SB Nation User Blog: DanF20

For Manu's Sake...

DanF20 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:23:26 -0000

I think it would simply be the right thing that in the future for any game or post where we are doing a head to head comparison between lineups between the Spurs and (Rest of the NBA) we STOP doing it by "starting line-ups" and do it by First Team line-ups. Manu is clearly our First Team SG. He plays more minutes during the regular season than either of the other guys and depending who you are you think he is our second or third best player on the team (or the son of the FSM). Besides, the guy is just too darn goodlooking to not have his mugshot up there every night that we play and a few nice things said about him.

Put On Your Mad Scientist Hat and Lets Find The Spurs a Trade for That Elusive Rebounding Big...

DanF20 — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:47:01 -0000

Half way through the season our beloved Spurs have stumbled-skipped-and-hopped their way to a 28-13 record. We seem to have really found a knack for squeazing by the really lousy teams by 2 or 3 pts and playing mediocre against the good teams.

A common complaint is that we are just one decent rebounding big away from being capable of taking the likes of the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs or Magic in a 7-game series - Mr. Hollinger referenced this today in his Per Diem. Spurs detractors cite the usual reasons for the end of the Spurs run: we are old, unathletic and small. New claims of this have also materialized: such as our decline in defensive team stats or Pop flat out saying we SUCK defensively. I am not here to judge which position is right but I thought it would be interesting to view what big men might be available and what are the Spurs chances of snagging them IF we were interested in them.

The Spurs have precious few trading assets to get a quality big - and preferably an athletic rebounding one - but lets put our bat-shit crazy scientist hat on and examine (or imagine) the possibilities...

Gentlemen, behold!!

...A Giant Rabbot Designed specifically to outmuscle the likes of Shaq, Amare, Bynum, Lebron, Pau would certainly be ideal, unfortunately he might confuse Bonner for a giant carrot so that trade wouldn't really work out. So lets move on to pseudo-reality and evaluate what quality big men are out there and some unlikely ways the Spurs could trade for them (with assistance from the not so reliable ESPN trade machine, percentages I completely make up or guesstimate, and other surprises I cannot anticipate). Lets keep in mind that there are five guys we would not like to part with, the Big 3, Mason and Hill so these trade scenarios would become more likely if we included Mason or Hill in them, in no particular order I present you:

Emeka Okafor, Bobcats: The guy is 6-10, and it feels like we already have a couple of 6-10 centers on our team, but this one is young at 26 and athletic; puts up decent numbers but doesn't blow you away with them, shoots a high percentage from the field although I surmise most of these are dunks (it would not hurt to have some more dunks). This season so far EO is: 13ppg, 10.8rbg, 1.8 bpg. The guy scores, rebounds and blocks shots, he ALSO has 6-years left on his contract at 9.5 million.

My crazy trade scenario: A three way trade between the Spurs, Bobcats and OKC. 1) Okafor to the Spurs; 2) Bowen and Bonner to OKC 3) Joe Smith, Kyle Weaver and Ian Mahinmi to the Bobcats. Okafor is not so overpriced at $10mm but 6-years give the Spurs a long time to regret giving up all that cap-space. Bowen is a Spur and it would feel like a betrayal to trade him. Ian is a long-worked on prospect but could be sacrificed for a quality player (not sure how appealing he is to other teams); Bonner is having the season of his life but all the more reason to sell high. OKC gets an experienced defender to teach the young kids to play D and a bonus victory cigar. The Bobcats get long term cap space to try to make a splash in 2010 and a prospect in Yawn but they probably could get a better deal somewhere else (but lets face it, their front office is not exactly reknown for their deal making prowess, so it could happen but it would probably take someone like Hill to woo them). Likelihood of trade: 10%. Unfortunately, I fear that Coach Larry has grown attached to Emeka as witnessed in recent practices.

Not sure what's wrong with Larry's pants but my guess is that he runs this drill with Emeka at least 12 times a day...Larry, you spry old man!

The Booze, Utah: Utah seems poised to keep Millsap and give Booze the boot but would like to get something back for him. Booze was rumored to be going to Miami but money, recent injury and him being a barrier in the development of Beasley have made the Heat drop some acid and think about taking Jermaine O'Neal. Utah will probably look East in this trade as they will not want to make a Western competitor a force.

The Booze is an offensive juggernaut but a bit laissez-faire on D. He is too similar to Duncan at least offensively and he can hit his midrange jump shot. A front court of Duncan and Boozer would dominate the Lakers or any other front court offensively.

I have no love for the Booze, he is injured and who knows what shape he will be in a month or two. His contract is up next year and he is not the kind of guy that team loyalty means a lot to, so even if we got him he would not be sticking around if there is a higher bidder (it is a horrible year next year to become a free agent with this econ and everyone standing pat hoping to snag the big fish in 2010: Lebron, Wade, Bosh). We would probably have to give up at least either Hill or Mason in this trade and still I think there are teams willing to give more.

Likelihood of trade: 2%

[Booze's other notable skills include this great T-Rex impersonation, can win any Hot-Dog eating competition and a super secret unofficial handshake that you can rely on 100%]
via www.itusozluk.com

Jermaine O'Neal, Toronto: Likehood of trade: 0%. No way in hell this could ever happen. We don't have enough guys on our team outside of our Big Three to make the salaries match. And there is no reason to go after this guy, he is in the death-throes of his career, injured and not worth the money or risk unless you are looking to unload 20 million in contract next year, which we are not.

[If it weren't for that Starbury (..and other Knicks) I would have the most ridiculous salary in the league... and he'll have the most retarded salary in Greece next year; but at least in that case, my little cousin can finally safely get that internship she always wanted with the Knicks]
via www.hoopsvibe.com

Brad Miller, Sactown:

[If you like big, slow, sensitive white guys who can shoot the 3 as your center then Brad is your guy.]

Really, don't we have Matt Bonner Already? Isn't this guy just a taller version of Bonner? I say why bother, even though I'm sure the Kings would love to stick it to the Lakers by giving him away to the Spurs for chump change.

Likelihood of trade: 75% (If we even wanted to bother with this)

'Sheed, Detroit: Detroit is gearing up for 2010 and has no chance in hell of beating the Magic, Celtics or Cavs in a 7 game series. There could be a firesale at that franchise and 'Sheed could be had for the right price. Personally, I frown upon cocky, loud, intolerably foul-mouthed players like 'Sheed IF they are called Garnett. 'Sheed is crazy and can't help it. I reserve a small place in my heart for those Pistons for beating the Lakers in 04 and for 'Sheed leaving Bowen open in game 5 of the 05 Finals. He is a competitor and he has some gas left in his tank, although he does not enhance us athletically. Duncan, Sheed, Manu, Parker, Mason - I could live with that line-up. Likelihood of trade: 20%

[Sheed's days of slippy sliding in Motown may be numbered...and it burns ]
via www.reclinergm.com

Camby, Clips: If the Clips trade him the entire 50-person Clip fanbase might riot. Until he got injured he was pretty much the only guy competing on a team ravaged by injuries and horrible personnel combos. OKC will probably end up with 5 more wins that the Clips at the end of season...things are that bad.

So if I'm the Clips why not unload some high priced players? Camby has two years left at $10mm. He scores about 10 a game and picks up about 12 rbs plus nearly 3 bpg. He definitely goes for the block too often at the expense of sound defense but besides a history of injury he is athletic and a good rebounder and would not interfere in the offensive chemistry the Spurs have (he is not a big that needs 15 shorts a game). Do we have the Chips to get him? What if he gets injured - again? Likelihood of trade: 20%

[Sarah McLochlan wants you to know that Marcus is feeling abandoned - won't you please save a gangly rebounding big from the Clips? Donate 10mm in obsolete players to 888-BUY-CMBY]
via sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Chris Kaman, Clips: This guy has been injured since the end of November and would be a risky move for a fairly meat and potatoes guy who when healthy can get you 15pts and 10 rbs which is not bad for a caveman. Not terribly athletic and not a huge improvement over Kurt - albeit an improvement. Vast improvement over Fab, except there can only be one long-blond-haired heart-breaker per team. Lets just not do this trade.

[The days when Chris' hair made him about 7'5", now long gone - a brother in arms to Manu's old days of hair glory]
via johnstodderinexile.files.wordpress.com

via www.manuginobilisworld.com

There certainly are other bigs out there: from the lumbering Pryzibilla's (who could be useful) to the dusty Nazr Mohammed's (this doesn't count as a quality reinforcement). I don't think we are in bad shape even if we don't pick up another quality big as long as our Big Three are firing on all cilinders.

Good Luck and Good Night.

Magic Game Notes

DanF20 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:56:48 -0000

Not a Recap, but some thoughts on last night's game.

1. Tony played some of his most selfish ball in a while and his FG% for the night reflected that. A 3-17 shooting night that did not even come close to reflecting how bad he played. Taking loads of mid-distance jump shots before even executing one pass, driving into 3-guys in the paint and putting up weak or contested shots while ignoring open 3pt shooters such as Manu, Finley, Mason. 4 assists and 4 turnovers - Letting his guy, another guy who has no business having career nights against the Spurs, blow-up for 24 pts including game-icers. Even Timmy and Manu seemed pissed at him after a couple of crappy selfish plays he executed in the 4th when we were still in the game. National TV brought out some of the worst in our Wee-Little-Freedom-Fry.

2. Manu had a less than stellar night shooting-wise, 4-12 is not enough from him, however minus a selfish stretch when he was playing with our scrubs in the 2nd quarter and literally had no other option than taking shots himself, he played unselfishly and put lots of heart into the game. Plays that come into mind: 1) two offensive rebounds he got in that second quarter (I saw him go hard to the hoop jonesing after offensive rebounds in heavy traffic quite a few times during the game, even taking some rough hits; 2) two hard fouls against Magic players to take away dunks in the 4th quarter when the game was slipping away after we had made a run. In short, his shots weren't falling but he competed hard and unselfishly and contributed in other ways. He might have even had had one fewer Turnover if Finley's reaction-time to passes wasn't 5-years deceased,

3. Timmy was a bit less than solid, but he was the best out of the Big-3. He made 5 of 6 free throws, 7-17FGs for 19pts. Looked disgusted at having lost this game when Pop say him with 3 minutes left.

4. Albatross had a nice steal and burnt Jameer Nelson down the floor for a layup and foul in the second (I think). Would love to see more of those. Didn't do much more to impress me all night, but played way, way better defense on the Magic's PG when he was in the game, than Parker.

5. Bonner, 3-5 FG. Must have got tired from launching all those bricks vs. the whorenets and learnt his role - except about that part about playing good defense.

6. Who didn't love Bruce bitching out Finley on that blown 3pt coverage rotation?

7. Thomas's savvy veteran "money" jump shot - I think I actually saw a few of them go in! Sign of the apocalypse?

8. Rashard Lewis stripping Parker on a pass right under the basket after the inbounds and dunking on Duncan + 1. Sweet baby jesus! Tony's play took five years off Timmy's lifespan right then and there.

Schedule looks favorable next ten or so games - and no nationally televised games which means Tony's vanity/popularity stunts won't cost us any games. Sorry, I guess I am an unabashed Tony basher, even if I sometimes love the Wee-Frenchman when he is on (and not "on" as in that shirtless poster - seriously, is he trying to compete with Peja for the least manly foreign NBA player poster?

The Manu Man Crush and J.A. Adande Sucks

DanF20 — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:38:10 -0000

Being bored, tired and hung over, I had no better idea than to join a crappy J.A. Adande ESPN chat around 3pm to see if I could get this KG asskisser to show some Manu Love... surprise, J.A. is a verified moron.

Dan, NY: True or False. Man crushes on Manu Ginobili are OK.

J.A. Adande: (3:20 PM ET ) FALSE! He's fun to watch, and he was a killer last night, but man crushes are only allowed when somewhere deep inside you actually wish you could be that person. Do you really want to be a flopper with a growing bald spot?

Joey (Chicago): It's funny that someone with so little hair is actually making fun of someone who has a bald spot?

J.A. Adande: (3:22 PM ET ) I can grow my hair if I want to. And my hairline's intact.

J.A. Adande: (3:22 PM ET ) Speaking of hairlines, has anyone noticed how big a retreat Kobe's has made?

Bazzy (Knoxville, TN): 2-time MVP of an Italian league, MVP of the Euroleague, Olympic Gold Medalist, 3-time NBA Champ, Hero to millions in his home country of Argentina. I like my life just fine, but Ginobili's is very impressive.

J.A. Adande: (3:38 PM ET ) That's all great if you want to live in Argentina. But my ideal life involves living in the US

Dear J.A. Adande, deep down inside I actually wish I could be Manu Ginobili (but of course he couldn;'t post my well argued response, what a whorebag)...and, J.A., that bald spot had me at hello...at hello...and, yes J.A., the Spurs are going to ROCK the Whorenets world.