San Antonio Spurs

[tackielarla]

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Gooden likely to test free-agent waters
By Jeff McDonald

Drew Gooden arrived in San Antonio last March hoping to make it his home. He had bounced around the NBA for six-plus seasons in a nomad's career. He was finally ready to settle down.

Speaking to reporters at the Spurs practice facility this afternoon, Gooden reiterated his desire to remain with the Spurs after he becomes a free-agent on July 1, but intimated that he will test the market first.

"I had a great time here," Gooden said. "It was a great experience. Whatever happens, this will be a couple of pages in my book that will be memorable. I'd love to be a part of this organization, but we'll see this summer."

If Tuesday's Game 5 loss to Dallas was his last in a Spurs uniform, Gooden said he has no hard feelings with how it ended. He took a DNP-CD, as coach Gregg Popovich shortened his big-man rotation to use players most familiar with his system.

"We played a small lineup, small rotation, with the guys who have been here," Gooden said. "Some playoff games are going to be like that. If I've got to sacrifice playing to get a win, I'll do that."

In other clean-out day news ...

* Bruce Bowen said he hopes to finish out his contract in San Antonio. He is on the books next season for $4 million, only half of which is guaranteed. He doesn't want to go elsewhere.

"It would be a shock to me and my family, because this is home to us," Bowen said. "But if that's the case, we understand it's a business. Sometimes in business, there are tough decisions that need to be made."

* Michael Finley said he hadn't yet decided whether to opt into the final year of his contract with the Spurs. Finley is due $2.5 million, at his option.

"I haven't really thought about next year, to be quite honest," Finley said. "I'm going to sit back with my family now, enjoy this extended period of time off, and when the time comes that I have to make a decision about my future, that's when I'll make it."

That $2.5 million is free money to Finley, and he isn't likely to attract a better deal elsewhere. If Finley does return for a 15th season, it will probably be in a Spurs uniform.

[menderouv]

Spurs Team Report
Yahoo! Sports
Jun 7, 4:50 am EDT

Getting Inside

The Spurs conducted a pre-draft workout with Gonzaga point guard Jeremy Pargo, the younger brother of one-time San Antonio target Jannero Pargo(notes). The elder Pargo could once again be in the Spurs’ plans, since his contract with Russian club Dynamo Moscow is done.


The younger Pargo (6-foot-2, 220 pounds) played all four years at Gonzaga and became one of the top playmakers in college ball. Considered by many a project, he could fall into the second round.


The Spurs have three second-round picks. Another possible target, if he stays in the draft, is 20-year-old Israeli forward Omri Casspi. The Spurs, one of the league’s most successful teams drafting international players, have followed the 6-foot-8 small forward since he was about 17.


Since the Spurs are looking to get younger on the wing, Casspi potentially makes sense. The issue is whether he pulls out of the draft. The word is Casspi would withdraw if he’s not a first-round pick.


The Spurs don’t have a first-rounder, but the team could package second-round picks and maybe move into the late first round.


Season Highlight: An inconsistent end to the regular season finished with a flurry as the Spurs rallied from five down with 50 seconds left in regulation to beat New Orleans in the regular-season finale to beat New Orleans. The victory, coupled with Houston’s loss the same night, catapulted San Antonio from a possible fifth seed to third and the Southwest Division title. The division title was the 16th in franchise history.


Turning Point: The team’s postseason hopes took a severe hit when Manu Ginobili(notes) was diagnosed with a season-ending stress fracture in his right leg on April 6. Ginobili had recently returned from five weeks of rest, which doctors thought would heal what was then a stress reaction. Without the explosive swingman in the lineup, the Spurs were forced to rely almost solely on Tony Parker(notes) and Tim Duncan(notes).


Notes, Quotes

• Former Spurs forward Robert Horry is leaning toward retirement. He didn’t play this past season after suiting up for San Antonio during the 2007-08 season. Horry may go into coaching or continue broadcasting work.


“I’m more interested in those gigs,” he said. “I just started putting my name out there.”


Horry made his name, Big Shot Rob, on his ability to knock down shots in the clutch.


“I think I have a respect around the league where guys will respect the knowledge I have,” he said. “I’m a crossroads guy, and I have knowledge from both big-time eras.”


• The Spurs won preliminary approval for a $4 million, taxpayer-funded practice facility at the AT&T Center complex for the minor league hockey team owned by the franchise.


The funds would come from $10 million that was leftover from the 1999 bond issue that financed arena’s construction. The Spurs haven’t worked out where the practice facility would be located.


Quote To Note: “It creates an environment where if you don’t get there, it’s hard to say, ‘Oh wow, we had a great time this year.’ You want to get there again.”—F Bruce Bowen(notes), on success breeding expectations.


Roster Report

Most Valuable Player: Tony Parker put together a career season, averaging 22.0 points, 6.9 assists and shooting 50.6 percent in 72 games. He averaged 28.6 points and 6.8 assists on 54.6 percent shooting in the playoffs. The lightning-quick point guard carried the team for long stretches as injuries caught up to Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.


Most Disappointing Player: Though it wasn’t strictly his fault, Manu Ginobili’s injury-riddled season was a serious downer in San Antonio. His decision to play for Argentina’s national team last summer didn’t sit too well with coach Gregg Popovich, and Ginobili ended up getting hurt in China. Offseason surgery sidelined Ginobili for the first 12 games of the season, and he never really hit his stride.


Free Agent Focus: Drew Gooden(notes), Ime Udoka(notes) and Jacque Vaughn(notes) are free agents. Gooden wants to return, but it’s unclear if the team is interested. Udoka is a higher priority than Vaughn, but neither is seen as essential.


The front office wants to add youth and athleticism to the veteran core. If Gooden doesn’t return, an active frontcourt body will be high on the list.


Player News:


• G Manu Ginobili basically lost a season to injury, and though he’s expected to be healthy next season, his future isn’t without question. The 31-year-old sixth man needs to prove he can stay injury-free if the Spurs are going to commit to another long-term deal. Ginobili is heading into the last year of his contract at $10.7 million.


• C Matt Bonner(notes) endeared himself to the coaching staff and fans through his hustle and hard play. But making only $3.2 million going into the last year of his contract, Bonner is an attractive trade asset if the Spurs can find better options inside. Upgrading the athleticism around Tim Duncan is crucial, and Bonner, for all his upside, isn’t an intimidating presence in the paint.


• G George Hill(notes) goes into his first offseason with a definite mission: learn to be a true point guard. The rookie started strong, but his playing time tapered off as the season went along.


The biggest issue is Hill’s ability to run the team behind Tony Parker. Hill’s shortfalls in that area last season forced Gregg Popovich to turn to natural shooting guard Roger Mason(notes) as the backup point.


Medical Watch:


• G Manu Ginobili (stress fracture, right ankle) missed the last six games of the regular season and the playoffs. Surgery won’t be needed, and he should be ready for training camp

[menderouv]

ang coach kay c popovich nya assistant nya kay si stan van gundy ug phil jackson

dreamer......

[tackielarla]

I'd trade Ginobili ONLY if we're sure to pick James Harden at the 5th pick of Washington. Of course Washington should include Antawn Jamison.

[ju-Luis]

I'd trade Ginobili ONLY if we're sure to pick James Harden at the 5th pick of Washington. Of course Washington should include Antawn Jamison.

ayaw lang jamison. maybe a caron butler will do + d 5th pick sa wizards. pra naa nay klarong small forward ang spurs..

[tackielarla]

Neh. I'd prefer Jamison. We have Mason filling in for Gino in his spot nicely, plus we have James Gist coming in from Europe.

We need more bigs!

[tackielarla]

Ok; enough with this Trade-Manu crap. This just in:

Ginobili predicts complete recovery
Jeff McDonald

Manu Ginobili boarded a flight to Argentina late Sunday afternoon, headed home for the first time in nearly a year.

This time, he planned to stay awhile, using his vacation to relax with friends and family and do all the things that a wandering son and brother does when he finally gets a chance to return home.

“I’ve got almost everything packed up and ready to go,” Ginobili said from his San Antonio home a few hours before leaving for the airport. “There was a lot to pack.”

Ginobili could be bringing everything but the kitchen sink back with him to Buenos Aires. It still wouldn’t match the baggage he carried the last time he made the trip home.

Last summer, the Spurs guard boarded a similar flight to his homeland to prepare for the Olympics in Beijing, bearing the weight of an entire nation’s expectations on his shoulders. He left behind an employer that had urged him to reconsider his loyalty to country and a Spurs fan base just praying he’d survive the summer in one piece.

Ginobili, the star of Argentina’s Olympic team, came back from Beijing in a boot after reinjuring the left ankle that had given him trouble during the 2008 playoffs. That twist of both ankle and fate led to a series of injuries that wiped out most of Ginobili’s 2008-09 season.

In his first interview since April 5, the day before a stress fracture in his right distal fibula put a premature end to the most tumultuous season of his career, Ginobili said Sunday that he expects to be fully recovered by the opening of training camp in October.

“For the past month or so, I haven’t felt any pain, even to the touch,” Ginobili said. “I don’t have any doubt I’ll be 100 percent before training camp starts.”

Much is riding on Ginobili’s latest recovery effort. Nothing the Spurs accomplish this offseason, either via the draft or free agency, will mean much if Ginobili cannot approach the form that made him the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2007-08.

Injury-plagued from start to finish, Ginobili missed all but 44 games last season, including all of the Spurs’ first-round playoff ouster against Dallas. He averaged 15.5 points, his fewest since 2005-06, while his shooting percentage dipped to 45.5 percent, his lowest since 2003-04.

As Ginobili heads home this summer, again recovering from an ankle injury but this time without an Olympic quest to hijack the healing process, he does so under no marching order other than to get well.

His long-term future in San Antonio could depend on it.

Ginobili, who will turn 32 next month, is entering the final year of a contract scheduled to pay him close to $16.1 million next season.

The Spurs had begun preliminary talks about a contract extension last summer before Ginobili left for China. Those negotiations were shelved when Ginobili re-injured his left ankle at the Olympics, and they have yet to resume.

“They want to see that I am healthy,” Ginobili said.

Ginobili is hopeful he can reach a deal that would allow him to finish his career in San Antonio.

“I have said a thousand times, I would love to stay here,” Ginobili said. “You know how the NBA is, though. There are not a lot of players who get to start and finish in the same place. I love San Antonio. If I have to take another road, you do what you have to do. But it would not be my first option, for sure.”

For the Spurs, who have played with their star guard injured for much of the past 14 months, the preferred option is to have Ginobili healthy.

The news so far this offseason has been encouraging.

An MRI taken Thursday showed the bone in his right leg completely healed. Ginobili expects to return to running and jumping next month, and he should be able to begin basketball work not long after that.(waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! )

“All the things I have not been allowed to do, I should be allowed to do soon,” he said.

This summer, Ginobili hopes to reinvigorate his career in the same manner it went south last summer.

By boarding a plane to Argentina.

*********************

87 number of regular-season and playoff games the Spurs played during the 2008-09 campaign

44 games Ginobili played during the 2008-09 season, the fewest of his seven-year career

90 average number of regular-season and playoff games per season Ginobili played during his first six seasons

*********************

A painful 14 months

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili has spent much of the past 14 months either injured or rehabilitating from injury. Here is a glance at Ginobili’s recent treks to the training room:

April 2008: Ginobili experiences soreness in his left ankle during the Spurs’ first-round playoff series against Phoenix, but he continues to play through the discomfort.

May 2008: The pain in Ginobili’s ankle gets progressively worse. By the Western Conference finals against the Lakers, he is a shell of himself.

Aug. 22, 2008: Playing for Argentina in the Beijing Olympics, Ginobili re-aggravates the ankle injury. Diagnosed with a ligament impingement, he undergoes arthroscopic surgery two weeks later.

Nov. 24, 2008: Ginobili makes his season debut at Memphis, having missed the first 12 games recovering from surgery.

Feb. 16, 2009: Experiencing soreness in his right ankle that did not subside during the All-Star break, Ginobili does not make the final leg of the Spurs’ rodeo road trip. Doctors diagnose him with a stress reaction in his right distal fibula, which will sideline him for 19 more games.

March 25, 2009: Cleared by the team’s medical staff to return to action, Ginobili plays 14 minutes in a victory at Atlanta.

April 5, 2009: Ginobili again feels discomfort in the right ankle during a loss to Cleveland. He returns to San Antonio to be examined by the team’s medical staff.

April 6, 2009: Doctors determine Ginobili’s stress reaction has become a more ominous stress fracture, and they pronounce him out for the rest of the season and the playoffs.

[manuginobili]

atay...kulba.an mn pd ko kng m.trade c manu...couldn't and wouldn't want to imagine him in any other uniform...

[tackielarla]

Well guys, it seems Bourousis is a dud: http://www.sportnet.gr/report.aspx?id=190069

Olympiakos made a better offer than what we offered and they're close to reaching an agreement. Oh well.

[toyotacorrola]

i think the spurs needs to rebuild..