It's time for the Spurs to pay up

Sporting News, The, June 7, 2004 by Sean Deveney

It has been two weeks, so the shock of Derek Fisher's dagger jumper--the one that took a scant four-tenths of a second to dash the title hopes of the defending champion Spurs and the pre-playoff prediction of yours truly--has settled in and run its course. The tide of hate mail from L.A. has ebbed, thankfully. Now all that is left is to wonder what on earth happened to the Spurs, and what do they do from here?

We probably should have been a little more suspicious of this team from the get-go because it was obvious it was suspicious of itself. The Spurs knew what their potential postseason problem was, even back in February. They needed shooting. The team was right. The Lakers decided to collapse the lane on Tony Parker and Tim Duncan and give San Antonio's perimeter shooters open looks. The results were just what the Lakers wanted: The Spurs shot 39.9 percent from the floor and 30.6 from 3-point range in the series.

Clearly, the Spurs did not trust the mid-range game of center Rasho Nesterovic, and they were not sure whether Hedo Turkoglu had the intestinal fortitude to knock down shots when it mattered (those suspicions were validated). That's why the team nearly traded Malik Rose for jump-shooting big man Kurt Thomas at the deadline in February. It's also why the Spurs tried to coax Steve Kerr and Danny Ferry out of retirement--they needed emergency shot-makers.

The Spurs, a source reveals, also tried to pull off a deadline trade for one of last year's postseason heroes, shooting guard Stephen Jackson, who left San Antonio to sign with the Hawks last offseason.

Come to think of it, the Spurs really could have used last year's backup point guard, Speedy Claxton, especially when Parker went through his mid-series meltdown against the Lakers. Claxton was steady, and his midrange shooting ability saved the Spurs in last year's Finals. Sounds like what the Spurs needed, more than anything, was a whole lot more of last year's team on this year's team.

There is a lesson here. Many, me included, have praised the Spurs for their approach to team-building--their ability to keep winning while maintaining a tight payroll and plugging role players into the gaps. They change the roster violently in the offseason, struggle while the players adjust to the new system, then swarm the league in February, March and April.

Well, praise of that approach needs an update. That's not to say this season was a bomb for San Antonio--57 wins, a first-round sweep of the Grizzlies and a near-miss against the Lakers are hardly sources of shame. But perhaps there is something to be said for consistency, for sacrificing a bit of cap space in favor of keeping a stable roster. Maybe having nine new players on the roster--as the Spurs had this season, and as they had last season--is not the best way to operate.

Take Jackson, for instance. The Spurs made him a three-year offer at about $10 million last summer, and he rejected it. He wanted a longer-term contract and more money. The Spurs summarily dismissed that idea and closed negotiations. When Jackson wound up with a two-year, $2.1 million deal from the Hawks, the Spurs looked smart. Jackson looked dumb. But Jackson does not look so dumb anymore. What if the Spurs had loosened the purse strings and kept Jackson? He might not have been all the team needed to beat the Lakers, but he was a clutch shooter on a team that could not find a clutch shooter when it needed one this season. He might have made the difference. The perception of Jackson was that he wasn't really a starter, that he fed off the wide-open looks that double-teams on Duncan created. But Jackson averaged 18.1 points this season in Atlanta, where there certainly was no one as good as Duncan helping him.

This summer, when Jackson opts out of his Hawks contract, his agent, Dan Fegan, says he expects the Spurs to be among the first teams to come courting. There is, apparently, no hard feeling between Jackson and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "Stephen was an important part of that team," Fegan says. "He liked it there."

As the Spurs enter this offseason, they'll be wise to avoid the kind of roster turnover that has kept their salary structure so enviable. Heck with the cap--it's time to focus on the talent. Duncan, Nesterovic, Parker and Rose are under contract. Bruce Bowen has an option he probably will exercise.

Turkoglu is a restricted free agent, but the Spurs could let him walk, especially if Jackson returns. They'll have to open the checkbook to re-sign shooting guard Manu Ginobili, with a contract probably starting in the $5 million range. Devin Brown is a local hero who played very well in the postseason, and the Spurs should re-sign him. Veterans Robert Horry and Kevin Willis will be free agents, but they are worth retaining for veteran's minimum salaries.

That would give the Spurs nine players returning, plus a possible Jackson redux. The team would need to spend for a back-up point guard (too bad Claxton is not available) but still would have much-needed roster consistency.