Can we all agree on

[cutewizard]

This year is the first time the offense has looked lethal since 2013.

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[Ruler]

Reverse-cliff jumping after one win against a horrible team... Warriors beat them by 50.

Yup, because it's clear I was basing this entire post off one game.

off

[Cry Havoc]

The fact that, with the way they're playing now, the Spurs are one of if not the best teams in the league.

I'm a huge Kawhi fan, but Tony has been playing like a top 10-15 PG. His defense is even slightly above average, just by the eye test. Pau is trying harder, LMA is playing exactly how he needs to, Green is starting to come around on both ends, and our young guys / bench are playing very well (with the exception of Mills for a 5-6 game stretch and Manu showing his age).

We have off games here and there, like the Bucks game, but other than that we are looking real serious. The player fan trolling was funny the first 10,000 times, but we all have to admit the team is looking damn fine

Pau's effort on defense has increased noticeably. I think he's playing much more within his abilities now, which is something Duncan was a master of. Pau isn't chasing players as much, he's letting his length fill in his lack of speed. It got him a couple of blocks last night.

Yes - this team is 100x better than I could have imagined post Duncan. They play hard, show grit pretty consistently and while they aren't perfect and have flaws they are damn good.

Well, I don't know if there's ever been a Spurs team that hasn't had flaws. This team started the season looking like a mid-tier WC team (save the blowout of the Warriors). But now they actually look elite, both to the eye test and to the numbers they're putting up.

This team is good. They aren't dominating the league like they did in 2014 but they have a good shot of competing for the le if they play their best.

Actually as of recent, here are our margin of victories:

29
7
15
13
2
-5
20
19
21
-2 (Leonard's first game back after illness)
28
28
17
-2 (LMA out)
40

So you can see, especially over the last 10 games, the MOV has grown to some very healthy margins. If that trend continues and we stay healthy, we could establish ourselves as the most dominant team in the league pretty soon.

Guys, it's the Lakers come on now.

This team's defense is way too spotty but may as well as enjoy the transition year as it could be a lot worse.

Spotty? It's the best in the league. Though only by a slight margin; it isn't the league-destroying D we saw from the Spurs last season, especially before Duncan's injury.

The defense sometimes looks bad by the eye test, sure, but that's likely due to a league-wide increase in offense. The average ORtg this year is 108.0, second highest in the last 20 seasons (2008-09, 108.3) and well above last season's 106.4.

The defense has been much, much better as of recent. We are elite by comparison even considering the shaky start, but if you remove that start and just look at what the defense has been doing lately, it's even better (doubly so if you remove the games where we have had recent bouts of gastroenteritis). I would not call us actually an elite unit yet, because our opponents FG% is still too high, but other than that, it looks good. Pop is marvelous about maxing out his talent.

While Duncans' leadership was valuable, the foundation of the Spurs is too strong with PATFO still in charge providing leadership. Having Tony and Manu still on the roster helps too.

I said this often on twitter in the summer, but the Spurs replaced 40 yr old Duncan ( who had no knees), West (who was done), Diaw (who is close to done and a s of his 2014 self), Martin, Miller, and Bonner ( who all were done).

The only player the Spurs lost in the summer who had a pulse was Boban.

I never really understood the concern replacing those 7 players, when 4 of the players hardly or never played when it mattered, and when 6 of the 7 were on the brink of retirement.

Spurs kept their top 5-8 players from last year, filled three relevant roles in the regular rotation with upgrades ( Pau, Dedmon and Lee) and replaced the bottom, end of the roster, with youth and upside -- which were going to be net positives compared to the ho e residents that resided at the end of the Spurs roster last season.

Combine those facts/upgrades with how watered down the league is and I'm not surprised really. I expected this team to win over 60 games.

Well, if you've ever played on a team before, it's not always what players do on the court that contributes to a team's success. Losing guys who have been in the locker room for extended periods of time affects the chemistry. They can put out fires before they start, keep the team pointed in the right direction, etc. Strong veteran players with their head on straight are basically coaches in the locker room.

[DAF86]

Well yeah, when 2/5th of the starting lineup don't play as net negatives this team looks good. Let's hope the trend continues but experience from previous seasons suggests it won't.

[Spur|n|Austin]

Yup, because it's clear I was basing this entire post off one game.

off

It's his normal emo schtick, pay no attention.

Good thread, OP - GSG!

[boutons_deux]

team is coming along very nicely, will be great shape for playoffs

need to win some tight games against top teams

[Darius Bieber]

Yup, because it's clear I was basing this entire post off one game.

off

Sure seems like it. Delusional Spur fan thinking the team is way better than it is. Losing to the Magic at home, the Bucks at home, to the Clippers without Paul or Griffin says other wise.

[TheGreatYacht]

Well yeah, when 2/5th of the starting lineup don't play as net negatives this team looks good. Let's hope the trend continues but experience from previous seasons suggests it won't.

The only thing holding this team back now are the guards.... not the starting guards either.

[Cry Havoc]

Sure seems like it. Delusional Spur fan thinking the team is way better than it is. Losing to the Magic at home, the Bucks at home, to the Clippers without Paul or Griffin says other wise.

Do you really want to play this game? Serious question. I'd be happy to go through the regular season of 2014 and 2007. Do you believe those teams that won les ever lost a game? Serious question.

[GSH]

Lol what championship teams have ever relied on both a pg and a c.

Lol what championship teams have ever relied on both a pg and a c.

You mean other than past Spurs Championship teams, right? I mean, we aren't counting Tim and Tony, or you wouldn't even have asked that question. (Edit: Yes, I know that Tim and Dirk are listed as PF's. Dirk is one thing, but even the All Star and All NBA people debated about whether Tim was a PF or a C. Tim was a PF who did a lot of C stuff. LMA isn't. Pau is a C who does a lot more PF things.)

So... Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. They look pretty good.
Curry and Bogut. I think those two are fairly good.
Is this fun for you? 'Cuz it's kinda fun for me.
Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosch. (x2) I know they sucked, but they got paid lots of money, so I'll throw them in for laughs.
Nowitzki and Kidd. Kidd was at the end of his game, but he was still Jason Kidd.
Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol. (x2) A much younger Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol.
Dwayne Wade and Shaq.
Damn, I didn't think it would be this hard to come up with examples.

The weakest examples in the last 18 years are Rondo-Perkins, and Billups-Wallace. The weakest. I know, I know... Tim and Dirk were both 4's. Right. I'm not getting into that. You still have to go all the way back to the Jordan-led Bulls to find an exception. At the beginning of this season, Pau and Tony both looked too old to be the starting C and PG on a Championship team. Period. I'm not saying they suck - I'm talking about winning 16 games in the playoffs kind of good.

Tony is looking like he may still have a run in him - maybe. That's one step closer. If Pau finds the fountain of youth, it changes the calculus.

[MaNu4Tres]

Well, if you've ever played on a team before, it's not always what players do on the court that contributes to a team's success. Losing guys who have been in the locker room for extended periods of time affects the chemistry. They can put out fires before they start, keep the team pointed in the right direction, etc. Strong veteran players with their head on straight are basically coaches in the locker room.

No ?

I've played on teams before in high school (basketball and baseball) and college (baseball), but that's irrelevant. Yes, chemistry is important, but you still can't quantify it. It's there or isn't there but its hard to gauge just how much of it is there if it is.

Even with Duncan gone, the team had a lot of leadership returning from Pop to Manu to Tony. And they have a lot of veterans that have their head on straight setting great examples for the rookies to follow ( Green, Leonard, Mills, LaMarcus, Gasol, Lee). One guy wasn't going to break the mental make up of the team when its so strong in its foundation. You act like the core of the team changed, it didn't and neither did the coaching or management.

[Darius Bieber]

Do you really want to play this game? Serious question. I'd be happy to go through the regular season of 2014 and 2007. Do you believe those teams that won les ever lost a game? Serious question.

You can't compare those seasons. In the 2014 season, the team was on a mission, and having a rematch of the 2013 finals would produce great viewership numbers.

We got lucky in 2007 that Dallas was eliminated in the first round.

I'm not saying championship caliber teams never lose. I'm saying that the way the Spurs have lost games this year show that they aren't contenders.

[Cry Havoc]

I've played on teams before in high school (basketball and baseball) and college (baseball), but that's irrelevant.

Even with Duncan gone, the team had a lot of leadership returning from Pop to Manu to Tony. And they have a lot of veterans that have their head on straight setting great examples for the rookies to follow ( Green, Leonard, Mills, LaMarcus, Gasol, Lee). One guy wasn't going to break the mental make up of the team when its so strong in its foundation. You act like the core of the team changed, it didn't and neither did the coaching or management.

Oh, I'm not saying that. I'm just pointing out that sometimes losing guys who aren't considered "core" can actually have an impact on the team from a wider perspective.

[Cry Havoc]

You can't compare those seasons. In the 2014 season, the team was on a mission, and having a rematch of the 2013 finals would produce great viewership numbers.

We got lucky in 2007 that Dallas was eliminated in the first round.

I'm not saying championship caliber teams never lose. I'm saying that the way the Spurs have lost games this year show that they aren't contenders.

Ah, I was unaware that you defined championship teams by how "on a mission" they looked ~35 games into the season, especially in 2014 after starting 33 and 13 and losing 5 of 7 games and then getting blown out by the Brklyn Nets a week later. I'm betting that we can go back and find you condemning that team "on a mission" to a first round exit, in fact I'm pretty sure I recall you posting that very thing.

[Seventyniner]

Oh, I'm not saying that. I'm just pointing out that sometimes losing guys who aren't considered "core" can actually have an impact on the team from a wider perspective.

Matt Bonner says hi.....?

[lefty]

We gun win the le

[Cry Havoc]

Matt Bonner says hi.....?

[Joseph Kony]

Spurs fans are spoiled tbh...people in here doubting when the Spurs managed to obliterate GS, snapped Houston's 10 game steak and are 2-1 against them, made the Raptors look like a d-league squad, as well as having an elite start to the season on the road with 7 new players. Spurs still have off games and sequences but you can tell they're putting it together...with GS being so fragile on the inside and not having the kind of athletic slashing players that give spurs problems, they have a real shot to make it to the Finals again imo

[DPG21920]

Spurs fans are spoiled tbh...people in here doubting when the Spurs managed to obliterate GS, snapped Houston's 10 game steak and are 2-1 against them, made the Raptors look like a d-league squad, as well as having an elite start to the season on the road with 7 new players. Spurs still have off games and sequences but you can tell they're putting it together...with GS being so fragile on the inside and not having the kind of athletic slashing players that give spurs problems, they have a real shot to make it to the Finals again imo

This poster doesn't kid around ^ - this is the real gist of it all.

[Horse]

Sure seems like it. Delusional Spur fan thinking the team is way better than it is. Losing to the Magic at home, the Bucks at home, to the Clippers without Paul or Griffin says other wise.

Cause the cavs and warriors never lose to teams? off guy go find another team.

[SAGirl]

Yes - this team is 100x better than I could have imagined post Duncan. They play hard, show grit pretty consistently and while they aren't perfect and have flaws they are damn good.

^^

[Hoops Czar]

Yes, it's always nice to beat down the most undisciplined and worst defensive team in the league. I need no more proof. They truly are the best team in the NBA.

[SAGirl]

Spurs fans are spoiled tbh...people in here doubting when the Spurs managed to obliterate GS, snapped Houston's 10 game steak and are 2-1 against them, made the Raptors look like a d-league squad, as well as having an elite start to the season on the road with 7 new players. Spurs still have off games and sequences but you can tell they're putting it together...with GS being so fragile on the inside and not having the kind of athletic slashing players that give spurs problems, they have a real shot to make it to the Finals again imo

Good post Kony....
I believe!!!

[HarlemHeat37]

No reason to get excited after last season's meltdown, tbh..everybody on this forum has a 1-month memory

The Spurs squad of the past few weeks probably isn't the team we will see in the playoffs..they have looked great with TP having his annual nice stretch of basketball that can't be sustained..once he reverts to a more normalized, realistic level of play, this team will have the same issues that plagued them last season..

[SnakeBoy]

I'd say I want to believe but I need to see the the Spurs really tested first (for more than one game). Unfortunately the league is so pathetic right now that we aren't going to see that happen until the playoffs.