You missunderstand my point. While I would not go far to say we should "sell out" for a title chance, my point was the Spurs window is likely 3 or 4 years shorter than ours. By all means which should aim to knock them off. This year would be a big surprise to me if we could, but the way Tmac played early and Yao is playing now it certainly is concievable to have the match-ups to give anyone trouble, including the Spurs. That is why getting James yesterday was so important. Assuming Sura comes back and does not miss a beat, with James and him we have a PG spot that can hold its own. Still, probably next year when we bring some reinforcements in the 4 spot we could be a lot more than simply a darkhorse. I agree with your whole post for the most part. I just think most people view Manu as a young 3rd year player that he is not. He already had the physical body, maturity, and skills coming into the league as a rookie, he just needed to get acclimated to the NBA, which is what his 3 years has been about. I think over 90% of his growth as an NBA player is done, and I think we are talking about a superb role player, but not a Tmac, Kobe or Lebron type centerpiece player. When Duncan slows (or if he went down) I don't think Manu or Parker will be near the level to keep the Spurs as an elite team.
A previous poster mentioned potential Euro's the Spurs have - 1 Louis Scola; PF - Argentina; teammate of Manu's; younger, stronger, taller, better Malik Rose; the real reason Malik is gone. Would be a lottery pick if Spurs didn't have his rights already. Why do you assume Duncan is no good in 2-3 years? Bigs (especially ones on quality teams who can play limited minutes) can have their careers stretched well beyond their early thirties. Rocket's fans should truly appreciate this. Consider also that Duncan doesn't really rely on athleticism much at all (how could he); he's the "Big Fundamental". He probably won't experience the dramatic drop off in productivity other more athletic players (see Sprewell, Latrell, or Peyton, Gary) have had to suffer through. Also, Spurs are all about looking to the future & not getting locked into expensive long term deals. They seem to always be in the free agent hunt, & at the same time go 15 deep. The guy they just RELEASED, Romain Sato, is actually a pretty good player, who could get minutes on several teams in this league. The Spurs have no room at the end of their INJURED LIST for the guy. When it is time to reload they will have numerous tradable assets. Finally, if Barry's contract outlives his usefullness; that would be a 5 - 6 mil. burden; I can live with that; most teams would kill for mistakes that small. Honestly I don't know how they will do it; but with the trade of Malik, the Spurs have only 1 player remaining from the '99 championship team. They have completely rebuilt. In the meantime they have picked up an additional ring, and have never been out of contention. Also, their payroll is middlin in the league. Damn. I would say you are right, however that Houston is the most obvious long-term threat (and even immediate) to dynasty-dom. Dallas doesn't suck, either. Texas triangle looking tougher than ever.
I didn't say TD would be no good in 3 years, but probably not the best player in the league. Even Dream faded drastically after he hit 32, and he started out significantly stronger and more athletic than Duncan. Shaq too, his last ring was at 30. They can still be a force after 30, but they start slipping on the defensive side particularly and can't dominate for as long periods in games. Plus I think TD is probably a little more worn down and fragile than these two. Don't buy the "Big Fundamental" stuff too much. Yes he has great fundamentals, but so did Robert Parrish. TD still has a combination of strength (particularly lower body), length and quickness few guys have. Just the other night it was obvious if he didn't have the quickness Yao would have eating his lunch defensively. Same thing happened to Dream, once he could not out quick Shaq (by like 97) he was lunch against him. As for SA, they have done a fine job. But it isn't like they are a class above and all roses either, no pun intended. Malik's contract costs them two #1s, they may not get their money's worth from Rasha and almost assuredly won't from Barry. They are building the best team they can for this year and the next couple, as they should. Let us not also forget there difference between them and the Grizzlies was the right year to pull a tank job. TD is what make all the other parts come together. Front offices' like Detriot's and the Lakers, who have delivered titles this century without ever lucking or tanking into #1 overall picks to take the TD's, Hakeem's, Yao's and Lebron's, deserve as much if not more credit.
Wow. That was nice. As much as I like the trade on paper for the Spurs, you have got to wonder whether Nazr has Malik's heart and and whether the Spurs are messing with their chemistry. Nah, probably just the musings of a hopeful Rox fan.
Yeah I just saw that video and wanted to cry with Malik. I have never been a big fan, mainly because he played for the Spurs, but that was a heartwrenching thing to see. I am definitely a Malik Allen fan. Maybe he can go to NY and bring a positive attitude to that team that they seem to be lacking.
i was in san antonio yesterday working, driving all around the city listening to sports talk all day. first of all, their sports radio people generally suck, even compared to austin let alone h-town. there is only 1 guy who i like and his partner is so bad that sometimes i have to turn the station. anyway, it was a malik-love fest all day. even 1200, the regular talk radio was all malik. they were making a cd of callers wishing their best and going to send it to malik. people were crying (seriously) and telling him how he was their favorite player and how they will miss him. some people were mad that he was traded. one guy said that he would cancel his season tickets b/c malik was such a good character/community guy and it was a stab-in-the-back to trade him. one guy asked whether or not they would have won their last title if malik wasnt there! more than one person said they should retire his jersey #! one asked who was going to guard shaq now that malik was gone! malik has a cheesesteak restaurant (he's from philly) and the afternoon sports guys did their show from there and took 3 hours of calls about malik. they had a giant card up there for people to sign and they said that you could actually see tear stains all over it. coach popovich did a "emergency" p.r. session and came on not only the sports radio show, but also talk radio 1200 at around 4 - 5 to take calls. he does a regular weekley show on sports radio, but did a second one to take calls from fans. some people were upset with him! spurs fans are such pansies. this is the equivalant of the rockets trading taylor. we are talking about a guy who played 17 minutes a game and got paid 7 mil a year. hardly anyone mentioned how this trade will help them shore up their size deficency on the front-lin. how they pulled a "kobe" on the knicks. mohammad is exactly what they needed and they got him for an undersized power forward that hardly played and didnt mesh well w/ duncan on the court anyway. spurs is all they have down there. they really need another sport, bad.
