Category: San Antonio Spurs Blog

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LaMarcus Aldridge fitting in well with Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are 22-5 this season — the second best record in the legaue behind the 25-1 Warriors. LaMarcus Aldridge has been as good an addition to the Spurs as expected. Here’s ESPN.com reporting:

LaMarcus Aldridge fitting in well with Spurs

The Los Angeles Clippers face the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/WatchESPN), their first meeting since Chris Paul’s game-winning shot with one second left in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series in the spring. It is the latest game-winning field goal in a Game 7 in NBA history.

LaMarcus Aldridge, probably the biggest offseason acquisition by the Spurs, has ratcheted up his production in his last 13 games, since he came back after a two-game absence due to an ankle sprain. Since his return, Aldridge has been averaging more points and shooting a higher percentage while playing fewer minutes…

Aldridge is starting to make open jumpers. On shots farther than 10 feet from the basket, Aldridge is making 47 percent of his open jumpers in the last 13 games, compared with 37 percent in the first 12 games (Source: NBA SportsVU Player Tracking Data). Open shots are defined as shots in which the defender was more than 4 feet from the shooter at the time of the shot.

Gregg Popovich not surprised that Kobe will retire after this season

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is always worth listening to — at least when he’s actually willing to talk and answer a question in straightforward fashion. Here’s the Los Angeles Times reporting Popovich’s views on Lakers great Kobe Bryant’s announcement that he will wrap up his career at season’s end:

Coach Gregg Popovich said he wasn’t surprised when Kobe Bryant announced this would be his final season, though Popovich added that the league will definitely be taking a hit.

“It will be a great personality gone,” Popovich said Friday before the Lakers played the Spurs. “He’s an iconic figure, and when those kind of guys stop playing, the league misses them. You miss them.”

Popovich said Bryant’s consistent intensity was a rarity.

“There aren’t too many people who understand how you bring it, night after night after night, for all those years at that level, and he’s one of the few guys who did that,” Popovich said.

Raptors step up and beat Spurs

Wednesday night in Toronto the Raptors defended home court and beat the San Antonio Spurs 97-94. It was only the Spurs’ 5th loss of the season. In the win, DeMar DeRozan shot 10-15 for 28 points and six assists, while Kyle Lowry had 19 points and eight assists. Here’s the Toronto Star reporting:

It’s a dangerous game but a fun one, watching a team rise to the level of good opposition and sink to the level of bad.

It can’t be a lot of fun when they lose to supposedly inferior opposition but when it goes the other way, it can be an awfully good for their souls.

The Raptors, who typify that up-and-down existence like few teams in the NBA, did it again Wednesday, upsetting the San Antonio Spurs 97-94 at the Air Canada Centre, battling injuries and foul trouble with a patchwork rotation for a well-deserved wire-to-wire victory.

It was a gut-check win for the Raptors, now 14-9, against the 18-5 Spurs, who had won nine of 10 coming into the game.

It was sealed with fewer than 10 seconds left when DeMar DeRozan, capping perhaps his best game of the season, scooped up an offensive rebound of a Kyle Lowry miss and Toronto ahead by just three.

Defense stays strong for Spurs

Here’s the San Antonio Express-News blog reminding everyone that the Spurs’ defense is still a force to be reckoned with:

The Spurs’ 91-80 win over the Nuggets on Friday night was the club’s latest in a string of outstanding defensive efforts.

But this one was even more impressive than the others because it came while Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were home in San Antonio resting.

It seems no matter who is or isn’t in the lineup, there is one constant with the Spurs: They play great defense.

“It’s what we rely on,” Boris Diaw said in the visitor’s locker room at the Pepsi Center after the Spurs limited the Nuggets to 40.3 percent shooting and forced 18 turnovers that led to 15 points.

Spurs assign Jonathon Simmons to D-League

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have assigned forward Jonathon Simmons to the Austin Spurs of the NBA Development League.

Simmons, 6-6/195, was signed by San Antonio on July 22, 2015, after spending the past two seasons with the Austin Spurs. The Texas native made the team after attending an open tryout in Austin in 2013. Last season Simmons was named to the NBA D-League All-Defensive Third Team while appearing in all 50 games, averaging 15.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.00 steals in 33.8 minutes. Simmons shot .494 (277-561) from the field, .398 (51-128) from three-point range and .750 (153-204) from the charity stripe.

During his two years with Austin, Simmons appeared in a total of 94 games, averaging 12.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.00 blocks in 28.8 minutes while shooting .506 (446-882) from the field, .352 (76-216) from beyond the arc and .736 (22-303) from the foul line.

Simmons has not appeared in a game with San Antonio this season.

LaMarcus Aldridge vs. Blazers coming soon

Here’s the San Antonio Express-News blog reporting on Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who through five games this season is averaging 14.8 points and 10.0 rebounds per outing on his new squad:

LaMarcus Aldridge vs. Blazers coming soon

The Spurs have to face Charlotte tonight at the AT&T Center and Sacramento on the road Monday, but Wednesday’s must-see game in Portland – LaMarcus Aldridge’s homecoming – is already on their minds.

Aldridge played nine seasons for the Trail Blazers before signing in free agency this summer with the Spurs, an acquisition that has the potential to add more hardware to the team’s already crowded trophy case. Although many fans in Portland likely understand the Texas-ex’s desire to win a championship and appreciate his All-Star efforts for the Blazers, there will be many more who will shower him with boos for the move.

With that in mind, the Spurs are bracing for what Danny Green said will be a “more hostile” environment than usual.

Spurs exercise contract option on Kyle Anderson

Spurs exercise contract option on Kyle Anderson

The San Antonio Spurs have exercised their third-year option on forward Kyle Anderson for the 2016-17 season. This was an expected move and will surprise no one.

Originally selected by the Spurs in the first round of the 2014 NBA Draft (30th overall), Anderson averaged 2.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 11.2 minutes over 32 games last season. The former UCLA Bruin also appeared in 26 games with the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s NBA D-League affiliate, where he averaged 21.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 40.1 minutes.

Anderson was named MVP of the 2015 NBA Summer League after averaging 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 27.3 minutes over seven games, helping the Spurs win the 2015 Las Vegas Summer League Championship.

Spurs sign Julian Washburn

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have signed forward Julian Washburn.

Until it is reported otherwise, we will assume it is a non-guaranteed deal.

Washburn, 6-8/210, recently concluded a four-year career at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), where he averaged 11.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 34.2 minutes over 130 career games. He finished first in school history in total minutes (4,448), fourth in field goals (592) and sixth in scoring (1,526 points).