In reality....

[holcs50]

a slow start is completely expected. If we all were honest with ourselves and especially if you know by watching or even better playing basketball that

1. Even if no injuries existed so far with all the new pieces and Pop doing his normal plug and play jumble lineups that if was going to be a slow start. I've played for many teams and it takes a lot of practice and time to vibe with new teams/players

2. Injuries,injuries injuries have already popped up. Shit happens, but it does seem like the spurs can never have a solid period of say 20 or so games where everyone is really feeling healthy.

This leads to a situation where the team as it is, needed quite a few games to vibe, but now with injuries will just take that much longer. Until a full healthy roster can play together for an extended period we really can't expect them to be at the level we all think they should be at. On paper it's great-moves made were great but even the spurs need chemistry and health.

So I no longer really expect a whole bunch until we can get the time needed and health to properly put this team where it needs to be. The season really could go 2 ways

-either spurs keep getting injured throughout the year thus never giving the team a chance to properly gel and they don't go far OR

-finally they stay healthy

I think if this happens we all will be pleased when the late season comes around because I do think they will be able to compete with the best

It's a long ways down the road though guys, this team is going to struggle until the two things i listed happen, just no way around it. So I'm going to keep my bitching after losses to a minimum because i partially expect the struggle, and am going to just cross my fingers these guys can stay on the damn court. Then, and only after quite a few games together will I feel justified in bitching about the team. Until then keep ya heads up spurs fans-the season is young and there still is a lot to look forward to and hope for.

:toast

[Chieflion]

Sure the season is young, forget about slow. The progress is as stationary as rock. Parker and Ginobili need to get healthy soon.

[spurspokesman]

Not to cast A shadow as I believe in this team even if they were 0-82 but ginobilli is fragile as it gets and honestly we always have started slow but for once in my spur fanhood I have to say this is A different type of slow. In all honesty if we are putting our hopes on ginobilli and parker and tim being healthy at the same time our chances of competing our paper thin. In times like these you look back and appreciate so called sucky players like jaque vaughn who only gave you solid minutes played decent defense and didnt turn the ball over. Also he was A pretty decent passer and A true point guard(not by far the best) but a true point guard. We have to many holes at this point to even think we can compete with the likes of the nuggs and lakers let alone dallas. This is sad. Im still on board though. Spur till I die.

[rapliketp]

Here's a hypothetical. Say McGrady is healthy and most players seem to stay healthy in their contract years. Would anyone be happy with a McGrady for Manu swap?

[Interrohater]

@rapliketp - no.

Yea, this is very frustrating. It's frustrating because the Spurs actually played well these last three games. Our one glaring weakness is at the PG position and that's because of injuries. *Two of our PG's are out with only George Hill left. While I love Hill, he's only a 2nd year player trying to lead a championship-caliber team. He doesn't have someone to back him up, so when he's resting or sitting because of foul trouble, we end up falling behind a lot. Roger Mason can't run the point, and we all know how bad the offense looks when he's in there, but because of the injuries, what other choice was there?

Staying with that theme, George needs to continue playing solid defense without gambling so much. He likes to swipe at the ball, which is fine if he's playing SG/backup PG, but right now we need him in the game and can't afford him to sit because he gets silly ass fouls.

Did anybody notice that each time Hill sat because of foul trouble, the Spurs went down by ten or so? When he came back in, we made runs and caught back up. We were still in the fight when Hill got fouled out. However, we lost any sort of momentum and soon as he sat down, we got run out of the building in crunch time.

It's a monumental task to ask this 2nd year player that nobody expects to be an all-star to continuously come in and rally this team to come from behind and win. He's doing an excellent job, but unless he plays 48 minutes a game, we need Manu or Tony back.

*I count Manu as our 3rd option at PG since he has played it before and can run the offense.

[tlongII]

Age has caught up with the Spurs. They had a nice run, but their good years are in the past. Time to rebuild.

[Interrohater]

Age has caught up with the Spurs. They had a nice run, but their good years are in the past. Time to rebuild.

That's the thing. While I agree with you, I don't think it's time to rebuild. Maybe time to go in another direction, or replace Manu. I'm a homer and would want Manu to remain here forever, but I don't know, maybe it's time to look elsewhere. He's everything the Spurs need when healthy, but he's such a huge loss when not.

[Quiet Strength]

I think the spurs will be fine. I think they will get it together and start playing alot better. It's just going to take some time. Pop just has to find the right lineup and figure out the right plays to run for whatever players are on the court. The talent is there.. the spurs are just having trouble playing as a team on both ends throughout each game. They have their good stretches but it hasn't been enough. I could see their defense picking up but on offense the spurs look confused and are shooting way too many 3's. They need to attack the paint more and say goodbye to shooting 3's for a while.