Article is pretty spot on, though I would give the Spurs the "semi-contender" label that the author dismisses. Not favorites anymore certainly (even though there times the spurs won w/out being the favorites). Semi-contender sounds just right as a matter of fact.
The Lakers are great right now, and clearly the conference choice to make the finals (at least), but I think a reasonable person would say that the Spurs have the ability to beat any other team in the Western Conference. Especially when one considers that the both the Nuggets (whether Melo stays or not, at this point the damage is done) and Jazz are weaker teams then they were last year. The Blazers are under new direction, and like the Houston Rockets are only great if their all-star caliber centers stay healthy (I know you can say that about the Spurs as well, but Tim isn't quite as injury prone as Yao, or Oden). A Maverick's series could be considered a toss up since both teams have shown the mental for ude to take each other out in recent years. And despite last year's embarrassing loss to the Suns, I still can't find any traces of fear in myself when considering a possible matchup against them.
While the spurs haven't added a superstar (sorry Tiago, not for a few years, if ever) this summer, a major shift has occurred. While adding young guys over the past several years the Spurs, and their fans, have had the at ude of "If (young guy X) can really step up then we have a shot to go deep in the Playoffs." Going into this season the thought has changed to "Well, we know that George Hill, DeJuan Blair, iand n all probability Tiago Splitter will be positive forces on this team throughout the season and post season."
Down play that if you want, but the difference between a 1 or 2 maybes, and 3 guys with positive expectations from their teammates, and coaches could be the difference in a team not making it out of the 2nd round, and a team that has a shot at upsetting LA.
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