How would you turn this team into a bona fide championship contender?

[TDMVPDPOY]

memphis is still shopping rudy gay

[DMC]

With my spear and magic helmet.

[DejuanorwhatDude]

After a loss there's always a tendency to overract as a fan. After watching a team lose in the same exact fashion time and time again, something has to be done! We've watched the Spurs lose games at times when some guys just flat out refused to compete. I don't think we can win them all, but effort is something that has to be given, night in and night out! I might be in the minority, but I wasn't too disappointed when we lost to Memphis a few years back and after we lost to OKC. I was disappointed that we still have a couple of the culprits from the OKC collaspe still on the team. So, fix the team within the constraints of the salary cap and the rules of the NBA. The ultimate goal is to hoist the le in 2012.

Bonner's Out
Trade for Hansbrough

Blair's Out
Find ANY team willing to trade scrub for scrub. There are many cheap towl wavers in the league.

De Colo as primary backup PG.

Neal stays

Jax contributes more to the team before the trade deadline or we salary dump him. No need to prolong this thing.

What are your thoughts?

This team is a contender. Not a certifiable lock like OKC or Miami, but it's worth riding out. No trades unless insane on another party's part are worth doing.

[LittleCriminal]

memphis is still shopping rudy gay

Rudy Gay, H. Haddadi and T. Wroten for S.Jackson,Lamont and Boner... throw in Joesph and or Picks too!!!
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=a5eztof

[BadOne]

Meh...worth a shot I suppose. More realistic, albeit a division rival.

This would help the interior D I suppose, but not enough to make us a "bona fide" championship contender IMO...

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=abhca7g

[lefty]

The ultimate goal is to hoist the le in 2012.

Well good luck with that

[freetiago]

just take a risk and sign a headcase like kenyon martin
team is playing to conservative
if we had prime TD Manu we could
now that were older we need to take risks to become true contenders

[Russo21]

agreed freetiago

Martin > Blair
Martin> Boner
Martin> Diaw

It's a no brainer really. I don't care if he's a bit of a head. He'd be the third best big on the team. What are they waiting for?

[Richie]

Lakers are losing. Pau is the odd man out. We have everything the Lakers need to run D'Antonis system, considering we've basically been a run and gun 3's team the last few years

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=aozspuc

Pau for Jackson, Bonner, Neal, Mills

The Lakers get 4 three point threats, including the all important stretch 4 in Bonner which Howard needs to operate in the paint. Mills and Neal give them better back up point guards that Steve Blake, and Jackson is a legit defender and 3 point threat to allow World Peace to rest.

Unless someone decided to give up a superstar for Gasol, I don't think they could get a better set of role players than they could get from us to fit D'Antonis system.

Spurs depth chart would read

Parker/De Colo
Green/Manu
Leonard/??
Pau/Diaw
Duncan/Splitter

[chapnis]

Lakers are losing. Pau is the odd man out. We have everything the Lakers need to run D'Antonis system, considering we've basically been a run and gun 3's team the last few years

You'd really want to do a trade that would make the Lakers better?

[Richie]

You'd really want to do a trade that would make the Lakers better?

If it makes us better too, why not? We all know Bonner will choke in the playoffs, lets just hope the Lakers don't know that too.

[playblair]

insert dejuan blair back into starting rotation .......

spurs best record in the west with blair in starting line up ......

blair replaced in playoffs = spurs eliminated .......

[playblair]

call up a true pg ...... cojo

[LittleCriminal]

How would I turn this team Into a Championship Contender??

Easy:
Trade or Cut Lamont

Sign or trade for a 6'10 or taller, young or old Center/PF.

Anybody who can make layups is an upgrade over Lamont.
Bonner comes off the pine before he does.

[DapDaGenius]

Trade Tiago Splitter to the Rockets for Greg Smith and Patrick Patterson. Then trade Blair to the Magic for Kyle O'Quinn.

Get rid of Bonner any way possible.

So with Splitter the Softie, Broken Blair and Boy Bonner gone, split the 45 minutes up between Smith, O'Quinn and Patterson.

Maybe not championship contender still...but it's better than what we have now.

[Whisky Dog]

Don't make them play 4 games in 5 nights, tbh

[silverblackfan]

Keep the team healthy and allow them to continue to gell.

[Boomersgold]

We need more size off the bench.

What do you guys think of this trade?

Manu and Bonner for Pau Gasol. Pau Gasol is being played at the three point line at LA due to Howard controlling the post in D'antoni's system, and we all know that Pau simply isn't a three point shooter. If used correctly, Gasol can be a dominant force down low, someone who's capable of easily scoring 20+ points against a star-studded team USA. The Lakers, in return, get a 50+% regular season three point shooter in Bonner and a veteran play making guard in Ginobili. Also, by trading Ginobili, it gives De Colo the opportunity to be the play maker for our bench unit. It'll also allow us to play Mills or Neal in their true position, the shooting guard spot, where they can best contribute to the team.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=b89orug

Would this trade make us a better team?

[AFBlue]

1. Get everyone healthy
2. Set the rotation--10-deep minimum
3. Do not play the Big 3 more than 35mpg or on second night of b2b
4. Maintain a deep rotation and manage minutes in early playoff rounds
5. Do not trade anyone currently contributing (excludes Blair and Joseph)

[Truckules]

Go after Nikola Pekovic, Amir Johnson, or Jason Smith, in that order.

[Truckules]

T'wolves probably want too much for Pek, so I think getting him would probably require Tiago which makes it a lateral move. If that is the case, I think this trade for Amir Johnson makes the most sense. http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=agyyejm

[maverick1948]

So many of you are trading for someone who would put us in the Luxury tax level. Try looking at this trade. http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=abos5gl

Nicholson is a high energy player. He would be the 4th or 5th big behind Diaw and maybe Bonner. When he gets a little time practicing with the team, he could be a really interesting player. Another reason for this trade for us would be reducing salary under the luxury tax to 1.49 m. We would under the rules have to add another player to bring us to the 14 minimum players under contract. I think with prorated rookie minimum we could sign Ryan Richards, bring his butt over here, put him on the Toros and play him to find out if he is a player or not. This seeing 10 mins of court time for a team and then not getting more flustrates me. And I want to see him on the court with "real" players, not the low level Euro losers. If he is not going to make it, then we have invested very little in him and can dump him back to bad Euro teams. BTW this is a money move on Richards. We would still have over 1 m if something happened and we needed an additional player.

[Richie]

Ryan Richards is garbage. He'll never be an NBA quality player. Why would Orlando trade a player they just drafted in the first round who is putting up decent stats in limited minutes?

[xellos88330]

[rmt]

Hope that TD continues his great play and one of: (1) Manu turns back the clock or (2) hot 3 point shooting. This is assuming average to good play from TP, Splitter, Diaw, Leonard, Green and SJax. Either that or pray for an injury to opponents' key player e.g. Durant/Westbrooke/Lebron/Paul/Melo on teams Spurs play. Don't think Spurs can get anyone worthwhile for the assets they're willing to give up - Bonner, Blair.