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Small ball is kind of a moot point though isn't it? The Spurs won't play two bigs no matter who they have if the other team is playing small.

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Exactly. It doesn't matter because when it is time to go small ball, the Spurs put SJax or Diaw at 4 and take out Duncan or Kaman.

Diaw would be gone if the Spurs get Kaman fwiw. If you get a 4 that can move then you don't necessarily have to go ultra small.

Spurs are done with the "Twin tower" look and have been for awhile.

Not if we amnesty Bonner.

Edit: In response to Diaw.

[This message has been edited by ItalAggie (edited 7/5/2012 3:48p).]

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Not if we amnesty Bonner.

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He would still be gone. Bonner being amnesty is completely irrelevant to the signing of free agents.

We haven't won one since we've started two seven footers(Fab probably a little shorter though).

How so? It would free up cap space would it not?

Bonner being amnestied would 1. Get the choker off the team and 2. Could help the Spurs stay under the tax line.

Holt would still have to pay off Bonner his full contract and it wouldn't have any effect on what kind of money we have for free agents.

I'll try to explain a little bit:

The NBA cap this year is estimated to be around 59M(45 % of BRI).

The Spurs as of right now have 9 players under contract:

Manu Ginobili: $14,107,492
Tony Parker: $12,500,000
Stephen Jackson: $10,059,750
Tiago Splitter: $3,944,000
Matt Bonner: $3,630,000
Kawhi Leonard: $1,809,840
Cory Joseph: $1,074,720
Dejuan Blair:$1,054,000
Gary Neal: $845,389

Calculate these up and you have roughly 49 million on the books. 10 million under the soft cap. The other # to keep in mind during this is the Luxury Tax Line which is $70.3M.

This means the Spurs are about 10 million under the soft cap and 21.3 million under the luxury tax line. (The Spurs usually like to stay right under this #).

Now you take into effect the re-signing of Duncan (Lets just say he takes 10M/yr but it could be more) and Danny Green ( looking to be around 4-5M/yr) That immediately brings us over the cap by 5 mil. Amnestying Bonners 3,630,000 mil contract still keeps us over the cap, giving us no extra funds to spend but it does help us avoid the luxury tax line in the long run.

Since we are still over the cap, the NBA gives every team over the cap 2 exceptions to spend every summer (MLE and LLE) Our MLE is roughly 5M yr/maximum 4 years, and LLE roughly 2M yr/maximum 2 years)

Then we fill up the roster with minimum contracts.

Not the best write-up but did it quick.

[This message has been edited by Sher Thing (edited 7/5/2012 4:15p).]

and fwiw the hard cap is 4 million above the Luxury Tax Line. Roughly 74M

Cool. Thanks for posting.

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According to ESport3.cat, Lorbek said the Spurs' first priority is to target a physical center before continuing negotiations with the Slovenian.

According Lorbek, the Spurs' first choice right now is a more physical center that plays 5.

This makes a lot of sense since names like Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman have surfaced five days into free agency on the Spurs' list. The team is still working on re-signing Tim Duncan, but outside of that, there's been little mention of whether or not they've begun renegotiating with Boris Diaw.

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Doesn't make sense unless they are planning on moving Splitter.

Tony's glasses he will wear in the olympics.

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Ken Berger: Spurs focused on re-signing Tim Duncan, but have agreed to stay in touch with Camby's camp as things develop. Twitter

Ken Berger: After Marcus Camby meets with Knicks and Heat this weekend, talks with Dallas and San Antonio expected to follow, league source says. Twitter

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With these two tweets I wouldn't be surprised to see the Spurs try to make a deal with Houston for Camby. Something like a Splitter + filler for Camby + one of there hundred PFs (P. Patterson maybe) and then the Spurs use the MLE on Lorbek or Diaw.

If you take into consideration that Asik, who's a similar player to Splitter just got 8M / yr, you could see the Spurs not wanting to pay that to Splitter next off-season and unload him now.

Of course this is all pointless if Chicago doesn't match Houston's offer sheet to Asik.

Reports I've read say that Camby is really pulling for Miami. We'll see though. He'd be a nice piece to have.

camby no fing thank you

splitter is way better

Patterson would be an interesting guy to put through his paces with the Spurs.

Camby could be more likely now that the Heat signed Ray Ray.

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camby no fing thank you

splitter is way better

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First of all nobody is suggesting a straight up swap. Second of all if the Spurs are able to package a Bonner in there with Tiago and get a much needed PF back like Patterson then it's a no brainer.

With Omar Asik getting 8 mil/yr this off-season, Splitter's bound to get a similar deal next. The Spurs will not give Splitter that much $ and rightfully so. Unloading him now to a team that desperately wants a center (Houston) would be a smart thing to do if we can get some value in return. Obviously Houston is willing to give a player like Splitter a big contract next off-season.

I stated a few years ago that bonner sucked. I still stand by that. Must get rid of him.

I always thought he'd turn the corner in the postseason. He never did. He's a great dude, but we have to get rid of him.

Barcelona is set to offer lorbek the largest contract in league history. The spurs might come up empty this summer in the big market.

Project Spurs isn't the greatest of sources so I'd take that with a grain of salt.

Assuming it is true, I haven't seen much out of the Spurs that suggests they are even that interested in Lorbek besides pure speculation.

Lorbek re-signing with Barca.

If the $ amount he's signing for is true, It would be about 2 Million/yr. This is not the richest contract in Barcelona history (lol), and pretty much proves that the Spurs had very little interest in actually bringing him over.

Sounds like a matter of time until De Colo signs.

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De Colo talked about his travel to SA:
http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/ba...e-ia0b0n568629

"It went very fast. It was a little like what I did with FNT three weeks ago: some basics medical tests, a little running, nothing too important. I was back on the plane the next day. It was more to do these medical test and not have to come back to SA if needed. They told me for many months that they have a place for me in their roster but there have other debates about their team. I just come after that, I hope next week. But it remains negotiations..."

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Lorbek officially re-signed in Europe. Spurs never made an offer to the big man.

Camby appears to be out of reach. Kaman seems likely.

Also, Blair said he doesn't expect to be a Spur next year. You figure they are trying to move him still.

First activity of the Spurs free agency:

Don Newman goes to the Wizards.

Surprised Blair held his tongue for this long tbh. Really need to get him and Bonner off the team.

As for Newman, I hope Jacque Vaughn now moves to the bench.

I don't really blame Blair though. I can see where he's coming from. I wouldn't mind keeping him, but that doesn't seem likely.