I'm in total agreement with you except for the last point in my previous post....how bad does Patty want to be a starter and log 30+ minutes? The answer to that question will probably determine whether he stays or leaves.

Even if Melo leaves, NY is still a luxury tax payer assuming all other pieces stay the same. That means NY can only offer 3.1mm/year.

Do you take 3.1mm a year to play for Derek Fisher alongside Andrea Bargnani, Tyson Chandler, Amare Stoudamire and JR Smith for the next two years? That is all kinds of terrible.

I think he takes 3.1mm/year from the Spurs in that situation. Just too terrible a situation to be in.

I really don't see Patty leaving for $3 million even for a starting role. The Spurs could beat that offer by a million if needed and money talks more than a starting job for most players that haven't been paid yet.

It would be interesting to watch if the Spurs got really aggressive. You could see if Parker would be willing to resign for $10 million (save 2.5 million), Duncan down to 8 million (save 2 million), Bonner not resigned (3.9 million), and then use the 5 million cap increase. You could offer Lebron or a major free agent up to 15 million and use the MLE to sign Diaw or Mills.

Then in 2016, have Timmy and Manu either retire or sign for the vet minimum. Which allows you to resign Leonard for 15 million and go forward with a core of Parker, Leonard, Lebron, Green, Splitter, Diaw or Mills. One can dream right?

You don't get cap space and the mle. It is one or the other

I thought if you were out of cap space but still under the cap you could sign a player with the MLE?

So if we signed lebron maxing out our cap space but were still under then we could still use the MLE (about $5 million) to sign a player?

I am by no means a salary cap expert. At any rate, it seems the Spurs could clear up to around 15 million quite easily if they really wanted to. With Leonard about to get paid and parker's contract about to end, I doubt they will do anything aggresive though.

Who knows. I never learned this CBA as well as I knew the previous one. There are a few really in depth faqs on the subject online.

Every once in a while I skim the wikipedia article on the NBA salary cap, but it's too boring to be worth figuring out. In any case, the Spurs have enough space to resign Patty and Diaw and could bring back Bonner if they really want to. If they decide to make a push for a player with a big price tag, they'll have to restructure contracts or move some assets, but it can be done because there's not a bad or even questionable value on the roster based on this season's performance. How all that works with the various exceptions I do not know.

Bonner can resign for the veteran minimum and I don't think he is worth more than that. Dude has made like $30 million in the NBA and probably still drives his Taurus or whatever, so he is good to go.

Is there any way they can schedule another series for the Spurs? I don't care who it is, I just want to keep watching that freaking team.

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Bonner can resign for the veteran minimum and I don't think he is worth more than that. Dude has made like $30 million in the NBA and probably still drives his Taurus or whatever, so he is good to go.

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Unless they find someone else who can play acceptable, smart minutes on defense at PF/C while forcing teams to respect his three point shot, I'm fine with giving Bonner the vet minimum. Bonner brings his lunch pail, he's like another coach on the... well, on the bench. But still.

Plus with him being from New Hampshire, he keeps up the international theme.

In the end the Spurs should be able to sign Diaw for similar money to what he makes and give Mills a nice raise up to $4 mill a year while either cutting Bonner or resigning him for the minimum. That still leaves them a decent amount of money to sign a mid level FA even if it isn't with an MLE, they will simply be under the cap but not by enough to offer $15 mill to anyone without major restructuring of the Big 3's deals further downward.

It's a good deal for Mills to stick. Parker's minutes will continue to decline and he will get more playtime and eventually take over the starting role. Being a 6th Man in San Antonio to play for Titles is a nice gig, especially because Pop is someone that worked with Mills so hard to develop him and he gets to hang out with Baynes.

I can't see Diaw leaving unless the Spurs lowball him. He is a guy that has had some rough stops and has a ton of money in the bank now. I just don't see him deciding to leave. It would also take a team making a mistake thinking that Diaw will be half the player he is in SA elsewhere. Diaw is a team player and great passer but he isn't a leader and he isn't a scorer. Thus you have to have the right pieces around him and he is a bit sensitive. He's also old and still fat.

I could see it being possible that the Spurs essentially keep the same roster and basically dump Bonner and pick up Pau Gasol at a discount wanting to get another ring or two. If they pull that off I don't know who could stop them. Gasol would be a perfect match in SA, a stretch 4/5 that is a great passer and team player who knows how to win championships. The question is how bad he wants to win vs getting paid or going to play in Memphis with his brother.

Yeah, I could see Gasol choosing Marc over SA for the same money. A ring is a ring and that would be a pretty crazy team.

Gasol/Splitter
Duncan/Diaw

Easily the best rotation we have had at post in 15 years.

Pau also just averaged 17/10 at 33 years old in just 31 minutes/game.

He's made $150mm, but it still all comes down to how much he wants money vs how much he wants to win with a team that can utilize his talents well vs how much he wants to play with his brother.

I believe Diaw will stay after reading the grantland article about him. It's important to play for team first teammates / a good coach and he basically told a couple coaches that he couldn't play for them.

can we get melo? it would be great if he could come off the bench to relieve kawhi.

I'd rather have Melo to back up Bonner.

I agree that Gasol is the most likely option if we do decide to make a significant move. I wouldn't fault the Spurs at all though it they just bring back basically the exact same team and hope for another healthy year. The main risk is you would hate for an injury to derail an otherwise championship caliber team in the last years of the big three and Gasol provides that assurance.

If Manu goes down - Kawhi and Mills step up.
If Parker goes down - Mills and Manu step up
If Duncan goes down - Gasol, Splitter and Diaw step up.

It would take two simultaneous injuries for our championship hopes to be significantly derailed.

I also disagree that Mills is looked at as the Spurs PG of the future and I doubt they pay him as such. I think at his height he will always be a role player, back up PG and spark plug type player. That's not a knock on Mills at all, he has done exceptionally well, there just aren't many 5'11 starting point guards in the nba. I would love it if he is the exception though.

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I also disagree that Mills is looked at as the Spurs PG of the future and I doubt they pay him as such. I think at his height he will always be a role player, back up PG and spark plug type player. That's not a knock on Mills at all, he has done exceptionally well, there just aren't many 5'11 starting point guards in the nba. I would love it if he is the exception though.

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He'd be like a faster, talented Avery Johnson.

I think the Spurs pay him up to 4mm a year. If some idiot wants to pay him the full MLE, then he is gone.

Spurs youth (next year's ages):
Kawhi: 23
Belinelli: 28
Patty: 26
CoJo: 23
Tiago: 30
Parker: 33

With Tony missing over 14 games the last two years, and Manu not being able to be counted on for significant minutes, we bring Patty back or we have another idea to replace him. But since we aren't close to the Lux tax, I think we keep him.

I would love for Mills to turn into a faster, better shooting Avery. I just think the odds are against it at his height. Of course in the Spurs offense, Mills is pretty deadly so there is no reason he can't keep improving. There were times in the playoffs when the Spurs were better with Mills than Parker. If the Spurs just outscore everyone than you can get away with some undersized players on defense and Mills is at least pesky.

I think Belenelli may be poised for a solid year. It's his second year in the Spurs system, he has some playoff experience, and he is in a contract year. It's now or never for Marco to take that next step. He has shown flashes.

No income tax and.lower cost of living would have to make the knicks up their offer quite a bit for mills vs what the spurs will offer him

Gut feel on PMills: he gone.

Man, I hope I'm wrong. Love his motor and his total lack of fear.

Maybe it's just a whacky coincidence, but the Spurs played WAY better in their close out games against Portland, OKC, and Miami with Parker not on the floor and Patty on it. (Yes, the first two are injury related, but isn't that kind of the point? Tony is getting older and breaking down. We NEED Mills or someone a helluva lot like him.)

Love the pace and love his pest defense.

[This message has been edited by Adam87inSA (edited 6/18/2014 4:38p).]

I have tried and tried to use the NBA stats, but I can't get them to work. None of the buttons do anything. Frustrating. Sometimes I can google search my way to a screen that has what I want, but the website itself is 100% useless for running specific searches.

Parker is skipping the FIBA World Championship. Great news. Let that ankle and hamstring heal.

With Manu and Tony resting, if Spurs bring everyone back, I have no doubt they'll at least make the WCF for the fourth straight time.

Patty is a two sport star

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXMuLhMNnyQ

I'm watching the parade. Kawhi is up to speak.

Well, that was quick.

I also get the feeling that patty is gone. Someone asked him in his exit interview if he wanted to stay a spur. And his answer was something like 'I haven't given it much thought right now'. Maybe he just doesn't want to lose any leverage though. I wouldn't blame him.

Tim Duncan slipped the question about whether he would be coming back.

Pop doing Pop things

That would be the best gif ever if, before every time Pop adds a finger, someone inserted a Spurs player holding up fingers for the number of rings he has with the Spurs. Kawhi with 1, Bonner with 2, I guess no one has three, but Manu and TP with 4, and Duncan with 5.

I flipped over and a bunch of nobodies was going by on the boat.

Danny Trejo did the pump-up video.

Somebody needs to tell the kids doing the announcing for the online feed that they have microphones and don't need to shout.