# NVE is a Spur baby



## DaBobZ (Sep 22, 2003)

Yeah !

SPURS SIGN GUARD NICK VAN EXEL

SAN ANTONIO - The San Antonio Spurs today announced that the team has signed veteran guard Nick Van Exel. Per team policy the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We are very happy to have Nick as a part of our team,” said Head Coach Gregg Popovich. “His leadership and skills will be assets at both ends of the floor.”

The 6-1 Van Exel has appeared in 815 regular season games averaging 15.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 6.9 assists. For his career Van Exel has shot .405 from the field and .357 from behind the arc. His 1,473 three-point field goals made ranks him fifth all-time in the NBA and first among active players. Van Exel has also appeared in 64 postseason contests averaging 15.7 points and 5.1 assists in 35.3 minutes per game.

Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 37th pick in the 1993 NBA Draft, the Kenosha, Wisconsin native has also suited up for the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers. The 1998 Western Conference All-Star averaged 11.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 53 contests for the Trail Blazers during the 2004-05 season.

Van Exel had a stellar college career at the University of Cincinnati where he averaged 18.3 points, 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game in leading the Bearcats to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament as a senior. The third team All-America selection was also a finalist for the John Wooden Award.


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## texan (Jul 10, 2003)

Wow, this is a bit suprising, but I love it. To me, NVE will be of equal value as Fin would have been. He brings shooting and leadership to the PG spot, which we sorely lacked the past couple seasons.


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## UD40 (May 12, 2005)

Good pick up. Now lets hope this means Finely is out of the picture for you guys........


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## texan (Jul 10, 2003)

Supposedly, we signed NVE w/o cutting into the 2.5 million offer we have on the table for Finley. That would be amazing if we ended up with both guys. I'd be a little worried about getting touches for all those guys(and the ridicule TD would take if he shared the ball even more and only averaged like 18-20 ppg again), but I'd never pass up an opportunity to have that much talent on one team.


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## GODisaSpursFan (Mar 25, 2003)

Signing NVE has no barring on Finley per Pop.

I believe we either signed Nick to the LLE or the Vet min.

NVE, Manu, Finley, Horry, Tim

Can you say... Mo*****' clutch!?


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## TheRoc5 (Mar 1, 2005)

GODisaSpursFan said:


> Signing NVE has no barring on Finley per Pop.
> 
> I believe we either signed Nick to the LLE or the Vet min.
> 
> ...


Parker.....


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## TheRoc5 (Mar 1, 2005)

wow this is so random, never thought he would sign with us over houston or denver. we just got a lot deeper wich is hard to beilve, i hope this wont hurt benos potential. this does make me wonder if finely signs with us to that would just be great, i would feel better about our chances to repeat.
welcome nve


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## Long John Silver (Jun 14, 2005)

TheRoc5 said:


> Parker.....


Clutch? :angel:


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Yes baby. There's certain players from opposing team's that you end up liking, and Nick Van Exel has been one of those players for me, mainly because of when he played for Dallas. So that's a bonus for me, I actually was a fan of this guy before he became a Spur, and now even moreso.

Good signing for several reasons. One, this is another damn good shooter. You can look at his career FG% (probably around 40%) and say "He's not that good of a shooter", but he's always had a good 3P%. He's not an accuracy shooter like Brent Barry, more like a streak shooter like Jaren Jackson or even Stephen Jackson when those two guys were Spurs. Second, this is more depth. Think about it, we're going from Mike Wilks to Nick Van Exel. That's quite an improvement. I think it's safe to say with this signing that we have the best collection of PG's in the league, and we have the best collection of shooters in the league. Just imagine how much better our shooting will be if we get Finley.


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## Guth (Feb 23, 2005)

*Spurs Sign Van Exel*



> http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2146285
> 
> Spurs sign Van Exel without cutting into Finley offer
> ESPN.com news services
> ...




Pretty much all I can say is...Wow...I did not see that one coming


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## Guth (Feb 23, 2005)

*Re: Spurs Sign Van Exel*

OK, sorry...I am a little out of the loop up here...I thought I had some big news, but clearly, I was way behind...

I apoligize and the powers that be are welcome to delete this, as I have now realized, meaningless thread...


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

The Spurs were already loaded to begin with but add NVE to the bench, and possibly finn... Wow.....


Can you say back to back?


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Here's a little preview of NVE in a Spurs uniform via Photoshop:


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## TheRoc5 (Mar 1, 2005)

KokoTheMonkey said:


> Here's a little preview of NVE in a Spurs uniform via Photoshop:


thats a nice picture,i cant wait till this season, with out injuries our team will be cold. if we get finely, i my pridict something i havent dreamed about predicting.... 72-10 record(with the weaker west ya never know, wow never thought i would say that soon)


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

70 wins....That would be awesome. Extremely unlikely, but it would be awesome. I think we can go for 62-65 wins barring huge injury from Duncan/Ginobili/Parker.


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## TheRoc5 (Mar 1, 2005)

KokoTheMonkey said:


> 70 wins....That would be awesome. Extremely unlikely, but it would be awesome. I think we can go for 62-65 wins barring huge injury from Duncan/Ginobili/Parker.


thats what i would normaly think but finely and nick van exel, we would be so deep with a great deffense and a great offense. we are in the west wich we would only worry about the suns rockets and mavs. if you look at our schdule its not to hard. i think with out any injuries we can win 70 gms. ya it sounds farfetched but i think with the team we have we can do it. of course though it doesnt matter without the ring


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## USSKittyHawk (Jul 22, 2005)

Excellent pick up by the Spurs, no one saw that coming. :greatjob: Well at least I didn't, Nick the Quick will be a valuable asset whenever Parker starts dogging it. If you guys can land Fin Fin..aww man I smell repeat.


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## Guth (Feb 23, 2005)

OK...I have had time to collect my thoughts on the Van Exel thing, as you all could obviously tell that they were not together earlier...

I am going to be honest, I was not thrilled with the signing of Van Exel when I first heard it...My mind immediately went to images of a guy who is a me first, ball hog who is prone to attitude problems...I couldn't help but be surprised that the Spurs would sign a guy who looks to be someone who could cause some chemistry problems...


But then I remembered the last time that I had that feeling, and that was late in last season when the Spurs signed "Clubhouse Cancer" Glenn Robinson...all he did was contribute MUCH more than anyone thought he would on the way to the Championship (man, that still feels good to type)...and there was never any mention of an attitude problem from Big Dog...

This is what I love about the Spurs...not only do guys WANT to come play here, but they are willing to change in order to fit into the system...I'll bet if you asked any of Big Dog's coaches over the years if they thought that last year's scenario was possible, they would have called you crazy...but that is what happens when guys play in SA...so here's hoping that the same thing happens with Nick the Quick...


Glad to have him.


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## BootyKing (Apr 7, 2005)

Very nice pickup for the Spurs. It wont hurt ur Finley chances money wise but it may hurt it player n playingtime wise. However this is a very smart move if it doesnt affect and if it does. As the Spurs may know the Finley is leaning more towards Heat or Suns and they swooped in and grabbed a very talented FA, very nice move. Next season is gunna b awesome cant wait. I wonder if, the new Suns team made to tackle the Spurs can live up to what i think they are capable of. Goodluck 05-06 Spurs.


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## Mavericks_Fan (Apr 19, 2005)

This signing REALLY surprised me when I first heard. NVE is a good player, I just don't picture him as being the kind of guy Pop would be out looking for. Of course, Pop did take on Big Dog so I guess you never know.

What I wonder is what this means for Beno. Are the Spurs down on him? Is he being shopped around? Will he get any playing time on a team with Tony Parker and Van Exel?


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## Long John Silver (Jun 14, 2005)

Does anyone know how did NVE and Finley got along in Dallas? Hopefully Nick signing here helps to bring Mike along too...


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Mavericks_Fan said:


> This signing REALLY surprised me when I first heard. NVE is a good player, I just don't picture him as being the kind of guy Pop would be out looking for. Of course, Pop did take on Big Dog so I guess you never know.
> 
> What I wonder is what this means for Beno. Are the Spurs down on him? Is he being shopped around? Will he get any playing time on a team with Tony Parker and Van Exel?



I don't think the Spurs have given up on Beno by any means. I'm assuming the pact with Van Exel is a one year deal, so this is sort of a temporary setback of PT for Beno. He only played 10-12 minutes per game last year, and I don't see how he would top that unless Van Exel becomes injured and/or ineffective. I think Parker's minutes will come down just a bit, and I think Pop will use a combination of the two PG's ocassionally, so maybe there will still be minutes for Beno. I can't imagine they would be shopping him, but it does look like there's many minutes available for him.


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## Timmons (May 25, 2005)

I also like the inking of Van Exel. I have been a NVE supporter for a long time. I loved the guy at Cincy (one of my first favorite players), L.A. his brief stop in Denver and now w/ S.A.

This team is now just that much more difficult to beat. NVE will probably go off against Denver and some of his other old teams like he always does. The guy will sink big shots just like Horry. When you least expect him to do anything or take a shot that's when NVE kills you!

Good move imo.


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

What I loved was reading some of his comments. I guess Popovich told him that some games he'll play a lot, some games he won't play at all, and NVE said he's fine with that.


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## Camaro_870 (Mar 12, 2005)

wow what a good pick up, NVE is definately one of those players i'd rather have on our team then someone elses.... I for one used to...not hate this guy but really really not like him when he was on the mavericks, but i used to feel that way about horry. He's one of those guys u like respect but despise when they kill you from beyond the arc in huge games which is exactly why i'm extremely happy about this pick up


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## cpawfan (Jun 20, 2004)

This means I have to follow the Spurs more this season.

I'm glad NVE is in a spot that he wants to be in again and that Pop won't overuse him.


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