fan favorite. Why would they give him up for cap relief from releasing McDyess, and for Splitter, who you don’t seem to think is going to amount to much.
Kenyon Martin is always hurt it seems, Chris Anderson gets hurt a lot too, and Harrington is a good offensive player, but not much of a defensive player.
So yeah, there is no way the Nuggets do that trade, regardless of how much money or draft picks we toss in. Nene is a good player, and along with Ty Lawson they make a pretty good pair of players to build around.
Meh. Not saying the Spurs have to do anything. Probably won’t. They’re looking good as they stand. Also I’m not saying this is a “have too” situation. Just saying IF the Spurs were looking to do anything via trade…it would be one of a very few situations that might be worth looking into IF (as pointed out) Denver would be looking to go in that direction.
I see, understand and would agree to most of the opposing thoughts only, it wouldn’t be a bad deal for the Spurs if that would happen.
Nene will be free agency next season but i think he stay in Denver
“so why would they need Hill?”
Because Denver does not have any lock down perimeter defenders.
“Why would they give him up for cap relief from releasing McDyess, and for Splitter, who you don’t seem to think is going to amount to much.”
Splitter in the Spurs system is what I’m eluding too. In Denver…Splitter would not have impedements to playing regularly and develop faster in a system that conforms better to his talents.
“Nene is a good player, and along with Ty Lawson they make a pretty good pair of players to build around.”
That I’ll give you. Then again…would Denver want to build around a soon to be 30 year old center… or look to have a younger player to develop, salary flexibility, and draft picks for that purpose?
Again…meh…it probably doesn’t matter anyway.
Rob, if we traded Hill then we wouldn’t have any lockdown perimeter defenders.
If Splitter can develop into a good player with playing time, as I believe & you just said, then why would we want to trade him to Denver for a soon to be 30 year old center?
Why would we want to trade our best perimeter defender, a guy who just needs playing time to develop, and give up our bit of salary flexibility, and draft picks which we can continue to build upon, all for a soon to be 30 year old center?
All the reasons you give for why Denver should make your proposed trade are also reasons why the Spurs shouldn’t, do that trade.
If we could trade Hill, Splitter, McDyess, picks/cash, for a guy like Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Kevin Garnett, then yeah sure, do it because I think that definitely would put us WAY over the top and there’s no way anyone could beat us.
However, while Nene is a good player, he’s not in the same class as those other guys, and wouldn’t be worth giving up Hill for IMO.
@duaneofly
You could be right.
But if Anderson proves to be what his own peers in the nba draft said he was (one of the best defenders in their class), then losing Hill would be regained in Anderson all the while getting a proven…not project hopefull…in Nene in the post.
Look…I agree with your sentiments…at the same time I think if this could happen it would be good for the Spurs. If you may, an overall improvement to what they already have.
“If we could trade Hill, Splitter, McDyess, picks/cash, for a guy like Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Kevin Garnett, then yeah sure,…”
Well…I might be looney but I’m not crazy
No way do the Spurs get any of those players in the scenario I presented…but…Nene?…perhaps? Again, depending on what the Nuggets want to do if they trade Melo and Billups. I would think it wouldn’t hurt to at least inquire about the possibility.
@thatbigguy, awesome story, lucky Dad.
@idahospur, could very well play out that way. Insurance down to the last guy.
@syd, I like that and it could play out as such. Who knows if it aint clicking for some reason in a particular playoff game this season Pop usually resorts to the bench and others to light a fire into the starters behinds. Could be used as a motivational strategy when needed.
@C-Mack, good one I agree. Even if Splitter is used for brief spurts in the playoffs it could benefit the rest of the Bigs in terms of rest or for just collecting themselves.
@rob, interesting but a good point. Sacrificing Hill for Nene would lock up that defense in the paint. Moving forward to next season if there’s one, we could be seeing Nene with the core of bigs we got now and a seasoned Splitter for the near future all for Hill when we can easily insert James Anderson and Neal for that spot. Nice.