Spurs News, For Real

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Don’t get too excited, but it seems like the offseason is drawing to a close. How do I know? There is real live news available to bullet, and I couldn’t be happier. Without further ado:

  • Gregg Popovich gave an interview this afternoon to discuss the new roster. Good luck for everyone in attendance: the interview did not take place between quarters. It was cheerful. The answers were helpful. And Pop might have sort of kind of enjoyed it. Maybe. Spurs.com has video of the event and Jeff McDonald provides us with this round up.
  • The Spurs have hired Claudio Crippa as a European scout. Prior to his new position, Crippa was under the employ of CSKA Moscow, where he was a close confidant of former CSKA Coach Ettore Messina. (HT: Bruno)
  • Tiago Splitter plays on Wednesday afternoon, and you can watch. ESPN360 is broadcasting FIBA Americas and EuroBasket. Tomorrow’s Dominican Republic vs. Brazil contest starts at 4:00 pm EST. Venezuela vs. Argentina starts at 6:30. In the meantime, read Jay Aych’s helpful preview.
  • Tired of killing ‘em at the Y? The Austin Toros will hold try outs on October 3 and 11, in Austin and San Antonio respectively. More information here.
  • Former Spurs summer leaguer Romel Beck was involved in a scrum during the recent Mexico vs. Uruguay match. No big deal. Just a little fisticuffs between friends. (Thanks to El Mago)
  • PtR hosts a smorgasbord of links twice weekly. LatinD was at the grill yesterday and put together a nice summer sampling, complete with a tasty side by Michael A. De Leon of Project Spurs.

  • http://espn.com Jacob

    What a great interview with Pop! Thats just the kind of stuff we are all so anxious to hear about. And if I’m not mistaken, thats the best mood I’ve seen him in, in a long time. Thanks for the link guys – Great site!

  • rocko.texas

    I’m not used to this version of Pop. Makes me nervous. Come on vintage pessimism! At least his dry humor is intact.

  • zainn

    You call that a little fight? Romel Beck tore that place up man

  • http://myspurslink.blogspot.com/ Robby

    Hey Tim, wow! you posted more news than ESPN! you guys are really doing a great job! I’m getting a little more excited! Cheers!

  • http://myspurslink.blogspot.com/ Robby

    * more news about the Spurs I mean… great post!

  • buns

    Nice interview. Defining RJef as a Stephen Jackson without the heavy drama was Popely said. The last part about Robinson was nothing new, but always sweet to hear.

    I wonder how much each franchise considers a player’s personnality before acquirring him. After that interview (and, well, we knew that before hu?) it shows well that for the Spurs it’s a huge part of a deal.

  • zack

    seems to me like pop has weight lifted off his shoulders, i have never seen him this compliant with an interview lol strange, he seems extremely excited about our chances, hey guys did you see on sports illustrated power rankings were #1
    amazing!!

  • http://projectspurs.com Michael

    Thanks for the link, Tim. I’ve been enjoying the links lately as well. I’m kind of pissed ESPN360 doesn’t work with my cable provider so I won’t be able to catch Splitter.

  • idahospur

    ESPN.com reports:

    Best summer newcomer: Richard Jefferson to the Spurs

    2nd worst newcomer: Artest to the Lakers.

    Gotta love it!

  • JJ

    For those who did not catch the Brazil vs DR game, here is my opinion on Tiago and some stat lines:

    Brazil wins by 13. Tiago Splitter drawing the charge on Charlie Villanueva and fouling him out with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter turned the game. They were up by 2 at that point, and went on to win by double digits.

    Splitter had a very solid 2nd half. He rebounded pretty well, ran the floor, and was aggressive in drawing fouls on the offensive end. He showed some excellent passing skills to guys making sharp cuts.

    He set very good screens and did well in the offensive pick and roll. It is strange how he is so good in the pick and roll, because he always goes to the basket. Normally you would think you would have to have some kind of jump shot to keep defenses honest in the pick and roll, but he does not. He is just very quick for his size and goes to his spots immediately. Given, the DR did not have very great defensive bigs. Horford is solid and Splitter did a lot of damage against him. His FT’s were poor (4-8), but he got to the line a lot.

    His defense was pretty good in the second half, especially his help defense. He did pretty well at switching off onto smaller, quicker players although he looks much more rigid on defense than on offense. He did a decent job on closing out to shooters as well and forced some missed shots that way.

    Overall nice impact in the second half.

    Default Re: Some Tiago news
    Major Players Stats:

    Tiago Splitter: 24 Min/ 14 PTS / 10 REB / 3 STL / 1 BLK / 1 AST / 4 FLS / 4-8 FT / 63% FG

    Anderson Varejao: 39 Min / 10 PTS / 10 REB / 1 STL / 2 BLK / O AST / 1 PF / 0 FT / 45% FG

    Leandro Barbosa: 33 Min / 21 PTS / 4 REB / 4 AST / 4 TO / 4-5 FT / 7-10 FG / 1-8 3PT

    Al Horford: 18 Min / 5 PTS / 7 REB / 2 STL / 0 BLK / 0 AST / 5 PF / 1-2 FT / 50 FG

    Charlie Villaneuva: 22 Min / 14 PTS / 5 REB / 1 STL / 0 BLK / 5 PF / 1-2 FT / 71% FG

    Francisco Garcia: 39 Min / 17 PTS / 2 REB / 1 STL / 5 BLK / 3 AST / 5-10 3PT / 1-4 FG

  • JJ

    Did you get to watch the game TV?

  • http://www.48minutesofhell.com Timothy Varner

    No, but it’s available on archive through ESPN360. I’ll get to it.

    Thanks for the update, JJ.

  • http://myspurslink.blogspot.com/ Robby

    Thanks for the update about Splitter…

  • zainn
  • http://www.hoopsmanifesto.blogspot.com The Hoops Manifesto

    I’m real intrigued to see how Splitter will do in the NBA – I’ve been following/scouting/writing about him for years. Any idea when he is expected to come across the pond?

  • JJ

    Who knows Hoops Manifesto. From just analyzing the market place, it seems next year would be the most likely, if at all.

    Bruno, in an article written early, found a rule that would allow the Spurs to pay Splitter more than the rookie draft scale amount starting next year.

    So, going by that and some other factors (age, accomplishments outside of the NBA…), I would say it is next year if at all.

  • Big J

    Zainn, thank you for the link. Mr. Furious’ comment about the Lakers aquiring Artest is quite funny, “But losing a role-player like Ariza to an attention-whore and calamity magnet like Artest could give the Spurs just the opening they want.”

    Attention-whore…I gotta figure a way to use that phrase.

  • wahaha

    Since the Spurs started the off season so early, this off season seems longer than usual. Can’t wait for the season to start!!

  • Kaveh

    The Spurs definitely got a steal with Blair, however, something which has me wondering (i would say concerned if i was a Spurs fan) is why exactly he fell so far? Yes, everyone knows of his knees, but why not take him early in the 2nd round at least? Usually in life when things are too good to be true there is a reason for it. I can see 1 or 2 teams making a huge mistake, but 20-25 teams all making the exact same error at the exact same time? And this isn’t a Parker/Manu steal in the draft, because Blair was supposed to be a lottery pick. Parker/Manu were unknown, etc. But Blair was on everyone’s radar.

    Heck the Spurs do have a great rack record for the draft so perhaps they should get the benefit of reasonable doubt. But it is still hard to believe that 20 teams would all make the same exact mistake at the same exact time and not draft Blair. In my opinion the Spurs thinking is risk/reward. The risk is almost nil while the reward is potentially huge. Still, if I was a fan I wouldn’t just assume that Blair was a gift from god and that he is going to be a major contributer next year.

  • SpursfanSteve

    If Blair turns out to be Dennis Rodman without the off court antics, he will be by far the biggest draft steal. we arent counting on him to put up 20/10. but 10/10 or 6/10 would be wonderful.

  • http://myspurslink.blogspot.com/ Robby

    On other news… Spurs guard Tony Parker scored 26 points but France fell to Belgium 70-66 in the EuroBasket finals. The teams will meet again Sunday. from Express-News …

  • Jordan

    Kaveh,

    My only guess is that teams didn’t want to give any contract in this economy to a guy that may end up getting injured. Either that or maybe people assumed that Blair wasn’t in the draft. Either way we got a steal. I think of him more like a Millsap rather than a Rodman. An forward who can provide that energy spark off the bench. Either way, I’m ecstatic that we got him.

  • hobson13

    Ok, ESPN just broke the news that Stephen Jackson wants out of Golden State and wants to go to Texas, Cleveland, or the Knicks. He averaged 20/5/5 last year and played a lot of time at the PG position. What would you guys think about trading Bonner and Mason to get Jax back or Bonner, Finley, and a draft pick would do it too. Would he be a good fit since he can play two positions or would there be too many cooks in the kitchen?

  • Tim

    I’d love to have SJAX back! I was very disappointed we let him go so easily a few years back. Besides the Bonner/Mason trade i dont see how we could get him. Unfortunately i dont even think that would be enough to get him:( Where would he even fit into our system with Manu and RJ at SG and SF? Love to see Timmy and Pop have that dillema :)