Spurs center Elson faces mentor in Nuggets’ Camby
Web Posted: 04/19/2007 10:03 PM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News
Francisco Elson played in only one game, and for just six minutes at that, when the Denver Nuggets met the Spurs in the playoffs two years ago. But ask him about the experience and he has no trouble rattling off the pertinent details.
The Nuggets had surged into the postseason, winning 25 of 29 games since the All-Star break. They were The Team Nobody Wanted To Face, and the series’ opener showed why: With the Spurs missing 17 consecutive shots in the fourth quarter, Denver stole the game and home-court advantage.
“Everybody was sky high,” Elson said. “But like they say, don’t wake up no sleeping dogs.”
The Spurs responded by winning the next four games to close out the series. “They beat us,” Elson said, “like a pup.”
Elson will find himself on the opposite side of the floor when the teams open their first-round series Sunday at the AT&T Center. He also figures to be getting a few more minutes than he did two years ago.
Now the Spurs’ starting center, Elson will have the unusual opportunity of matching up with his former mentor. During Elson’s three seasons in Denver, Nuggets center Marcus Camby helped his transition to the NBA.
“He’s my man,” Elson said. “The way he plays really carried over to certain players on the team, especially me. For his body and the way he plays the game, it’s amazing.”
Camby showed Elson not all centers need to be bulky, space-eaters to succeed in the NBA. Despite packing only 235 pounds on his wiry 6-foot-11 frame, Camby ranks as one of the league’s top rebounders and shot-blockers, a combination that has made him one of the leading candidates to be Defensive Player of the Year.
A second-round pick of the Nuggets in 1999, Elson played four years in Spain before coming to Denver. He became Camby’s understudy, filling in for him when he was injured and sometimes starting next to him.
“He’s so athletic and can run like a gazelle out there,” Camby said. “But he didn’t understand the NBA game.”
The Spurs signed Elson because of his athleticism. After centers Rasho Nesterovic and Nazr Mohammed barely played in the Spurs’ second-round series against Dallas last season, team officials made it a priority to find a big man who could keep pace in the go-go-go Western Conference.
The Nuggets had the option of keeping Elson after he signed a two-year, $6 million offer sheet with the Spurs, but had already invested big money in Camby and Kenyon Martin in addition to just giving forward Nenê a $60 million extension. After deciding not to match the Spurs’ offer to Elson, Denver re-signed Reggie Evans, another physical forward, to a five-year, $23 million deal.
“I just wanted to play and have the chance to be on a championship-type team,” Elson said. "If it was with the Nuggets then I would have been there but they went in a different direction.
“They wanted to have big guys in there and obviously I wasn’t that big.”
Elson’s transition to the Spurs was slowed when he missed 11 games in the middle of the season after tearing his right rotator cuff. He moved back into the starting lineup on Feb. 7 and had his best game of the season a little more than a week later with 12 points and a career-high 18 rebounds in Detroit.
For the season, Elson averaged 5.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 19.0 minutes in 70 games. He can be foul prone and his hands sometimes appear to be no softer than the ironclad mitts of Mohammed, but the Spurs also like his potential.
Elson has shown more confidence in his midrange jumper, and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich thinks the center’s offense will continue to develop. But it’s on the opposite end of the floor where Elson should be able to most help in the playoffs.
While Elson still has considerable room to grow as a team defender — he is sometimes late rotating to close off the rim or lane — the team has been impressed with his individual defense.
“You can feel comfortable saying, ‘All right, you’re guarding Devean George or Greg Buckner or maybe even Josh Howard,’” Spurs assistant coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Whether it be a small guy or a quick, mobile forward, he can guard somebody that our other bigs, because of quickness or lateral movement, just can’t.”
Michael Finley, who is in his second season with the Spurs, told Elson he might not feel completely comfortable with the team’s system until midway through next season.
Until then, Finley has encouraged him to ask questions and play hard.
Elson, who appeared in just 10 playoff games, has downplayed the significance of playing Denver. That’s a good thing, said Finley.
“Of any team in the league, the team you want to beat the most is your former team,” Finley said.
“To a certain extent, that helps you bring more energy. You just don’t want to get caught up in making it more personal than it is.”
Notebook: The Spurs held positional meetings Thursday, but didn’t have a full-scale practice. …Fabricio Oberto, who underwent a procedure to correct a heart arrhythmia Wednesday, attended and team officials are optimistic he’ll be able to work out on Saturday. … When the Spurs played the Nuggets in the first round two years ago, Denver coach George Karl and the local media criticized Manu Ginobili for his style of play. Apparently, Tim Duncan will be this year’s target. A Denver Post columnist took Duncan to task Thursday for complaining too much to officials. The column described Duncan as a “big baby.” “Will somebody,” wrote the Denver Post’s Mark Kizla, “please fetch little Timmy Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs a crying towel?”