All rumors involving the Spurs are interesting, and not just because of the team's status as one of the league's best year after year (after year after year). San Antonio does things differently, and ape as other franchises might try, no one can quite replicate the funky method to the Buford/Popovich madness. Even if a rumor susses out false, the anatomy and evolution of said rumor deserves attention. Every bit of understanding helps.As such, the burgeoning rumor placing Olympiakos center Yiannis Bouroussis in a Spurs uniform for three years, $10-12 million, as reported by 48 Minutes of Hell and backed up by Greek sources ... that makes you pay attention. S.A. is always always looking for an appropriate running mate for Tim Duncan, and anyone who follows European basketball knows Bouroussis' reputation as a bad-ass bruiser. It seems like a match made in Heaven.
Further, the rumor itself shows us where the Buford/Popovich brain is at. That would be:
1. No Rasheed Wallace (as 48 Min points out).
2. Center/power forward next to Duncan is more important than the backcourt/wing issues.
3. We're not tearing down the roster just yet.
The Spurs have always spent to address the position next to Duncan. Rasho Nesterovic, Nazr Mohammed, Fabricio Oberto, Kurt Thomas, Matt Bonner, Tiago Splitter (it's an attempt, anyway) ... the team has used far more resources here than with other holes (back-up point guard, the Bruce Bowen memorial slot, the Manu Ginobili Reverse Back-up Position). The team is always trying to figure out how to best fill the void alongside Big Fun -- it's interesting that management still sees that as the issue. (I don't think they're wrong, of course. Except that I have an irrational devotion to Ian Mahinmi.)
48 Min has a nice take on Bouroussis himself. He's a powerful, Kurt Thomas-like operator in the paint. Oberto with better infrastructure. And he's young! Only 25, which (if he works out well) should worry the other centers of the West. He won't be an NBA All-Star, but he'll beat up a lot of them.
