Gregg Popovich chides his former rookie. (Getty Images) Boban Marjanovic, working as a rookie center for last season’s San Antonio Spurs, was one of the NBA’s more pleasant surprises in 2015-16. Even though the big man averaged just 9.4 minutes a contest, he provided fantastic play on both ends for a Spurs team spiraling toward 67 win, contributing 21 points, 13.7 rebounds and just 3.8 fouls (this was a 7-3 rookie, we’ll remind) for every 36 minutes he was on the court.
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It was enough to leave other teams drooling as he worked his way toward free agency in the summer of 2016. Due to some salary cap restraints, the Spurs were only allowed to offer their one-year player so much money in free agency; which is why the Detroit Pistons were keen to swoop in with a three-year, $21 million deal for the restricted free agent.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, noticing the disparity between what the Pistons could offer and what San Antonio could reasonably match, then went to work on Detroit’s behalf. From Jeff McDonald at the San Antonio Express-News:
“He’s such a good kid, at some point I had to work to get him to understand that $21 million was different than $3 million,” Popovich said. “I said, ‘Get your ass out of here. Go. You’ve got to do it.’ But he felt bad.”
[…]
“My first wish was to stay,” Marjanovic said. “But this is good now. I think I made a good decision.”
Yes. I think that’s a fair assessment.
You’ll recall that the Spurs – in the midst of a whirlwind offseason that saw them lose Tim Duncan to retirement, nearly lose Manu Ginobili to either retirement or another team while gaining veteran center Pau Gasol – were limited in what they could really commit to.
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As our Ben Rorhbach detailed at the time, an outsized contract offer from the Philadelphia 76ers for Ginobili’s services pressed the Spurs into coming to a compromise with their 39-year old future Hall of Fame swingman. Whereas Ginobili at one point was considering signing for the minimum in San Antonio, or for an exception at just under million, the Sixers’ offer forced the Spurs into upping their terms to million for Manu in 2016-17.

This didn’t limit the Spurs from their attempts at signing Gasol, who inked for two years at $30 million. What it did prevent the team from doing was fully competing for Boban’s services. At least in terms of the rates that Detroit laid out in the bidding war.
Rates that Gregg Popovich, to his credit, did well in reminding Marjanovic all about once it came time to return a phone call from a 313 area code.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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