Antonio McDyess Signs with San Antonio Spurs

Antonio McDyess, who was a coveted free agent this off-season, has decided to sign with the San Antonio Spurs. The contract is for three years, worth the midlevel exception, about $5 million a season and more than $15 million overall. There were three teams that were after McDyess. Along with the Spurs, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons were in the McDyess sweepstakes. McDyess is entering his 15th NBA season with his fifth different team. The signing is set to take place later this week.

McDyess only averaged 9.6 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game as a player on the Detroit Pistons last season but was one of the most sought after players on the market this summer. McDyess is one of the biggest power-forwards in the NBA at 6-foot-10. He has always been a dependable sixth man who came off the bench.

With the addition of McDyess, the Spurs add a big defensive presence on the team, to go along with Tim Duncan. Both Duncan, who is 33 years old, and McDyess, who is 34 years old, will add a big boost to the Spurs offensively and even more defensively. Duncan has won 4 NBA titles in his career, and has been looking for his fifth title for a few years now. The Spurs team this year is a vast improvement over last year's team.

McDyess does not have many accomplishments to his name but he is a proven veteran who has been impressive in the paint and on the defensive end. McDyess won a gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics coming off the bench and was an NBA All-Star once in 2001. McDyess has been to the NBA Finals once with the Detroit Pistons in 2004, ironically losing to the San Antonio Spurs. McDyess was drafted second overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in 1995 before being traded to the Denver Nuggets. After playing two seasons with the Nuggets as a starter, he was traded to the Phoenix Suns for one season, starting all 81 games. McDyess got traded back to Denver and had his best results. He averaged about 20 PPG, the highest of his career. McDyess got traded to the New York Knicks and the Phoenix Suns for one season before going to the Detroit Pistons in 2004. McDyess would be a member of the Pistons for five seasons, helping out the team in a bench role for the most part.

Last season, the Spurs finished the regular season with a record of 54-28, good for the third seed in the Western Conference. They faced off against the seventh seed, the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs, losing in five games. The Spurs were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2000.

The Spurs have made many moves this off-season to try to turn away from being an aging NBA power and to become a championship winning team again. Two weeks ago, the Spurs traded Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas, and Fabricio Oberto to acquire Richard Jefferson. Jefferson is a well-known shooter who was a big part of the New Jersey Nets for seven seasons. The Spurs also drafted DeJuan Blair in the second round of the NBA Draft. Blair was very impressive for Pittsburg in college basketball.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_McDyess