Buck Harvey: Trade not made: Next for Rose
San Antonio Express-News
CLEVELAND — Gregg Popovich doesn't know it yet. He's still smashing furniture in his hotel room in reaction to the trade that didn't happen.
But he'll need Malik Rose.
Just as he has before.
Popovich will call this rationalization. He's the one in the organization who wanted a divorce from Rose.
It's been San Antonio's version of Shaq-Kobe, and it's never made much sense. After all, Larry Brown, Popovich's buddy, traded for Rasheed Wallace on Thursday with the misguided belief that one Tar Heel can always connect with another.
Popovich? One smart, passionate man can't get along with another, and they've won two championships together.
But friction alone didn't prompt the Spurs to call around the league to see if anyone wanted Rose. His contract inspired them more. Rewarded in the summer of 2002 — partly because he had both Tim Duncan's friendship and agent — Rose has become a salary-cap liability.
Other franchises carry far heavier burdens. If anything, this contract represents just how careful the Spurs have been. This is only the second deal they've ever regretted in this era (Jaren Jackson's was the other), and Mark Cuban eats more at breakfast.
But with an owner who pledges never to go over the cap, the Spurs can't make mistakes. Their trade last summer summed that up, when they took on two players mostly because their contracts will lapse this summer.
It's about freedom, as well as flexibility. The Spurs will not only be able to sign Manu Ginobili this summer, but also pursue other free agents.
Rose is a real roadblock to that. His contract isn't up until 2008, and then he will earn $7.1 million.
That's a lot to pay a sixth man, if Rose were only that. He sits on the bench as a 10th man.
No wonder the Spurs looked around, and no wonder others hesitated to trade for Rose. Other franchises see the contract as a burden, too.
Danny Ainge, searching for anything in Boston, talked about a deal for Rose that would have exchanged an unused player named Chris Mills. Mills isn't in uniform, but his contract is still in play. That's why he was involved in the Rasheed trade.
Mills' contract ends this summer, meaning a trade would have cleaned the Spurs' books. But such a trade would come with obvious negatives, beginning with the likely end to cheesesteaks in the Quarry. Change can be painful, all right.
The Spurs would also have been vulnerable had they lost Rose without a big man coming in return. Robert Horry has played well, but he's older, and an injury would have left the Spurs too thin.
As for other concerns about the frontcourt: As long as the Spurs are worrying about bloated contracts, shouldn't they start with Rasho Nesterovic's?
So the Spurs wanted more than cap cleansing, and they found something in a proposal from Isiah Thomas. Size would have come in return from New York, and Rose's contract would have gone the other way.
This deal made sense; no matter the sentiment in San Antonio for Rose, the Spurs would have been smart to do it. But talks fell apart, thus the prediction of furniture smashing in Popovich's hotel room.
Next summer the Spurs will likely revisit trade talks. For now, Popovich is stuck with Rose.
Rose can frustrate. Horry can do things he cannot do. And Rose doesn't mind an argument; it was here in Cleveland four years ago when he and an angry Avery Johnson slid around on the locker-room floor.
Still, there are six Spurs who are clearly driven, players who find a way, who know how to win. Duncan, Ginobili, Horry, Tony Parker, Bruce Bowen. And Rose.
Rose comes with toughness, as well as a remarkably improved jumper and free-throw percentage. He isn't a fan favorite just for adding onions to Cheez Whiz. He's grown up in San Antonio in many ways, a spiritual tie to the Bruise Brothers of long ago.
He will hang on Shaq, and he will chase Nowitzki. He will do what he did in Toronto on Wednesday night, too, when others were flat.
And if he isn't what Popovich wants?
Rose, as he proved as recently as a season ago, can still be what he needs.
