Reply With Quote
This team has all the pieces to win now. If they miss the playoffs or struggle just to sneak in and exit early, nobody should be safe.
So, it's pretty clear that we aren't going anywhere this year - this team simply hasn't gelled, nor does it have an iden y. During the championship years our iden y was based on defence first and foremost - we would win games by simply stopping the opponent from scoring for long stretches of the game, usually due to Bruce's ability to lock down elite scorers, and Tim/Rob's incredible help defence. That model is dead. So, where do we go from here?
As I see it, 5 guys are a lock to stay:
Tim
Tony
George
Grizzly
Malik
Added to that, I'd like to see them give Ian a cheap contract as he looked like an NBA bench player to me (get the guy on the court and develop him a bit NOW!), and I'd love to see Manu stay on a decent contract (2 yrs, 15 million - overpay a bit because he's great PR for the team, and the guy is still a terror off the bench, we just can't rely on him as the 3rd scorer any more).
So, that's 7 players - what would you like to see done with the other 5 spots? From what I can see we need 2 shooters (a swing and a stretch 4), 2 athletic wings (one bona fide scorer, the other a top shelf defender), and a long big to play with Tim. Exactly who, I'm not sure yet, although I would like to see us miss the playoffs and draft a Xavier Henry type.
What say you?
PS If you want to call me out for being sacreligious (ie. accepting that the team is not going to win the le this year), save it because it's pointless.
I'm throwing this open because RJ and Dice will both effectively be expiring next year (which makes them attractive to salary cutting teams), Finley is gone, Mason is gone, Bonner is probably gone
This team has all the pieces to win now. If they miss the playoffs or struggle just to sneak in and exit early, nobody should be safe.
The main problem is the Spurs are already at around $54 million for next year (thanks RJ!). Projections on the cap are right around there, probably even less. That means there aren't a lot of signing options out there. The MLE is available but I forget if the LLE is annual or not. Splitter coming over would be ideal but that's a big unknown on talent and whether he'd even come over. It's just not looking good even with the young talent on the team.
Agreed.
If RJ could figure out how to bring tonight's effort every night and manu can be like he was tonight then you've got something good there.
Duncan was HORRIBLE offensively and they still won.
Hill wasn't that great either (pressure being home)
If Parker can shake off the hip thing then things will keep improving..
They were playing a team that is 18-35 in a conference. It should've been a blowout even with Tim not shooting well.
Tyrus Thomas and splitter will hopefully be building block of the future too
And?
The Pacers have some good pieces, it's not like they were playing the freaking Nets.
Yea this is our last legit chance with our big three. We're older, but we can beat anyone on any given night. The question is can we pull our together in time and go for one last run. I think we can. But this is it. Duncan will be going on 35 next year, Gino will probably sign elsewhere, someone is gonna throw good money at him and even if we get rid of jefferson to sign him, we'll have a 34 year old duncan, 33 year old gino and Tony Parker taking most of our cap space. Even with these three guys now, no one has confidence in them. Sooner or later we are gonna have to have a lottery season. Hopefully when that day comes we'll get another #1 draft pick!
This is where the looming 2011 lockout and a new CBA come into play. The degree to which the salary structure will change is completely unknown, so teams with long-term, high-dollars contracts on their books will certainly be interested in acquiring RJ and Dice to reduce future obligations. For the same reason, I find it unlikely that the Spurs will take on such contracts.
On a similar note, I'm sure Tony will want to talk extension this summer, but I don't believe the Spurs will be interested in negotiating with him until the parameters of the new CBA are known.
They were not playing a good team and struggled.
So some of you are thinking that the Spurs are contenders once again after beating the Pacers? Hmm,
Spurs win game, yet people still start threads throwing in towel for them.
It is called small ball. Spurs were up 14 before that. I would think it would be hard to play defense without anyone over 6'7" on the court.
Pop is just making it harder on the team. Maybe he is trying to get the guys mentally tough.
They struggled at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth.
When Parker Duncan came in, they played damn well just missed some shots.
Your blowing this game alot out of proportion.
Uh the Spurs played small ball when they were up 16.
They had Danny Granger at power forward, what big would you like to guard him exactly?
With the lineup they have at their disposal, a game against this Pacers team should never be as close as it was. I'm not blowing anything out of proportion as this team has never shown it is capable of beating great teams. So nothing has changed.
Last edited by Shastafarian; 02-17-2010 at 09:55 PM.
Can we please stay on topic?
Really? You really think that? I refer you to this guy:
Yup, exactly, we should be able to move RJ/Dice pretty easily after the season, or early next season.
I said don't bother with the believe smack. I'm a realist, and this team just doesn't have it. I'm far more interested in the kinds of players people would like to see us rebuild with.
add splitter
Yes, you are right ducks, add Splitter.
So, I'd like to start with something like this:
TP/George/?
Manu/Xavier Henry/?
?/?/?
Tim/Grizzly
Splitter/Ian
If we could grab Thomas for an expiring I'd do it, which would give us a young and flexible big rotation. We badly need swings though.
You may have missed by point.
I believe that there will be ample opportunities to flip RJ/Dice for players on longer contracts.
Given the uncertainties of the new CBA, I have my doubts that they will avail themselves of those opportunities.
Who the F is Xavier Henry?
The Spurs should have been contenders all this time. The fact that they find a way to struggle against a terrible Pacers team is their problem. They stink right now, but they can't attempt to convince anyone that they just aren't good enough to stomp the Pacers after six days off.
Oz, this team has talent. They can play defense when they want to, they can move the ball well and score on the inside when they want to, they can rebound when they want to. It's not too late for this team to establish an iden y that drives them the rest of the year and makes them competetive, but the clock's ticking.
Yes, I get you, you may be right. But by that logic we end up throwing away another season, because RJ is clearly not helping. Will management be willing to throw away Duncan's penultimate season?
Also, there is talk about a mechanism in the new CBA for retroactively bringing existing contracts into line with it. Sounds far-fetched, but we might see that.
Instead of referring me to a strawman, how about you make your case? If you can't do that, then don't start a thread and ask for people's opinions. At very least you can put a caveat in your OP that you only want opinions that tell you how smart you are.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
