San Antonio Spurs

[tackielarla]

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toinks i thought coby carl is a laker?? pwede diay siya muduwa ug lain team sa summer league di man siguro pwede sa? unless gi kuha siya iyang papa hehehehe

I believe he was waived long ago...

[tackielarla]

Spurs trying for best team money can buy
Jeff McDonald

LAS VEGAS — When Spurs majority owner Peter Holt walked into the room for the NBA Board of Governors meeting here earlier this week, he was greeted with a cacophony of catcalls and good-natured ribbing.

His fellow owners couldn't believe the supposedly thrifty Holt had signed off on one of the most expensive offseason makeovers in recent Spurs memory.

“They all think I'm cheap as hell,” Holt said.

Not anymore. In the span of less than a month, Holt and his ownership group have done some serious damage to their miserly reputation.

In the eye of an uncertain economy that prompted many NBA teams to put a lock on their wallets this offseason, the Spurs went barreling past the luxury tax threshold to acquire Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess.

The Spurs already are about $8 million over the dollar-for-dollar tax line, with still more roster pieces to add. The final tariff bill is likely to breach $10 million, on top of a payroll pushing $80 million.

In his first interview since the offseason began, Holt this week explained the reasoning behind the Spurs' out-of-character summertime spending spree. In Vegas terms, it was time to go all in.

“We strongly feel we've got a real opportunity here at the end of the Tim Duncan era,” Holt said before the start of a Spurs summer league game. “If you're in this business long-term, you've got to take care of the opportunities that come up. Even though short-term, it's going to cost you some real money.”

The Spurs, indeed, have been spending real money this summer. It's only looked like Monopoly money.

They took on the remaining $29.2 million owed Jefferson, who came over in a June 23 trade with Milwaukee. They spent the full $5.8 million mid-level exception on McDyess, a figure that comes out closer to $11 million after taxes.

They still are in healthy negotiations with draftee DeJuan Blair, a lottery-caliber talent who's likely to command more than the garden-variety second-round pick.

All of it is part of a rebuilding project the Spurs front office deemed necessary in the wake of a first-round playoff ouster against Dallas, in order to maximize the final years of Duncan's career.

Duncan, an 11-time All-Star, is under contract through 2011-2012.

“Our owners have been committed to putting a team on the floor that can compete to win a championship,” Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. “Peter and his group have given a lot to this city, and this is another example of that.”

Few would have blamed Holt for pulling in his horns this summer. His ownership group, which took over in 1993, already had overseen four NBA championships — or four more than any previous ownership group.

It has been a good run.

Confronted with the same financial slump that has ravaged the coffers of nearly every NBA owner — just this week the league office announced that half its teams were in the red last year — Holt could have decided to take his Larry O'Brien trophies and cash out.

Instead, he bellied back up to the poker table, looking for one last score. Like most high-stakes gambles, it's a strategy not for the faint of heart.

“I'm not saying we're all not worried,” Holt said. “There's no crystal ball when it comes to the economy.”

In the face of a frightening horde of economic down arrows, Holt fell back on a business adage older than Forbes itself. You've got to spend money to make money.

At the box office, there are signs his investment is already paying off. Holt says he's noticed a drastic uptick in ticket sales since the Jefferson trade on June 23.

He says the team is up to a 71 percent renewal rate on season tickets, about a month off last year's pace but still a dramatic increase over earlier in the summer.

“All of a sudden, the fans seem re-energized,” Holt said.

The Spurs' No. 1 fan seems re-energized as well. Leaning back in his chair at UNLV's Cox Pavilion this week, Holt was relaxed and confident, eager for the days to come.

He had the look of a man who had pushed his chips to the center of the table, and knew he was sitting on a winning hand.

“We're ready to kick some ass,” Holt said. “I couldn't be more excited.”
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Oh yeah!!!

[amamangloy]

DeJuan Blair has signed a guaranteed three-year contract with the Spurs for $2.7 million, Jonathan Givony has learned. Twitter

[cxtknight]

RICHARD JEFFERSON LEAVES BRIDE AT THE ALTAR

By NEEL SHAH and JEANE MacINTOSH


Now that's a flagrant foul.

Former New Jersey Net star Richard Jefferson bailed on his stunning fiancée -- pulling the plug on his posh Manhattan wedding at the 11th hour without even alerting some of the guests, The Post has learned.

The cold-footed forward's decision to ditch onetime Net dancer Kesha Ni'Cole Nichols was so last-minute that some of his oblivious friends had already shown up last Saturday at the swank Mandarin Oriental in Columbus Circle for the $2 million wedding that never happened.

Jefferson -- who was traded in June to the San Antonio Spurs -- dumped Nichols just before the weekend, according to sources.

She immediately called her family and friends to say the ceremony was off.
But Jefferson waited much longer, his friends told The Post.

"He called about two hours before the wedding. It was nuts," said one Jefferson pal.

He never showed up at the hotel, but "all his boys were there," the friend said. "He gave his best friend the Black Amex [credit card] for the night."

Jefferson's guests made good use of the credit card to party on their pal's dime.

Nichols did check in to the hotel on what was to have been her wedding day, and was upgraded to a suite on the 45th floor with a king-sized bed and a Central Park view, according to a source at the Mandarin.

The would-be bride was stunned, but "not entirely caught off-guard," by Jefferson's unsportsmanlike conduct, according to a family friend.

"She just wants to keep this as quiet as possible and move on. She's doing just fine," a Nichols family insider said.

sos maau tah muduwa... batia jug batasan ani nila sa mga babay oe

[RonIvs]

Spurs win!

[tackielarla]

Summerleague: SPURS vs Thunder in a few moments.

[tackielarla]

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/feature...ion/index.html

Southwest Division breakdown: Spurs come back to life
By Fran Blinebury, NBA.com
Posted Jul 16 2009 11:41AM

How many times does the world have to throw shovels full of dirt on top of the San Antonio Spurs before everyone understands that they have more lives than Jason and Freddy Krueger in one of the horror flicks?

The Southwest Division continues to be one tough neighborhood with plenty of rough characters up and down the lineup and likely another fiercely-contested race in the making.

But you've got to give the early edge to the Spurs, who have hardly spent the summer idling around at the beach after being bounced from the Playoffs in the first round by Dallas. First they got younger and more dynamic by adding Richard Jefferson to the front line. Then they scored a coup by luring Antonio McDyess to the Alamo City.

The Mavericks were nothing less than bold in acquiring Shawn Marion, re-signing Jason Kidd and making a bid to add Marcin Gortat. They're all in for the remaining prime seasons of Dirk Nowitzki's career and are intent on being a real factor in the West.

If the Hornets stay healthy, they have the ability to challenge again for the division, but depth remains a problem. The Rockets couldn't have fallen faster if they stepped into an empty elevator shaft with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady on the shelf and Ron Artest having fled to the Lakers. The Grizzlies, as usual, are starting over.

San Antonio Spurs

Gained -- Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, Marcus Haislip, DeJuan Blair

Lost -- Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, Kurt Thomas

Up in the air -- It's all about keeping the big three healthy. If Manu Ginobili can bounce back from a season in which he played just 44 games due to injuries to the left ankle and right leg, things will be easier on Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, too.

Early projection for 2009-10 season -- There are no talent pugs in boxing gyms all across the globe that haven't been counted out at many times as the Spurs. When they were dusted aside by the Mavericks in the first round last spring, the experts were again marking the end of the line for the team that had won four championships in the last decade. But they've still got Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, which isn't a bad place to start. Then the braintrust of Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford was able to pull off a coup in getting Jefferson to add young legs (and some pop) into an aging lineup. The addition of McDyess via free agency was just what the doctor ordered in terms of scoring, rebounding and defense off the bench. To top it all off, the Spurs had the college game's best rebounder in Blair fall right into their laps on draft night. Hold the obituaries. There's still plenty of life left in the Spurs.

Dallas Mavericks

Gained -- Shawn Marion, Kris Humpries, Nathan Jawai, Greg Buckner, Nick Calathes, Rodrigue Beaubois, Quinton Ross

Lost -- Brandon Bass, Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George, Antoine Wright.

Up in the air -- The best-laid plans of the Mavs took a kick to the shins when Orlando stepped up and matched the free agent offer sheet to Gortat. With Orlando also luring away free agent Bass, things are suddenly thin up front in Dallas. Attention has now turned to plucking Lamar Odom away the Lakers, which would ease the pain.

Early projection for 2009-10 season -- Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and Rick Carlisle wasted no time in pushing their entire stack of chips into the middle of the table in Dallas. In short, the Mavs are "all in." With Nowitzki having just turned 31, this is a team that knows there is no time like the present. The Mavs have finally licked their wounds sufficiently from their 2006 pratfall in the NBA Finals and are ready to compete for the top prize again. The addition of Marion gives them another wing man to run like the wind and the re-signing of 35-year-old point guard Kidd says this is a team that is only looking at the present. And the present is bright

New Orleans Hornets

Gained -- Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton

Lost -- None

Up in the air -- For a team that is already thinner than the top layer of pond ice on an early spring day, the Hornets now are hamstrung by money problems. Those could could have been settled by selling off assets for cash, but they're in no position to significantly boost a roster that needs help.

Early projection for 2009-10 season -- It was less than a year ago when the Hornets were everyone's darlings and a fashionable pick to win the Southwest and maybe even go deep into the Playoffs. But they were never able to regain their momentum. Injuries and lack of concentration pulled them back into the pack. That free agent deal that looked so sweet when Peja Stojakovic was healthy and on the court two years ago has turned increasingly sour. Tyson Chandler was already traded away once (and OKC cancelled the deal) and it only seems a matter of time before he's shipped out again. The Hornets still have their solid 1-2 punch in All-Stars Chris Paul and David West, but the rest of the lineup is anything but a knockout.
Houston Rockets

Gained -- Trevor Ariza, Chase Budinger, Jermaine Taylor, David Andersen

Lost -- Ron Artest

Up in the air -- The short-term future of the franchise is sickly as the season will open without Yao (stress fracture left foot) and McGrady (microfracture surgery left knee, left shoulder surgery). Toss in the departure of free agent Artest and the Rockets will be missing two-thirds of the offense from opening night a year ago. They are desperately seeking a big man to play the middle.

Early projection for 2009-10 season -- The Rockets barely got a chance to congratulate themselves on the franchise's best effort in more than a decade before the roof fell in. They won a playoff series for the first time since 1997 and were the only team able to take the eventual champion Lakers to a Game 7 in the Playoffs. But with McGrady already out until probably mid-season, the Rockets got word that the stress fracture that brought an early end to Yao's season didn't heal. Surgery is imminent. Ariza was a decent pickup from the Lakers, but he's another catch-and-shoot guy like Shane Battier. The Rockets still don't have anyone except Aaron Brooks who can get his own shot and they have a gaping hole in the middle of their lineup. Can Australian import Andersen and second-year man Dorsey take Yao's place? Hard times are ahead.
Memphis Grizzlies

Gained -- Hasheem Thabeet, Zach Randolph, DeMarre Carroll, Sam Young

Lost -- Darko Milicic, Quinton Ross, Greg Buckner

Up in the air -- Are they rebuilding? Are they simply putting a lineup on the floor? Are they trying to go young?

Early projection for 2009-10 season -- Like a broken compass, the Grizzlies have absolutely no sense of direction. Just when you figure they're going young and fresh with the draft picks of Thabeet, Carroll and Young, they turn around and do something inexplicable like take on the last two years of Randolph's burdensome contract. Why not use their salary cap room to make a run at David Lee, as many had suspected? Maybe because it's owner Michael Heisley calling the shots and he'd rather be able to dump Randolph's deal in two years than give long-term big money to Lee. They have a couple of scoring thoroughbreds in Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo, but it looks like another season of finishing way out of the money and heading back to the lottery. Again.

[tackielarla]

67-62 SPURS going into the 4th quarter.

[tackielarla]

85-76 SPURS!

Gameball goes to DeJuan Freaking Blair!

20 pts
5 rebounds

[koontz_circle]

whooaaa! Dejuan is the one.