San Antonio Spurs Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Community Shootaround: Spurs’ Playoff Streak

August 14th, 2019 at 8:19pm CST by Arthur Hill

Gregg Popovich found the right solution when he decided to fire head coach Bob Hill early in the 1996/97 season. Popovich, who was serving as San Antonio’s general manager and VP of basketball operations, named himself as coach, taking over a team that was crumbling under injuries to David Robinson, Sean Elliott and Chuck Person. The Spurs didn’t rally to make the playoffs that season, but they haven’t missed since.

Some lottery luck brought Tim Duncan to San Antonio and started one of the most remarkable runs of success in North American sports. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili later became important components of a team that was among the NBA’s best for nearly two decades. Even after all the stars were gone, the Spurs continued to win, extending their playoff streak to 22 games last season, tied for the longest ever with the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers, who did it from 1950 to 1971.

Keeping that tradition alive seems to get tougher every year. In the Western Conference, where nearly all the contenders made a flashy summer move, DeMarre Carroll and Trey Lyles were the Spurs’ most significant offseason additions. They join a veteran-laden lineup built around LaMarcus Aldridge (34), Rudy Gay (32) and DeMar DeRozan (30). The team’s best hope for improvement lies in Dejounte Murray‘s return from a torn right ACL and continued progress from Lonnie Walker and Derrick White.

Playoff spots will be at a premium in the West this year, and many seemed sewed up before the season starts. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George should keep the Clippers in the postseason, while the Lakers are likely to join them after trading for Anthony Davis. The Warriors will have a different look after five years at the top, but they still have an All-Star backcourt, plus Klay Thompson is expected to return sometime before the playoffs.

The Nuggets, Jazz and Trail Blazers all look strong in the Northwest, and the Rockets should also get in with a pair of MVP guards. That’s seven spots already locked up without considering other potential contenders such as the Pelicans, Mavericks, Thunder, Timberwolves and Kings.

Popovich believes in his system and has shown an ability to adapt and get the most from his players. However, surviving the Western Conference gauntlet and stretching the playoff streak to 23 might be his greatest coaching challenge yet.

We want to get your opinion. Do you see the Spurs as a playoff team, or is this the year the streak finally ends? Please leave your responses in the space below.

DeMar DeRozan In Line For Max Extension?

August 11th, 2019 at 2:22pm CST by clarkcrum

According to Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News, the Spurs have not ruled out the possibility of offering four-time NBA All-Star DeMar DeRozan a maximum contract extension, which DeRozan became eligible for on July 14.

Per Finger, despite some outside speculation that DeRozan could be used as trade bait this offseason, the Spurs generally value the 30-year-old shooting guard’s presence in San Antonio and want to keep him around.

DeRozan’s current contract runs through the 2020/21 season, so a maximum contract extension would put DeRozan under contract with the Spurs through the 2023/24 campaign.

As for the value of the potential new contract, DeRozan’s salary for both the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons is approximately $27.7MM, so a max extension would see DeRozan earn $33.3MM, $36MM, and $38.6MM per season from the 2021/22 season to the end of the contract.

The total value of the new five-year contract would be $163,332,973, which just exceeds the value of Kristaps Porzingis‘ five-year contract with the Mavericks but falls short of Khris Middleton‘s new five-year contract with the Bucks.

Dejounte Murray Gets Encouraging News From Doctors

August 10th, 2019 at 6:21pm CST by Arthur Hill

Injured Spurs guard Dejounte Murray tweeted today that he has received medical clearance to continue his summer workouts. It’s the latest encouraging sign for Murray as he tries to work his way back from a torn right ACL he suffered during a preseason game last October. Murray was coming off a promising 2017/18 campaign in which he earned second-team All-Defense honors while posting an 8.1/5.7/2.9 line in 81 games. He is eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer.

World Cup Notes: Team USA, White, Young

August 8th, 2019 at 8:10pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Head coach Gregg Popovich is strongly considering taking 15 players to Australia later this month in advance of the World Cup as opposed to cutting the roster down to a dozen players prior to leaving the country, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. FIBA regulations state that teams can only carry 12 players for the World Cup itself, though the remaining players could simply attend alongside the coaching staff and never suit up.

Here’s more surrounding the World Cup:

Spurs guard Derrick White and Kings big man Marvin Bagley III are the strongest contenders to be promoted from the Select Team to Team USA’s primary World Cup roster, tweets Stein. Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher suggests (via Instagram) that White’s promotion has already happened, while Bagley’s is likely.
Mitchell Robinson is dealing with a knee injury, as Marc Berman of the New York Post relays. The Knicks center initially suffered the injury over the weekend and returned to practice on Tuesday and re-injured it the following day. A source close to the situation describes the ailment as “just soreness.”
Hawks guard Trae Young left Team USA’s training camp because of a minor eye infection, sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Young had been practicing with the Select Team.
Chris Boucher has withdrawn from the World Cup for personal reasons, Josh Lewenberg of the TSN tweets. The Raptors big man had been practicing with Canada’s National Team.

Six NBA Players On Australia’s World Cup Roster

August 7th, 2019 at 9:59am CST by Luke Adams

Team Australia has formally announced its 12-man roster for the 2019 World Cup, and the group features six NBA players.

Aron Baynes (Suns), Joe Ingles (Jazz), Patty Mills (Spurs), Matthew Dellavedova (Cavaliers), and Jonah Bolden (Sixers) are part of the 12-man squad. So is former No. 1 pick Andrew Bogut, who is technically back under contract with the NBL’s Sydney Kings, but was part of the Warriors team that appeared in the NBA Finals this spring.

Australia’s roster is rounded out by NBL players Cameron Gliddon, Chris Goulding, Nathan Sobey, and Nicholas Kay, along with Jock Landale and Xavier Cooks. Landale currently plays for Lithuanian club Zalgiris Kaunas, while Cooks is a member of SIG Strasbourg in France.

Although Team Australia has a strong roster, there are no guarantees that the squad will make a deep run in next month’s event. The Boomers finds themselves in Group H, which features a handful of tough competitors — Lithuania, Canada, and Senegal. Only the top two teams will advance to the second round.

NBA Teams With Hard Caps For 2019/20

August 6th, 2019 at 11:16am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA salary cap is somewhat malleable, with various exceptions allowing every team to surpass the $109,140,000 threshold once their room is used up. In some cases, teams blow past not only the cap limit, but the luxury-tax limit of $132,627,000 as well — the Trail Blazers have this season’s highest payroll at the moment, more than $11MM above the tax line.

The NBA doesn’t have a “hard cap” by default, which allows a club like Portland to build a significant payroll without violating CBA rules. However, there are certain scenarios in which teams can be hard-capped.

When a club uses the bi-annual exception, acquires a player via sign-and-trade, or uses more than the taxpayer portion ($5,718,000) of the mid-level exception, that club will face a hard cap for the remainder of the league year.

When a team becomes hard-capped, it cannot exceed the “tax apron” at any point during the rest of the league year. The tax apron was set $6MM above the luxury tax line in 2017/18 (the first year of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement) and creeps up a little higher each season. For the 2019/20 league year, the tax apron – and hard cap for certain clubs – is set at $138,928,000.

More teams than ever this offseason have been willing to hard-cap themselves, and in at least a couple cases, it will significantly impact a team’s ability to add further reinforcements later in the league year. The Warriors and Heat are nearly right up against the hard cap, and won’t be players in free agency during the season unless they can shed salary.

So far this year, half the teams in the NBA have imposed a hard cap on themselves by using the bi-annual exception, using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, or acquiring a player via sign-and-trade. Listed below are those 15 teams, along with how they created a hard cap.

Boston Celtics

Acquired Kemba Walker from the Hornets via sign-and-trade.

Brooklyn Nets

Acquired Kevin Durant from the Warriors via sign-and-trade.

Charlotte Hornets

Acquired Terry Rozier from the Celtics via sign-and-trade.

Chicago Bulls

Acquired Tomas Satoransky from the Wizards via sign-and-trade.

Dallas Mavericks

Acquired Delon Wright from the Grizzlies via sign-and-trade.
Used approximately $7.46MM of their mid-level exception to sign Seth Curry.
Used their bi-annual exception to sign Boban Marjanovic.

Detroit Pistons

Used approximately $7.32MM of their mid-level exception to sign Derrick Rose.
Used their bi-annual exception to sign Markieff Morris.

Golden State Warriors

Acquired D’Angelo Russell from the Nets via sign-and-trade.

Indiana Pacers

Acquired Malcolm Brogdon from the Bucks via sign-and-trade.

Memphis Grizzlies

Used their full mid-level exception ($9,258,000) to sign Tyus Jones.
Used their bi-annual exception to sign Marko Guduric.

Miami Heat

Acquired Jimmy Butler from the Sixers via sign-and-trade.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Acquired Jake Layman from the Trail Blazers via sign-and-trade.

Orlando Magic

Used their full mid-level exception ($9,258,000) to sign Al-Farouq Aminu.

San Antonio Spurs

Acquired DeMarre Carroll from the Nets via sign-and-trade.

Toronto Raptors

Used approximately $8.3MM of their mid-level exception to sign Patrick McCaw, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Matt Thomas, and Dewan Hernandez.
Used their bi-annual exception to sign Stanley Johnson.

Washington Wizards

Used approximately $7.9MM of their mid-level exception to sign Ish Smith, Admiral Schofield, and Justin Robinson.

Outside of the Warriors and Heat, no clubs on the list above are really being restricted by the hard cap at this time. A few teams – such as the Pistons and Magic – are near the luxury tax threshold, but that still gives them several million dollars in breathing room below the hard cap.

While it’s possible that trades could push some teams closer to the apron, Golden State and Miami appear to be the only clubs that will be noticeably affected by the hard cap in 2019/20.

Warriors Notes: Green Extension, Youth Movement, Kerr

August 3rd, 2019 at 7:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

Draymond Green‘s contract extension is a victory for both sides, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. The Warriors and Green avoided a potential free agency drama next summer by agreeing to a four-year, $99.6MM extension that will run through the 2023/24 season.

Slater calls the agreement a “team-friendly extension” for Golden State, considering that Green would have qualified for a five-year, $201MM deal next summer and could have become eligible for a $235MM super-max contract by earning Defensive Player of the Year honors. Green opted for the security of having a huge deal in place and securing a long-term future with the Warriors.

Slater cites a Summer League conversation with a Golden State assistant coach who said the team was looking forward to having “Contract Year Draymond,” implying that he would be extra motivated to have a huge season with free agency awaiting. Although the Warriors will miss out on that, they now have the comfort of knowing that Green, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson will all be together for a few more years.

There’s more from the Bay Area:

The agreement minimizes future risks for both Green and the organization, writes Danny Leroux of The Athletic. After this summer’s spending spree, most of the teams that can open cap space next July are a long way from contention. Leroux identifies the Hawks, with former Warriors executive Travis Schlenk as GM, as the most intriguing team that could have made a serious run at Green. From Golden State’s perspective, with Curry and Thompson already combining for $78.4MM in 2020/21, there wouldn’t have been much available cap space to replace Green if he had left.
The extension shows the Warriors aren’t willing to give up their place as one of the elite teams in the West, observes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. There’s an edict from ownership to remain competitive despite the loss of Kevin Durant in free agency and a torn ACL that will sideline Thompson for most of the upcoming season.
After years of surrounding their stars with veterans, the Warriors emerged from the offseason shakeup as one of the league’s youngest teams, notes Nick Friedell of ESPN. DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston are all gone, with a group of rookies and unproven players hoping to take their places. “We went from one of the oldest teams in the league to one of the youngest,” assistant GM Kirk Lacob said. “All of a sudden you look at it and Steph is the oldest player on the whole team. Klay and Draymond are the elder statesmen. I think Alfonzo McKinnie (26) may be our fourth-oldest player by age. He’s only had a couple years of NBA experience.”
The Warriors will look to the Spurs as a blueprint as they navigate their new situation, Friedell adds. San Antonio has managed to reach the playoffs every year after the losing the core of its championship teams. Coach Steve Kerr is part of Gregg Popovich’s staff on the FIBA World Cup team.

Blazers Notes: Hood, Kanter, McCollum, Aldridge

July 31st, 2019 at 9:02pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Shooting guard Rodney Hood surprised the Trail Blazers by accepting the $5.72MM taxpayer mid-level exception, Jason Quick of The Athletic reports.

Portland was hoping to bring back center Enes Kanter at that number, but he balked. Blazers GM Neil Olshey thought Hood wanted more in free agency but was pleasantly surprised by Hood’s decision.

Olshey then shifted gears to finding a starting-quality center and got involved in the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade to Miami, winding up with Hassan Whiteside by dealing Maurice Harkless and Meyers Leonard.

We have more on the Blazers:

Backcourt partners CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard are now locked up long-term after McCollum signed a three-year, $100MM extension and they’re excited about that prospect, as he told Quick in a separate story. “It’s a special time,” McCollum said. “(Lillard and I) talked about being in Portland, making a staple here and winning a championship here, and all those things. We’ve crossed off a lot of goals individually and collectively, but I think that both of us being here for the long haul, and both of us being able to grow together and win together is something that people will remember for a long time.”
Pau Gasol, who recently signed with the Blazers, said former Spurs teammate LaMarcus Aldridge has spoken highly of Portland and may want to play there again, Sean Highkin of Bleacher Report tweets. Aldridge said last season he and Lillard had spoken about the prospect of becoming teammates again. Aldridge’s $24MM contract for the 2020/21 season is not guaranteed, so it’s conceivable that could occur as soon as next summer.
If you missed the details on McCollum’s extension, you can find it all here.

Western Notes: Rockets, Wolves, Kawhi

July 30th, 2019 at 11:05pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Eric Gordon could end up in the backup wing spot for the Rockets when the season begins, as Kelly Iko of The Athletic writes. Houston has depth at the guard position but lacks it in the three/four spots.

Houston still has interest in Andre Iguodala, though Memphis appears to be holding out for a first-round pick, which could be a deal-breaker. J.R. Smith is a possibility. He had his best season under coach Mike D’Antoni when the pair was in New York, though Iko cautions that he hasn’t heard any new developments when it comes to bringing the 3-point marksman to Houston.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Iko doesn’t see Kevin Love as a realistic target for the Rockets, as he explains in the same piece. Love’s salary, which comes in at just under $29MM for the upcoming year, makes a trade difficult for the two parties.
Britt Robson of The Athletic examines how the Timberwolves’ current roster fits in with the team’s blueprint for the future. The team failed to pair Karl-Anthony Towns with another All-Star but smartly opted against overspending on middling talent. Minnesota’s 2019 free agent spending spree wasn’t a wild one, as the club brought in five players who combined will make approximately $11MM this upcoming season.
Kawhi Leonard attempted to get the Spurs to trade for Paul George while he was in San Antonio, as he tells ESPN’s Rachel Nichols (h/t Justin Russo on Twitter). Leonard was originally drafted with the No. 15 overall pick by Indiana, the team George previously played for. The Pacers traded Leonard’s rights on draft night, but George wishes Indiana had kept him, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com relays. “It seems like this was destiny that we were supposed to play together,” George said of his new Clippers teammate.

Tim Duncan Hire A Surprise

July 28th, 2019 at 2:31pm CST by clarkcrum

While perhaps not as noteworthy as some of the more marquee free agent news we’ve seen this summer in terms of on-the-court impact, Marc Stein of The New York Times opines that the return of all-time-great Tim Duncan to the Spurs as a full-time assistant coach under legendary head coach Gregg Popovich is a gigantic story all the same.

As Stein notes, Duncan has been a frequent visitor at the Spurs’ practice facility throughout his retirement, mentoring/coaching players along the way, but this had always been done outside of the limelight, a setting in which Duncan prefers. So his abrupt return to the court for an 82-game season filled with continual travel and other headaches is a bit surprising, to say the least.

One narrative as to why Duncan accepted a position on Pop’s staff despite his disposition is simply need. Duncan reportedly knew that his old coach was struggling to fill the last open spot on his bench staff after departures by longtime Spurs’ assistants Ime Udoka and Ettore Messina, and his loyalty dictated he offer his services.