Spurs Holiday Weekend Continues Into Monday Funday
After a one day lull in free agency, the very busy July continued for the San Antonio Spurs Monday. First this happened:
Happy to announce that I’m coming back next season. #gospursgo#TDwouldvemissedmetoomuch.
— Manu Ginobili (@manuginobili) July 6, 2015
Great news, something we weren’t totally sure about when free agency started. Ginobili explained his decision to come back in La Nacion.
“I didn’t watch the second round of playoffs, nor the Conference finals. I was still I bit hurt. Then, when I watched the finals. I missed it a little. I felt that itch telling me I wanted to play again. The fire is still burning.
When it comes to taking such a turning point decision for your life as it is retiring, there can be no doubts. Some days I woke up saying I was quitting. Some days I would be sure to stay. But for such a relevant decision, I needed to be a 100 % sure. Once I said yes, all my doubts vanished. I talked about it with Pop. “I’m excited, I want to do it.”
RealGM’s Shams Charania reports the deal is 2 years at the Room Level Exception with a player option for the secon, a little more than a $4 million discount from last season. But that wasn’t even the biggest discount someone took to join the Spurs.
Free agent forward David West has agreed to terms with the Spurs, per league sources.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 6, 2015
David West walked from $12M for $1.4M and a chance at a ring. Everybody’s not in this just for the money. — David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 6, 2015
Someone make sure to pick up all of West’s dinner checks this coming year. The West news broke not long after Manu announced his decision. The Spurs roster now sits at 10 so there is still work to do. While Diaw and West will provide quite a bit of offensive punch off the bench, the Spurs still lack a another rim protector. Emeka Okafor if healthy, Cole Aldrich, Joel Anthony and LaMarcus Aldridge’s old teammate Joel Freeland all come to mind. With Cory Joseph bouncing for Toronto, the Spurs need that third point guard. Manu is the defacto second team point guard, but Joseph was crucial spelling Parker last year, not to mention filling in for him when he was injured. Some wing depth wouldn’t hurt either. Right now the Spurs have only minimum contracts at their disposal and while they have shown an ability this summer to get guys to take severe discounts, that’s not something you can count on moving forward. However, some intriguing possibilities may (MAY) have shown themselves Monday evening. The Spurs Summer League squad played their first game in Utah and guys like second round pick Cady Lalanne, former first round pick Livio Jean-Charles and international prospect Dairis Bertans all showed flashes of NBA level skills. Lalanne showed decent post defense against a guy in Jahlil Okafor who, despite being a rookie, already has some elite post skills. He shows really good form on his jumper too. Jean-Charles was all over the place on defense. He showed great mobility in the pick and roll and had six blocks, showing excellent timing with his help defense. However, he needs so much work on this offense. The jump shot looked fluid at times and then looked like it had some sort of hitch in it at other times. There wasn’t much of a post game either, though he did show some decent passing when the defense collapsed. What he does do well is get out and run. He’s not the total raw prospect we believed him to be when he wasn’t playing a ton with Asvel the last few years. Bertans was the wild card coming in. His brother Davis was part of the 2011 draft that also included Kawhi Leonard and Joseph and has been closely monitored by the Spurs since he was selected. Dairis also plays in the Spanish ACB and is a double figure scorer, but at 6-4 it’s unclear if he’s point guard or shooting guard. After scoring 19 points on 6-10 shooting including five made 3-pointers, I tweeted he’s our first Gary Neal 2.0 candidate. He’s a great shooter off the catch and defensively showed an ability to move his feet and willingness to step in and take a charge. Keep your eyes on him for the rest of the summer. That’s where we are right now. Surely the Spurs will make another move or two. Don’t be surprised to see another veteran or two like Tayshaun Prince added to the fold. But then you might be looking at training camp invitees filling out the last few roster spots. The bulk of the Spurs’ offseason work is done and it’s been incredible so far. The Spurs don’t get top free agents and they usually finish second to the other veteran teams that get guys to take a discount to play for them. They’ve done both and kept their core together, something that hasn’t been done in the modern NBA. Whether it works remains to be seen, but it’s a really good start.
