Off-Season:
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Van Exel announces retirement
Spurs guard Nick Van Exel has announced his official retirement from the NBA in a press conference. Much talk through the 2005/06 season of Van Exel’s retirement at the end of the season was affirmative. Van Exel said his retirement was because of his aging body with injuries and he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets organizations would like to thank Nick for his longtime work with their clubs in previous years. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and NBA commissioner David Stern would like to wish Van Exel good luck in the future.
With Van Exel retired hopefully Beno Udrih will get a lot more playing time and improve a lot. Udrih is expected to become a good offensive force and playmaker.
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Spurs Re-Sign Sean Marks
Today the Spurs have announced the Re-Signing of Sean Marks. The 6-10, 250 pound forward has shown he can contribute off the bench consistently when he gets the minutes. The Spurs bench could become a bit crowed so Marks may get moved during this season.
The contract details were 870k for 1year.
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Spurs Re-Sign Nazr Mohammed
The San Antonio Spurs organization has Re-Signed Nazr Mohammed today for 2.64M over 4 years. Nazr had wanted to play for Chicago but with some talk to him by the Spurs he has decided to stay with the Spurs, for now. Look for him to maybe request or get traded later this season.
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Signings:
Spurs have announced the signing of C/F, Robertas Javtokas. He was drafted in 2001 in the 2nd round. He suffered a serious motorbike accident on May 1, 2002 and did not play basketball for more then a year. With his return to basketball he has become a consistent physical force in the Lithuanian league, Lithuanian National team and in the Euro League. Javtokas is a dominant Center who focuses mainly on defense; he would fit perfect in the Spurs and for Coach Gregg Popovich. His offensive skills still need to be improved; he mainly gets points from offensive rebounds and tip-ins.
He is a good dunker and has a great jumping ability, he is also a great shot blocker but needs to improve his low Free Throw %.
The final deal was 1.40M per year over 2 years.
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Spurs have chosen to sign Luis Scola for 1.45M per year over the next 2 years.
Luis is a 6-9 PF, he basically plays Duncan’s position and is to slow and small to get more minutes playing in SF or C. Spurs might have signed him for a sign-and-trade option or will get rid of some older Centers that are on the team now. He has a variety of low post moves and NBA upper body strength. Scola has great ball handling skills for a big man and is a very good passer to big men, especially from high post to low post. Look for him to work with fellow Argentinean, Manu Ginobili, this upcoming season.
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Big surprises in the NBA today as Spurs have announced the signing of French big man Ian Mahinmi. Ian is a 6-10 Center who is very athletic. He is very young and most NBA fans would expect him to come into the league in a few more years time. Mahinmi was signed for only 1 year for 800k. Mahinmi is a good rebounder, shot blocker and dunker. His game is a lot like current NBA star Emeka Okafor. He still needs to learn to play better tight D and knowing that you don’t have to always go for the attempted shot block.
Mahinmi was a very good pick for the Spurs at 28 in the 2005 draft.
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Trades:
The Spurs today traded Brent Barry to the Hornets for J.R. Smith and Arvydas Macijauskas. Trading of Barry for some younger players give them some youth for the future and more athleticism. J.R Smith still needs to work on his jump shot but has some pretty good potential. Smith didn’t get on well with the Hornets coach and that is one of the reasons he was traded. Macijauskas is a great shooter and should bring a Kerr like presence off the Spurs bench id used properly and if he gets minutes, otherwise he could become a trade option to a team that needs a good pure shooter.
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Today the Spurs have announced to the league that they have traded Rasho Nesterovic and Nazr Mohammed to Chicago for Tyson Chandler. After the recent signings of 3 big men (Javtokas, Scola and Mahinmi) the Spurs needed to trade off Rasho Nesterovic whose paycheck takes off a slice of the spurs salary cap, Mohammed wanted to play for the Bulls anyway so this trade worked for him. Tyson Chandler’s salary is higher than Nesterovic’s, but he is a better player and would fit very well for the defensive minded Spurs.
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Off-Season Round Up:
The Spurs have brought in some youth and athleticism, especially with J.R. Smith.
The older big guys have been replaced and some thought has been put in for the future. Look for the new younger players to show off their skills in the preseason games.
Last edited by
Sam The Man on Thu Jun 22, 2006 1:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.