Adande: Why the Spurs won the summer, too

[scanry]

Damn. Blondes do age the worst tbh. Isn't she like 30?

[TampaDude]

We just need to do what we did last year in the regular season and arrive at the playoffs healthy.

The WCF will be the real championship series, just like it was this year. If we make the Finals, #6 is a ing lock. The Spurs would annihilate any of the East teams in the Finals.

[will_spurs]

Yeah, sure, I meant to mention them of course. They have improved, but I'm not really concerned about them in their first year with so much relying on Wiggins maturing quickly, Irving and Waiters getting along, and no rim protector. If they trade for Love I think they're more of a threat, but most newly created teams take more than one season to mature. I believe in the Spurs' corporate knowledge.

I think Cleveland is going to be a lot better than most people think. But there's of course a big difference between that and being compe ive in the Finals.

[spurspokesman]

tl;dr: The defending champ Spurs stayed the same, and the rest of the league got weaker.

Would be sweet

[rmt]

Parker and Kwahi deciding not to play in the summer and Manu resting his leg? - those summer "things" will affect the season too.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I think Cleveland is going to be a lot better than most people think. But there's of course a big difference between that and being compe ive in the Finals.

Absolutely, I agree. I think there will be a top three seed in the East and will put together some scary-good games, but when the pressure ratchets up in the ECFs/Finals, I think they'll crumble like the Heat did in their first year together.

[Kidd K]

Lillard, Batum, and Aldridge are older and more experienced. They're going to be better.

[boutons_deux]

Lillard, Batum, and Aldridge are older and more experienced. They're going to be better.

Spurs got the confidence, swagger, THE PROOF as champions

[Dre_7]

Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, CoJo, Splitter, Mills etc are older and more experienced. They too are going to be better.

[timtonymanu]

I don't think Portland will be better. The system that Stotts came up with got exposed fast and the Blazers had a sub-par 2nd half of the season. They also made no improvements to their bench. Blake is an upgrade over Mo Williams, but he won't be enough. They still play one of the worst defenses in the league. Portland has a chance to make the playoffs, but I doubt they play better than the 2014 team.

[Kidd K]

Spurs got the confidence, swagger, THE PROOF as champions

It ain't like I think they're better than our Spurs bro. :P

[will_spurs]

Lillard, Batum, and Aldridge are older and more experienced. They're going to be better.

Given how much playing time they get and how tired they constantly are, they'd actually have to get younger to get better...

Stotts is a poor man's Thibs: he also runs his player into the ground, but without the benefit of at least developing a system or defensive schemes.

[Southwest Texas Fan]

[exstatic]

Portland is too shallow. Our depth basically forced them to overplay their stars, and the jumpers were falling short later in games and in the series. The fact that they play almost no D doesn't help, either.