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3 games into the season and this is the best they can come up with?
timmy d doesn't back down from a challenge. get'em tdunks! they'll remember who the spurs are once we're whooping everyones ass again. it's all good.
Spurs aren't done, but they're sure old
by Mike Kahn
Tim Duncan wasn't born yet, and neither was Manu Ginobili. Heck, Tony Parker wasn't born for another nine years. And you can be certain that neither the hair, nor the beard on coach Gregg Popovich were white like they are now.
You have to go back 35 years to see the last time the San Antonio Spurs were 0-3, and they weren't even in the NBA back then . . . just another team in the countdown toward the demise of the old ABA. At least the Spurs rallied as a franchise from there to become one of the fortunate four that would be invited to join the NBA in 1976.
Nonetheless, winless is where the Spurs stood after Tuesday's 17-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks at home. And if you didn't think they looked too old to compete for a le last spring when the Los Angeles Lakers sent them packing in five games, just take a look at them now.
Sure, Ginobili hasn't played yet and won't for at least another month while recovering from ankle surgery. And they collectively were relieved to find the irregular heartbeat of center Francisco Oberto wasn't enough of a problem to keep him out of Tuesday's game after missing the first two.
But this is a different Spurs team than the one that seemingly has won an NBA le every other year the past decade (actually four championships), and even when they didn't, they struck fear in the hearts of those that did.
Now, their hearts may not be the issue. That doesn't mean we can't hear the wheezing. A big part of the problem is the players on the roster that were already born when the Spurs started off that 1973-74 season 0-4. Bruce Bowen (37) and Kurt Thomas (36) were babies raising havoc and Michael Finley (35) was already sitting up. Oberto (33) and Jacque Vaughn (33) were born just before the Spurs joined the NBA and Duncan (32) had his eyes wide open as the new era began.
When you throw in Ginobili (31) and Ime Udoka, also 31, you see the portrait of a team that is beginning to look at lot like the best team at the downtown rec center, prompting the thought, "Gee, I bet those guys were great when they were younger."
Well, they were. Now, they're not.
They're offseason free agent signing was Robert Mason Jr. from the Washington Wizards, a shooting guard prone to streaks -- both good and bad -- shooting the ball. He will defend, certainly a pre-requisite for any Popovich addition. He's just limited. The same goes for Matt Bonner, a 6-10, 240-pounder who can play any of the three positions up front in mediocre fashion. He's a good 3-point shooter and plays hard.
Mason and Bonner represent the free agent additions of the past two seasons, while they actually were forced by ownership to unload Ginobili's ferocious Argentinean national teammate Luis Scola for luxury tax purposes prior to last season. Unfortunately, they dealt him to the Houston Rockets, who by anyone's viewpoint coming into the season have blown by the Spurs in the pecking order of the Southwest Division and the Western Conference.
They did retain their first round draft choice this season, and took 6-2 guard George Hill, who hurt his thumb in preseason. The read on him before he was taken out of that hybrid small school in Indianapolis -- IUPUI -- was he is a 6-2 combo guard. The problem is he's a backup for Parker, who is the youngest non-rookie on the roster at 26. He'll probably play with Parker occasionally, but it also makes them very small.
Through the first three games, the Spurs lost their first home opener since before Duncan was drafted in 1997 -- a tough five-point decision to the Phoenix Suns. Then they lost a one-point heartbreaker at Portland when Finley's baseline jumper at the buzzer caromed to the hardwood. That led them to collapse against the Mavs in front of the home folks.
Indeed, Duncan is putting up his familiar numbers of 26.0 points and 10.3 rebounds, and Parker is following suit with 26.0 points and 6.3 assists. The problem is, the rest of the team is averaging only 40.7 points combined. Bowen and Bonner have managed to put up just 18 points collectively in the first three games.
More disconcerting is they are allowing their opponents to shoot .496 from the field and getting outrebounded by 6.0 a game. These are the Spurs we're talking about. This team has been nothing over the past decade if not one that prides itself on shutdown defense and at least halving the rebounds.
Instead there is Pop on the bench, tugging on his beard as if there are answers hidden within the bristles. Is the white growth a poke at the media's contention that his team is too old to compete at the elite level anymore or simply an admission of guilt?
The good news is there are 79 games left beginning Wednesday at Minnesota against the fledgling Timberwolves.
At least that used to be good news.
3 games into the season and this is the best they can come up with?
timmy d doesn't back down from a challenge. get'em tdunks! they'll remember who the spurs are once we're whooping everyones ass again. it's all good.
I agree with the plays hard part but he is not a good 3 point shooter...
I love the overreation from the media. They will be wishing they didn't judge so harshly after 3 freaken games of the season.
Hey SI picked you guys to win it all Even with Manu's injury ....
They can stop right there.Spurs aren't done, but they're sure old
by Mike Kahn
Tim Duncan wasn't born yet, and neither was Manu Ginobili. Heck, Tony Parker wasn't born for another nine years. And you can be certain that neither the hair, nor the beard on coach Gregg Popovich were white like they are now.
You have to go back 35 years to see the last time the San Antonio Spurs were 0-3, and they weren't even in the NBA back then . . . just another team in the countdown toward the demise of the old ABA. At least the Spurs rallied as a franchise from there to become one of the fortunate four that would be invited to join the NBA in 1976.
Nonetheless, winless is where the Spurs stood after Tuesday's 17-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks at home. And if you didn't think they looked too old to compete for a le last spring when the Los Angeles Lakers sent them packing in five games, just take a look at them now.
Sure, Ginobili hasn't played yet
Any team would look bad without one of their top 3 guys.
What a horrible qualifying statement.
We've got a handful and some more of junk teams coming up to pad our regular season record. Isn't that what we're supposed to do to get credit? Beat junk teams?
Spurs play Mason, Farmer, Parker, Hill a majority of the second half and they're OLDER than last season?
What a crock of .
Houston Rockets last year after Yao Ming went down?
2005-06 Phoenix Suns without Amare Stoudemire?
I'm going to keep saying what I've always said. The lack of a talented, young, SF to infuse the diminishing talent pool on this roster is a deficiency that is now starting to become glaring. In as much as Manu's injury has affected the start to this season, it is Bowen's sharp decline that has affected their diminished perimeter defense.
A young, defensive-minded SF, with some offense, would've been just the tonic needed to spring some life into our listless team.
In the meantime, Pop read this one wrong. He is going to have to take a big risk by giving the young pups adequate court time.
I honestly feel a legitimate big man to play alongside Duncan who at the very least can be a solid rebounder and weakside shot blocker is more important than a young, talented small forward. Adequate wing players can be found. It's much more difficult to find a solid big man. If Duncan needs to average 20 rebounds per game just to make the team rebounds come close to even, then that's a serious problem. And, with the regression of team defense, at least a shot blocking big man can erase a couple baskets a game, and two of the first three games were close enough that two blocked shots could have changed the outcome of those two close games.
Mike Kahn is rotten writer - Fox Sports web site is awful.
I agree with the prevailing thought of this post which is The Spurs are too small. They are undersized at virtually every position outside of Duncan and that's only if you consider Duncan a PF. A power forward or a long small forward (Nicolas Batum anyone?) would help immensely in my opinion.
I ain't panicking. No sir. Season's just starting. We're missing our leading scorer and we've been missing some bigs. I'll wait a couple more weeks before I start to sweat.
I feel ya. I would submit to you that the acquisition of both these player types has been long needed and is long overdue.
I already said it. And I already thought it. Im just waiting for the FO to do it.
It must be fairly obvious by now that the Spurs will go 0-82.
This Kahn guy has a good point, though.
Popovich should shave.
I think people have to nit-pick to find something wrong with the article. He states the obvious, big picture, and in fact, doesn't go as far as the majority of the posters on this board in his critique.
Yeah, we suck right now. Is there some other way to put it? Our offense will improve when Manu returns but he alone can't fix the rebounding and defensive problems, two things which already were an issue last year.
What the author downplays or doesn't mention: the impressive start by Mason and the impressive, brief debut by Hill last night. With the team desperately needing youthful revitalization, it is somewhat promising that the young players don't suck and actually look like they can easily replace the players ahead of them so far in the rotation. If Ian can be similarly effective, our team can be very different than what we've seen the first 11 quarters this season. Maybe not spectacular, but at least better.
Also, it was interesting to see the fault of the Scola Debacle placed solely in the lap of ownership. That scenario makes the most sense. Though the FO could have done more over the several years before, I still can't (don't want to?) believe Pop thought Scola couldn't help the team.
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