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They underestimate the suckage of our bench
Roundtable: Spurs' outlook
With Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili out, it's all about survival for the Spurs
SI.com NBA writers will analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the league each week. Have a question you'd like answered? E-mail us here.
1. Given their poor start and with Tony Parker joining Manu Ginobili on the sideline, is it premature to think that the Spurs will struggle just to make the playoffs?
Ian Thomsen: They need to find some way to remain relevant over the next month, or else I'm going to look irrelevant myself for picking them to win the championship. (Because it's all about me.) Somehow, they need to turn this disaster into a positive by forcing bigger demands on their role players and tightening the defense, which has been awful.
Denver -- which looked like a playoff outsider heading into the season -- needs to win at least 45 games to press San Antonio in the Western Conference. This is going to be an entirely new regular-season experience for the Spurs, let's put it that way. It will be interesting to see how they adapt.
Marty Burns: It's way too early to count out the Spurs. San Antonio will be OK if Ginobili and Parker make it back in December. The Spurs are catching a break in that the Mavs, Warriors and Clippers are also struggling. Right now, it doesn't look like any of those three will be able to build a big cushion on them. Even if the Suns and Nuggets get too far ahead of them (joining the Lakers, Jazz, Hornets, Rockets and Trail Blazers) in the West, the Spurs should be able to get back in the race for the No. 8 spot simply by default.
Jack McCallum: Yes, such thoughts are premature. The Spurs will absolutely, positively make the playoffs and will continue to do so as long as Tim Duncan remains upright and engaged. But where will they finish considering this year's spate of misfortune? In the loaded West, they could be as low as sixth.
Chris Mannix: Even a weakened lineup should be enough to get them into the postseason. Parker's injury is debilitating and will probably cost them some wins in the regular season. But if I have learned anything from coach Gregg Popovich in the last few years, it is that a) he doesn't care about the regular season, just so long as he makes the playoffs, and b) once he is in, the most important thing is that his team is healthy. Word around the league is that the Spurs could get Ginobili back by the end of the month. And Parker's injury is unlikely to hamper him long term. Popovich should have his wish down the stretch: a healthy, rested unit ready to chase San Antonio's fifth le in 11 years.
Steve Aschburner: I don't think they're at the point yet where chasing down the eighth spot is a real worry. Even if it takes 50 victories again to qualify, winning 49 out of their final 77 (or, say, even 47 of their final 67) doesn't seem too great a task for the savvy Spurs if they do get going. But I do think they're at the point where nailing down a top-four berth is unlikely. And that could mean no home-court advantage, sticking them with a harder road in the playoffs.
They underestimate the suckage of our bench
They are bent on jinxing the spurs
The Spurs should tank it, get the first pick and win 70 games next year.
I think theyre going struggle to score for the next month. And that is my "Captain Obvious" post of the day.
I tell you what.
If the Spurs by the end of December are behind .500 by like 10-15 games, ill say tank the season.
And how do the spurs tank the season? Fake an injury to Duncan?
The spurs may not even make the playoffs without having to tank it.
Pop would never tank a season but that doesn't mean they aren't lottery bound. What I've seen of this team is flat out BAD and the crew they have to reley on now is pretty damn horrible.
You can't count them out because with all their pieces they seem pretty solid, but I coudl easily see this being a 30 win season.
No way unless Parker, Ginobili, or Duncan miss the season. There's just no way a team with Duncan/Paker/Ginobili for most of the season wins anything less than 42-45 games.
Well they're not off to a good start if you want to talk about health. Manu is a walking injury and I'm not convinced he's going to be healthy for the most part when he comes back. I think its not only possible but likelly he misses significant time at some other point this season. Then you have the fact that we're leaning on Duncan extremely hard right now. That can't be good for the longterm prospects. Tony needs to come back fully healthy as well.
But even when they all come back you're hoping that they all gel and that we get a better contribution out of our supporting cast than we have up until this point.
I don't think 30 games is likely, but I don't think its nearly out of the realm of possibility. I'd say 42-45 is a fair estimate of what to expect out of this team this year but that may not be enough for the playoffs in the end.
Those writers seem pretty optomistic...
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