Barry Splits for Houston and Spurs Will Feel Regret Again

What is Dennis Lindsey doing in San Antonio?

The Spurs' assistant general manager left a high post with the Houston Rockets to except a similar one in the Alamo City in 2007 and all the Rockets have done is benefit, or so it seems.

The Rockets are getting fat off players the Spurs have all but dumped and those two transactions will haunt the Spurs for the next three to five years.

About five years ago, Spurs GM R.C. Buford selected a gritty forward from Argentina in the first round who was set to play in Europe for a few years. He saw something special in Luis Scola and hoped he could come to San Antonio.

Scola's agent seemed to battle with Spurs management each season about the forward's ridiculous contract buyout. The Spurs could not afford him so they let Scola continue playing for Spain's Tau Ceramica.

After winning a championship in 2007, the Spurs were poised to make a decision about the Argentine. The Rockets stepped in with an offer the Spurs, looking back, should have refused.

The Spurs wanted to keep shooting forward Matt Bonner and also have the cap space to sign their first round draft pick, Brazilian power forward Tiago Splitter. They figured the 6'10" Splitter would spend one more year playing for Tau Ceramica and then head for San Antonio in his second year.

They were wrong.

The Rockets offered the Spurs some cash and failed project Vassilis Spanoulis. Consider the greek guard Jeff Van Gundy's worst coaching mistake. The kid could play but he rarely did. The problems were mutual as Spanoulis was too vainglorious to put in the hard work necessary to succeed on the NBA level.

Van Gundy never exhibited the proper patience in developing the youngster, and thus the Rockets parted ways with a player they once thought would be a big part of their future.

The Spurs in turn renounced the draft rights to Scola and Jackie Butler's expiring contract. The Rockets had no intention of fitting Butler into the rotation and the Spurs knew Spanoulis had no desire to play another NBA game. Maybe his plane flew over San Antonio en route to Greece but that was about the extent of his stay.

The trade, as Buford said then, was a way to keep Matt Bonner and save space for Splitter whom he and Gregg Popovich thought would be a better fit alongside Duncan than Scola. The trade also allowed Scola to realize his NBA dream instead of the Spurs allowing his buyout hostage situation with Tau to continue.

Scola immediately made the Rockets a better team. He managed five 20 point games before fall's end and would finish third in rookie of the year voting. The Rockets lost a single digit number of regular season games after inserting him into the starting lineup in late January. They also won a few games in a row, 22 if you're counting.

Matt Bonner? He continued to provide solid minutes off the pine and averaged a serviceable five points per game. He authored a career high 25 point, 17 rebound losing effort against the Golden State Warriors in Tim Duncan's brief absence after a sprain.

The Spurs had a use for Bonner's three point shooting in a deep rotation and his price was right.

But forget Bonner, this sour deal was about a good old fashioned Spanish spurn. Splitter decided to ditch playing with Duncan to chase more dough. Tau offered him about three times more than what the Spurs could have tendered and inked a two year deal.

The Spurs will regret the Scola trade for five years, even if Splitter shows and contributes as Buford thinks he will.

Now, three point marksman Brent Barry is off to Houston and his shooting will improve a team that needs some badly.

The Rockets ranked 19th in trey shooting percentage at many points, making only .34 percent of their attempts. With Yao Ming patrolling the middle and commanding double teams, or with the team relying on perimeter shots to open the floor with their center sidelined, they heaved up quite a few.

Barry is undervalued for his efficient production and perhaps no team has depreciated him more than the four-time champion he just left.

The Spurs packaged him and Beno Udrih in a deal two years ago that would have landed Corey Maggette in San Antonio. But, you know Donald Sterling, and he found a way to botch the trade.

The Spurs owe a part of the 2005 and 2007 championships to Barry. In 2005 against the Suns, his lateral quickness and long range accuracy allowed the Spurs to out-small ball the high-octane Suns.

He was a big reason the Spurs pulled off such winning final scores as 121-114. The Spurs are too "boring" to ever score that many points, right?

Barry allowed them to run a more motion based offense when Popovich decided the half-court sets were ineffective.

He also brought comedy and jocularity into a dry locker room that needed it. His humor turned grocery store commercials with Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan into must-watch affairs.

No two games better illustrated Barry's talents than games 3 and 4 of the Western Conference Finals. The Spurs will not miss Barry's 23-point outburst from the series altering game four loss. They will miss what allowed him to collect those points.

I will never forget watching Barry drain 97 out of 100 treys during pre-game shootaround, twice. The guy can nail it if you leave him open and the Rockets will be the latest squad to give him a sturdy hammer.

Barry will slip into Rick Adelman's hybrid offense--the coach ran about 10 percent of the motion stuff he perfected with the Sacramento Kings and the rest from the existing playbook--and give them 7-10 points per game.

The Spurs let Barry walk without securing anything in return. The team's first free agent signee Roger Mason enjoyed a career best season with the Washington Wizards last season averaging 9.1 points per game, and he appears to fit into the Spurs defense-first system, but nothing suggests he or any other player can replace Barry.

The Spurs next chore will be ensuring that Kurt Thomas doesn't get away. With Ronny Turiaf all but packed for Oakland, the Los Angeles Lakers want him.

The Spurs already mocked Popovich's rule of never helping a rival by donating Scola to the Rockets. They cannot afford to destroy that rule by watching Thomas help the defending Western Conference Champions get even better.

Thomas has said he wants to return to the Spurs for a second tour of duty but will explore his other options first.

The last player the Spurs pursued who scrutinized his "other options" turned out to be a liar. Maggette ditched a championship contender's sincere call to rake in $50 million over five years and play in the beautiful Bay Area and what person would berate him for it?

Maybe Thomas can pull another fast one and head to Houston. He would be an unwelcome addition to the growing list of Spur-turned-Rocket casualties.

Lindsey is not secretly helping his former team with under the table deals but it seems that way.

The latest deal gone wrong will play out Barry badly for Buford's bunch. Opening that figurative spread sheet to add another column to the regret list will headline the misery.