Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
The next big shot Robert Horry makes in an NBA game will be for the Spurs.
Horry, one of the heroes of the Spurs’ 2005 NBA championship run, has agreed to the terms in a three-year contract offer from the Spurs.
Free agents can’t sign contracts until terms of the new collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and its players’ union are finalized. The league has estimated July 22 as the likeliest date.
“As soon as he is allowed to sign the contract, he is going to sign it,” Robert Barr, who represented the 13-year veteran in negotiations, said Tuesday.
The Spurs declined comment, citing an NBA rule preventing them from announcing such agreements before players can sign them.
Horry, 34, whose 3-point shot with 5.8 seconds remaining in overtime gave the Spurs a 96-95 Game 5 victory over the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals, played last season for the veterans’ minimum salary of $1.1million. Financial terms of the new deal aren’t known, but it is expected to pay him considerably more.
There is a clause in the third year of the deal that would allow the Spurs to buy out the final year.
The Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks this past week courted Horry, whose shooting has earned him the nickname “Big Shot Bob.” He had played in Los Angeles with Shaquille O’Neal, who made it clear he wanted Miami to make Horry an offer.
“The biggest factor in (Robert’s) decision is just that the Spurs are a first-class organization,” Barr said. “Robert loves the team. He loves Tim Duncan and all the rest of his teammates, and he loves the way Pop (coach Gregg Popovich) is, and the way Pop coaches and the way Pop has learned to use him.”
The 2005-06 season would be Horry’s third with the Spurs. He averaged 6.1 points in 75 games this past season and has a career scoring average of 7.5 points per game.
But Horry’s real value was most evident in the playoffs. He made big shots in every series, including a 3-pointer in Game 2 of the Spurs’ Western Conference Finals victory over the Phoenix Suns that gave the Spurs a one-point lead with 2:31 remaining.
Horry averaged 28.6 minutes in the seven games of the NBA Finals and was on the floor for the crucial minutes of the fourth quarters.
Horry, the all-time leader in NBA Finals 3-pointers made, never has been with a team that failed to make the playoffs. In fact, he never has experienced a loss in the first round of the playoffs.
“Robert believes this (Spurs) team can win more championships,” Barr said. “For him, that’s what this game is all about.”
7月6日的news，虽然合同还没签，但是这样看来霍利是会留下的 