Extreme Makeover: Spurs Edition (?)

Earlier today, R.C. Buford set the Spurs blogosphere on fire with his comments on The Ticket that the Spurs would like to improve their team via trades rather than free agency of the draft as they often do.

That makes a ton of sense. With the 29th pick in the First round nabbing an impact player on Draft night is going to be tough. It is certainly doable, but by no stretch should it be seen as likely. Now, this draft is reported to be deep on quality role players, and that’s where the Spurs could use a good deal of help, but I’m not entirely certain that rearranging the deck chairs is going to take the Silver-n-Black back to the Promisedland. Especially not in the new look West.

On the free agency front, things don’t look much better. The Spurs have a lot of money tied up next year, and with the Labor talks ongoing, who knows what the market will allow come a ratified CBA.

Two years ago, the Spurs took a swing for the fences using the build-through-trade strategy in acquiring RJ that didn’t exactly yield a home run (Don’t you just love mixed sports analogies?). So it should be clear that the Spurs aren’t adverse to risk taking, but they aren’t stupid either. When they do take risks they are almost always low-risk/high-reward propositions. Take the Hedo trade, the Butler signing, the Blair, Tiago, and Hill draft picks, and the aforementioned Jefferson trade for examples. Not all of these turned into resounding successes, but not a one of them hamstrung the team to make changes down the road (*cough-Philly-Brand-cough*).

That brings us to today when R.C., Mr. Buford if you’re nasty, made the suggestion that the Spurs would be active on the trade market this year. Which pretty much instantaneously ignited the “Tony Parker needs to back his bags” chatter I’ve been picking up ‘round the Interwebs today. I’ve gotta say that I find this talk to be of the less than intelligent variety. I just don’t see how the Spurs will be able to get back equal value for Parker in a trade with anyone willing to take on his reasonably expensive contract. Of course, I can always be proven wrong…just ask my wife…but I think a lower risk situation will present itself in the near future. Perhaps something involving the partially guaranteed money owed McDyess and Blair along with George Hill would net a solid addition?

All I’m saying I guess is that Tony Parker isn’t the most tradeable asset the Spurs possess, at least not at this juncture (get back to me closer to the deadline to see if I have changed my tune).