lefty
10-28-2008, 03:28 PM
Sorry if already posted (by Duncan228????)
http://f3.yahoofs.com/ymg/ept_sports_nba_experts__13/ept_sports_nba_experts-393768428-1224562104.jpg?ym5muMAD95oW0kVM
Last Season: 56-26; lost in Western Conference Finals to Lakers
Key Players Added: BDL commenter Roger Mason Jr. (free agent), THE Salim Stoudamire (free agent), George Hill (draft)
Key Players Lost: Robert Horry (free agent), Damon Stoudamire (free agent), Joan Rivers
Kelly Dwyer's Endless Grey Ribbon: The Spurs are a brilliant basketball team full of smart and talented players, run by a borderline-genius with a beyond-borderline crazyman beard. They will be without their second-best player for a few months, they will still win a whole lot of basketball games; and though they will likely fall short of a ring this summer, the team will not go down without a strong fight. This means it shouldn’t be a surprise if they take the Western Conference finals or NBA Finals to seven games.
And that’s San Antonio’s season. If you read anything beyond this, you’re just going to see me repeat myself. As the Spurs do, brilliantly, year in and year out. Dominate, defend, rinse, repeat. Not "when necessary." Always. That’s why I couldn’t use this album.
The Spurs were going to be forced into depending way too much on Michael Finley even before Manu Ginobili’s injury, and now we’re likely going to get more than our fill of what has turned into a low-efficiency, so-so defensive player in Fin. It’s not Michael’s fault, he’s just been thrust (even as Manu’s backup, essentially) into a role that Finley is ill-suited for at this point in his career. The guy used to have to play 47 minutes a night for a pre-Nash era Mavericks team, so his legs are a little shot.
Coach Gregg Popovich will not bust out any new wrinkles or gimmicks in Ginobili’s absence, and you’ll be surprised by just how much they’ll win. They’ll be right there with the Rockets, Hornets, Jazz and Lakers for most of the year; though by the end of April those occasional odd losses will probably keep their win total in the lower 50s instead of the high 50s.
Then the playoffs will start, the team will go from underrated to overrated (pundits and opponents and fans often tend, out of fear I’m guessing, to overrate this team once the Spurs grab momentum in a playoff series) over the 24 hour course of a postseason off day, and San Antonio might even work its way toward another championship.
I’m not being flip, or lazy, but this is just how the Spurs work. There’s nothing new, here. Just intelligent, passionate, exacting basketball. The team needs another wing scorer, Tim Duncan is getting on in years, the pivot depth is pretty thin, and the team might scare itself into needlessly limiting Manu’s minutes this winter. And, to certain extent, none of that will matter much. Wins, wins, wins.
So that’s why I’m going with the album I’m going with. Straight up the kilt, expected, consistent, nothing flashy, aware of its limitations but proud of its accomplishments.
And, when nobody is around, a damned exciting thing. We might only get another year or two of the Spurs as we know them. Appreciate them now.
Expected Record: 51-31
48 Minutes Of Hell: "What are the goals for this team? Win a championship. I know many people feel that the Spurs’ championship era has passed us by, but if the team is fundamentally still composed of a core that won a ring two years ago, than a championship still has to be your goal. A team with a lot of problems still made it to the Western Conference finals last season (and was deceptively competitive given the series’ 4-1 outcome). If the team can remain healthy (during the WCF last season our leading scorer was playing on a bad ankle), a fifth banner could be in the cards. Plus it’s an odd year."
Andre Gomes: "Tim Duncan will be like always the reference and the heart of the Spurs, but with the years passing (he is already 32 years old), it’s getting more important than never to save him, in order for him to be at 100% at the end of the season. 20 ppg and 10 rpg have been the natural numbers of Duncan on a season and this should happen once again this season, however it will be curious to see how Pop will manage Duncan’s minutes during the season."
Recliner GM: "This team won’t drop significantly, but I think their age will show much more than it has to this point. They have done nothing to get younger, faster or more athletic. That doesn’t worry me so much on the offensive end because they still have Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. But will they be able to keep up the kind of defense necessary to be that tough out in the playoffs? Father time hits everyone and this team has a lot more players than their opponents in the West who are susceptible to age being a major factor in terms of lingering injuries and the natural down swing in production."
http://f3.yahoofs.com/ymg/ept_sports_nba_experts__13/ept_sports_nba_experts-393768428-1224562104.jpg?ym5muMAD95oW0kVM
Last Season: 56-26; lost in Western Conference Finals to Lakers
Key Players Added: BDL commenter Roger Mason Jr. (free agent), THE Salim Stoudamire (free agent), George Hill (draft)
Key Players Lost: Robert Horry (free agent), Damon Stoudamire (free agent), Joan Rivers
Kelly Dwyer's Endless Grey Ribbon: The Spurs are a brilliant basketball team full of smart and talented players, run by a borderline-genius with a beyond-borderline crazyman beard. They will be without their second-best player for a few months, they will still win a whole lot of basketball games; and though they will likely fall short of a ring this summer, the team will not go down without a strong fight. This means it shouldn’t be a surprise if they take the Western Conference finals or NBA Finals to seven games.
And that’s San Antonio’s season. If you read anything beyond this, you’re just going to see me repeat myself. As the Spurs do, brilliantly, year in and year out. Dominate, defend, rinse, repeat. Not "when necessary." Always. That’s why I couldn’t use this album.
The Spurs were going to be forced into depending way too much on Michael Finley even before Manu Ginobili’s injury, and now we’re likely going to get more than our fill of what has turned into a low-efficiency, so-so defensive player in Fin. It’s not Michael’s fault, he’s just been thrust (even as Manu’s backup, essentially) into a role that Finley is ill-suited for at this point in his career. The guy used to have to play 47 minutes a night for a pre-Nash era Mavericks team, so his legs are a little shot.
Coach Gregg Popovich will not bust out any new wrinkles or gimmicks in Ginobili’s absence, and you’ll be surprised by just how much they’ll win. They’ll be right there with the Rockets, Hornets, Jazz and Lakers for most of the year; though by the end of April those occasional odd losses will probably keep their win total in the lower 50s instead of the high 50s.
Then the playoffs will start, the team will go from underrated to overrated (pundits and opponents and fans often tend, out of fear I’m guessing, to overrate this team once the Spurs grab momentum in a playoff series) over the 24 hour course of a postseason off day, and San Antonio might even work its way toward another championship.
I’m not being flip, or lazy, but this is just how the Spurs work. There’s nothing new, here. Just intelligent, passionate, exacting basketball. The team needs another wing scorer, Tim Duncan is getting on in years, the pivot depth is pretty thin, and the team might scare itself into needlessly limiting Manu’s minutes this winter. And, to certain extent, none of that will matter much. Wins, wins, wins.
So that’s why I’m going with the album I’m going with. Straight up the kilt, expected, consistent, nothing flashy, aware of its limitations but proud of its accomplishments.
And, when nobody is around, a damned exciting thing. We might only get another year or two of the Spurs as we know them. Appreciate them now.
Expected Record: 51-31
48 Minutes Of Hell: "What are the goals for this team? Win a championship. I know many people feel that the Spurs’ championship era has passed us by, but if the team is fundamentally still composed of a core that won a ring two years ago, than a championship still has to be your goal. A team with a lot of problems still made it to the Western Conference finals last season (and was deceptively competitive given the series’ 4-1 outcome). If the team can remain healthy (during the WCF last season our leading scorer was playing on a bad ankle), a fifth banner could be in the cards. Plus it’s an odd year."
Andre Gomes: "Tim Duncan will be like always the reference and the heart of the Spurs, but with the years passing (he is already 32 years old), it’s getting more important than never to save him, in order for him to be at 100% at the end of the season. 20 ppg and 10 rpg have been the natural numbers of Duncan on a season and this should happen once again this season, however it will be curious to see how Pop will manage Duncan’s minutes during the season."
Recliner GM: "This team won’t drop significantly, but I think their age will show much more than it has to this point. They have done nothing to get younger, faster or more athletic. That doesn’t worry me so much on the offensive end because they still have Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. But will they be able to keep up the kind of defense necessary to be that tough out in the playoffs? Father time hits everyone and this team has a lot more players than their opponents in the West who are susceptible to age being a major factor in terms of lingering injuries and the natural down swing in production."