Spurs Free Agency Recap

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Following up the draft where the San Antonio Spurs selected point guard Mike Conley, Jr. and perimeter player Martell Webster, the team geared up for a critical free agency period. Entering free agency with just under $22 million in cap space and a lot of questions about the roster, the Spurs front office spent a lot of time evaluating players and coming up with contract proposals with the hope of landing one, if not two, of the big names on the market. After a tense waiting period, the announcement of the signings began and while San Antonio was disappointed with not signing one of the young superstars, the team was able to pick up a few pieces that it hopes can help get them back to the playoffs.


While targeting many other players, San Antonio's biggest signing was of Vassilis Spanoulis. The question now becomes will the former Denver Nuggets continue to improve his game or has he already hit has maximum potential?

The biggest signing the Spurs made was of shooting guard Vassilis Spanoulis, the 25-year old from Greece. Perhaps feeling a bit desparate and needing to make a move, San Antonio offered a 6-year max contract worth $81.5 million for him to come to the Alamo City. Although 25 years of age, Spanoulis has only spent one year playing in the league as he was drafted in the second round by the Nuggets and spent two years in the D-League developing his game. However, when the Greek got his opportunity he showed that he has a solid game as he averaged 14.4 points and 1.5 steals per game while averaging only 26.0 minutes. Spanoulis also showed the ability to shoot the deep ball as he shot 45.2% from beyond the arc, which was better than his regular field goal percentage of 44.2 percent. The Spurs are hoping this is a trend that will continue as the team has lacked a legitimate outside shooter for quite some time to take the pressure off the interior game. Perhaps one benefit for Spanoulis and the Spurs is that they may not need him to play a great deal of minutes due to the fact the team currently has a pair of shooting guards in Delonte West and Luther Head, who is making his debut from the D-League, to provide some depth at the position if needed.

In addition to signing Spanoulis, the Spurs signed yet another backcourt player as they signed guard Kirk Hinrich away from the Grizzlies. A one time lottery pick, Hinrich will find himself on at least his fourth team entering his fifth season in the league. However, Hinrich has been solid wherever he has been as he has averaged 12.5 points and 5.6 assists over his career as he signed a 6-year deal worth $40.4 million to join San Antonio. Perhaps the problem for both Hinrich and the Spurs though is that he is a guard and the team's current roster is full of them. As discussed above, it is highly likely that recently signed Vassilis Spanoulis will start as the team's shooting guard since at 6'4" he is too small to move to the small forward spot and the team has a pair of young point guards in second year player Marcus Williams and rookie Mike Conley, Jr. that will compete for playing time along with Hinrich. Based on these factors, there are already rumors circulating that San Antonio is looking for a trade partner to move Hinrich elsewhere to address some other needs the team has. However, if this is not possible, the team might look to move some of its other guards to address the lack of depth in the frontcourt at the moment since the former University of Kansas star is locked up to a reasonable six-year contract.


It is still to be determined exactly what role recently signed Charlie Villanueva will play with his new team, the San Antonio Spurs.

The final signing San Antonio was able to make during the opening of free agency was that of one time University of Connecticut star Charlie Villanueva to a contract identical to that signed by Kirk Hinrich (6-years/$40.4 million). At just 23 years of age, Villanueva fits into the Spurs youth movement although he has been in the league four years already. In breaking down his game, the team is impressed with his athletic ability for a player his size (6'11"/240) and his ability to do a lot of things on the basketball court. However, while Villanueva is able to do a variety of things there are questions of whether he can do any one thing really well. One of the questions about the former Husky though is how much more can he develop and can he continue to improve his game and stats since last year's 10.6 points and 7.9 rebounds were career highs for him. Based on the team's current roster situation, look for Villanueva to likely end up as the team's starting small forward unless the Spurs are able to pick up someone better. If this is the situation, do not be surprised to see him fill the roll of a key sixth man playing both the small and power forward positions in the upcoming season.[/center]