The following is a loose translation from the article... "American media will find out today (tuesday), but I've already let my agent Bill Duffy know I made up my mind. I'm leaving to San Antonio. For six seasons", Nesterovic confirmed the expected news. He'll earn close to 8 million dollars per year with the reigning NBA champions. "I'm planning on winning the title ring at least one time and then I can retire in peace ", said Rasho without hesitating after he refused an almost doubled offer from Minnesota.They were prepared to pay him sth. over 50 million for 7 years, but missed the crucial part of negotiations. New York wasn't even close. "Rasho made the decision after consulting with his family (parents)", said agent Duffy. Slovenian Newspaper Link
Good job SA. You got your franchise "big" to go with Duncan. Now you just need to lock up Danny Fairy longterm and you're all set.
It's funny to me that Texas teams have so many "foreigners" now. It's like someone is trying to force "cosmopollination" down Texans' throats.
Good news. San Antonio was gonna get somebody for the money. Might as well be a so-so overpaid center. Now Minnie, what they gonna do?
What's the deal you talked about? All right. 8 million for this guy........SAD. They could have got PJ Brown or Andre Miller for 8 million.... Rasho is OK. He's better than Cato at least. But he's not as good as Kenny Thomas. I guess the Spurs were desperate. Rasho is a good team player though. He should fit. Now what's gonna happen with the Twolves?!?
Nesterovic has developed into a pretty decent center over the last couple of years. With the lack of good centers in the league, this is a good pickup for the spurs. And they are NOT overpaying.
Well apparently not. PJ signed with NO for about that much. As for Miller -- I can see getting Kidd when you already have Parker because he's Jason Kidd; but it's not the same with Miller. Anyway, Nestorovic is a pretty poor FA splash for a champion with a max contract to hand out. If it were the Rockets, I'd be disappointed.
This reminds me of the MoT deal. San Antonio had plenty of cap space and did not get the players they wanted. So the panicked and overpayed for a lesser player.
Starting contract is about $6 mil. Certainly not too much for a center in this day and age. Spurs still have +-$9 million to play with.
I was wondering too. But, I think he meant that Minn had doubled their previous offer. So, they had offered 25-30 million originally and then almost doubled to 50+.
Nesterovic got a deal starting at $6 mil for 6 years. This leaves enough cap room for the Spurs to sign a max free agent in the Brand/Odom/Arenas class (25% of cap). Nesterovic may or may not be starting alongside TD next year. This is not the Spurs' last move. -MrSpur