Do the Spurs have any great/elite players on their roster?

[Wilford Brimley]

In a game thats primarily star driven, I fear that our boys no longer have a superstar on the team. Manu and Timmy are past their primes and TP is wildly inconsistent. They still have one of the finest front offices in the game, but that's no subs ute for superstar(s).

Thoughts?

[Cane]

Yes, the Spurs still have some great players but they're like classic cars. They can still burn rubber with the best of them but they're going to require a lot of care and maintenance due to their mileage. However none of them will be getting MVP consideration.

Manu's still the 3rd best SG and put up great numbers (22.3 PER and a high TS%) even with a broken arm. Duncan's still one of the better bigs in the NBA but can't play too many mins per game and hobbled into the playoffs along with Dice. Parker.....well I have no excuse for him injury-wise but he was dealing with distractions like the sexting nonsense and divorce. He's also still one of the best layup artists in the league and with Hill gone the Spurs will need his quickness.

And while the FO/coach is great, they also failed this Spurs team since they're too undersized and reliant on offense than defense. They have no answer for the young giants of the league like Marc Gasol. RJ was the only real SF on the team. Blair and Bonner is just a terrible combo especially in the playoffs. Splitter sat too much, etc.

Imo the Spurs have more trades to make if the season is willing especially if they're serious about improving defensively.

To contend the Spurs need a healthy Big 3 and more impact defensively. It'll be a longshot but I doubt anyone thought the Spurs would be the no.1 seed in the West at the start of the last offseason either. A quality PF/C would go a long way to advancing at least past the first round.

[ChumpDumper]

lol our boys

[Tyrone Jenkins]

Yes, the Spurs still have some great players but they're like classic cars. They can still burn rubber with the best of them but they're going to require a lot of care and maintenance due to their mileage. However none of them will be getting MVP consideration.

Manu's still the 3rd best SG and put up great numbers (22.3 PER and a high TS%) even with a broken arm. Duncan's still one of the better bigs in the NBA but can't play too many mins per game and hobbled into the playoffs along with Dice. Parker.....well I have no excuse for him injury-wise but he was dealing with distractions like the sexting nonsense and divorce. He's also still one of the best layup artists in the league and with Hill gone the Spurs will need his quickness.

And while the FO/coach is great, they also failed this Spurs team since they're too undersized and reliant on offense than defense. They have no answer for the young giants of the league like Marc Gasol. RJ was the only real SF on the team. Blair and Bonner is just a terrible combo especially in the playoffs. Splitter sat too much, etc.

Imo the Spurs have more trades to make if the season is willing especially if they're serious about improving defensively.

To contend the Spurs need a healthy Big 3 and more impact defensively. It'll be a longshot but I doubt anyone thought the Spurs would be the no.1 seed in the West at the start of the last offseason either. A quality PF/C would go a long way to advancing at least past the first round.

That pretty much sums it up - NICE WORK.

You can close the thread now...

[DMC]

It depends on what the Spurs goals really are. Sure everyone claims to want a championship, but their front office moves don't always reflect that "goal". Maybe some didn't get the memo.

Maybe the Spurs want to win a lot of home games to keep ticket sales up. Maybe they saw last season as a positive step instead of a failed experiment (Mike D'Antoni was allowed to run that style, pretty much, for years with results not much better in the playoffs and those are now considered the "good years" of the Suns sans Barkley).

We don't know what scheme the Spurs are planning. I don't expect much different than last year though, don't see how it's possible to rebuild a defense with the same players.

[SCdac]

I wouldn't say the Spurs are lacking elite players. Tim, Tony, and Manu are all still elite, when you consider all aspects of bball.

I would say, though, the Spurs are lacking an elite scorer and it's going to need addressing once TD retires and there's more cap room. I'm not sure (don't think) they have the capabilities to really change that this upcoming season.

None the less, you look at the teams that have won since the Spurs in 2007, and all of them lead by an elite scorer for the most part.

Pierce - 19.7 PPG .... (21.8 PPG in Finals)
Kobe - 30.3 PPG
Kobe - 29.2 PPG
Dirk - 27.7 PPG

At the end of the day, defense wins championships, but it also takes players who can take over a game offensively, like Duncan was great at in his prime.

Parker should be our best scorer, and he's capable at times of being that, but in my opinion he has peaked and can't carry the Spurs during those offensive lulls like we desperately need. He's not 24 or 25 anymore, he's a couple seasons away from being 30, and his offense is too predictable and predicated on speed for us to play through him come the playoffs (he's turnover prone, doesn't have much three point range, and obviously never plays above the rim). Manu is great, our most valuable last season (imo), but it'd be unfair to ask him to be our lead scorer in a championship run at this stage of his career. Same goes for Duncan. That, combined with the fact we're not good enough defensively to win in the manner the 2004 Pistons did, in which the scoring was divided and they hung their hat mainly on defense. And I think it adds up to us needing a real, elite (top-10 ish) scoring threat because I don't see us being a top-5 defensive team with our current roster.... Granted, I don't get the feeling the Spurs are done making moves.

[joshdaboss]

A championship can be won by teamwork and no elite scorers. The Pistons proved that.

[SCdac]

A championship can be won by teamwork and no elite scorers. The Pistons proved that.

Mind you, the Pistons held teams to 84.3 points a game. The Spurs on the other hand were letting teams score closer to 100 points a game on them last season. Combine that with SA not quite having a player like Rip who's in his mid-20's putting up 21+ points a night, and not quite having a Ben Wallace DPOY kind of player on the roster who can play 40 minutes every game.

[Wilford Brimley]

Mind you, the Pistons held teams to 84.3 points a game. The Spurs on the other hand were letting teams score closer to 100 points a game on them last season. Combine that with SA not quite having a player like Rip who's in his mid-20's putting up 21+ points a night, and not quite having a Ben Wallace DPOY kind of player on the roster who can play 40 minutes every game.

You took the words out of my mouth. Thank you for correcting his errant post. Josh, such opinions make me think you haven't watched basketball.

[Leetonidas]

Duncan and Ginobili are top 5 at their positions. Parker is a top 7-8 PG. They have some great players but no one elite, that's our problem.

[joshdaboss]

Mind you, the Pistons held teams to 84.3 points a game. The Spurs on the other hand were letting teams score closer to 100 points a game on them last season. Combine that with SA not quite having a player like Rip who's in his mid-20's putting up 21+ points a night, and not quite having a Ben Wallace DPOY kind of player on the roster who can play 40 minutes every game.

Right, but the overall talent level of this Spurs team is better than that Pistons team. Well, they were with Hill. I don't know about anymore.

I agree the Pistons were a lot better defensively, BUT, you have to take into account the pace factor, which, I'm sure that the Pistons probably played at one of the slowest, if not the slowest, pace in the league.

[cheguevara]

if you had watched the playoffs 2011, you would know Spurs have NO elite players. Let's face reality.

[cheguevara]

A championship can be won by teamwork and no elite scorers. The Pistons proved that.

2004 Rasheed >>>>>>>> any spurs bigman

2004 Wallace >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> defensively than any spur

2004 Billups >>>> Any spurs guard

2004 Hamilton = Spurs best current player, Ginobili

2004 Prince >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> jefferson


no comparison

[Wilford Brimley]

2004 Rasheed >>>>>>>> any spurs bigman

2004 Wallace >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> defensively than any spur

2004 Billups >>>> Any spurs guard

2004 Hamilton = Spurs best current player, Ginobili

2004 Prince >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> jefferson


no comparison

2004 Prince>>>>>>>>>>>>any Spurs wing defender. Prince did an excellent job on Kobe in that Finals. Lindsey Hunter was a great defensive guard off the bench too.

Josh failed pretty hard with that post, tbh

[DMC]

Right, but the overall talent level of this Spurs team is better than that Pistons team. Well, they were with Hill. I don't know about anymore.

False on all accounts.

There's no defensive presence, and that makes up a great deal of the "talent level" of a team.

Outside of TP, who's passing is mediocre at best, there's no Billups level talent to run the show.

There's no Tayshun Prince to run down Reggie Miller's layup and swat that to the sidelines.

There's no Rip Hamilton to run your entire bench ragged because he never stops moving away from the ball and could kill you with the stop and pop.

There's Manu, and he's only one person. George Hill would be a bench player on the 2004 Pistons team. Gary Neal would also be a deep bench player.

No way the Spurs have the same talent the 2004 Pistons had. It's amusing to even see it typed out. This is the same team that took a younger Spurs team with Bowen and Horry to 7 games.

I agree the Pistons were a lot better defensively, BUT, you have to take into account the pace factor, which, I'm sure that the Pistons probably played at one of the slowest, if not the slowest, pace in the league.

You can play a slow pace if you can control the pace. You cannot control the pace if you cannot defend. The reason the Spurs used to play their tempo and force others to play that as well was they could slow the ball down on defense, and they could run the opponent deep into the shot clock on almost every possession.

Pace doesn't dictate defense, defense dictates pace.

[LkrFan]

Duncan and Ginobili are top 5 at their positions. Parker is a top 7-8 PG. They have some great players but no one elite, that's our problem.