Are the Spurs contender or pretender?

[kaji157]

As said in the article, this team has been all the season a big question mark.
But truth to be said, we are playing the best basketball in all year. And without Tony Parker.
Can this team win it all as it is? Sure, no.
But we don't know what TP are we getting. If we get a consistent 16-20 ppg scoring from TP without taking more than 10 points of Manu and Hill, that's 10 more ppg each game.
To say the least, we should be a very scary 7th or 8th seed. If Parker fit's in nicely with what the team is doing now, and i think there is a big spot right there for him when Manu rests, then we can take on anyone. Not sure if beat anyone, but we can compete. We are competing without him, so nothing to loose there.
Another question is if Duncan and Manu can take it for more games. Our supporting cast is virtually non existant appart from Hill, so a lot hungs in what these to can do come PO time.
As said before, i don't think this team will go without a good battle.

[MaNu4Tres]

As said in the article, this team has been all the season a big question mark.
But truth to be said, we are playing the best basketball in all year. And without Tony Parker.
Can this team win it all as it is? Sure, no.
But we don't know what TP are we getting. If we get a consistent 16-20 ppg scoring from TP without taking more than 10 points of Manu and Hill, that's 10 more ppg each game.
To say the least, we should be a very scary 7th or 8th seed. If Parker fit's in nicely with what the team is doing now, and i think there is a big spot right there for him when Manu rests, then we can take on anyone. Not sure if beat anyone, but we can compete. We are competing without him, so nothing to loose there.
Another question is if Duncan and Manu can take it for more games. Our supporting cast is virtually non existant appart from Hill, so a lot hungs in what these to can do come PO time.
As said before, i don't think this team will go without a good battle.

Pop doesn't give this team their best chance to win with the product he puts on the floor in certain situations. Til that does happen then you can analyze more proficiently.

[boutons_deux]

"we should be a very scary 7th or 8th seed"



Spurs 1-4, or 2-4 max.

[rascal]

and yet this team has played a total of 2-3 games together as a completely healthy unit....

The lakers have had injuries all year also.

[silverblk mystix]

I am looking at all this---in a completely OPPOSITE WAY---

look at everything that is WRONG---everything that is AGAINST this team---all that has gone BAD ---this whole season....

then I see TWO possibilities---

A) all the doomsayers, so-called experts and part-time fans are correct...the spurs will be one-and-done---at best....

(so what----it happens, no real surprises, the writing was on the wall,etc....)

OR;

B) despite EVERYTHING pointing to a bad post-season...the spurs DO get it together---just enough...then WHAT-IF???

how much SWEETER it will be if they do something special...

it could be just a nice run---and a SPOILER role...

or ...it could be really special...

then wouldn't that be a nice ending to this season...

so i look at all this ...like...hmmm...this is a really intriguing scenario that is unfolding...and i will just enjoy the ride----UPS AND DOWNS...

This is great drama

[Dex]

That prompted Duncan to shout, "We already have one point guard who can't pass''

[mytespurs]

The Spurs are tweeners right now....not as good as the upper echelon teams but they're not exactly the Clippers.

[lefty]

The Spurs are not a contender nor a pretender


They are just tender

[tlongII]

The Spurs don't have enough size to deal with the Lakers. Last night was further evidence of this fact. There's only a few teams that can deal with them presently. Fortunately the Blazers are one of them.

[nkdlunch]

neither. they are just a legit 8th seed that will have a very early summer.

[SenorSpur]

Pop doesn't give this team their best chance to win with the product he puts on the floor in certain situations. Til that does happen then you can analyze more proficiently.

Cosigned

Outisde of the Big Three, Hill and Blair, this team has a bunch of inconsistent, non-contributiing roles players that are being given big minutes, by the head coach. These same non-contributing role players are nothing more than wasted roster spots.

Meanwhile, the hungry, young, energy players can't see the light of day.

Goddamn confusing ...and Pretenders.

[lefty]

Cosigned

Outisde of the Big Three, Hill and Blair, this team has a bunch of inconsistent, non-contributiing roles players that are being given big minutes, by the head coach. These same non-contributing role players are nothing more than wasted roster spots.

Meanwhile, the hungry, young, energy players can't see the light of day.

Goddamn confusing ...and Pretenders.

CIA Pop?

[SenorSpur]

The Spurs are tweeners right now....not as good as the upper echelon teams but they're not exactly the Clippers.

...which is just another way of saying the Spurs are mediocre.

[Russ]

The Spurs don't have enough size to deal with the Lakers. Last night was further evidence of this fact. There's only a few teams that can deal with them presently. Fortunately the Blazers are one of them.

All kidding aside, Spurs fans wish you the best of luck in the 1st round.


(Think Golden State-Dallas '07.)

[boutons_deux]

Spurs = dead-ender.

It was a great run that ended with the 07 Championship. Nothing but mediocrity since, mediocrity now, nothing but mediocrity on the horizon.

I bet we can't even attract the usual over-the-hill bandwagoning has-beens this summer if we drop/trade Matt, Keith, Antonio, Roger.

No matter what Manu's agent says, Manu's gonna look at all the offers, and, "it's a business", take the money rather than waste more seasons with Spurs. Manu's gotta "put food on his family"

[EmptyMan]

Pretender.

I like Bonner, but watching him try to defend makes me sad. Watching Dice trying to defend makes me sad. Blair being 6'7 makes me sad.

[duncan228]

Hoopsworld

NBA AM: Worth A Mention
By: Steve Kyler

Not Another One: Spurs' All-Star Tim Duncan is a Hall of Famer.

If Duncan hung up the jersey today his career accomplishments put him in rarified company – rivaled only by players like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

Need a refresher?

Four-time NBA Champion, three-time Finals MVP, two-time regular season MVP, NBA Rookie of The Year, 12-time NBA All-Star, nine-time All-NBA first team, three-time All-NBA second team, eight-time All-Defense first team and Naismith College Player of the Year.

Duncan has 20,467 career points, 11,238 career rebounds and he's logged 35,266 game minutes - and in a week's span he's logged his two of his worst games as a professional going 1-for-10 versus Orlando on the 17th and logging a 2-for-11 game last night versus the L.A. Lakers.

Ok, the first one was a fluke. Everyone knew the Spurs were coming off a back-to-back and were a little more worn than normal and the Orlando Magic jumped on them early and the Spurs relented.

But seeing Tim Duncan put up another dreadful outing in a game that mattered was almost depressing.

Spurs fans have suggested maybe it was time for the Spurs to trade Tony Parker while his value is somewhat high, but if these two games are not a symptom of a bigger issue in San Antonio than I'm not sure what is.

To be fair, Duncan is putting up reasonable numbers this year shooting 50.8% from the field and grabbing almost 10 rebounds per game while logging a career-low in minutes per game. But, as Spurs fans are starting to see, the team just continues to get older and slower. Tim Duncan just isn't the take-over-a-game player he once was and that's a shame for a player who clearly has had a great career.

Last night's 92-83 loss to the Lakers puts the Spurs just a ½ game up on Portland who sits in the 8th playoff spot in the West.

Considering how promising this season looked for the Spurs from afar in November, how sad will it be to see the Spurs limp into the playoffs and face an eventual sweep in the first round?

Maybe some post-season magic happens, but given how the Spurs have looked as of late they could be the team every one wants to face in the opening round of the playoffs. Who would have ever thought that was possible?

[SenorSpur]

The sharks are circling in the water and the vultures are circling overhead.

[Dex]

Awful lot of doubt being shed on Duncan just for two bad outings within one week. I guess expectations get set high after 12 years of excellence.

We all know that Duncan is getting older and is not the player he once was, but I think it's pretty knee-jerk to consider him spent after two sub-par games, especially games where he was going against capable defensive bigmen in Howard and Gasol. Is credit given where it's due?

All players struggle eventually. I guess we can't expect Tim to be Tim forever. But bad games happen to everyone, and they're probably going to happen more as Tim gets older. I still don't think we can really judge Duncan's performance until the postseason.

[Allanon]

If the Spurs still had Scola, they'd be contenders and would be able to go toe to toe with the Lakers. But since they don't have Scola (and the Spurs didn't do jack at the trade deadline to fix this) the Spurs lack of size/talent in the frontcourt is the Lakers biggest strength...not good.

As it is now, 2 best case scenarios:
1) Spurs miss the Playoffs entirely and get the highest lotto pick possible to team up with Splitter
or
2) Stay out of the Lakers bracket by getting #7 or #6 and they have a fighting chance until the WCF

[Killakobe81]

Agree with Alanon. Disagree with article. If you think he is done go ahead and trade us Duncan i will give you a 1st rounder easy.
Has he lost a step or two ...of course ...but hi game was not about speed or hops anyway.
Put him on the celts with the big 3 and rondo and he would make the celts better than Perkins as much as i like Bynum same if he is on the Lakers. put him on Dallas instead of Haywood or Damp and the Mavs are better ...

Stop throwing dirt on Tim's grave ...i got $20 that says we see 20 and 10 vs the Cavs on Friday ...

[Chomag]

This team cracks under pressure. Gone are the days when the spurs put fear into the opposition. Bonner, Mason, and Bogans have no business being on the court when the game is on the line. They're just paper thin and when it comes time to rest TD and Manu, the players on the floor seem to lose all sense of purpose. People continue to fraternize over the defense as the main culprit, but the offense is just as bad. Outside of Ginobili on certain nights, they really have no goto guy late in the fourth quarter. Players like G. Hill and Blair are too young and inexperienced to deliver in crunch time of big games. Others like Bonner and Bogans really have no business playing crucial minutes in a big game for a team with championship aspirations.

I have been saying this since the beginning of the season and I will continue to repeat this til I'm blue in the face, RJ will NEVER be a factor in a big game because he is NOT a big game player. He will NEVER put this team or any team over the top.

TD has been pushed to his breaking point. The Spurs blew a golden opportunity earlier in the season to push ahead with an easy schedule. This would of afforded them the opportunity to rest Duncan on B2B's, but the Spurs can ill afford to rest him with the season hanging in the balance. Everybody casted stones at the pessimists quoting "Its only December", "Its only January", "Yeah, like championships are won in February". Well, now its March, and the Spurs Championships are dashed because the big three has been reduced to the big one.

People expect Parker to come back and give the Spurs another option after sitting on his laurels for six weeks. It doesn't work like that. Bonner didn't find his stroke for nearly a month after coming back, and Derek Anderson, arriving for the playoffs, never found his shooting touch as the spurs were ousted by the jazz.

It should be obvious to one and all, they have neither the talent, nor in some cases, the cranial capacity to beat the elite teams in the west. The Spurs will be first round fodder for whoever they face in the first round. Thats just the facts of life.

Great post. This is exactly how I felt earlier in the season when name Sayers were calling us all idiots because we thought that those early games were important. Honestly guys, did you really want the Spurs having to fight tooth and nail just to stay alive at the end of the season? If Spurs could have capitalized on those early wins the big 3 could be getting some good rest about right now.

IMO the Spurs were better of going latto. Thats much better then just getting beat down in the first round.

[Chomag]

Awful lot of doubt being shed on Duncan just for two bad outings within one week. I guess expectations get set high after 12 years of excellence.

We all know that Duncan is getting older and is not the player he once was, but I think it's pretty knee-jerk to consider him spent after two sub-par games, especially games where he was going against capable defensive bigmen in Howard and Gasol. Is credit given where it's due?

All players struggle eventually. I guess we can't expect Tim to be Tim forever. But bad games happen to everyone, and they're probably going to happen more as Tim gets older. I still don't think we can really judge Duncan's performance until the postseason.

We all saw this same thing last season. Timmy is giving it his all but he is breaking down. Tim has heart, he just doesn't have young legs to go with that big heart. He may be able to have some flashes here on out but his body just wont give him what he wants. It's not his fault. IT's the stupid FO and coach that continue to expect Tim to be able to hold the fort all himself. Yes when he was young he could do that without much problem.

Teams bang on him all day and wear him down by attacking the rim. Still a few years since Spurs still do not have someone to help support him in the paint. At about when D-Rob was Tim's age, he had Timmy.

[MaNu4Tres]

Cosigned

Outisde of the Big Three, Hill and Blair, this team has a bunch of inconsistent, non-contributiing roles players that are being given big minutes, by the head coach. These same non-contributing role players are nothing more than wasted roster spots.

Meanwhile, the hungry, young, energy players can't see the light of day.

Goddamn confusing

Full of win Senor

[spurs10]

nice read.

ditto...