Spurs dump Scola's rights to avoid paying luxtax

[F-Dog]

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Spurs trade Butler, Scola for Spanoulis

Greek guard acquired, but likely to stay in Europe

Web Posted: 07/12/2007 07:04 PM CDT

Johnny Ludden
Express-News staff writer

The Spurs have agreed to trade center Jackie Butler and Argentine forward Luis Scola to the Houston Rockets for guard Vassilis Spanoulis, a future second-round pick and cash considerations, an NBA source said Thursday evening.

Spanoulis, who played sparingly for the Rockets last season, is expected to remain in Europe.

The Spurs don’t figure to spend much time on introductions when they open training camp in a little more than two months.

Hoping to keep intact the roster that won them last season’s championship, the Spurs re-signed guard Jacque Vaughn and forward Matt Bonner on Thursday. After center Fabricio Oberto also re-signs in the coming days, all 12 members of the team’s playoff roster will be under contract.

Bonner received a three-year contract worth about $9 million while Vaughn received a two-year deal totaling around $2.5 million.

Bonner, 27, averaged 4.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in 56 games after joining the Spurs a year ago in a trade that sent center Rasho Nesterovic to Toronto. His role could increase this season if the Spurs decide to continue cutting back Robert Horry’s minutes.

Bonner, who stands 6-foot-10, is the type of big forward with 3-point range team executives now crave during the league’s small-ball era. He quickly won over coaches and teammates – not to mention the Spurs’ fans – with his hustle and every-man personality, and appeared to carve out a spot for himself in the rotation before injuring his left knee midway through the season.

Vaughn, 32, replaced Beno Udrih as the team’s primary backup point guard because coach Gregg Popovich valued his hustle and toughness. He averaged 3.0 points and 2.0 assists in 64 games.

The Spurs also had interest in signing Detroit forward Amir Johnson, but he re-signed with the Pistons on Thursday.

I believe Butler's contract is 3yrs, $7m, signed last summer of course--less than James Jones' deal. The last year might even be a team option.

 

[azirish]

Butler has played well in summer league after doing nothing during the season.

 

[nashman]

Everyone makes moves to avoid the LT but any moves the suns make us fans make much more of a big deal about. Funny guess its easy to bash our own even when we have argueably the best team in the league!

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Everyone makes moves to avoid the LT but any moves the suns make us fans make much more of a big deal about. Funny guess its easy to bash our own even when we have argueably the best team in the league!

The difference is the Spurs got a second round pick back and a player to stash overseas. It isn't the selling of assets. It is what you get in return.

 

[hafey]

haha. I wouldn't call Spanoulis a player to stash overseas. He flopped big time with the Rockets and has pretty much said he will not be returning to the NBA.

You can look in whatever way suits your opinion, but it was clearly a dump of much superior talent to avoid the luxury tax.

 

[Mulli]

haha. I wouldn't call Spanoulis a player to stash overseas. He flopped big time with the Rockets and has pretty much said he will not be returning to the NBA.

You can look in whatever way suits your opinion, but it was clearly a dump of much superior talent to avoid the luxury tax.

Guess that is why the Spurs liked him.

 

[azirish]

I keep wondering if the Suns could have eliminated all the grousing by demanding a conditional second round pick in 2012. Getting a future second round pick from a playoff team is worth more than zero (no matter what Eric says ), but not much more.

 

[Cheesebeef]

haha. I wouldn't call Spanoulis a player to stash overseas. He flopped big time with the Rockets and has pretty much said he will not be returning to the NBA.

You can look in whatever way suits your opinion, but it was clearly a dump of much superior talent to avoid the luxury tax.

MUCH superior talent? I think of it as a way to keep a team that just won a title together while notpaying the tax. That's the difference here.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I keep wondering if the Suns could have eliminated all the grousing by demanding a conditional second round pick in 2012. Getting a future second round pick from a playoff team is worth more than zero (no matter what Eric says ), but not much more.

the Suns could have eliminated the grousing by winning the title, like the Spurs did. That's why they're fans don't get up in arms about their financiall moves over the years. They proven that they've worked. We, as of yet, have notproven the same.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

The difference is the Spurs got a second round pick back and a player to stash overseas. It isn't the selling of assets. It is what you get in return.

Oh, and don't forget they just won the title.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

the Suns could have eliminated the grousing by winning the title, like the Spurs did. That's why they're fans don't get up in arms about their financiall moves over the years. They proven that they've worked. We, as of yet, have notproven the same.

Not sure where you get that. Stroll on over to Spurstalk. They are NOT happy about this at all.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Not sure where you get that. Stroll on over to Spurstalk. They are NOT happy about this at all.

have you been over there before? I would qualify most of those people are mentally ******** basketball speaking so I don't really care about what they say. If you can't trust a FO that has won 4 titles, who can you trust?

 

[Mulli]

have you been over there before? I would qualify most of those people are mentally ******** basketball speaking so I don't really care about what they say. If you can't trust a FO that has won 4 titles, who can you trust?

Post of the week. Good job, sir.

 

[jbeecham]

I can understand them being a little upset because Butler & Scola are young players with good potential and the Spurs just keep getting older. Dumping potentially good players to save money will piss off fans of any team unless you take the money you save and get someone better with it. Like the year we dumped Marbury & Hardaway for no one good in return. Initially a lot of people were pissed until we got Nash in the offseason.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I can understand them being a little upset because Butler & Scola are young players with good potential and the Spurs just keep getting older. Dumping potentially good players to save money will piss off fans of any team unless you take the money you save and get someone better with it. Like the year we dumped Marbury & Hardaway for no one good in return. Initially a lot of people were pissed until we got Nash in the offseason.

I certainly wasn't. It was a risky move, but one that had to be made considering that team was going nowhere. Ijust think that sometimes, fans can't see the forrest through the trees. There's a bigger picture with some moves and the Steph/Penny deal was definitely one of those.

 

[jbeecham]

I definitely can agree that sometimes you have to see the forest through the trees, but if we hadn't gotten Nash (which was a gamble) then who knows where our team would be right now.

For SA, losing those guys isn't a big deal right now because they weren't using Butler and Scola is still in Europe, but 2-3 years from now once Finley & Horry are gone and their other players are older they might regret giving them away to save some cash now. Butler probably never would have much of a chance to contribute on that team with Duncan, Oberto & Elson ahead of him so trading him does make sense.

 

[Chaplin]

I certainly wasn't. It was a risky move, but one that had to be made considering that team was going nowhere. Ijust think that sometimes, fans can't see the forrest through the trees. There's a bigger picture with some moves and the Steph/Penny deal was definitely one of those.

People were especially glad Penny was gone, and Steph had just been arrested for DUI, so the writing was on the wall for the two of them to be gone. Funny that it took Stephon's DUI to allow us to shed Penny's contract.

 

[azirish]

I can understand them being a little upset because Butler & Scola are young players with good potential and the Spurs just keep getting older. Dumping potentially good players to save money will piss off fans of any team unless you take the money you save and get someone better with it. Like the year we dumped Marbury & Hardaway for no one good in return. Initially a lot of people were pissed until we got Nash in the offseason.

I've lost track of what the Spurs did with the first they got for Barbosa pick, but I'm pretty sure it has not turned into a Sixth Man of the Year.

It's really simple. If you win the championship, you are a genius. Dumars took Darko over Carmelo, Bosh, and Wade; but he's a genius because he won a championship.

It seems like even the best franchises make mistakes. It is really really hard to hit a home run at every attempt and both the Pistons and the Spurs generally do a very good job. But they are constrained and they make mistakes.

It's doubtful that Butler would make any difference to the Spurs chances, but Scola is widely perceived as one of the best players in Europe. But it is an economics move and the fact that they won the championship doesn't change that.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

I would qualify most of those people are mentally ******** basketball speaking so I don't really care about what they say.

I just think that sometimes, fans can't see the forrest through the trees.

Their fans are obviously more knowledgeable than ours! They have 4 titles, for pete's sake!

So, by your reasoning, the Phoenix fans are ecstatic about the last few seasons. Ticket sales are crazy, they fill up the house. The Suns are an exciting team. Sure, some people on here are upset about a trade here or there, but they are just stoopid.

 

[azirish]

People were especially glad Penny was gone, and Steph had just been arrested for DUI, so the writing was on the wall for the two of them to be gone. Funny that it took Stephon's DUI to allow us to shed Penny's contract.

You may be right, but I think the ultimate problem was that Marbury refused to play like D'Antoni asked.

IMHO, D'Antoni wants point guards who will push the ball every time down court. The problem with Marbury was that he wants to run the pick and roll every time. The result was that Marbury would get down court and either brick a three or wait around for somebody to get down to set a pick. Nash runs the pick and roll too, but his real genius is in pushing the ball and hitting open shooters.

This issue became obvious with how Eisley failed so completely with the Suns. Howard could not push the ball if his life depended on it (but he was well suited to play for Jerry Sloan).

 

[Cheesebeef]

Their fans are obviously more knowledgeable than ours! They have 4 titles, for pete's sake!

So, by your reasoning, the Phoenix fans are ecstatic about the last few seasons. Ticket sales are crazy, they fill up the house. The Suns are an exciting team. Sure, some people on here are upset about a trade here or there, but they are just stoopid.

huh?

 

[Greg Popovich]

The Spurs fans are going crazy like you would not believe.

Not so much by losing Butler--but losing Scola has sent shockwaves through the community.

If the guys turns out to be anywhere as good in the NBA as he is in the foreign league, all of us in the Western Conference will rue the days the Spurs dumped his salary for the paltry sum their got in return.

Damn!

Definitely--Suns fans are not the only ones when management dumps players for cash.

 

[azirish]

The Spurs fans are going crazy like you would not believe.

Not so much by losing Butler--but losing Scola has sent shockwaves through the community.

If the guys turns out to be anywhere as good in the NBA as he is in the foreign league, all of us in the Western Conference will rue the days the Spurs dumped his salary for the paltry sum their got in return.

Damn!

Definitely--Suns fans are not the only ones when management dumps players for cash.

Did the Spurs decide Scola was never coming over or at least not for a long time?

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

huh?

Point being, their fans complain its just because they are stupid. Our fans complain and its because the FO is stupid.

 

[SunsTzu]

Steph had just been arrested for DUI,

Actually if I remember correctly Steph had the DUI in December of '01 and as a result was suspended the 1st game of the '02-'03 season since he did jail time. He ended up signing and extention in '03 so I don't think the DUI had as much to do with it as how poor the team was doing.