Post by RManske2 on Jan 27, 2011 23:43:35 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Spurs Looking to Rebound[/glow]
Coming off a season where the team traded their franchise player in Tracy McGrady and winding up in the draft lottery, the San Antonio Spurs came into the offseason with a lot of questions and concerns. The good news for the Spurs was that they ended up with the eighth pick in the draft and about $13 million in available cap space to work with in free agency. The bad news for San Antonio was that they had the eighth pick in a draft where the team liked seven players and not a lot of proven talent outside of point guard Mike Bibby. In addition, as many teams around the league know, it is risky to place hopes on landing that one key free agent to change your team around.
Entering the draft, the Spurs front office briefly explored a few trade options after deciding to stay with the eight pick. While the team realized that some of the main players would be off the board early on, some within the front office were holding out hope that there could be a surprise that would allow one of the players the team coveted to slide down to number eight. However, that did not play out and the Spurs decided to select guard Marcus Williams out of Connecticut. At 6'3" and 215 pounds, Williams is a good sized point guard and comes out of a winning college program with some skills. In addition, the team is looking for Williams to play a combo guard role in his rookie season and be a key contributor off the bench with the hope that he will eventually replace Mike Bibby in the starting lineup.
The Spurs are hoping that rookie Marcus Williams will develop into the team's future point guard to go with the rest of the team's young developing players.
Coming into his first training camp, Williams quickly realized that it would be a difficult transition to go from college star to a rookie in the league. While the coaches were impressed with Williams' potential, the staff was even more impressed with the lotto pick's work in camp to prove that he was worth the pick and to earn the respect of his teammates. By putting in this work, the coaches saw a big improvement in his game as Williams saw improvement in his inside scoring, outside scoring, and handling. This work likely earned Williams the role as both backup point guard and shooting guard this year in the Spurs rotation. However, the coaching staff was disappointed that Williams' didn't pick up as much on the defensive end so there is some talk within the organization that the coaches may spend some extra time with Williams to try to improve his defense to improve his overall game.
By adding Williams to the team, the Spurs were able to add another young player to the mix to go with Andrew Bynum, Emeka Okafar, Delonte West, and Luther Head in the D-League. By having five young players with some possible potential, San Antonio headed into the free agency period with the hope of adding those key pieces to move back into the playoff race in the upcoming season.
Coming off a season where the team traded their franchise player in Tracy McGrady and winding up in the draft lottery, the San Antonio Spurs came into the offseason with a lot of questions and concerns. The good news for the Spurs was that they ended up with the eighth pick in the draft and about $13 million in available cap space to work with in free agency. The bad news for San Antonio was that they had the eighth pick in a draft where the team liked seven players and not a lot of proven talent outside of point guard Mike Bibby. In addition, as many teams around the league know, it is risky to place hopes on landing that one key free agent to change your team around.
Entering the draft, the Spurs front office briefly explored a few trade options after deciding to stay with the eight pick. While the team realized that some of the main players would be off the board early on, some within the front office were holding out hope that there could be a surprise that would allow one of the players the team coveted to slide down to number eight. However, that did not play out and the Spurs decided to select guard Marcus Williams out of Connecticut. At 6'3" and 215 pounds, Williams is a good sized point guard and comes out of a winning college program with some skills. In addition, the team is looking for Williams to play a combo guard role in his rookie season and be a key contributor off the bench with the hope that he will eventually replace Mike Bibby in the starting lineup.
The Spurs are hoping that rookie Marcus Williams will develop into the team's future point guard to go with the rest of the team's young developing players.
Coming into his first training camp, Williams quickly realized that it would be a difficult transition to go from college star to a rookie in the league. While the coaches were impressed with Williams' potential, the staff was even more impressed with the lotto pick's work in camp to prove that he was worth the pick and to earn the respect of his teammates. By putting in this work, the coaches saw a big improvement in his game as Williams saw improvement in his inside scoring, outside scoring, and handling. This work likely earned Williams the role as both backup point guard and shooting guard this year in the Spurs rotation. However, the coaching staff was disappointed that Williams' didn't pick up as much on the defensive end so there is some talk within the organization that the coaches may spend some extra time with Williams to try to improve his defense to improve his overall game.
By adding Williams to the team, the Spurs were able to add another young player to the mix to go with Andrew Bynum, Emeka Okafar, Delonte West, and Luther Head in the D-League. By having five young players with some possible potential, San Antonio headed into the free agency period with the hope of adding those key pieces to move back into the playoff race in the upcoming season.
