It’s the time of year when rumours run wild and fans scour the web looking for the latest gossip on who is going where. For many, this is the most exciting time of year. Whether something is fact or fiction is sometimes of secondary importance to simply toiling with the idea in your head or debating it with friends.
One of the rumours that made the rounds last week was a Manu Ginobili trade where he would end up in Washington. Now what the Spurs would have gotten in return was not particularly clear. It does seem clear (as reported from a variety of sources) that Washington is looking to move the fifth pick in the draft for a more established and known commodity.
It wasn’t the Washington side of the story that perked my interest however. It was the San Antonio side of things.
Coach Popovich did what all coaches would do and attempted to douse the theory that Ginobili would be traded. When discussing the subject Coach P. replied: "Manu Ginobili is someone I cannot envision trading," Popovich continued. "He has been such a huge part of our heart and soul; people like that are hard to come by. You don't even think about trading somebody like that. I can't imagine a scenario where he would be traded."
You can take that statement for what it’s worth, in particular the last sentence. I could come up with a handful of scenarios where the Spurs would move Ginobili. Everyone is tradeable.
The Spurs, despite all their talent, are watching their window for another NBA Championship close. The Spurs roster is an aged one and their best player, Tim Duncan, is bound to slow down in the not so distant future. Duncan has played 899 games in his career and has logged 33,139 minutes of PT.
If the Spurs do want to make another run at a Championship with Duncan at the helm they might be well served by making a serious roster move. The current roster just won’t get done and without a first round pick in this years draft there won’t be an influx of young talent this off-season unless trades are made.
Bill Simmons discussed a San Antonio shake-up in late May. In one of his ever popular mailbags he suggested the Spurs look to deal Parker. He then went on to defend and explain his position in further detail here.
Whether it is Parker or Ginobili, Simmons makes a good argument as to why the Spurs should be looking to shake things up which includes the following tidbit –
"Look, the biggest mistake fading contenders make is not audibling near the end of the run, when they can turn an expensive chess piece into multiple guys and an infusion of young blood."
Could CB4 be that infusion of young blood? If BC proposed a deal of CB4 for Ginobili, any one of Oberto/Bowen/Bonner and one of San Antonio’s three second round picks wouldn’t Buford’s ears perk up? The thought of Twin Towers 2.0 in Texas might be too hard to pass-up. Further, San Antonio is both close to home for CB4 and a winning franchise so getting Bosh to re-sign may not be that difficult. A core of Duncan, Bosh and Parker looks very strong and Popovich would be able to use his experiences with Duncan and Robinson to extract the maximum from the two big men.
From Colangelo’s perspective it would allow him to extra good, albeit not equal value, for CB4 all the while moving Bosh to the Western Conference. It also addresses the Raptors dire need for a 2/3 who can play defence and also attack the rim and create off the bounce. Be it Bowen, Oberto or the Red Rocket, each guy would add something to this current Raptors team. Originally when I thought of this idea I pictured Oberto in a Raps uni as I viewed him as a serviceable veteran big man who could easily develop some chemistry with Bargnani. After a little research however, I discovered that Oberto just recently underwent a procedure on his heart to correct his irregular heartbeat. I’m no doctor but to quote the Clipse, this sounds "kinda like a big deal".
Would such a deal happen? Unlikely. BC continues to be adamant that Bosh is going no-where this summer. Although I disagree with that approach, BC has always been a man of his word. Nevertheless there is nothing wrong with thinking about what sort of damage a line-up of Calderon, Ginobili, Marion, Blair?, Bargnani could do.
HOWLAND