A brand new team next season?

[tmtcsc]

Maybe. But I sure as cringe every time I see him pulling up for a two or driving to the basket.

Yeah, you know the offense has broken down when Bruce tries to drive to the rim or shoots anything but a 3. He's made a couple of 2's from the right, top side of the key.

You have to admit,when he locks down guys like Peja and Nash, it makes everything that much simpler for us.

[whottt]

tmtcsc, what does your nic stand for?

Pretty sure the TMT stand for Tim Manu Tony..what's the csc stand for?

[SenorSpur]

Personally, I'd love to see the Spurs use their first pick in the draft on a swingman. There are a couple in this draft that, while they not crack the rotation immediately, could be of some use. Even with that, the Spurs can still go into FA and look at guys like James Jones or Mikael Pietrus - to name a few. A backup PG can be had more easily. , they could even bring back Darius Washington for another look.

Bottom line, it's time for the Spurs FO to stop dragging this out. Win or lose tonight, it doesn't and shouldn't sway the fact that they gambled on this roster one year too long. This current roster has gotten as far as it can. It's long overdue time to infuse it with new, fresh, young blood. It's time to bid farewell to Horry, Finley, Barry, Stoudamire and Vaughn. I fully expect to see no less than 4-5 new faces on next year's roster next season.

[SenorSpur]

Shouldn't we actually have some replacements lined up or at least in mind before we actually get rid of the guys we have?


Young players can suck too.


Getting younger just for the sake of getting younger is stupid ing idea that only comes from the mouths of journalists and inexperienced fans.




I don't mind having some old guys on the bench. We've had them every single time we've won a le, and they've played a role every single time...sometimes a really large role.

And these guys tend to make better bench players because they don't really care about PT, and they know how to keep themselves sharp. They also don't get overwhelmed or confused or their inexperience capitalized on.


A look at some of the aged guys on our championship teams:

99 - Elie(36), Perdue(33), Kersey(37)...for that matter Kerr was 33.

03 - Drob(37), Kerr(37), Ferry(36), Willis(40)...for that matter Smitty was 33.

05 - Tony Massenburg(37), Bruce Bowen(33), Robert Horry(34)...for that matter Glenn Bigg Dogg Robbinsonn was 33.

07 - Bowen and Horry still plus Barry and Finley are added to the list.

And IMO, Bruce was our true finals MVP last season...and he's probably the MVP of this series as well.


IIRC, Bruce was over 30 when he signed with the Spurs in the first place.


So you see....old players in and of themselves are not the problem. A great deal of the time these guys turn out to be the ones that pull asses out of the fire during a playoff run, while younger players falter.


The problem arises when the team is built around old players, and forced to start a lot of them or rely on them heavily.


The problem arises when the stars get old.



The problem arises, when you are paying old players a ton of money.






The biggest problems facing this team are not the ages of Barry, Horry and Finley or even Kurt Thomas...


And with the Udoka signing...the problem is not Bruce Bowen as much as it was last season.



The biggest problem this team has...without a doubt, is the age of Manu Ginobili and the toll his style of play exerts on his body.


And you know what? Manu's don't grow on trees. They are extremely difficult to aquire, via the draft FA or any other means available. In fact I can promise you, we won't be getting one this summer...no matter how many old mofos we cut.




So I'd just hold off on jettisoning this bench until you know what you are going to get to replace them.


I personally think you sign Horry for the vet min for as long as he wants to play, because he's still ten times the player Massenberg and Ferry were. ...because he does a great many things, and I have a feeling these contributions go beyond what you see on the court. It may just be his general at ude.


On top off all that...we still need a freaking long three, of any age.


And in addition...we have two very young bigs coming on board next season.



No...this team basically needs two things...


A young scoring guard..and a long SF. We do not need to jettison our two time championship bench blindly.

This team needs more than that. Having some vets on the bench in fine and I agree that a complete overhaul isn't the answer either. But 7 or 8 old guys on a team is way too many.

The results of this series against the Hornets alone should be enough to convince anyone why it's time to get younger. Check the declining team defensive statistics for the year and you'll see further proof of this.

Now when I say getting younger, I don't necessarily mean getting 22 year-old young at 4-5 spots. , that's going extreme in the other direction and is a worse solution.

But a young swingman via the draft, a mid-career FA swingman, and a backup PG. Also if Bonner is on the block, that means acquiring yet another reserve PF who can rebound, defend and perhaps spread the floor.