I am leaving Seattle early Friday and will be out of pocket for at least 9 or 10 days. I'll be visiting friends in California, including our one and only aaronstampler! If I know stampler, he'll spend the entire time screaming at me about Barry Bonds and/or Tony Parker. And I'll sit there quietly, staring deeply into his Turkish eyes and hoping, just hoping, he touches my hand.
Thanks to PtR member Hideyori for dropping the news that Michael Finley is staying with the Spurs. He could have opted out of the one year remaining on his contract and gone after the extra years and subsequent additional dollars. Before we shower him with praise let's remember the Mavericks are still paying him $18 million for next year.
PtR member kalone let us know that Oberto opted for restricted free agency over the one year remaining on his initial deal. The predominant notion seems to be that he'll resign with the Spurs for ~3 years / $11 million. Is he worth that much? Against the Drew Goodens and feckless versions of Mehmet Okur? You bet. And Timmeh seems fond of him. Plus he's Argentinian. They're magic, you know.
Obviously the draft is tomorrow and despite not being able to watch it, I'm excited. Will KG or JO be traded? Will Atlanta screw up another draft? Will Boston make a trade? Who's taking Yi? Will the Spurs draft one, two or three guys nobody's ever heard of?
Here's what various mock drafts have the Spurs taking as the 28th, 33rd and 58th selections (please pardon my lack of links; I have only so much time):
Draft Express -- Jared Dudley | Ramon Sessions | Joao Gomes
SI.com -- Rudy Fernandez | Jared Dudley | Darryl Watkins
Chad Ford -- Jared Dudley | Zabian Dowdell | Ali Traore
CBS Sportsline (Tony Mejia) -- Arron Afflalo
CBS Sportsline (Gary Parrish) -- Jared Dudley
CBS Sportsline (TSX) -- Tiago Splitter
Inside Hoops -- Jared Dudley
Pro Basketball News -- Zabian Dowdell | Petteri Koponen | Giorgos Printezis
Collegehoops.net -- Arron Afflalo | Jared Dudley | Bobby Brown
RealGM -- Marco Belinelli | Petteri Koponen | Sun Yue
HoopsHype -- Jared Dudley | Gabe Pruitt | Ali Traore
MSNBC -- Jamon Gordon
Fanball.com -- Marco Belinelli
Fox Sports -- Nick Fazekas
NBC Sports -- Gabe Pruitt
There you have it. I picked every player mentioned more than once and added a new poll.
Post all your draft thoughts, comments and reactions here. Feel free to light up the diaries while I'm gone.