San Antonio Spurs
They're favorites in the Western Conference, given Russell Westbrook's knee issues and the lack of a proven third option on the wing in Oklahoma City. San Antonio could have nabbed big-time cap room by renouncing both Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili, and it surely flirted with a home run free-agent acquisition. But it settled on bringing back last year's group, banking on staying power from the old guard and continued internal development from the young core.
We know what we're getting here: the league's most diligent motion-based offense, with Tony Parker and Tim Duncan as its hubs, and a defense that revived itself based on Duncan's nimbler game, Kawhi Leonard's ascension, and Gregg Popovich's patience in building the Duncan-Splitter pairing. The Spurs were basically co-champs last season, and though we should expect some decline from Duncan and Ginobili, the younger guys are ready to pick up the slack. Leonard especially showed he's ready for more in the Finals. Marco Belinelli provides some Ginobili meltdown insurance; he's bigger than Gary Neal, nearly as good a shooter, and much more polished at all the other stuff — ballhandling, passing, and defense.1 The world is curious to see what the Spurs do with Jeff Ayres (formerly Pendergraph) after using their mini midlevel exception to offer him nearly twice the minimum salary. The Spurs also have some trade flexibility, with two midsize expiring contracts (Matt Bonner, Boris Diaw) and some interesting, seldom-used international prospects.
In a conference filled with teams facing (very intriguing) questions, the Spurs are a known commodity that may still have some upside.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...2013-14-season
Don't know why every journalist keeps bringing up the Spurs and their expiring contracts every season. The SA front office has always been incapable of making an impact trade...especially in the middle of a season. Same , different year.
Spurs had a pair of fairly impactful trades involving richard jefferson.
Nazr Mohammed, Stephen Jackson
Hopefully we can use Bonner's contract as trade bait.
well we did trade hill for leonard. that turned out great for us.
If Bonner can play as well as he played in last year's PO's, I don't see why you would want him off the team.
Indy should be swapped with OKC. I'm not so quick on buying that Chicago belongs in group A. A high end member in group B, sure.
To create minutes for players that are better than him like Baynes.
Good read, thanks for the link.
Deng is on his way out, and is angry with the FO and the medical staff there. Not the recipe for upsetting Miami.
Oh, and LOL Lakers...
The fact that Boozer is paid as a #2 player when he's 5th or 6th in their pecking order also hurts too. All that cap space in 2010 for nothing.
Just getting rid of RJ and his contract was a impact trade whether Jax lasted or not
Apparently there's a cold war going on between Thibs & the GM as well, according to Woj. Chicago's seen it before w/ Krause & Jordan but it's generally not a good way to get to the finals, especially when the GM is firing part of the coaching staff...
I'd take anything Woj writes that isn't actual news with a MASSIVE grain of salt. The guy loves pushing agendas with his opinion pieces.
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