San Antonio Spurs

[tackielarla]

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Thunder, Spurs to meet in Austin exhibition game

The Oklahoma City Thunder will play the San Antonio Spurs in a preseason game next season in Austin, Texas.

The Oct. 20 game will be played at the Erwin Center. It will serve as a homecoming for Thunder star Kevin Durant, who played one season for Texas before entering the NBA. The Oklahoma City franchise selected Durant with the second overall pick in the 2007 draft.

The Longhorns retired Durant's No. 35 jersey in February during a halftime ceremony of a game against Texas A&M.

Oklahoma City season-ticket holders can buy tickets to the game through a special pre-sale taking place from May 11-15. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on June 1.

The remainder of the Thunder's preseason schedule has not yet been released.

[juan penduko]

Hahahhahhaa

[tackielarla]

Welcome back, Juan.

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Turkoglu just five years late for Spurs
Buck Harvey

The Spurs weren't wrong. If anything, they gambled well. They gave up nothing to get Hedo Turkoglu, then they gave him a season to show them something.

That's why Sunday wasn't about the Spurs and their decision five years ago.

It was about the gradual evolution of Turkoglu.

R.C. Buford had followed Turkoglu since he turned pro at 17 in Turkey, but most scouts saw the gifts. Turkoglu had a smooth jumper, and he could dribble and pass for his size.

Better yet, his size kept changing. Look at him now; he's about the same height as Dwight Howard.

After Sacramento drafted Turkoglu, Buford would occasionally call the Kings to see if anything was possible. The Kings would say Turkoglu was untouchable.

Then Turkoglu put on some weight and lost some confidence. His scoring average fell below seven points by 2003, and the Kings wanted to pull off a trade with Indiana to get Brad Miller.

Buford always gave Sam Presti credit for what followed. The Spurs elbowed their way into a three-team trade, with Danny Ferry's contract their only asset.

It was a godsend. The Spurs had been hesitant to invest in Stephen Jackson, though he had helped win a title with clutch shooting. They weren't sure of his worth, given his volatility, and to get Turkoglu they only had to send off some paperwork on Ferry. Shortly after, Ferry retired and returned to work for the Spurs.

Turkoglu was likeable, with a good sense of humor, and he came with a noticeable skill. He could speak Serbian with Gregg Popovich.

But he was also a reclamation project. He was fragile, without competitive instincts, and Popovich reacted to that. He didn't bark at him — in any language — because he didn't think Turkoglu needed the stress.

Still, when Turkoglu started off in a slump, Popovich didn't pull back. “He is the key,” Popovich said in November of 2003. “He's a necessity. We're not going to get it done without him.”

Popovich tried to jump-start Turkoglu, starting him ahead of Manu Ginobili, and for a time the spark caught. Turkoglu went on a shooting streak in the middle of the season.

He relapsed in the playoffs. Turkoglu went cold in the Derek Fisher 0.4 loss, and his final game as a Spur left a lasting image. Starting against the Lakers as the so-called shooting guard, Turkoglu didn't score a point.

When the Magic offered Turkoglu a six-year, $37 million contract, the Spurs never considered matching. They had to pay Ginobili and Bruce Bowen that summer, and they wondered if Turkoglu would ever have fourth-quarter toughness. To them, it made better sense to invest in a less-expensive but proven shooter, Brent Barry.

The Spurs would win the next championship, and then another in 2007. With Ginobili becoming more assertive, Turkoglu might have remained passive had he stayed.

He instead found responsibility with an Orlando franchise that had won just 21 games the year before. He got better every season until he averaged almost 20 points last year, when he was named the league's most improved player.

Then came Sunday. On the road, in a Game 7, Turkoglu put together 25 points and 12 assists to eliminate the defending champs.

“If he had a notion to call himself the Turkish Larry Bird,” a Boston Globe columnist wrote, “no one could raise a serious objection.”

He'd arrived at age 30, and now he heads to Cleveland to play, coincidentally, Ferry's Cavaliers. But everything could have been different, including the 2004 postseason.

If Turkoglu had shown even a hint of what was to come.

[koontz_circle]

Hedo Turkoglu is very flexible on the floor and has played four positions from point guard to power forward during his career. He now most often plays the small forward position.

The Spurs could have benefited from him.

[Onins]

wow hehehe himo sad unta sya about kang scola

[vcmov_15]

^ Mas tiguwang pa ni na thread keysa sa imo time here in istorya. Joke lang ha.

hahahaha good one.... nagbasa ko sa article bha maka what if man sad ta oie hahahhaa pero saon taman didto man jud nagpagawas sa iyang pagka Mr. 4th quarter si hedo... he's the reason nga lisod pildihon ang magic ron.. howard will always be howard but he has no jumpshot dunk rana permi ug block they open up the lane by hitting 3 pt shots thats what hedo did together with rashard..

[tackielarla]

wow hehehe himo sad unta sya about kang scola

He actually did bai. Malmal na kaayo na topic na si Scola sa SPURS. I just chose not to post the articles here; sapoton lang kos FO namo ana.

[dandavix08]

tackz wala pay updates new players karon spurS? hope labay nila gooden oi bati man humok ra kaayo!

[tackielarla]

Wala pa bro though naa silay mga gipang mini-camp right now. Update you guys lang on that. Pero as a spoiler, naa silay gina tryout na 2 college standouts and 1 american playing in a French league (currently MVP ato na league).

Take heart SPURS fans! Our FO ain't fishing this offseason. Rest assured we'll be back next year rested, healthier, and stronger than ever!

[juan penduko]

imo man dai ko g.welcome tackie. salamat bro. unsay isda nadakup nimo bro. ako bolinao raman ni oi.