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NBA preseason. It's a time of great excitement for me. You've got General Managers and Coaches shuffling rosters, making trades and romancing free agents. Players lucky enough to be in a team sweat it out in team workouts. Hundreds of other hopefuls that have either missed out on their chance in the draft or have been playing in other leagues do their best to impress in veterans camps for their chance in the 'bigs'. Team scouts travel the globe looking for the next Toni Kukoc or Drazen Petrovic. Meanwhile fans ponder the oncoming season, and hope that their team makes the right moves and has what it takes to win the whole thing.
This season, however is different. It looks like, to me anyway that we are going to have a late start to the season (if we have one at all). Because of the NBA lockout there is no NBA action, no trades, no signings, and no camps.
Because of this i've been spending a hell of a lot of time hanging around in Spurs Chatrooms and posting and reading in Spurs Newsgroups. One of the most common subjects that I have come across in my travels is the old 'Trade Sean Elliott' subject. Next to the 'Do We Sign Spree' or the 'Do We Trade The Admiral' subjects this one has been the most popular.
How quickly people forget. It was only three seasons ago that Sean ranked up in the top three or four small forwards in the league. He had a banner season in which he averaged 20 points (third highest for small forwards), he shot a respectable .46% from the field, ranked 21st in the league while shooting .41% on 161-for-392 from three-point range. Scoring was not his only quality he brought to the team though. He pulled down an average of 5.1 rebounds per game and dished out an average of 2.7 assists a game. This quality of play resulted in Sean being selected to play in the NBA All-Star Game.
This was not a stand alone season. Sean improved his scoring average in each of his first five years with the Spurs. He was first selected to play in the NBA All-Star Game in 1993. Sean is the Spurs' all-time leader in three-pointers made (422) and attempted (1,110), he ranks 4th in scoring (9,126) and games (512), 6th in rebounds (2,650) and 8th in assists (1,609) and steals (491).
Sean plays though defense and is a great slasher to the basket in offense. He has a sweet outside touch and is a versatile player that when needed can fill four of the five positions on the court.
Had Sean not been struck down by injury in his past two seasons then I have no doubt that Sean would be ranked in the top four small forwards in the league, maybe behind Pippen, Hill and Garnet. Chronic tendinitis in his right quadriceps plagued Elliott throughout almost all of the 1996/97 and 1997/98 seasons. Sean was ready to play during the 1997/98 playoffs but for some unexplainable reason he was left off the Spurs playoff roster. If Sean has an injury free preseason (one that could last months past the scheduled start). There is no reason why he can't resume to be a valueable asset to the Spurs.
At the moment Sean has less to no trade value and for that reason it would be sheer stupidity to trade him. He is on a big dollars contract and there aren't many (if any) teams that are prepared to trade for his worth.
The Spurs Management, The Media and The Fans have to give Sean another chance to show his worth. It isn't easy for anyone to be downgraded to the third scoring option on their team. They can't expect Sean to come out a start scoring at will, or to be slashing to the hole and raining down a dunk on a hapless defender. What Sean can bring to the team straight away though is a good consistent defender, a sweet outside shot and a sharp basketball mind. Before everyone relegates Sean as a has-been we need to give him a chance that he hasn't had in the last two years, to play a game uninjured and uninhibited by injury.
I.M.H.O. I believe that if Sean gets this chance he will make all of his critics eat their words
