The End of the Tim Duncan Era.

[TJastal]

I am on the side that Duncan wore out both mentally and physically by trying to maintian as the only big on the floor. Small ball did more damage than you can show with just statistics. I felt we should have resigned Ian and developed him as the young shot blocker along side Timmy. Duncan needs a younger side kick to hand the ball too. He needs to take a lesser role in the offense, but we need another young inside player to get this done. Splitter will provide support and may be the guy. I would have liked to see an active Ian be part of that combined solution. If Ian goes elsewhere and is effective we really have to start putting Pop's feet to the fire.

Per 40 minutes this year, Mahinmi averaged roughly 26 pts, 12 boards, 2 blocks, and shot 63%.

Not bad for a sparse collection of random appearances throughout the year. It's really a testament to Mahinmi's good mental approach that he was able to produce such numbers. I hope he gets signed somewhere else where he'll actually get a regular role/minutes.

[Mark in Austin]

Losing Horry was the first straw, and losing Bowen was the last. This is no longer the team that won les, and it's time to officially retire the 4 rings smack.

Some random thoughts in response:

It can be a le team again, but only by rebuilding the defense with guys like Horry and Bowen. Easier said than done I know, but defense has to be the focus this summer.

If there is a theme aside from defense this summer it has to be consistency. McDyess was great at the end of the year. Bonner has moments where he's a great fit. Bogans kills it one night and is worthless the next. As the big three age, there will be more and more inconsistency / off games from them. The role players cannot suffer from consistency problems too.

The Lakers and Jazz both have shown that smallball isn't the only way forward. But you need the right bigs. I think if PHX goes on to win LA will kill them defensively because LA has more mobile length.

Like others have said, Duncan needs defensive help from a center. Imagine Robinson as the only defensive presence in 2003. Wouldn't have been pretty. But with Duncan they were deadly protecting the rim.

Hindsight's always 20/20 but the only trade that I think would have helped the team get further this year would have been for Camby (as imperfect as he is) and he wasn't available in the offseason when the Spurs made their move.

It will be interesting to see how smart Splitter is - I don't care if he averages what big Dave did his final year, to have another mobile big that can rotate / swithch off with Duncan as primary or secondary help defender would be huge. PHX and DAL both had way too many shots in the paint from little guys.

If Splitter isn't the answer than the Spurs still have Jeffersons expiring deal and worst case Parker as assets.

I think it would have been interesting to see how this year's team would have done if Parker hadn't broken his hand. A bench unit of Manu, Jefferson and Blair with great chemistry might make a difference against PHX.

[Jace]

Would have liked to see Duncan traded to a le contender..

Utah+Duncan could have won it all

Nuggets+Duncan could have won it all

[Spurminator]

I'm not convinced the window is closed at all.

[MannyIsGod]

I'm not convinced the window is closed at all.

I think with some retooling they can rebuild around the (semi)big 3 but the fact of the matter is that even if they're able to do this there are 2 teams which I think will be incredibly difficult to beat in the coming years: The Lakers and The Cavs.

Its going to be their NBA for the next several years and for the Spurs to make noise in it they're going to have to get far deeper than they are now.

[Jace]

How do you retool with all of your money tied up in Parker, Ginobli, Duncan and Jefferson?

All of them need to be trade bait

[Capt Bringdown]

I'm not convinced the window is closed at all.

The Tim Duncan window of domination is without question closed. That doesn't mean the le window is closed, but Tim's going to have to play a lot lesser role, and there's going to have to be an introduction of some unknown X factor/player(s).

Tinkering around the edges ain't going to cut it.

[kromediablo]

its not over, its just of a lot harder to do it by himself. Who will be the next coming big man to help out Timmy? Timmy is about to pass the torch soon. I still think we have one more championship in the works!!

[Capt Bringdown]

Just because Tim Duncan's on the roster, it doesn't mean that it's still the Duncan era. We've got no championship potential with him as the main load bearer anymore. Those days are long gone.

[superjames1992]

Would have liked to see Duncan traded to a le contender..

Utah+Duncan could have won it all

Nuggets+Duncan could have won it all

What?