Put the gold watch back in the box, cancel the retirement party.
Antonio McDyess said just two months ago this was it. Same thing he said before the season. One more run at age 36 and then he was hanging up his Nikes. Except, this year’s been kind of fun and the Spurs are doing a good job of keeping the minutes under control. So, all those things about stepping down… never mind. He told the News Express Spurs blog he changed his mind.“My mind is pretty much made up,” McDyess said. “I feel like I’ll be able to lace ‘em up and go again.”
The way coach Gregg Popovich has used McDyess this season — sparingly and situationally — has convinced McDyess that he could survive another season. McDyess is playing a career-low 18:06 per game this season, and has missed five games for rest purposes. He is averaging career lows in scoring (5.1 points) and rebounding (5.2 per game), but his shooting percentage (50.2) is up nearly three points from last season.
And even at 36 he’s quick enough to get around a Lamar Odom “box out” and put in a game-winning tip at the buzzer.
The Spurs could buy McDyess out at the end of this season, but may not want to. They’d prefer Tiago Splitter to start taking McDyess’ minutes, but a veteran that is good in the locker room works pretty well for the Spurs.
