as stoked as last year?

[td4mvp3]

about this time last year i was checking this site, hoopshype and any other place for rumors about karl malone, and chomping at the bit to get the season started because the team looked so good on paper. this year, i like the moves they've made but i haven't hit that stoked level. i'm ready for the season to start but nothing's gotten me really revved.

[FromWayDowntown]

I'm ready. I've got my season tickets coming. When I went over to SBC Center to turn in my order form for extra single-game tickets, I officially started to get excited. This bunch should be fun to watch, just for the variety of ways that they can play (and hopefully win) games.

[exstatic]

Take a Vivarin. If this team doesn't have you stoked, and thinking repeat, you must be snoozing. After each of the last two championships, we lost a guy who's jersey ultimately was raised up to the rafters, Sean in 99 and David in 03. No such loss this year.

It's ON.

[angel_luv]

I have been waiting for this season to start since the Alamodome Celebration ended. = )

Bring it on baby!

[Sense]

I'm tired of baseball and the NFL, WHERE THE HELL IS MY BASKETBALL!?

[mrpach]

I'm tired of baseball and the NFL, WHERE THE HELL IS MY BASKETBALL!?

AMEN

[DesiSpur_21]

I'm tired of baseball and the NFL, WHERE THE HELL IS MY BASKETBALL!?

:tu

[spurs=bling]

I'm tired of baseball and the NFL, WHERE THE HELL IS MY BASKETBALL!?
:tu

[FromWayDowntown]

:tu

:tu

[DieMrBond]

Im running out of 'non-basketball' related sites (that are work environment friendly) to browse while at work! I need the season to start so i can have something interesting to read about again!!

[samikeyp]

more stoked than last year. I have the NFL, I have college football...now I need the NBA to complete the Holy Trinity.

[boutons]

This year, the challenge is so different. We know they are the best team, lost nobody, everybody should be as good, maybe 1 year better, and added a couple of promising parts.

The challenge is whether the Spurs will refuse to lose to themselves.

I wonder what Pop's attitude is? how he will frame the season, its objectives, to the team?

[phyzik]

Honestly, I check this site (and, Admittedly, Spursreport.com) at least 6 times a day each since the offseason started. Im not exaggerating in the least.

[ObiwanGinobili]

I'm tired of baseball and the NFL, WHERE THE HELL IS MY BASKETBALL!?


:tu :elephant


I think I'm even more pumped for this season then i was for last. It;s like i'm still on a n aemotional high from the river parade....
God! that homeopener is gonna be awwesome!!

As basketball fans we are one of only 2 teams that had to suffer thru such a SHORT offseason... but it is still suffering!!

[GrandeDavid]

I'm much more stoked because I think we have an awesome chance of going back-to-back, not to mention getting to see a very intriguing lineup on the way.

[nkdlunch]

about this time last year i was checking this site, hoopshype and any other place for rumors about karl malone, and chomping at the bit to get the season started because the team looked so good on paper. this year, i like the moves they've made but i haven't hit that stoked level. i'm ready for the season to start but nothing's gotten me really revved.

WTF??? what else could you want??

[td4mvp3]

WTF??? what else could you want??
matt barnes. beno and rasho packaged for the duke player on the memphis grizzlies whose name suddenly escapes me. resign glenn robinson.

[FromWayDowntown]

matt barnes. beno and rasho packaged for the duke player on the memphis grizzlies whose name suddenly escapes me. resign glenn robinson.

Let's recap:

1. Your team has won its third title in 7 years.

2. It has two all-star players, an early 20's point guard, and has kept its supporting cast intact.

3. It has landed the highest profile free agent of the summer and addressed its most pressing need for scoring off the bench.

4. Most observers feel that they've had an A+ off-season; likely the best in the NBA.

5. Your team enters the coming season as an odds-on favorite to win the title, not just in the columns of some fat sportswriters, but in the gambling dens of Vegas where empty praise isn't just thrown around.


Now let me get this straight -- with all of that, you can't get stoked unless this team does more? You still think they need to pick up a bit part from a middling playoff team and deal for a guy who's so significant that you can't even remember his name!!?!?!? Are you kidding me?

Some among us are way too spoiled by the successes of recent years!

[td4mvp3]

Let's recap:

1. Your team has won its third title in 7 years.

2. It has two all-star players, an early 20's point guard, and has kept its supporting cast intact.

3. It has landed the highest profile free agent of the summer and addressed its most pressing need for scoring off the bench.

4. Most observers feel that they've had an A+ off-season; likely the best in the NBA.

5. Your team enters the coming season as an odds-on favorite to win the title, not just in the columns of some fat sportswriters, but in the gambling dens of Vegas where empty praise isn't just thrown around.


Now let me get this straight -- with all of that, you can't get stoked unless this team does more? You still think they need to pick up a bit part from a middling playoff team and deal for a guy who's so significant that you can't even remember his name!!?!?!? Are you kidding me?

Some among us are way too spoiled by the successes of recent years!
i guess so. i'm very happy with the moves but there's no denying that finley and van exel are on the down turn and neither did much to impress last year. the oberto guy sounds cool but who knows when he comes to the nba. i grant you that the team is good, but the idea of malone coming to play and the addition of barry seemed, at that time, to spell an overwhelming force none could contend with. had barry done what many expected, a lot of those close games would have been anything but. that notwithstanding, from the perspective of expectations and level of play, last year's pre-season signings and outlook was grand. this year, the major coup of finley was nice but hardly something that even roused the spurs themselves ("we'd like to have you but we don't need you."), and van exel doesn't push us over the top in my mind, especially with the knee concerns. meanwhile, as everyone has screamed, we need someone to replace bowen and barnes is good. robinson still has something left and was a good pickup who, i think, just didn't get enough time to shine. and the guy from the grizzlies is good, his name escapes me because my memory is slipping. sadly, i still can't remember his name.

[batman2883]

what is chomping at the bit mean and where does it come from?

[peskypesky]

I AM TOTALLY STOKED!!!!!!!!

They didn't lose ANY key players from a Championship team, and then they go on to score Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel!!! I mean, c'mon! This team is going to STOMP its way through the league like Godzilla.

Some people say Finley is past his prime. Yeah? Well so was Robert Horry last year, and guess what he did in the Finals? And look at Finley's numbers for last year. They were just about the same as, guess who, All-Star Manu Ginobili. Yep. The Spurs just added a guy who puts up Manu numbers, and THEY STILL HAVE MANU!

And sure, Van Exel's past his prime, but no one's asking him to start. We just need him to put in some quality minutes when Tony is tired or having a bad game. We didn't have that last year and we still won the Championship. I can promise you that a veteran like Van Exel is not going to be taken advantage of like poor Beno Udrih was in last year's Finals. I like Beno, but no way can you compare a rookie to a ten-year veteran.

My only regret about the coming season? I live in NYC.

[ambchang]

the guy from the grizzlies is good, his name escapes me because my memory is slipping. sadly, i still can't remember his name.
You are thinking of Shane Battier.

[pjjrfan]

I've been excited since the horn blew to end game 7 of the Finals. Just knowing that next season the Spurs will have a healthier TD to go along with Manu who has raised his game to all star level, and the nucleus of the team will return intact, the rest of it is just gravy. Also just knowing that the FO is making sure to plug up any holes man, I can't wait for the show to start.

[cherylsteele]

I am stoked evem=n more than last year..

[NZHayden]

sean marks was resigned of course im stoked now just for the tip off

[phyzik]

Im also more interested to see the ammount of smoke thats going to blow out of tparks rear end then I was last season...... ok, maybe not.

[boutons]

NZH,

I just learned the Tim's baby is named Sydney.

If they have a boy next summer, ask Sean to suggest they call the baby Auckland.

[NZHayden]

NZH,

I just learned the Tim's baby is named Sydney.

If they have a boy next summer, ask Sean to suggest they call the baby Auckland.
:lol how about something less european like
< Whangarei!

[boutons]

"Whangarei'

... vat ist?

[td4mvp3]

what is chomping at the bit mean and where does it come from?
chomping at the bit, i think, refers to horse racing when the horses have been lined up and are rearing to go but have to wait for the gates to open. they have bits in their mouths, i don't know why, and i assume they chomp on them in anticipation of getting to run their hineys off. the phrase just means excited while having to wait to do something.

[td4mvp3]

You are thinking of Shane Battier.
thanks. i realized that this morning. and one other thing that would get me excited: resigning nazr.

[FromWayDowntown]

Sure. It would be great if the Spurs could dump a couple of bad contracts to acquire Tracy McGrady or Shaquille O'Neal, too.

My point is this: the Spurs have had a tremendous off-season; beyond the summers that they drafted David Robinson and Tim Duncan, it's difficult for me to remember the Spurs ever doing so well in a single off-season. They have managed to do all of that as the defending champions who, for the first time will defend without a significant subtraction from their core. If that isn't enough to get you stoked, then you are spoiled rotten by the success this franchise has experienced in the last, say, 7-8 years.

I'm exaggerating, but not by much: had the same circumstances existed in the mid-90's, Spurs fans would have been lining up at the ticket office to get single game tickets for the coming season, even though they don't go on sale for several weeks. Now, though, we get people who can't get excited because the Spurs didn't have a "perfect" off-season, or because they wish the Spurs had done even more than have the best off-season in the league.

If you aren't more excited (stoked) and ready for this thing to get rolling than you were with all of the questions that existed last year, I wonder just how genuine your support for this team is.

[td4mvp3]

If you aren't more excited (stoked) and ready for this thing to get rolling than you were with all of the questions that existed last year, I wonder just how genuine your support for this team is.
but i'm not talking about a perfect off season nor making impossible deals. i'm talking about expectations and level of potential. this group now has about the same potential as last year's in terms of winning a championship, having a good season. but the expectations for last year's team compared to the year before were so much greater, even just considering the idea of winning the trophy compared to having not done so. the comparison is what i'm looking at. certainly the team is really good, but the expectations with this group doesn't seem all that greater than last year. they haven't addressed some issues, they have gotten older on their bench, they still need to solidify some spots. they could be preparing for the future (barnes, locking up nazr, bringing in battier or someone good through a package deal) while reaching last year's degree or better. it's about getting better and showing improvement, that's what gets me stoked. i just don't see adding aged veterans and not getting the center thing concluded as being better.

[FromWayDowntown]

certainly the team is really good, but the expectations with this group doesn't seem all that greater than last year.

The expectation is that they'll win a championship. What "greater" expectations can there be?


they haven't addressed some issues, they have gotten older on their bench, they still need to solidify some spots. they could be preparing for the future (barnes, locking up nazr, bringing in battier or someone good through a package deal) while reaching last year's degree or better. it's about getting better and showing improvement, that's what gets me stoked. i just don't see adding aged veterans and not getting the center thing concluded as being better.

It's impossible to say whether they'll be better or worse with other moves or no other moves than they were last year. It's also true that it's awfully difficult to improve your team for the present while building a roster pointed to the future.

If the Spurs had made heavy-duty moves to acquire younger players, they wouldn't have addressed the most vital need coming out of last season, which, IMO, was the need to find consistent scoring punch off the bench so that Pop doesn't have to make Manu a 6th Man again to even out his team.

Had the Spurs done what you wished -- keeping Devin Brown, acquiring Maurice Evans or Matt Barnes or another similar young player -- they wouldn't have been able to get Finley. I'll go with history in my belief that Finley brings far more consistent offensive punch than any of the young guys that you seem to be focused upon.

I can see, to an extent, the idea that the Spurs could make other moves to improve their roster for this season and into the future (though I'd disagree that Glenn Robinson would fit in either category), but to say that I'm not stoked about this team and the coming season because they didn't do something like that seems ridiculous to me.

We don't know a lot of things about what this front office is up to. For all we know, they have their eyes set on a kid who'll be a free agent next season, and intend to make a play for that guy next summer. Or, it may be that they know that Nazr or Rasho will have greater trade value after the season begins and that they'd prefer to make a good deal for the franchise, rather than making any deal for the sake of making a deal. Whatever the case, they've certainly proven their basketball savvy to me and I'm generally inclined to believe that they know how to build a team with the right guys for the right price.

[td4mvp3]

The expectation is that they'll win a championship. What "greater" expectations can there be? ...

We don't know a lot of things about what this front office is up to. For all we know, they have their eyes set on a kid who'll be a free agent next season, and intend to make a play for that guy next summer. Or, it may be that they know that Nazr or Rasho will have greater trade value after the season begins and that they'd prefer to make a good deal for the franchise, rather than making any deal for the sake of making a deal. Whatever the case, they've certainly proven their basketball savvy to me and I'm generally inclined to believe that they know how to build a team with the right guys for the right price.
the greater expectation can be to go beyond the bulls regular season record, to establish things so that this championship run outdoes the lakers three-peat that so many analysts hold as the pinicle in recent competition, to repeat resoundingly instead of skirting in (at least in the eyes of a few experts who sounded off after they won game 7). it's about doing more than the previous year, even when the previous year was another championship.

as for the other paragraph i quote from you, i'm trying not to confuse the issue of whether the dealings and signings were good and if the front office knows what they're doing. no one's doubting that. i'm sure they've done as much as they can with the cards they were delt. it just hasn't excited me as much as last year.

[td4mvp3]

and, to be clear, i'm glad they signed finley and got rid of devin brown. i know there's a lot of love for the guy on the site, but i was never a big fan of his.

[bigzak25]

HELL YES I'M STOKED...BACK 2 BACK BABY!

I can't wait to see oberto play, to see a full season of Naz, an improved Rasho, and of course all the rest...

A RESTED Bowen and Manu and Parker Since Nick and Finley are on board...

Great Times 4 Spurs Fans...Great Times!!!


As long as the newbies and some of those already on board learn and accept there roles and the injury bug stays away, I'ts A REPEAT in the MAKING!

GO SPURS GO!!!

4 IN 7, WE IN HEAVEN!!!

[FromWayDowntown]

the greater expectation can be to go beyond the bulls regular season record, to establish things so that this championship run outdoes the lakers three-peat that so many analysts hold as the pinicle in recent competition, to repeat resoundingly instead of skirting in (at least in the eyes of a few experts who sounded off after they won game 7). it's about doing more than the previous year, even when the previous year was another championship.

Sure on all counts, but I think you missed my point.

I'm hard pressed to see how anyone watched the playoffs and didn't see that the Spurs of 2004-05 desperately needed offensive punch off the bench. Assuming all other things to be equal, addressing that problem should make the Spurs a better team overall.

Given that, I don't think it was possible for the Spurs to address their greatest need for improvement while getting younger at the same time. Younger players who were available in free agency or even by trades for the pieces the Spurs have aren't likely to be consistent offensive players.

Shane Battier isn't going to come here and give the Spurs offensive punch off the bench -- and that assumes that Memphis has any interest in dealing Battier (and to date, the Grizzlies have expressed none), and more particularly in dealing Battier for bad contracts of underperforming players. Unless R.C. Buford and Sam Presti have somehow found a way to harness jedi powers and control the minds of other GMs, I can't see why Jerry West would ever be willing to make the trade that you propose. (and who says the Spurs haven't already tried? I don't know, but I doubt that they reveal much about the conversations they've had -- if they're interested in acquiring Battier, I suspect they've placed appropriate calls to make their interest known).

Matt Barnes isn't going to come here and give the Spurs offensive punch like that, either.

So, the question the Spurs faced was to go in one of two directions: make the team better in the here and now by acquiring veteran scorers who can come off the bench and give the bench a chance to score or acquire younger players and hope that you can just get by with the bench and pile up starters' minutes. Pop and RC, apparently, decided to go with the known quantities, to improve this team in the here and now, and worry later about the future. I can understand that decision.

As for the desire to out-do the Bulls (I guess 73-9 is what you're looking for?) or to one-up the Lakers (which couldn't be accomplished until 2006-07, though I guess a 16-0 playoff run might get you some part of what you want), I extol you to consider the fact that those were all-time accomplishments by legendary teams with multiple no-brainer Hall-of-Famers. If 70 wins were a reasonable goal, more teams would have done it. If championship runs with 1 or 2 losses were reasonably expectable, more team would have done it.

Why not start with 2 things that no Spurs team has ever done before: win more than 62 games and repeat. If you think about it, both of those are reasonable goals for this team and would make it, arguably, the greatest Spurs team ever. I mean, last year's team won 59 games with Tim missing 16 contests and playing short minutes in at least 2 others. Manu missed 8 games and the team underwent the upheaval of the Rose-Mohammed trade. Having addressed its greatest need, and hoping that there will be fewer injuries, it seems reasonable to me to presume that this team can win 5-10 more games -- putting them in the 64-69 range. If they get to, say, 67 or 68 wins, they'll be in the neighborhood with the 1999-2000 Lakers.

A repeat after, say, a 65-68 win season would be something historic and emphatic. And that's possible.

But that's sort of the point: if this team is realistically capable of winning something like 65-68 games, that should have you fired up -- it should be more than enough to have a Spurs fan stoked about what's about to happen. If you're dissatisfied with the chance at somewhere around 65 wins and another title, I don't know that your expectations/desires will ever truly be reasonable.

[td4mvp3]

Sure on all counts, but I think you missed my point.
...

But that's sort of the point: if this team is realistically capable of winning something like 65-68 games, that should have you fired up -- it should be more than enough to have a Spurs fan stoked about what's about to happen. If you're dissatisfied with the chance at somewhere around 65 wins and another title, I don't know that your expectations/desires will ever truly be reasonable.

eh, guess it's just one of those things. i understand what you're saying and your points are valid, but when i look at this team, i think "we ought to win the championship." but i don't think "we're gonna stomp people snotless while we win the championship."

last year at this time, thinking that malone was on the way and barry was going to rain threes like armeggedon fireballs from the sky on some poor team's playoff hopes, i was just counting down the moments. even when malone fell away, i thought, well, at least those three-bombs will be falling and we're running away with things (since that was the big issue after the lakers loss, the inability to score).

this year, i look at the league, i think "these are folks we've basically beaten before, there's a pretty good chance we do it again." i wanted finley way back when but never thought it possible, but my enthusiasm is tempered by his performance last year. van exel too. what would have gotten me stoked was SAR or donyell marshall, which obviously didn't happen. what would have gotten me stoked was nazr locked up, which is still in limbo. i'd have settled for getting barnes because i liked what i've seen of him and it would have pointed toward a solid future with a younger version of bowen with some scoring touch (i may be pulling that one out of my tail, but, eh, it's 8 p.m. on a wednesday night and i've got kids to put to bed. cut me some slack).

i don't see the potential for overwhelming things at the moment, is all. granted, they can still make some moves, and when they do, perhaps the mood changes. but they haven't. and it hasn't.

[Money316]

i like the moves they've made but i haven't hit that stoked level. i'm ready for the season to start but nothing's gotten me really revved.

Dude what's not to get stoked about? Is it a lack a sex? Come on now ...
:fro :fro :fro

[z0sa]

Its just because its the offseason. Trust me, as soon as the season starts, no one will have any more complaints.

[td4mvp3]

Dude what's not to get stoked about? Is it a lack a sex? Come on now ...
:fro :fro :fro
well, the wife has been working a lot lately ... :lol

[tmtcsc]

I'm not sure. It's about the same every year. We are the World Champions !!

I still have flashbacks to June. I have enjoyed this Championship to its fullest. Ill be driving along, and I'll have a moment or two where I think " We are the fucking best ! We beat the defending champions in Game 7 and we overcame a 9 pt deficit to do it".

How do you top that ? Seriously ? By beating another team on the road in Game 7 ? Winning without Tim ? I just don't know. Maybe you just keep doing it over and over again. So, I'm excited to see the new players but more importantly, to see Manu and Tim at 100 % and well rested. That's scary. Last year was tougher than it had to be. Tim played on two flat tires and still helped us to a 3rd title.

I guess its still all fresh to me from being at the game. I can't believe we're throwing the ball up so soon. It's good to be the King. :king

[Marcus Bryant]

This never gets old.