Hooped Up

Two league sources confirm that Milwaukee and San Antonio have agreed to the framework of a deal that would send Richard Jeffersonto San Antonio for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas andFabricio Oberto. A source said the two sides are working toward setting up a trade call with the NBA for late Tuesday.

The Bucks are sending Jefferson away less than a year after acquiring the scoring forward in a draft day trade last season for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons. Jefferson’s contract has two years and $29.2 million remaining on it.

Bowen, Thomas and Oberto give the Bucks a veteran group and financial flexibility. None are signed beyond the upcoming season.

ESPN

A team put in a call to the Spurs last season with a legitimate offer for Manu Ginobili. “Helluva player for a helluva player,” is the way Gregg Popovich describes the proposal now. Popovich’s answer then is the same as it is now, even after Ginobili ended another season with a limp. Popovich has always loved the guy, and he knows a healthy Ginobili can’t be replaced. But there’s another reason Ginobili will be a Spur as long as he is upright. He’s also a helluva draw at the box office. rumor surfaced this month that the Wizards called the Spurs with an offer for him, and maybe all of this made Ginobili wonder if the ground had shifted. Asked by the Argentine press this week whether he thought he could be traded, he said “impossible” had lost a few letters.

San Antonio Express-News

Being hitched to Eva Longoria makes Tony Parker a pretty lucky man and recently GQ Mexico decided to use some of that luck to sell more glossies and judging by the pictures below. Business has probably seen a very sharp spike in profits. 

Yowza!

[Show as slideshow]

In his first interview since April 5, the day before a stress fracture in his right distal fibula put a premature end to the most tumultuous season of his career, Manu Ginobili said Sunday that he expects to be fully recovered by the opening of training camp in October. “For the past month or so, I haven’t felt any pain, even to the touch,” Ginobili said. “I don’t have any doubt I’ll be 100 percent before training camp starts.” Much is riding on Ginobili’s latest recovery effort. Nothing the Spurs accomplish this offseason, either via the draft or free agency, will mean much if Ginobili cannot approach the form that made him the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2007-08. 

San Antonio Express-News

If you like Manu Ginobili but wouldn’t wear a San Antonio Spurs jersey even if there was a fire, boy do the guys over at The Basketball Jones have the perfect t-shirt for you.

We all know Manu Gibnobili plays basketball like a beautiful balding angel, and now we can all finally wear that truth printed on sweet American Apparel cotton. You hate the Spurs because they’re good and consistent, but don’t take it out on Manu - he’s just doing the best he can in the human body he occupies to make your favorite team lose. 

Now go buy a t-shirt, because the power of Manu compels you.

Chasing down the red hot Denver Nuggets for the second seed in the west, just got a lot tougher for the San Antonio Spurs without the services of one Manu Ginobili.

“Spurs guard Manu Ginobili will miss the rest of the National Basketball Association season and the playoffs with a right ankle injury, the team said.

Tests on Monday indicated that Ginobili’s ankle injury, which caused him to miss 19 games since the All-Star break in February before returning in late March, has gotten worse.

In February, Ginobili was diagnosed with a “stress reaction” of his right fibula, but he now has a stress fracture, the Spurs said.

Ginobili did not play in the fourth quarter Sunday as the Spurs lost at Cleveland.”

Via Press Release

The NBA really struck gold with this pre-recorded Bill Russell and Tim Duncan conversation that aired yesterday at halftime of the Spurs versus Cavaliers game. I could literally listen to Bill Russell talk about basketball for days and days.

He’s really everything a legend should be!

Last night, Tony Parker bombed the Atlanta Hawks on the road finishing with 42 points and 10 assist sans Tim Duncan in a winning effort. Parker then boarded a plane back to San Antonio where the sexiest women on TV awaited him at home. But according to his wife Eva Longoria, regarding the sexiest women on TV title “He is so over it, he doesn’t really care”.

The world of Tony Parker is très bien indeed!

“He thinks I’m sexiest when I wake up in the morning and you gotta marry the man who thinks that, he doesn’t like the makeup and the gowns.”

“I always get a bikini wax and always spray tan before I go to the beach. It is really key not only because it acts as a sunblock but you look better in a bikini when you’re already tan,” she added.

Bravo, Tony! 

Via Showbiz Spy

Drew Gooden has signed with the San Antonio Spurs.

“Gooden, who was bought out by the Kings after being dealt from the Bulls, could join the San Antonio roster by the end of the week. He could officially sign with the team today.

The seventh-year forward is averaging 13.1 points and 8.7 rebounds, but has battled a groin injury in recent weeks.

Gooden was a member of the 2006-07 Cleveland Cavaliers that lost to San Antonio in the NBA Finals. The Spurs are likely to waive Pops Mensah-Bonsu in order to make room for Gooden.”

Via Sporting News

I’m mostly posting this news because I love the title, but also because Popovich and the Spurs could use some cheap labor heading into the playoffs and signing Pops Mensah-Bonsu to a 10-day contract could be a steal too.
 

Mensah-Bonsu is a native of London who played at George Washington. He signed with Dallas after not getting selected in the 2006 NBA draft and played 12 games for the Mavericks the next season.”

Via USA Today