duncan228
01-20-2010, 02:48 PM
Spurs Roundup: Tuning in to the sweet sound of NBA hoops (http://www.kens5.com/sports/Spurs-Roundup-The--81998587.html)
by Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x282/duncan228/lead/lead310.jpg
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Tony Parker have some work to do if they want to stay in the Western Conference playoff picture. Only four games separates the Spurs (the fourth place team) from the Hornets (the 11th place team in the West).
******
Inside this edition of the Roundup:
-When headlines accidentally indicate that Tim Duncan has taken a stance on something!
-The strange saga that is the Spurs' big man rotation!
-And why you should care about the NBA's salary cap!
But first:
I took a few days off last week to head west, and thanks to some airline scheduling fun, I spent an extra night in Los Angeles. Hopping in a cab at LAX, the cab driver was wincing. The radio was on, and I leaned in. I heard a word that sounded distinctly like "Ginobili."
And just as I was doubting myself, I heard the words "Duncan" and "Parker" in sequence.
I'd forgotten that the Spurs and the Lakers were playing that night, and I didn't have any details about the game. (I could've asked the driver, but I was happy to let him focus on avoiding the eight lanes of traffic in front of us.) I didn't know that Pau Gasol wasn't playing, and I didn't know that Kobe Bryant was sidelined with an aching back.
All I could tell, at least from the radio, was that the Spurs sounded like a pretty good ball club, and the cab driver -- a Lakers fan, it seemed -- wasn't too happy about it.
Radio play-by-play announcers can only speak so fast, so when a team is moving the ball well, all you really hear are the names as the ball swings around the floor. Last Wednesday, the Spurs sounded great.
Three names kept coming up: Duncan, Ginobili, Parker. We were stuck in traffic for 30 minutes, and I hardly remember hearing any other Spurs mentioned.
Certainly, without Gasol or Bryant, the win doesn't mean nearly as much as it would with those two players. But for a few minutes on a Los Angeles expressway, I sat and listened as the radio announcer shouted out three names over and over again, and as the cab driver winced. For a few minutes, the Spurs sounded like a team that was going to be tough to beat come springtime.
Consider the Following
On January 3, Tim Duncan started the game on the bench, and I declared the move semi-apocalyptic (http://www.kens5.com/sports/basketball/Spurs-Roundup-As-Duncan-rests-playoff-dreams-put-on-hold-80729347.html) (the rationale being -- among other things -- that it's never good when a team's best player is getting tired with 50 games left in the season. )
So since the 'let's keep Tim's legs fresh strategy' went into place on January 3, Duncan's minutes should have declined.
Except that they haven't.
In the first 29 games of the year -- that is, every game leading up to January 3 -- Duncan averaged 31.8 minutes per game.
In the eight games since (including that Toronto game), Duncan has averaged 33.5 minutes per game.
Blame Antonio McDyess' sore back or Michael Finley's sprained ankle or Matt Bonner's broken hand, but Duncan's not getting the rest he's been promised.
Attending to Details
Through 23 home games this season, the Spurs are averaging fewer fans per game than in any season since 2002-3. Note below:
2009-10: 17,847 fans per game
2008-9: 18,269
2007-8: 18,564
2006-7: 18,654
2005-6: 18,797
2004-5: 18,316
2003-4: 18,041
2002-3: 17,950
What it means -- besides the fact that the AT&T Center is a little less loud this year -- is that when it comes to spending money this summer, the Spurs are in a bit of trouble. The reason: the salary cap is shrinking.
As the salary cap shrinks in 2010-11, the tax level also drops. The NBA's luxury tax rule is simple: "Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds" the cap, according to the NBA (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/07/07/salarycap.ap/index.html).
So without getting too wonky: last year's luxury tax floor was set at $71.2 million. This year's is $69.9 million. Next year's could anywhere (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4312837) from $65 million (best case) to $61 million (the number that's keeping R.C. Buford up at night).
Here's what you should take away from all of this: the amount of money that the Spurs can spend on new players is going to shrink next year, and it's going to shrink sizably. In other years, the Spurs would have happily spent beyond the cap. But without an infusion of cash this spring -- from, say, a deep playoff run -- the Spurs are going to be wary of exceeding the cap.
We're months away from the offseason, but right now, partially thanks to lower game day revenues this season, it's looking like the Spurs are not going to make a big splash next summer (a la 2009's Richard Jefferson signing).
On the flip side: Spurs tickets are cheaper than ever -- at least on the resale market. On StubHub, upper deck tickets for upcoming Spurs games are selling for as little as $2.50 (http://www.stubhub.com/san-antonio-spurs-tickets/). Even tickets for the March back-to-back home series against the Lakers and the Cavs are selling for as little as $20.
Just saying: if there was ever a time to catch an MVP-caliber Tim Duncan at the tail end of his prime, this would be it.
I Hate It When Twitter Lies to Me Last week, the following headline came across my Twitter feed: "Duncan rejects NBA's age limit rule (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/sports/15ncaa.html)."
I couldn't believe it. Tim Duncan? Speaking out against the NBA age limit rule?
And then I clicked through to find out that the article was about Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
The same day, a second headline caught my eye on Twitter: "Parker unlikely to join Spurs (http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2010/01/ahead-of-thegame-parker-unlikely-to-join-spurs.html)."
I clicked through. The article was about Scott Parker, the British-born midfielder for West Ham United who's been linked to a move to another London-based team, Tottenham Hotspur.
The only Spurs-related Tweet I trusted this week was from -- of all persons -- Kim Kardashian, who did actually attend Monday's Spurs-Hornets game (http://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/7921389624).
It just can't be a good thing that Kim Kardashian was the most trusted name in Spurs-related Twitter news this week.
The Roundup is a weekly look at Spurs basketball and the NBA. Dan Oshinsky is a digital media producer at KENS 5. He can be reached at [email protected].
by Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x282/duncan228/lead/lead310.jpg
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Tony Parker have some work to do if they want to stay in the Western Conference playoff picture. Only four games separates the Spurs (the fourth place team) from the Hornets (the 11th place team in the West).
******
Inside this edition of the Roundup:
-When headlines accidentally indicate that Tim Duncan has taken a stance on something!
-The strange saga that is the Spurs' big man rotation!
-And why you should care about the NBA's salary cap!
But first:
I took a few days off last week to head west, and thanks to some airline scheduling fun, I spent an extra night in Los Angeles. Hopping in a cab at LAX, the cab driver was wincing. The radio was on, and I leaned in. I heard a word that sounded distinctly like "Ginobili."
And just as I was doubting myself, I heard the words "Duncan" and "Parker" in sequence.
I'd forgotten that the Spurs and the Lakers were playing that night, and I didn't have any details about the game. (I could've asked the driver, but I was happy to let him focus on avoiding the eight lanes of traffic in front of us.) I didn't know that Pau Gasol wasn't playing, and I didn't know that Kobe Bryant was sidelined with an aching back.
All I could tell, at least from the radio, was that the Spurs sounded like a pretty good ball club, and the cab driver -- a Lakers fan, it seemed -- wasn't too happy about it.
Radio play-by-play announcers can only speak so fast, so when a team is moving the ball well, all you really hear are the names as the ball swings around the floor. Last Wednesday, the Spurs sounded great.
Three names kept coming up: Duncan, Ginobili, Parker. We were stuck in traffic for 30 minutes, and I hardly remember hearing any other Spurs mentioned.
Certainly, without Gasol or Bryant, the win doesn't mean nearly as much as it would with those two players. But for a few minutes on a Los Angeles expressway, I sat and listened as the radio announcer shouted out three names over and over again, and as the cab driver winced. For a few minutes, the Spurs sounded like a team that was going to be tough to beat come springtime.
Consider the Following
On January 3, Tim Duncan started the game on the bench, and I declared the move semi-apocalyptic (http://www.kens5.com/sports/basketball/Spurs-Roundup-As-Duncan-rests-playoff-dreams-put-on-hold-80729347.html) (the rationale being -- among other things -- that it's never good when a team's best player is getting tired with 50 games left in the season. )
So since the 'let's keep Tim's legs fresh strategy' went into place on January 3, Duncan's minutes should have declined.
Except that they haven't.
In the first 29 games of the year -- that is, every game leading up to January 3 -- Duncan averaged 31.8 minutes per game.
In the eight games since (including that Toronto game), Duncan has averaged 33.5 minutes per game.
Blame Antonio McDyess' sore back or Michael Finley's sprained ankle or Matt Bonner's broken hand, but Duncan's not getting the rest he's been promised.
Attending to Details
Through 23 home games this season, the Spurs are averaging fewer fans per game than in any season since 2002-3. Note below:
2009-10: 17,847 fans per game
2008-9: 18,269
2007-8: 18,564
2006-7: 18,654
2005-6: 18,797
2004-5: 18,316
2003-4: 18,041
2002-3: 17,950
What it means -- besides the fact that the AT&T Center is a little less loud this year -- is that when it comes to spending money this summer, the Spurs are in a bit of trouble. The reason: the salary cap is shrinking.
As the salary cap shrinks in 2010-11, the tax level also drops. The NBA's luxury tax rule is simple: "Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds" the cap, according to the NBA (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/07/07/salarycap.ap/index.html).
So without getting too wonky: last year's luxury tax floor was set at $71.2 million. This year's is $69.9 million. Next year's could anywhere (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4312837) from $65 million (best case) to $61 million (the number that's keeping R.C. Buford up at night).
Here's what you should take away from all of this: the amount of money that the Spurs can spend on new players is going to shrink next year, and it's going to shrink sizably. In other years, the Spurs would have happily spent beyond the cap. But without an infusion of cash this spring -- from, say, a deep playoff run -- the Spurs are going to be wary of exceeding the cap.
We're months away from the offseason, but right now, partially thanks to lower game day revenues this season, it's looking like the Spurs are not going to make a big splash next summer (a la 2009's Richard Jefferson signing).
On the flip side: Spurs tickets are cheaper than ever -- at least on the resale market. On StubHub, upper deck tickets for upcoming Spurs games are selling for as little as $2.50 (http://www.stubhub.com/san-antonio-spurs-tickets/). Even tickets for the March back-to-back home series against the Lakers and the Cavs are selling for as little as $20.
Just saying: if there was ever a time to catch an MVP-caliber Tim Duncan at the tail end of his prime, this would be it.
I Hate It When Twitter Lies to Me Last week, the following headline came across my Twitter feed: "Duncan rejects NBA's age limit rule (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/sports/15ncaa.html)."
I couldn't believe it. Tim Duncan? Speaking out against the NBA age limit rule?
And then I clicked through to find out that the article was about Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
The same day, a second headline caught my eye on Twitter: "Parker unlikely to join Spurs (http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2010/01/ahead-of-thegame-parker-unlikely-to-join-spurs.html)."
I clicked through. The article was about Scott Parker, the British-born midfielder for West Ham United who's been linked to a move to another London-based team, Tottenham Hotspur.
The only Spurs-related Tweet I trusted this week was from -- of all persons -- Kim Kardashian, who did actually attend Monday's Spurs-Hornets game (http://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/7921389624).
It just can't be a good thing that Kim Kardashian was the most trusted name in Spurs-related Twitter news this week.
The Roundup is a weekly look at Spurs basketball and the NBA. Dan Oshinsky is a digital media producer at KENS 5. He can be reached at [email protected].