San Antonio Spurs Rumors: Joel Anthony And Nicolas Laprovittola Expected To Join Team, Interested In Matt Bonner?
The San Antonio Spurs appear close to rounding out its training camp roster according to Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News.
San Antonio currently has 18 players under contract, meaning that they have two roster spots left before reaching the NBA’s 20-player limit. Young reports that one of the roster spots will likely be filled veteran power forward-center Joel Anthony. Anthony’s deal is likely to be non-guaranteed at $1.4 million, noted Young.
Anthony has spent the last two years in Detroit, appearing in 19 games for the Pistons in 2015-16. The six-foot-nine power forward-center averaged 0.9 points and 1.1 rebounds over five minutes of action last season. He has not seen regular action since playing in 62 games, including three starts, for the Miami Heat during the 2012-13 campaign. Anthony has played nine seasons in the NBA for three teams — the Heat, Pistons, and Boston Celtics.
While Anthony does not provide a lot of on-court production, the 34-year-old does bring leadership and depth to the frontcourt. The 34-year-old also is a good shot-blocker.
Speaking of the Spurs’ frontcourt it is quite thin. Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge are slated to start at center and power forward, respectively. That leaves free agent pickups Dewayne Dedmon and David Lee along with rookie Livio Jean-Charles as the only other true post players currently with guaranteed contracts.
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) September 21, 2016
Jean-Charles is not expected to be in the Spurs’ rotation to begin the season, per Rotoworld, meaning that there is a good chance he will spend time in the D-League with the Austin Spurs. Jean-Charles averaged 4.0 points and 1.7 caroms over 17.0 minutes of action in three summer league games for the Spurs. Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Anderson and Davis Bertans also have the ability to play the 4.
In honor of the birthday boy….
some @KyleAnderson5 highlights https://t.co/1M1SJ8sVRk
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) September 20, 2016
Dan Feldman of NBC Sports reported that Bertans is not guaranteed a spot on the Spurs opening day roster, despite having a fully guaranteed salary ($543,471)
While Anthony would appear to be the favorite to win the team’s final roster spot, he will have competition from rookie guards Patrico Garino, Bryn Forbes, and Ryan Arcidiacono along with big man Ryan Richards. Garino, Forbes, and Arcidiacono are all undrafted rookies, and all three could end up with Austin as affiliated players — NBA teams have the ability to designate four players that do not make the 15-man roster to their D-League affiliate.
Richards signed a one-year non-guaranteed minimum pact on September 19. The Spurs 2010 second-round draft choice has spent his entire professional career oversees. Richards, who stands at 7-feet-tall, has a solid shooting touch, though he does not provide much rim protection. The 25-year-old center played for Shahrdari Gorgan of the Israeli Superleague last year, posting 20.8 points along with 8.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists a game in 24 contests.
Another player in the mix for the final roster spot is reportedly Argentinian Nicolas Laprovittola. Marc Stein of ESPN wrote that Laprovittola and the Spurs had come to terms on a training camp deal earlier this month, but there has nothing been confirmed by the Spurs.
Laprovittola played with Lithuanian club Lietuvous Rytas Vilnius before transferring to Spanish team Movistar Estudiantes in 2015-16. The 26-year-old guard averaged 13.2 points, 4.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds in 30 games overall last year. He also shot 40.1 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from beyond the arc.
If Laprovittola is definitely in the Spurs’ training camp plans, that would mean San Antonio has reached its player capacity — this is also assuming that Anthony will indeed come aboard. Thus, they would not have any available spots to add former Spur Matt Bonner — not that they were interested in bring the big red-head back anyways.
Speaking of Bonner, he told Ray Duckler of The Concord Monitor that he wants to play one more year in the NBA. The 36-year-old is one several veterans still on the open market. The six-foot-10 forward-center can really shoot the ball but does not provide much else, averaging 2.5 points a game last season on 50.9 percent shooting overall and 44.1 percent on three-pointers.
“I’m going to fight to get into the league,” Bonner said. “I’m going to fight to play one more year. … There’s been interest, but nothing concrete. A lot of teams are like, ‘We like Matt, we just don’t have a roster space right now, but if anything changes, he’s in the mix.’ There’s a long way to go until opening night, so I’m remaining optimistic.”
Bonner was a second-round draft selection of the Chicago Bulls out of Florida in 2o03. Bonner has spent the past 10 years with the Spurs and averages 5.8 points a game while shooting 41.4 percent from beyond the arc for his career. He has also spent two campaigns with the Toronto Raptors.
[Photo by Paul Sancya/AP Photo]
