The word is that Phili offered Manu a 2 year $30 million deal that drove up his price.

Why the hell would the Sixers want Manu?

To help Alex find his inner Manu!

Phili desperately needs maturity in the locker room and Coach Brown knows Manu would have provided it.

Head coach of Philly comes from Pop's tree. Was Director of Player Development and assistant coach under Pop. He is who discovered Patty.

Seems completely opposite of their constant tanking and acquiring young talent.

The Spurs are playing the Kings on ESPN 3 right now. Bertans is matched up against Skal Labisierre, should be a good for Davis to see how he handles a quick stretch 4.

Philly wanted a vet to teach its young guys how to win. Manu has always been more cutthroat in contract negotiations than Dave, Tim, Tony.

He may have called his old friend Brett and asked him to do him a solid.

Either way, I have no problem with it.

So far Murray has shown some really good things. He rebounds like a wing, which leads to him pushing the break that much faster. On the break I've been impressed with his vision. For a guy who was knocked as looking for his own shot too much, he's made some really nice passes to set up teammates for easy buckets. He's not lightning quick, but he consistently gets his shoulders last his man and is not afraid to up against bigger guys. Defensively his length allowed him to make a steal when Sacramento was trying to hold for the last shot. It was a gamble, but that's the kind of stuff he can do.

He's got to get stronger though. He's struggling to finish inside against summer league bigs. He gets lost in the half court without the ball. Gets stuck watching and hasn't learned how to move without the ball yet.

I don't know why but this is hilarious to me.

Pop and Tony are both ~6'2. Phelps is supposed to be 6'4.

Dejounte Murray is ice cold! I know it's summer league, but he's scored the last 4 points for the Spurs here in the last minute to keep it tied up. Beautiful floater to send it to over time.

Is Tony playing for France this summer?

It's pretty crazy. In watching the game, Bertans and Murray already seem to have a strong connection. Exciting to see the potential of our future second unit.

Bertans looked weak on defense but man he looks like an incredibly smart player. Makes the right passes. And his range is tremendous.

I'm so impressed at Murray's ability to finish around the rim. And he's only 19. He makes veteran moves out there. It's pretty incredible to watch.

Also does Forbes remind anyone else of Neal? He could be a good signing too.

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It's pretty crazy. In watching the game, Bertans and Murray already seem to have a strong connection. Exciting to see the potential of our future second unit.

Bertans looked weak on defense but man he looks like an incredibly smart player. Makes the right passes. And his range is tremendous.

I'm so impressed at Murray's ability to finish around the rim. And he's only 19. He makes veteran moves out there. It's pretty incredible to watch.

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Bertans is fun to watch on offense. Several of the 3s he hit today were from several feet behind the line, as you mentioned he's a very good (and willing) passer, he also made a couple nice moves to the basket proving that you can't just run him off from 3. He also moves better than I thought he would. He runs the floor extremely well and has decent enough lateral agility. He's going to struggle on D, but I think in spurts he can be hidden. Play him against other stretch 4s or some non-scoring threat 3s and you won't notice him too much.

Murray was the best player on the floor today and it wasn't close. He's far from a finished product, but he has so much play making ability that it reminds of how a young Manu could get to the rim at will. His jumper needs a lot of work, but he knocked down a couple threes with a decent looking stroke, so it's not like he's destined to Rajon Rondo. I like what I saw from him defensively at times. He showed flashes of being a pretty solid and sound defender. He can move his feet, his length at the point really disrupts passing lanes, and he's a tremendous rebounder. However, he gambles quite a bit which leads to some steals but also leaves his teammates out to dry. He also struggles getting around screens. He's not strong enough to fight through them, so he went under a bunch of them and gave his man a wide open jumper. He's got a lot to learnt, especially on D, but he's got enough natural ability to make me excited for what he can become.

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Is Tony playing for France this summer?

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Yes, he had a crazy clutch 4th quarter the other day to get France into the Olympics. Was hoping they wouldn't make it.

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Also does Forbes remind anyone else of Neal? He could be a good signing too.

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He's a heck of a shooter. His release isn't as quick as Neal's IMO, but you can't leave him open. With Murray and Arcidiacano out there pretty much the entire time I never saw Forbes handle the ball, which I would like to see. If he turns into Gary Neal 2.0, that's a heck of steal.

I've been going back and watching old Spurs playoff games and the 'champions revealed' special this weekend. I most recently watched 2003 game six against the Lakers in the second round. I forget sometimes how great Duncan really was (I was 16 then). In that game, he scored in every way imaginable. He could do anything on offense. It was a fun game to watch again.

And it was interesting to see how raw Tony still was. Crazy to think now, but you can see why Jason Kidd was almost a Spur. Parker's future was still very much uncertain.

Also, listening to Tom Tolbert and Bill Walton was comical. They were so terrible. There is absolutely no way they could have a commentating job today.



Completely forgot about Ming Bateer, too.

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I've been going back and watching old Spurs playoff games and the 'champions revealed' special this weekend. I most recently watched 2003 game six against the Lakers in the second round. I forget sometimes how great Duncan really was (I was 16 then). In that game, he scored in every way imaginable. He could do anything on offense. It was a fun game to watch again.

And it was interesting to see how raw Tony still was. Crazy to think now, but you can see why Jason Kidd was almost a Spur. Parker's future was still very much uncertain.

Also, listening to Tom Tolbert and Bill Walton was comical. They were so terrible. There is absolutely no way they could have a commentating job today.



Completely forgot about Ming Bateer, too.

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You are right about Tony. Speedy Claxton saved the day for him in game 6 of the Finals.

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I've been going back and watching old Spurs playoff games and the 'champions revealed' special this weekend. I most recently watched 2003 game six against the Lakers in the second round. I forget sometimes how great Duncan really was (I was 16 then). In that game, he scored in every way imaginable. He could do anything on offense. It was a fun game to watch again.

And it was interesting to see how raw Tony still was. Crazy to think now, but you can see why Jason Kidd was almost a Spur. Parker's future was still very much uncertain.

Also, listening to Tom Tolbert and Bill Walton was comical. They were so terrible. There is absolutely no way they could have a commentating job today.



Completely forgot about Ming Bateer, too.

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You are right about Tony. Speedy Claxton saved the day for him in game 6 of the Finals.

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Watching this, man I hated watching the lakers. Shaq was just so freaking dominant. It felt like a cheatcode - there just was no slowing him down. Also, there is a lot of room for hate in my heart - Derek Fisher... ugh.

The 80 Lakers and the 00s Lakers both had the benefit of two top 15 (or top 5 in the case of the 80s) players of all time. Only other team with that was the 60s Celtics. As good as the Warriors are, I don't think Curry and Durant are going to be top 15 players of all time.

I just watched Bertans in the summer league game. For a guy in his first game with a new team in a new league, it was impressive how open he got and comfortable he looked. Offensively, he looks mobile and smooth running the floor and attacking closeouts. As a shooter I'm impressed at how quickly he gets square to the basket, feet set, and a shot off in rhythm, especially for such a tall guy. Thats an NBA caliber skill. No idea what his defense is like yet. He seems to have length and mobility, but not the weight and strength to defend any but the stretchiest of stretch fours. Definitely looks like a tall 3 rather than a small 4.

Overall first impression: this guy has a place in the NBA, he's not just a guy who looked decent next to weak euro competition. His floor appears to be a shooter off the bench.

Lol

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So many great seasons and memories, but I don't think anything can top winning the 2014 Finals for me.

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2014 is the reason that, while I want to win every year, ultimately it's all icing on the cake for me.

2013 was as close to heartbroken as sports have made me. But I think it made 2014 all the sweeter.

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I was a senior @ A&M in 2013...I can remember literally hugging my roommate (also from SA) near the end of game 6 because we thought we had it won. So rough!

Hah.

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"You know what happened? I just got roped in," Popovich joked. "I had to keep making promises. Manu [Ginobili] was going to sign a few years back and he was like, 'Are you going to be here?' Tony [Parker], then Kawhi [Leonard]. Then when we were recruiting LaMarcus [Aldridge], he was like, 'Are you going to be here?' it just goes on and on. So I guess I can never stop, I can never retire.

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Hah.

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"You know what happened? I just got roped in," Popovich joked. "I had to keep making promises. Manu [Ginobili] was going to sign a few years back and he was like, 'Are you going to be here?' Tony [Parker], then Kawhi [Leonard]. Then when we were recruiting LaMarcus [Aldridge], he was like, 'Are you going to be here?' it just goes on and on. So I guess I can never stop, I can never retire.

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It would be pretty funny if he started telling recruits that he might not stick around.

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Hah.

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"You know what happened? I just got roped in," Popovich joked. "I had to keep making promises. Manu [Ginobili] was going to sign a few years back and he was like, 'Are you going to be here?' Tony [Parker], then Kawhi [Leonard]. Then when we were recruiting LaMarcus [Aldridge], he was like, 'Are you going to be here?' it just goes on and on. So I guess I can never stop, I can never retire.

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Funny, but true!

First time sporting my vintage Duncan jersey.