Anticipating a Richard Jefferson trade
by Timothy Varner
This post is pure speculation. Itâs made of tea leaves and weathervanes and little bits of the NASDAQ.
A Richard Jefferson trade is on the table. The Spurs are about to make a move.
Since the start of free agency, the Spursâ name has been attached to no fewer than five players: Boki Nachbar, Josh Howard, Mo Evans, Vince Carter, and Caron Butler. All veterans; all small forwards. Josh Howard and Caron Butler will be in San Antonio tomorrow to meet with the Spurs.
Just after the Spurs were bounced from playoffs last season, Gregg Popovich granted an end-of-year interview to the Express News. In that interview Popovich listed a couple offseason goals. The first was defensive improvement:
â¦to do everything humanly possible to become a more elite defensive team. For a couple reasons: One, historically, good defensive teams go the farthest in the playoffs, as can be proven in a million different ways.
Secondly, for personal reasons I felt very uneasy all year long with our spotty defense that could not be consistently relied upon in fourth quarters. It drove me crazy. I think I just need to do whatever I need to do â personnel-wise, or drill-wise or demand-wise â to go from the middle of the pack back to four, five, six, seven, somewhere in there.
We canât be one, two, three anymore. We donât have that youth, that juice to do that. But I think we can be four, five, six, seven, instead of 12, 13, 14, 15.
Coach Popovich put his other goal this way:
Our biggest need right now â depending on what âDyess does (with retirement) â is a starting four (power forward). We need to know who is going to be our starting four. Is it DeJuan Blair? Is it (Tiago) Splitter, where Timmyâs the four and Splitterâs the five? Is it Matt Bonner? Do you need to make a trade? Weâre investigating all those areas.
Letâs assume nothing has changed since Pop identified these two things as his teamâs top priorities. If the Spurs need a power forward, why are they chasing every available veteran small forward? Why would they need another small forward with a depth chart of Richard Jefferson, Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, DaâSean Butler?
The smart money says the Spurs have a deal in place to swap Richard Jefferson (and pieces?) for a big.
There is the possibility that San Antonio is planning to use the amnesty clause on Richard Jefferson, but this doesnât make much sense to me.
First, there is the expense of it. Is Peter Holt really keen on the idea of paying Richard Jefferson 30 million dollars to take a walk? Doubtful. And doubly doubtful if the Spurs are currently planning to add another 5 million of payroll to secure his replacement. Thatâs 35 million dollars in RJ-related expenses.
Second, Peter Holt is well-known to have lobbied for use of the amnesty clause at any time over the life of the new CBA, not simply prior to this season. Why go through the trouble if his team planned to throw the amnesty sack over Jeffersonâs head prior to the start of this season? Either he was simply playing the role of good soldier for his fellow owners or the Spurs have other plans.
Third: RJ amnesty plus a replacement small forward does not equal a new power forward. In fact, it makes a new power forward practically impossible.
Finally, the Spurs did something rare over the weekend. They leaked their displeasure for a player. In a Buck Harvey piece published on December 3, we find this quote:
âYou know, in football, when thereâs a pile and the runner is tackled?â
