Back from Vacation; Anything Exciting Happen?

After our early playoff exit, I took a much needed (though maybe not well deserved) break. I continued to follow the playoffs and track all things Spurs related. I just chose not to write about it. But the Spurs decided to kick off the ‘offseason‘ (which, for many teams, is much more exciting than the regular season) in high fashion, so I have no choice but to write about it.

But first things first: congrats, LA Lakers. I know it’s not considered good form for a Spurs fan to acknowledge or appreciate the Lakers. They are arguably our biggest rival, and the team that has caused us the most pain these last 12 years. But for me, my fan ‘hatred’ is reserved for the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns of the worlds, the pretenders to the throne. I view the Lakers as our truest ‘rivals’, the only team that can really compare to us equally these last 12 years (with the same number of titles to boot), and, as such, give them the respect a true rival deserves. I want nothing more than to beat them senseless every time we play them, but credit is due to them for winning a championship. Enjoy your 4th ring, Kobe; we’ll battle for #5 next year.

But enough with this talk of basketball. Let’s talk about what’s really exciting; basketball related transactions. The Spurs made a big splash today, trading for Richard Jefferson of the Bucks. Timothy over at 48 Minutes of Hell has a great take on the deal. (Sidebar: I recommend, no, demand that you read 48MoH regularly, as it’s the best place to stay current with all the machinations of the Spurs; just come back here as well. Please.) I more or less agree with his assessment, though have a little more reservation.

Richard Jefferson is no doubt an enormous upgrade for us at the wing. He gives us more than Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley, and Ime Udoka (our wing players last year) combined. He is athletic, smart, works hard, can score, and even defends. We know all of these things. He’ll be a potent 4th option (making Mason, Jr. a deadly 5th option) behind our big 3, and will allow a tremendous amount of pressure to come off of Tim’s knees and Manu’s ankles. Before, we were always a little dead in the water with 2 of the Big 3 out; now, we should never suffer the offensive droughts we’re so known for.

My reservation is not in Richard Jefferson, the player; it’s in Richard Jefferson, the contract. He is owed a great deal of money, and by signing him, we are more or less maxing out our salary for next year (with a little wiggle room still left), and more or less taking ourselves out of the 2010 free agent frenzy. So the question is, is Jefferson worth that?

At first, I wasn’t sure. But more and more, I’m coming around to the idea that he is. Tons of teams are saving up for 2010, when LeBron, DWade, Bosh, Amare, and many other high profile players hit the market. The Spurs had been very carefully cultivating their salary to have beau coup amounts of money available in that summer to offer. But the truth is, it was always an outside shot to land a big name. LeBron’s not coming to SA. Neither is DWade. Bosh might because of his Texas roots, but that’s a big bet to place. What do you do if none of the top 2010 free agents pan out? Where do you spend your money then? A lot of teams are going to be forced to answer this question in a year.

I think our best shot at another title is next year. And I think the Spurs FO agrees. Look at this year’s playoffs. The two best teams going in–the Lakers and the Cavs–we’re underwhelming. The Magic clearly exposed the Cavs lack of anything substantive besides LeBron. And the Lakers, despite winning the title, looked uninspiring for most of the playoffs, unable to finish off a depleted Rockets team on the road, and being taken to task by an undisciplined Nuggets team. By adding Jefferson, I think we’ve risen back to the top of the league, and have a great chance of winning the West next year, especially given the Lakers free agent situation.

Also, it’s possible that the entire landscape of the NBA changes after 2010. And Duncan will be a year older. As will Ginobili, who may not even be with the Spurs at that time. For the Spurs, the future is now. And while the rest of the league is busy preparing for 2010, there’s still a title to be won next season. Like it or not, we’re in the countdown of our title window, and it would be silly to give up a year at an outside chance of something great happening. I’d rather take a known commodity and try to win now.

The other side of this story is what we gave up to get Jefferson. In terms of on the court production, we gave up very little. I’ll miss Oberto, but his best days seem to be behind him. I’ll miss Thomas, as he was a personal favorite. But Spurs fans will miss Bowen the most. He was an integral cog of 3 of our championships. Like any great championship role player, you love him when he’s on your team and hate him when he’s on the other. And boy is Bruce hated. And loved. He is Spurs family, and he always will be. If his jersey is not retired one day, it will be a shame. It’s true that he had lost his ability to defend at a high level for an entire game, but I still loved using him as a cooler, or a change of pace. I still think he has some good basketball in him, and I wish him all the luck in the world. There are reports that he may be bought out and sign again with the Spurs. That would be great, but we won’t comment on that until we know it’s true.

We also gave up a big chunk of our front line to get Jefferson. So now our focus must be on shoring up the front line. Bonner is still a good fit for us as he spreads the floor, and Gooden could be back. And of course Mahinmi is on the roster, and hopefully will give us something this year. But there’s still too many unknowns up front, and we need to get some more big bodies to truly be an elite team. I have no doubt that the FO is diligently working on this.

All in all, a very big day for the Spurs. Let’s welcome Richard Jefferson to the Spurs, and bid farewell to three great players and great people.