This is all because of Thiago Splitter. He may not be getting minutes on the court but what you guys don't see is his influence behind the scenes. He is the Kobe Bryant of the locker room and is a lock for Sixth Man.
you got to give props to their front office though. they have been money with the draft picks and the pickup of gary neal.
Besides, the Rockets, I'm rooting for the Spurs. First, because I'd like to see Duncan get his 5th so Kobe can't simply say he was the best of his era--he wasn't Duncan is and this would give him the rings to point to for ppl who don't get it. Second, I just like how they play really good defense and have a balanced offense. Tim still is a dominant force down low on defense, their perimeter D is decent, but their rotations are excellent. They're just so disciplined. On offense, they've got so many weapons: penetration, 3pt shooting, fast breaks, and low post.
They will get into the 60s unless the injury bug bites them hard. When you say high 60s, I assume you mean 67 or above, which means they finish up the season 38-11 or better. I dunno about "highly probable". They haven't hit a rough patch yet. OK, how about a one-year absence if they get 72 wins. Does that convince you I don't think they have a chance? johnstarks, Pop is a great coach. He changed up their offense this season and the results have been spectacular. TD is no longer a good offensive player, so Pop adjusted things to match their talent.
How? Parker leads the team in PT at a relatively low 33 mpg, and Ginobili and Jefferson are the only others to average more than 30 mpg at 31. Hell, tonight, no one on the team even played 29 minutes.
You're not the first person I've seen say this, and I just don't get it. When has a Spurs team (and their core is still fully in tact from all/most of those title years) ever had a "peak early" problem? What makes you think they'll start now? The Spurs are an incredible team. Period. I think the only team that could (and I think WILL) beat them is the Heat. I expect a Spurs/Heat finals with the Heat taking it. This is coming from someone who thought the Spurs were finished about 2-3 seasons ago.
its crazy how terrible RJ played last season and with one summer he trained/practice to his all-star form this year. Work Ethic.
It seems like it was all about luck of the draw these past five years. With vets as injury prone as Manu and Parker, it was just bad luck that nothing worked itself out for the Spurs in years past although the talent to return to the Finals was certainly there. Just the same rule applies this year though. In any given game they might lose Manu or Parker, and then it'll come down to giving a lot of minutes to guys like Neal or James Anderson. So we'll see who is healthy in May. I'm not ready to crown anyone yet. Hell the Magic might be my favorite team right now. Redick is playing his ass off now that Vince Ballhog Carter ain't there anymore to keep him down.
what was I saying before the season peeps :grin: it's so great to be a Spurs fan but the Spurs have got alot breaks with teams playing with injurys and back to backs, but no way Pop lets this team try to win 70 games I hope Splitter can realize there is a 3 second violation in the NBA but don't expect too much from him this season, but your going to see him work with the spurs coaching staff this summer, and should be beasting next year. Hopefully James Anderson injury won't effect him when he comes back because him and Gary "lights out" Neal were tearing up on the 3 point line. Duncan has been coasting it crazy, and been resting alot, but I do think the Spurs need another small foward to compete.. I'm hoping Prince gets traded and bought out and Mcdyess can influence to join the Spurs. Then we would be stackedddddddddddddd
You can't generalize and say just because of what the Spurs have done in the past it will be the same way this season. You actually have to watch their games and observe. What is obvious is they cannot play much (if any) better than they are. Right now, they have so many guys making positive contributions it cannot get any better. They remind me some of the Mavs team in 05/06 that started the season 1-4 and then went on a historic 50-5 run before slowing down to finish the season. Just like that Mavs squad, these Spurs win because they bring it nearly every night and most everything has gone right for them. It isn't because they overwhelm teams with talent. During a long NBA season, teams have performance dips. The Spurs will have theirs. They can only hope to be playing this well at the end of the season. If you seriously believe they can play at another level than these first 33 games, dream on. I can't go there with you. Teams haven't adjusted to the "new" Spurs yet. At some point they will, the Spurs will face a lot more adversity and their record will reflect that. I promise you TD, TP and/or Manu will get nicked up. I absolutely positively guarantee you RJ will not continue draining 3s at 43%. George Hill, Gary Neal and DeJuan Blair will hits some major bumps during the season. Besides the 1996 Bulls, the 82-game grind always wears down the teams that start explosively. EVERYTHING has gone right for the Spurs so far. It's been a magic carpet ride. That won't last the whole season. I remember the discussions about the Celts 3 years ago when they started 33-3. I also said they would come back to Earth and they did. But that Celts team seemed stronger to me than these Spurs. Just my opinion. When the Spurs start stumbling some later on, let's see if you opinion doesn't change.
Spurs defense hasn't came around there one of the worst in years. Duncan coasting and playing limited minutes. Mcdyess,Tiago and Anderson hardly playing all 3 are great defenders. Offense wise I think they have reached there pontential but Parker shot really hasn't been falling, imagine when it does how hard it will be to guard him and Ginobili has been taking too many 3's besides dominating in the paint, he's going to start taking it at teams later in the season like last year. Defense wise there going to get alot better, not spurs championship defense in past but I think there offense can make it up and hopfully spurs get lucky with seedings and matchups and upsets and Spurs will be 5 time world champions
OT: Just saw the highlight of Caron Butler's knee injury. If he's lost for the season, the Mavs have no chance to contend.
I dunno, I think they still might have a slim chance to at least compete deep into the playoffs. If they lost Nowitzki, I would say "OMGZ TANKZ!!" but Cuban and the front office will probably try to trade for a replacement of Butler's caliber.
What I'm really impressed about them is how they made Richard Jefferson into a legitimate NBA player. We're talking about a guy who made his career coasting off easy lob passes by Jason Kidd, then got completely exposed in NJ after Kidd was traded. He got traded into the Spurs, and couldn't do anything: couldn't run the offense, couldn't rely on his athleticism, and couldn't even hit open shots. RJ was so bad he made Trevor Ariza look like an allstar. 99% of other teams would have called him garbage and moved on, hell I'm pretty sure the Spurs fanbase issued a collective "WTF" when Pops and co. resigned him for multiple seasons. Instead Pops probably gave him a heart to heart talk and worked his ass off this summer. Now he's played like Doug Christie on steroids. Pretty amazing work, Pops and co. are so good they can teach old dogs new tricks.
The Mavs will find a way to get someone like they always do. I think we may see Iggy in a Mavs uniform after the deadline.
