Bill Simmons: I'm still not sold on The Spurs maintaining this pace

[BronxCowboy]

lol @ taking his words literally.

Fine, don't take them literally. Please expound to us the deep hidden meaning of the riddle that is a Simmons column.

[jimo2305]

even if taken figuratively.. we all know this dude won't give spurs a break.. it all reverts back to the 'lulz they're old' belief..

so what if manu's ankles are on the verge of shattering like he's heard thru the grapevine.. he acts like he hasn't seen our role players step in and actually do something unlike last year and the year before.. of course im assuming he's pretending not to see that because he's actually seen a spurs game... i hope o.O...

manu's a star player on our team.. if a star player goes down on a team.. the team takes a hit productively.. as this is the case for every other team in the nba..

[BronxCowboy]

Maybe he's mentioning the knees because he's confused Manu with Kobe?

[DeadlyDynasty]

Fine, don't take them literally. Please expound to us the deep hidden meaning of the riddle that is a Simmons column.

Do you honestly think Simmons meant "keep the same pace" in the literal sense? That's all I'm asking. He doesn't strike me as a dumbass, and I can't stand most of his cause he's a Laker-hater and Boston homer.

[DeadlyDynasty]

even if taken figuratively.. we all know this dude won't give spurs a break.. it all reverts back to the 'lulz they're old' belief..

so what if manu's ankles are on the verge of shattering like he's heard thru the grapevine.. he acts like he hasn't seen our role players step in and actually do something unlike last year and the year before.. of course im assuming he's pretending not to see that because he's actually seen a spurs game... i hope o.O...

manu's a star player on our team.. if a star player goes down on a team.. the team takes a hit productively.. as this is the case for every other team in the nba..

He's a Laker-hater, I know the feeling.

[BronxCowboy]

Do you honestly think Simmons meant "keep the same pace" in the literal sense? That's all I'm asking. He doesn't strike me as a dumbass, and I can't stand most of his cause he's a Laker-hater and Boston homer.

I think you're suggesting he meant that we're going to see a dramatic drop-off in the Spurs performance. While it wouldn't surprise me that he really meant that, he did a damn good job of hedging. If the Spurs do continue to play well, win the division, win the championship, something like that, nobody can pull this quote and say that he was wrong unless the Spurs really do get 75 wins. It was a -ass statement.

[DeadlyDynasty]

I think you're suggesting the meant that we're going to see a dramatic drop-off in the Spurs performance. While it wouldn't surprise me that he really meant that, he did a damn good job of hedging. If the Spurs do continue to play well, win the division, win the championship, something like that, nobody can pull this quote and say that he was wrong unless the Spurs really do get 75 wins. It was a -ass statement.

I think it's much ado about nothing, tbh.

[BronxCowboy]

Fair enough.

[rascal]

I think you're suggesting he meant that we're going to see a dramatic drop-off in the Spurs performance. While it wouldn't surprise me that he really meant that, he did a damn good job of hedging. If the Spurs do continue to play well, win the division, win the championship, something like that, nobody can pull this quote and say that he was wrong unless the Spurs really do get 75 wins. It was a -ass statement.

You are looking way too much into this. It just is not that important what he writes.

[Spurminator]

People need to appreciate Simmons as if he were a buddy who's good with words and funny, and not an expert or objective sports analyst. In other words, don't take him so damn seriously.

[Trill Clinton]

[DeadlyDynasty]

[trollt]

deadlydynasty continuing his trend of shrewd posting, starting to confuse you with KillaKobe.

Also Trill, nice.

[ShoogarBear]

Here's my take on this: If Manu's ankles and knees were in any worse shape then they've ever been, do you really believe Pop would play him the minutes he's playing him, knowing that Hill has been playing better and better. Manu would have not played Saturday night against the Cavs if this were true... Let's just enjoy the ride and see where it takes us

This. Or, maybe this is the ultimate CIA Pop of all time: Manu's legs are about to fall off so play him lots of minutes!

[Agloco]

/thread

And if Manu was secretly injured, I doubt Pop would be playing him a career-high amount of minutes. I'm a big Simmons fan but he didn't think that answer through.

Par for the course.

[Marcus Bryant]

At least he didn't pinch another sentimental laden green loaf about how Duncan was the Celtics' but for those interloper Spurs and their magic draft dust.

[Cry Havoc]

lol.. If anything the Spurs are on pace to win 57 - 66 wins imho.

As much Miami Heat as I'll take for saying this, Hollinger put the Spurs on 59 wins yesterday as an estimate of pace, defense, and margin of victory.

That might be a pretty steep drop from a 12-1 start, but if you asked ANY Spurs fan if they would take 59 wins for this season before it started, they'd have jumped on it in a heartbeat.

I personally feel anything over 54-55 wins is gravy, at that point. We still don't know what this team is capable of accomplishing, but 56+ wins should be enough for a top 3 seed in the playoffs, and really, what more can you ask for from our guys? I wouldn't be complaining if we had HCA against everyone except the Lakers.

[Marcus Bryant]

The cost of signing Scola would have been substantial at the time and the relief afforded by dumping Butler's contract was significant. The effective cost to the Spurs had they not done the deal, signed Scola, and not been able to dump Butler's contract elsewhere was something on the order of 3 years, $30 mil, IIRC.

I think the Spurs thought he'd be a good player in the league, just not that good.

[jimo2305]

People need to appreciate Simmons as if he were a buddy who's good with words and funny, and not an expert or objective sports analyst. In other words, don't take him so damn seriously.

it's not that we're taking him seriously.. well at least from my perspective.. i know simmons articles aren't to be looked at like rick riley's but i've gotten sick over just about every media pundit on there downtalking the spurs at every opportunity they get..

[DAF86]

I don't give a what he thinks about the Spurs keeping this level, 'cause I know that if they stay healthy they will. What bothers me is the Manu comment, why throw up a bull comment like that? He prefers to take serious a rumour instead of looking the fact that Manu is averaging a career high in minutes?

[crc21209]

So Simmons is the Spurs expert now that he "hears" Manu's ankles and knees are worse than the Spurs let on? Riiiight....like everyone here has said...Pop wouldnt be throwing him out there for so many minutes each night if that were truly the case..

[Barfunk]

As much Miami Heat as I'll take for saying this, Hollinger put the Spurs on 59 wins yesterday as an estimate of pace, defense, and margin of victory.

That might be a pretty steep drop from a 12-1 start, but if you asked ANY Spurs fan if they would take 59 wins for this season before it started, they'd have jumped on it in a heartbeat.

That is what I had predicted on my extremely popular "HIT" thread, (lol) "Predictions For Fun" after the Spurs stormed out to a 1-0 record. Hope I'm wrong in favor of more wins with the championship still thrown in the package.

[Anonymous Cowherd]

...wait, we WON'T win 76 games this season?

woah Bill. that's what you call sticking your neck out.

[MannyIsGod]

Yeah, way to stick your neck out there Simmons, Im also not sold the Spurs are on pace for a 75-7 season.

Yeah no .

[mingus]

Bill Simmons is right about the pace, obviously. i don't know where he got his info on Manu's health.

Simmons is going to say anything at this point to derail any positive conversation about the Spurs and turn it into a negative because he thought the Spurs would fall off the map going into this year. he's basically trying to save face, even though he's a horrible basketball analyst to begin with. i think he had OKC winning 60+ games this year. he's trash.