48MoH: The joys of preseason, enjoying the little things

[duncan228]

The joys of preseason, enjoying the little things
by Jesse Blanchard
48 Minutes of

Finally, after an unfortunately long summer, tonight begins a first real look at the San Antonio Spurs. Had this been a regular season game I would remark how fitting it is that the season kicked off against such an appropriate team in the Houston Rockets.

I say fitting because both teams face a number of similar questions heading into the season. Will Yao Ming and Tim Duncan hold up through the season? Will the contract status of Tony Parker or Aaron Brooks be a distraction? Can either team matchup with the Lakers?

Fortunately tonight will hold no such answers. A long season lies ahead of us, maybe the last season for a while, and it should be an entertaining journey. But now is not the time. As meaningless as an exhibition game can be I must also confess it is one of my favorite times of year.

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[mingus]

5 things i'm going to look at going into the game:

1. RJ - i want to see if his stroke has improved after having worked on it all summer. being able to hit the three with reliability will give the Spurs' big 3 more floor space to make things happen.
2. Anderson - WTF is this guy? hopefully we'll see (good) things that are to come from this guy.
3. Hill - i want him to be more aggressive offensively. he's got to assert himself as more of a scorer and playmaker this year, not mostly a beneficiary of the big 3. he made wide open threes last year, can he create them for other people this year? also, want to see him reach his potential as a 1-on-1 defender this year.
4. Blair - can he spread the floor? has his defensive timing and positioning improved. IOW, can he make amends for his lack of height. if he's able to do those things, he may emerge as a more important player for SA than Splitter.
5. WTF is Neal - same as #2