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cant argue that
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9607
By: Yannis Koutroupis Last Updated: 7/27/08 4:45 PM ET | 222 times read
As tough as the Western Conference was this past year, it may be even tougher come next season. At the top of it right now is still the Los Angeles Lakers, who represented the conference in the NBA Finals this past season, and have a healthy Andrew Bynum returning. Knowing that the Lakers are about to get one of the best big men in the league back, teams have looked to improve. Longtime conference powerhouse the San Antonio Spurs may be falling behind.
The Houston Rockets added some much needed shooting and depth to their roster, while the New Orleans Hornets picked up proven winner James Posey to help add some leadership to their young squad. The Blazers were already overflowing in young talent, but are close to drowning in it now with Jerryd Bayless, Nicolas Batum, and Rudy Fernandez added to the fold.
The San Antonio Spurs have been fairly active themselves this summer. On draft night they tried hard to move their first round pick, but ended up going with George Hill from IUPUI to backup Tony Parker. Once they were allowed to talk to free agents the Spurs immediately went for a home run in Corey Maggette. Considering the difficulty the Spurs had scoring last season and their lack of depth Corey just made perfect sense. Unfortunately for San Antonio, Maggette took a five-year deal from the Golden State Warriors worth nearly double what the Spurs could have offered.
Rather than getting caught up in trying to get restricted free agent J.R. Smith, who they have coveted for years but had little chance to get this season, the Spurs lured Roger Mason away from the Washington Wizards. Mason is coming off of a career year with the Wizards in which he averaged nine points a game. From there the Spurs re-signed their own free agent Kurt Thomas in a smart move that became a necessity once Tiago Splitter, the Spurs' first round pick in 2007, signed an extension with his current team overseas. The last move the Spurs made was signing Anthony Tolliver from their summer league team. Tolliver is a 6'8 shooter from Creighton that has yet to suit up for a regular season NBA game.
Roger Mason, Kurt Thomas, and Anthony Tolliver are all good signings. All three players fit a need for the Spurs. Mason will certainly be a part of the rotation, and Thomas may start. Tolliver's role with the team may be minimal, but he's a guy who can hit shots off the bench. The only problem with these signings is that there doesn't appear to be anything else following them.
With the Spurs over the cap and being very wary of the luxury tax their hands are really tied in what they can do. Right now the only way for them to add another major piece would be through trade, but that's tough to envision. The only players that could warrant something in return for the Spurs are the Big Three (Parker, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili), and they aren't going to break that up anytime soon. They also have very little to offer in expiring contracts.
Aside from a few more training camp signings and the possible return of Robert Horry and/or Michael Finley this may be the 2008-2009 San Antonio Spurs.
Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili automatically make them contenders, but their health becomes more vital than ever this season. With Tim Duncan nearing the end of his prime and both Ginobili and Parker playing in the Olympics that is a scary thought.
In year's past we've been trying to figure out ways how the Spurs could not win the championship. This year though we may struggle to find ways they can win it all. The Western Conference has become too good and the Spurs have simply come back to the pack with their mediocre offseason.
The Spurs made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals last year before losing to the Lakers in five games. They nearly were eliminated the round before by the New Orleans Hornets, who gave them all they could handle in a seven-game series. Looking at how much better everyone has gotten, it's hard to like the Spurs chances to get that far again - unless of course there is more.
If the Spurs are going to continue this dynasty and be championship contenders, there has to be.
cant argue that
Let's see...
The big 3 are 100% healthy come playoff time and the Spurs are getting some solid contributions from the young guys and role players.
Wow, I just found a way that the Spurs can win the championship.
Good article, this Spurs team has a lot of question marks heading into this season.
Going to be a lot of growing pains this year.
Yep and it's been a LONG time since the Spurs had to deal with the growing pains of a couple rooks. Yeah Pop does have his work cut out for him. I'll be in Iraq for the first couple months of the season, so I'm hoping when I get back most of the growing pains are out of the way. But that might just be wishful thinking.
TP is not playing this offseason
It's obvious the Spurs won't be adding what most people consider a "major piece", however, the Spurs still have some money to work with before they reach the Lux Tax line. With Bowen, Duncan, Ginobili and Parker - the right role players can make all the difference between success and falling short of another NBA Ring.
A healthy core keeps the body strong (Bowen, Duncan, Ginobili, Parker). The role players must be able to improve the defense (getting back under .430 opp. fg% and allowing just under 90 ppg) in order for the Spurs to win their 5th NBA le. Letting teams shoot what they did the past 2 seasons doesn't normally cut it for the Spurs. They were fortunate to make it all the way in 2006-07 with the defense they played most of that season.
Signing Tolliver was a nice move, but I don't expect him to get much burn this year - if he makes the final squad. I do wish they been able to acquire Najera. In addition to being a solid role player and defender, he would've made Bonner expendable.
2003 all over again.
except no David.....
True underdog time now. I like it.
The Spurs did the best they could with a cruddy opportunity (at best) to get better quickly.
They had Splitter undercut them, they could only offer Maggette a pittance compared to Golden State, no way they could/would realistically bring in JR Smith or Artest, they had the 26th pick in the draft to work with, and short of the big three, they have little to make a trade with.
I'd say, all in all, they've done exactly what they needed to and that is add youth to the mix. I'd say the big 3 would make about anybody that much better in a game situation just by drawing the focus and setting them up for an opportunity to succeed. Can't say right now if any of the rooks or new additions will be able to provide scoring off the bench, but if they live up to expectations, they should be able to contribute and gain confidence that comes with playing time.
What I'm looking most forward to is developing that young, off the bench, role player that gets a big cheer when he comes in. We haven't had one in a while and it'll be nice to see who steps into the points off the bench rule.
Oh yeah, did I mention they didn't do anything stupid and kept themselves free to enter the 2010 sweepstakes coming soon?
Zach Randolph, perhaps?
How about role player(s)? The Spurs have an opportunity to groom 2-3 role players that can hopefully provide the badly-needed, in-game contributions and necessary bench energy that can affect games.
You're correct in that it's been some time since the Spurs have had such a player or players. Typically the Spurs have looked to the mid-career or older veteran for such contributions.
Fact of the matter is that the Spurs don't need a major overhaul to return to the Finals. I, for one like the Roger Mason signing. The Spurs now have an NBA 2-guard that can play NBA minutes without being mummufied in ice packs on a nightly basis. I also think Mason, especially at his pricetag is a much better fit than Corey Maggette. While all this Maggette flirting was going down, I kept having recuring visions of Popovich going "Dexter" on this guy come February and deep sea divers struggling to find his remains in the Gulf of Mexico.
I suppose we could still get Ron 'Testy before the midseason deadline.
But he'll probably get better offers and wants to play for PJ and Kome anyways.
When did the Spurs go over the cap? Did I miss something? Hoopsworld is a wretched source of information.
Technically when we signed Roger Mason.
We are actually more than $5M over the salary cap with the additions of KT and Tolliver - and we still need to sign our draft picks. We should still remain considerably under the Luxury Tax Threshold even after we sign them.
Are you on active duty?Yep and it's been a LONG time since the Spurs had to deal with the growing pains of a couple rooks. Yeah Pop does have his work cut out for him. I'll be in Iraq for the first couple months of the season, so I'm hoping when I get back most of the growing pains are out of the way. But that might just be wishful thinking.
Good piece. I hope Pop will work with a bit more extended rotation, so the rooks can get some burn and maybe will play a role come play off time. I don't think that Spurs really have to get in a race for position, cuz they have to battle them all to win it. I rather see them going eight and develop the rooks a bit more, than that they get fourth and give the starters too many minutes
The only real screwup that I can see so far this summer (that the Spurs could actually control) was letting Barry get away. Maybe there were factors I'm not grasping, but if we were going into the season as things stand with Barry instead of Finley, I'd be happier.
Last edited by Thompson; 07-28-2008 at 06:26 PM.
The Spurs almost always go over the cap. You don't get to use your "exceptions" (Mid-Level, Bird rights, etc.) unless you go over the cap. Spurs just don't want to pay double for every dollar over the Lux Tax line (different from the cap line).
Uh, I wish. You didn't see a 2003 Tim Duncan in last year's playoffs and you won't be seeing him next year either.
A few years ago Tim would have destroyed a player like Gasol. At this stage in his career, he faltered.
Look how Garnett dominated Gasol. Tim shot something like 43% against Gasol I believe.
The time to start factoring Tim's decline into the equation is now.
A very gloomy but very accurate article IMO.
agreed. we will have a better team next year.
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