I think Daye can contribute more than the guys you listed

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Daye is still pretty young and provides some SF depth in the worse case scenario and there is a small glimmer of hope he may develop a little.

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Daye is 4 years older than Leonard. The Spurs play 13 guys most nights and Daye still couldn't get in the game. If he's not going to get real minutes next year, they can find someone younger with just as much upside.

...like Kyle Anderson, but he'll be a Toro for sure

I would be fine with cutting Daye, but due to the gap at backup SF right now, I can at least understand keeping Daye as insurance for now. I am all for canning him though if we sign another backup SF with the MLE. Realistically though even if Leonard was hurt, we probably would play Manu or Beli at the three or even Diaw.

Same thing with Baynes, he isn't that young but can fill a small niche if we can't find another big. He is nice to keep on the hook as insurance until we sign better.

Ayers - The dude literally provides nothing. He fills zero niche, provides no emergency backup scenario and only sees the court when we are up or down 20. I want his job for $1.8 million per season.

I wouldn't mind the Spurs throwing a 1 year MLE contract at Ray Allen, but I know he will realistically stay in Miami. They could do a lot worse. He's still got a good game, especially if other shooters on the team are going cold. He's just so damn consistent usually.

Even if Manu was injured, Ray Allen, Diaw, and Mills would still be the best bench in the NBA by far. And if Manu is healthy and Diaw is starting, you've got a bench of Mills, Allen, Manu, and Tiago most nights. That's just sick.

And actually, while Patty is out rehab-ing his shoulder, you could run with a 2nd lineup of Manu, Allen, Beli, Tiago, Baynes. That's pretty damn good too.

[This message has been edited by aggie_2001_2005 (edited 7/8/2014 12:11p).]

I don't really care what Patty said about Daye at a championship celebration. The Spurs need to bolster the bench this season since Patty will miss half of it at minimum. They need to bring in a quality player with their MLE.

If they're going to strike out at the 3-5 spot, I'd much rather have Ray Allen than Kent Bazemore or some scrub like that.

Nvm, missed the previous post.

[This message has been edited by Brian Earl Spilner (edited 7/8/2014 12:18p).]

Baynes could still provide 6-8 years of affordable enforcement and energy, and has shown flashes of a nice all around offensive game out of a huge body. He's strong enough to body up on the few big posts left and makes his fouls count. That's a lot rarer than what Daye (doesn't) give you and it's worth holding out hope for longer.

The Spurs find a couple new 40% three point shooters every year. I don't mean to be too critical; Daye was only with the Spurs for part of last year and couldn't be expected to play much. What I really mean is that he needs to earn his roster spot this year. If the Spurs already know that he's not going to play real minutes, they might as well cut bait now rather than keep him around just for the puns and a bad insurance policy.




[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 7/8/2014 12:22p).]

Spurs Summer League Roster:



Pretty surprising seeing a Veteran like Ayres on there. Roster is pretty loaded.

First off, Daye came over when half the season was over last year. Pop is notorious for not playing guys that don't know the system like the back of their hand. However he showed potential to fit in really well in our offense. He's 6'11", can shoot from anywhere, can handle the ball a little, and was an unselfish passer. He's not going to get any run in the playoffs, but with how deep Pop plays he has a chance to get some minutes.

Secondly, Ray Allen would be a dumb signing. He's an amazing shooter, but we're not lacking for shooters. If we're going to add a wing player to our rotation, I want a guy who can play a little defense and rebound. Allen is as bad a defender as Belinelli, and you saw what happened to Marco when the playoffs rolled around.

Everybody is still fair game at this point. I like the fact that the Spurs are giving Daye a proper look this Summer, he deserves it.

What I was saying is I am just surprised by the move because the Spurs could have saved north of 1M by just letting him go. So obviously they feel he might be able to contribute, we will see.

Like I said though, Daye, Ayres, Baynes, Bonner, All these guys could potential be on the roster or could still be waived. Spurs seem willing to pay guys to walk away this summer which is somewhat uncharacteristic of them.

I always forget Daye is a 6'11" SF. I think that size alone makes the Spurs more willing to hang on to him for another year or two for cheap. He may be able to take over Bonner's roll if nothing else if he works on his shooting a bit.

In theory, if he could fill out a bit and learn from Diaw he could be a nice fill-in for a few minutes here and there.

If he hasn't figured it out in the next year or two then oh well. It's not like the Spurs need production from their 15th man anyway.

Ayers is the one that is past the point of no return in my opinion and should go long before Daye.

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Secondly, Ray Allen would be a dumb signing. He's an amazing shooter, but we're not lacking for shooters.

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We might be if Mills is missing the majority of the year, and with Manu's (and even Tony's) injury history...Do you really want the Spurs to find themselves stuck with a bench of:

Joseph-Marco-Daye/Anderson-Diaw-Baynes for a good chunk of the year? That's an awful lot of mediocre to poor shooting. They could get by for some games with that group, but they probably wouldn't get close to a top 2 record in the west with it either.

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If we're going to add a wing player to our rotation, I want a guy who can play a little defense and rebound. Allen is as bad a defender as Belinelli, and you saw what happened to Marco when the playoffs rolled around.

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Again, I'm not talking about adding someone that is going to be a major contributor in the playoffs. You won't likely get that for the MLE, most years. But they do need to use it to get someone who could be a major contributor for a good chunk of the season, and one of the best pure shooters the NBA has ever seen would not be a bad fit for that role.

Lastly, who is still out there that can do the things you said (defense, rebound), is available for the MLE, and isn't a major liability on offense?


[This message has been edited by aggie_2001_2005 (edited 7/8/2014 12:51p).]

[This message has been edited by aggie_2001_2005 (edited 7/8/2014 12:52p).]

Daye actually needs to work on his defense more than his offense to fill Bonner's role. He can already shoot, but he can't give you 5-8 surprisingly effective minutes on any post player.

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Joseph-Marco-Daye/Anderson-Diaw-Baynes for a good chunk of the year? That's an awful lot of mediocre to poor shooting.

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32% CoJo
43% Belli
41% Daye
48% Anderson (college)
40% Diaw
na Baynes

We have very different definitions of poor shooting.

Thing is Daye makes $1,063,000 while Ayres gets $1,828,750.

It's a decent jump

Agreed with Diet. Let me add Westbrook to that list. Hate that guy.

Can't stand Westbrook but the dude made me respect him a little more this past series. Guy shows flashes of brilliant play. He can't sustain it though and doesn't know when he's got it or doesn't have it.

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We have very different definitions of poor shooting.

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Joseph is not someone who is going to space the floor. He shot 28% the year before, so he's still unreliable as far as I'm concerned, and a poor option to spread the floor.

Obviously Marco is a good shooter.

Daye / Anderson are both unproven. Besides 1 year with a good sample size and production in Detroit, Daye has either not shot it that great from 3 or has taken too few attempts over a year to get a decent sample size. We know Anderson can hit shots, but how well can he hit them from NBA range with defenders who close out twice as fast as in the college game? We don't know yet.

Diaw is too selective in taking his 3's. He'd rather pass up a wide open 3 and take 2-3 dribbles and pass. If he didn't shoot less than 1.5 3-point-attempts per game, I might feel differently about his ability to really stretch the floor as a spot-up shooter. That's not his role with this team though, he's obviously a distributor. Having him sit at the 3 point line makes him less effective because he probably won't jack the shot up even if the nearest defender is in a different zip code.

Baynes ought to never shoot a three in his life.

Hopefully Manu would be healthy all year and it wouldn't matter. But I cringe at the thought of that 2nd unit for the first half - 2/3 of the year.

I always like to operate under the assumption that Manu will miss large chunks of the year.

[This message has been edited by aggie_2001_2005 (edited 7/8/2014 1:29p).]

And there's no such thing as having too many shooters.

My problem with going after anyone left at the 3-5 positions is they all suck. That's why I think they just ought to go get someone who is a proven shooter / ball handler and call it an offseason.

It's pretty funny to see so much discussion on filling slots 12 to 15 on the roster. None of these guys are pricey and none are going to be counted on to carry the bench any time soon. Clearly Daye will get a long look. The spurs traded Dicolo for him and clearly won't want to just cut him. He has length and potential. Ayers is also interesting. He's surprisingly long and athletic. Not easy to find guys like that. And same goes for Baynes. He's so big you almost have to keep him. He can eat minutes midseason and also be there to bang with OKC, Houston, Memphis and the Clips when the playoffs roll around.

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Lastly, who is still out there that can do the things you said (defense, rebound), is available for the MLE, and isn't a major liability on offense?

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I'd rather have Bazemore than Allen. Solid defender and rebounder, will give good effort, and improved his 3 point shooting to 37% last season. We have a good history of making people better shooters thanks to Chip Engelland. Allen is arguably the best shooter ever, but why waste a spot on a slightly better shooting Marco Belinelli?

Well if we are going to make an MLE move it seems it may be best to do it sooner than later.

There is some crazy money still available and with most the big free agents expected to stay put, there may be a frenzy for marginal players. Players like Gasol, Stevenson and Parsons are all going to get paid if they want to.

Talk of just cutting the guys at the end of the bench is just dumb. They don't make much and it isn't like there are a ton of options out there.

If there is a guy that will take the MLE and will beef up the Spurs, they make the move. If they are just a marginal improvement over the guys already on the roster, they hold off. Smart basketball front office. No need to get crazy when you just dominated your way through to get the title and the runner up is in shambles and the team that gave you the most difficulty is a complete question mark and having a tough time drawing interest from anyone important.

A $5 million dollar full MLE player can still be a pretty big contributor for a championship run. So talking about who the Spurs can get is still a worthy conversation even though we have the luxury of having no major holes. Plus it extends a great season a bit more and keeps us talking during the offseason.

I agree that cutting a guy like Ayers isn't likely, but it should be on the table if you can get the right guy by freeing up the space.

For example if we use the MLE to sign a decent SF and if it came down to having to lose one of Bonner or Baynes due to roster spots(two guys that actually contributed in the playoffs) then it may be money well spent to cut a guy like Ayers.

I mean you could possibly keep a player that Pop has confidence enough to make a late round playoff starter in Bonner or a banger like Baynes that gave solid minutes late in the playoffs as well. That is worth considering.

It's not about canning guys just to get rid of them. Counting Anderson, Ayres, Bonner, Daye, and Baynes they're at 15 players with an active roster limit of 13. Many think that Bryce Cotton will get some PT with the Spurs, too. It's even theoretically possible (though unlikely) that Bertans could end up here this year because his club released him from his contract for fiscal reasons. Mills will be inactive most of the year, but they are still going to be bouncing guys between the Toros or the inactive list all season.

If someone like Ayres isn't contributing, appears to be incurably clumsy, and costs 2 million, why keep him around?

what about pow?

Bertans isn't coming.

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If someone like Ayres isn't contributing, appears to be incurably clumsy, and costs 2 million, why keep him around?

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Well his two million count against the cap whether he's here or not (assuming he clears waivers). Typically the Spurs might find it hard to cut him a two million dollar check to go play elsewhere.

I do think it's possible but that will require some of the other guys to really play well this summer. If nobody pulls away from the pack the spurs will probably go the cheapest route possible which most likely involves keeping Ayres and waiving someone else.

[This message has been edited by Sher Thing (edited 7/8/2014 9:34p).]

Gregg Popovich agrees to multi-year contract extension.

Get dose rings Pop!

Pop!!

Great news on Pop. Also, has anyone heard anything on McRoberts if Lebron leaves Miami? I heard he has agreed but not signed. Perhaps he would take a look at another title contender, in a tax free state for the MLE.

If Lebron goes, the Heat are DONE. I posted it in another thread, but:

If Lebron is gone, Bosh has no reason not to go sign Houston's max offer. Ray Allen is following Lebron. All those beat up old guys who were trying to piggy back to a ring will retire or float to another contender. I believe that McRoberts and Granger can still choose not to sign, and since they verbally agreed to Miami's offers with expectations of playing with Lebron and Bosh, I would expect them to re-enter the open market.

Norris Cole is the only player they have under contract next year, plus they have a team option on Justin Hamilton. Shabazz Napier is their only incoming rookie.

They'll bring back Wade (and probably overpay him), so now you're sitting there with a broken down Wade, Norris Cole, a rookie, and Justin Hamilton. How do you pitch that to free agents?