FanHouse Rogermason

One question for the San Antonio Spurs: Now what?

Sure, it's possible the Spurs can put together a nice effort on their homecourt in Game 5 on Tuesday night and push their series against the Mavericks to a sixth game in Dallas.

And maybe the Spurs could even follow that up with an unlikely Game 6 win on the road and make their first-round series a seven-gamer.

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AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- The trade deadline came and went without the Spurs making a move -- although, if you believe Gregg Popovich, it wasn't for lack of options. "Sure, there were like five or six things we almost did," Popovich said in his best deadpan. "Huge trades. And then at the very last second we said no to all of them."

OK, so Pop was kidding -- he had reporters in stitches a couple of times during his brief pregame meeting Thursday evening -- but there's no denying that rumors had surrounded his club all week. Among the Spurs who heard his name mentioned the most was Roger Mason, and hours after he learned once and for all that he was staying put, I caught up with him for a few minutes in the Spurs' locker room.

All-Star weekend is less than two weeks away, so the press releases are coming fast and furious as to who's going to be participating in all of the events. We told you about H.O.R.S.E. on Tuesday, and today, we bring you the field for the 2009 Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout.

Jason Kapono will defend his title and attempt to win the event for the third straight year, and he'll be facing a group of players that collectively have a total of zero three (and counting) prior appearances in the competition.

Check out FanHouse's NBA Preview.

This is not a division. It is a gauntlet. A spiked, imperial gauntlet inhabited by minotaurs, pterodactyls, stone giants, warrior pygmy tribes, and other things that go bump in the night. There is no sense of "If we can just make it to .500" in this division. .500 means nothing. .500 is for the Central division.

The Southwest Division hosts two former MVPs, the MVP runner-up from last season, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, the reigning Coach of the Year, a bazillion All-Stars, elite shooters, elite defenders, elite scorers, and Ron freaking Artest. Yeesh.

There are not headlines here. There are omens, prophecies, and obituaries.

The Arizona Daily Star reports Hawk bench buddy Salim Stoudamire has signed a deal to join the Spurs (via SLAM). I know, I know ... even Roger Mason is bored by this news. But hear me out: Salim can help the Spurs a ton.

The Spurs have been a team which relies on three things on offense: the post play of Tim Duncan, the slashing ability of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, and potent three-point shooting from a cast of role players. Historically, two of the three most important of those three-bombing role players have been Robert Horry and Brent Barry. Horry retired (or "was forced to retire because no one wants to pay him," if you want to get semantic). Barry plays for the Rockets. Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley remain, but turn 57 and 55 respectively* this year. Ime Udoka and Matt Bonner sit in the sidecar, but Gregg Popovich showed only mild levels of faith in them last year.

The one constant with Stoudamire: dude can shoot. Let's ignore last season, when he only totaled 400 minutes. Look at all seasons, college and pro, when he actually got a shot. Here are his three-point shooting percentages: 45% as a college freshman, 44% as a sophomore, 42% as a junior, 50% as a senior, 38% as a rookie, 36% as a second-year player. The league average is 36%, and the Spurs are accustomed to shooting slightly higher. Salim helps that, yes?

While Mason shot beautifully last season in D.C., his record indicates middling success from long range. Stoudamire shot poorly last season, but his record indicates strong aptitude for the longball. S.A. has made a brilliant hedge here: if Mason can't shoot appropriately well, and Pop needs some bench firepower for the guard position -- Bonner and Udoka aren't guards -- there is an option. He may not quite become Barry for a New Age, but there's an opportunity to hit some big, big shots here. Great move for everyone involved.


* On further review, Bowen actually only turns 37. Finley turns 35.

It's been rumored that Brent Barry wants to go elsewhere, and that seems to be just fine with the San Antonio Spurs. Barry has seen some interest from the Suns and the Rockets, with Houston being the leading candidate to sign the aging sharpshooter. Before Barry has been able to reach a deal elsewhere though, the Spurs have already replaced him with a version who happens to be about nine years younger.

The Spurs signed free agent guard Roger Mason to a two-year deal worth $7.3M, and theoretically should be able to step right in and contribute, Brent Barry-style. Barry shot almost 43% from three-point land last season on 112 attempts, while Mason hit on almost 40% from downtown, over a whopping 327 attempts -- statistics certainly skewed by the Wizards' run-and-gun (read: no conscience) style.

It's not that the Wizards didn't want to retain Mason's services ... well, that's what they said, but their actions of not actually extending him an offer kind of speak louder than their alleged wishes, right? Anyway, Mason is likely to see more playing time and lots of open threes from the corner playing for the Spurs, both of which are things that he thinks will increase his value for his next contract negotiation two years down the road.

Let me start off by saying I would never give anyone back $16 million. Also, I have no problem with Gilbert Arenas making more than $100 million over six years -- I was ecstatic when hearing a rumor my favorite team had offered him the max. Finally, Gil has shown to be one of the most generous NBA stars alive, giving away his jerseys, his shoes, and his time to fans constantly. He's a hero.

That said, his $16-million discount -- very warm, very generous for him -- does it even actually help the Wizards on the court? The surprising answer ... yes! (It's surprising because we're a cynical people.) The Washington Post's Ivan Carter reports the structure of the deal should allow the 'Zards to sign a player to the full mid-level and vet's exceptions. Had Arenas taken the max, the full mid-level would have thrust the team into luxury tax territory, which isn't going to happen. So the team can add a piece with this move.

What piece will it be? Carter offers up current 'Zard Roger Mason (he wouldn't technically take the mid-level, but would use up some of the luxury tax cushion) and roaming man James Posey. And Gil's got an extra pitch to make from whomever Washington targets.

"I want to win a championship here in D.C. I want to have a parade that goes right past the White House. Me and Barack Obama. How cool would that be? I really think that with the players we already have and with a couple of moves, we can do it."

Besides maybe Spencer Hawes, who wouldn't want to parade past President Obama? That might be a better pull than Baron Davis.

Making frequent "jokes" about a late 80's "comic" like Dorf on a frequent basis probably will not fare me well.

With that out of the way, enjoy Caron Butler, Roger Mason, Jr. (sick gold pants), Rock Cartwright, Chick Hernandez and Darrell Green balling it up at the Congressional. You know this as "Tiger's Tournament", perhaps. Several of these gentlemen will not likely be making the official cut.



See, I actually think caddying for this event might be more fun than attending Caron's birthday party. Okay, not really. Still fun though. Great work by Dan Steinberg.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Wizards-Cavaliers game tonight. We'll also be live-blogging the game here at FanHouse, come on by and bring your Vick jersey!*

*Don't actually. If you still have them. Which you probably don't. Unless you're DeShawn. In which case, you should probably be guarding West.

1. The West Is Strong, Allright: Delonte West, that is. West is averaging 11.3 points per game in this series, including 16 points in Game 4, propelled by some huge shots down the stretch. The big problem with the Cavs during a pretty mediocre (at best) regular season was the lack of an auxiliary scorer. If you reduce this team to just LeBron, you have a much better chance at beating them, though even that's shady depending on how the King feels. The Wizards have to lock down on the perimeter shooting in this game. They allowed 13 three-pointers on 46% shooting, including five from West, in Game 4.

2. It's The Boards, Stupid!: The Wizards are getting murdered on the glass. Not surprising, given Cleveland's army of bulky power forwards and the Wizards gaggle of slender gunners. But to be outrebounded by an average of 10 in the series. Their shooting percentages are the same, the Wizards are actually turning the ball over less, and their defense has been solid. But Cleveland is getting 5 more offensive rebounds per game. That is huge for this series. Andray Blatche needs to step it up, and Brendan Haywood needs to focus less on LeBron being weak and more on getting double digit rebounds and shoring off the Cavs on the offensive glass.

I wasn't worried about it for a second. I knew this was still going to be one of the best playoffs in recent memory, maybe in the last decade. Too much energy, too much drama, too much talent. Yes, we'll have duds in Boston v. Atlanta and Lakers v. Denver, but across the board, after tonight, it's time to face the reality. These playoffs are more compelling than any we've seen in a while. Consider the following.

With the 36 point blowout win tonight, the Wizards not only look to be back into contention, but look like this is going to be a 12-round slobber-knocker, with each fighter taking a round wholly to assert themselves. The Cavs pounded the Wizards at home, the Wizards returned the favor, at least in the first game back in DC.

In the first two games, the Cavs were efficient, tonight they were anemic. In the first two games, DeShawn Stevenson was paper-bag material, tonight he and Roger Mason combined for 37 points. Even in a blowout, this series is compelling, if only to watch the vast momentum swings. For a series to truly be great, it has to have it's share of early blowouts. Suns-Spurs may be the only series that can survive seven grueling down to the wire games, and it may not get there if San Antonio delivers the death stroke tomorrow night. Washington-Cleveland, however, has both teams getting a feel for each other, delivering haymakers, and gearing up for the late games when things really get intense.