Duncan's contract is up this summer. Does he re-sign? If so, what's the price tag?

21 cents?

If the Spurs win it all, I think Duncan is done, but I could be wrong.

100 percent guarantee Duncan will not retire if they win it all. Rumors are he wants two more years.

[This message has been edited by aggie_2001_2005 (edited 5/6/2012 12:21a).]

[This message has been edited by aggie_2001_2005 (edited 5/6/2012 12:22a).]

I see Duncan signing a 2 year contract win or lose this year. He really has been looking good.

Wouldn't shock me if Duncan played for the minimum, dude has more cash than his grandkids can spend and he is smart with it. Realistically though he will take a modest 2 year deal. Why would he retire? He's in great shape, is in a dream situation playing with his friends, he and Pop are kindred souls, and he is a God in the city of SA.

Jefferson had a good game last night, but he couldn't get in the paint against the Duncan-led Spurs defense. All jump shots.

Duncan still has it on defense and is still capable on offense. Barring injury, he still has a couple years in the tank. I think he'll come back.

The players whose contracts end after this year are Duncan, Diaw, Green, and Neal. Blair has a team option for one more year, and Mills has a player option. Assuming Anderson will not be re-signed.

Returning players:
Parker
Ginobili
Jackson
Splitter
Bonner
Leonard

Re-sign Duncan
get Diaw another deal
let Blair's contract expire
resign Green or Neal to a respectable deal (one or both of them will want a substantial raise, so it may not be worth paying both when Pop manufactures those guys. I like Green for his defense)
maybe bring in the Euro shooter (was it Bertans? I haven't kept up with the Euro rights and who is likely to come over)
pick up a contributer in FA/draft to replace whoever leaves out of Green and Neal (or a post if they can get a good one)
Mills may leave for somewhere he can get more time

That leaves you with:
Duncan
Parker
Ginobili
Green
Diaw
Splitter
Jackson
Bonner
Leonard

plus three spots to fill in FA/draft. Not counting draft picks/new free agents, the Spurs total payroll will have dropped somewhere between 3 and 5 million by a rough estimate.

The team is essentially back, only now Splitter will have another year and some tough playoff basketball under his belt, Diaw will probably be back in better shape and an offseason on the Spurs' system, and they have three chances to find the next post contributor, pg, and long wing player.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 5/6/2012 12:11p).]

That gives you rotations of:

PG: Parker, ??
SG: Green, Ginobili
SF: Leonard, Jackson
PF/C: Duncan, Splitter, Diaw, Bonner

Find a decent backup PG and they are running 10 deep again next year no problem. Throw in another decent SG/SF (is there any doubt that they'll find one?) and they'll again be the deepest team in the league. That's a situation Duncan will probably want to be a part of, and if a smaller contract means they can find space for a proven PG that will probably be worth more to him than the money. After all, he's got his mad HEB and Gunn Nissan money rolling in, no financial problems for that guy.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 5/6/2012 12:24p).]

don't forget the free northside ford vehicles they can redeem at any time.

Gotta keep Green and Neal.

let's just keep the whole team together.

I see the spurs keeping mills and green. Same for Diaw. Neal may be gone depending how much he wants.

Of course you never know when some agent will go s jax or Derek Anderson mode on you.

Maybe he'll get all pissy and go to Toronto like Hakeem did

Robinson and Duncan are the rare players who started and finished their career one team. Truly some of the best draft picks any team could hope for.

Can Mills defend? I haven't watched him enough (and he hasn't played in enough non-blowout minutes) to get a really good idea, but my impression is that he's all offense. If he can play fairly solid defense, making him the backup pg fills the biggest hole in the depth chart and frees Pop/Buford to use those roster spots on next generation players.

Neal is valuable because he can go out and get 5-8 points in 5 minutes on his own (has offensive skills but not enough of a reputation to demand double teams), but I get the feeling he wants a bigger role than he'll ever have with the Spurs.

Neal is a good player, but the way they use him isn't that Spurs-like. He seems to find himself in a lot more iso situations than anyone else. Obviously Pop wouldn't let that happen if it weren't his plan, but it seems odd to me. Not sure if that means Neal is more or less likely to stick around in the long run, but my guess is that he is trade bait this offseason.

Looking at next year's projected 12-man roster, assuming Neal stays:

Player - Age
Duncan - 36
Ginobili - 35
Jackson - 34
Bonner - 32
Diaw - 30
Parker - 30
Neal - 28
Splitter - 27
Green - 24
Mills - 23
Leonard - 21
Empty spot - ??

3 players that are nearing the end of their careers. 3 players who are in the prime of their careers. 2 players who are in their physical prime but still improving. 3 players who are still young and appear to have bright futures in the league.

Now by position:
PG: 30 and 23
SG: 35, 28, and 24
SF: 34 and 21
PF: 32 and 30
C: 36 and 27


There is an older veteran and a young player at every spot except PF. That is pretty nice roster management, especially when you consider that PF/C aren't that clearcut for the Spurs.

Splitter is definitely a center, but Duncan is a C on defense and a PF on offense, Bonner is a C on defense and a F on offense, and Diaw can play SF-C on offense and PF to C on defense. You could just as easily group all the bigs together.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 5/6/2012 5:11p).]

2 years 20 mil.

Article from a couple of days ago mentioned that a center from Barcelona(I forgot his name) has already stated that he will be coming over next year for the spurs.

Nice troll Steve. FWIW, between Duncan and Robinson the Spurs may have the smartest 2 Superstars in the history of the NBA.

quote:

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Nice troll Steve. FWIW, between Duncan and Robinson the Spurs may have the smartest 2 Superstars in the history of the NBA.

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This is true...

Looks like Erazem Lorbek is probably who you are talking about and the player I was remembering incorrectly.

Lorbek is not a lock to come over. Depending on what the Spurs want to do with Diaw could effect if Lorbek comes.