Through shades of black and silver, color me unimpressed with the Summer of LeBron. For all the hype, has anything drastically changed in the NBA? Well, one thing has changed. Cleveland is crushed. It’s hard not to feel sympathy for Cavaliers fans, who live in a city that does not simply endure suffering. They define [...]
Where there is smoke, there’s fire. Or sometimes mirrors. I’m not sure, it depends on the magician I think. Either way, with the 2010 NBA Draft right around the corner the trade winds are blowing plenty of smoke out of San Antonio these days. According to ESPN’s Chad Ford (ESPN Insider required), the San Antonio [...]
San Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford and head coach Gregg Popovich have a busy summer ahead of them, as should any front office whose team is swept out of the second round of the NBA playoffs. Point guard Tony Parker? Perhaps not so much. In his exit interview on Monday, Buford dismissed Tony Parker [...]
Elusive as he’s been on the court since March, it was in the San Antonio Spurs best interests to lock up Manu Ginobili before he was allowed to euro step his way through free agency, lest he escape the Spurs like so many would be defenders. The soon-to-be 33-year old Argentine guard signed a three [...]
Throughout the Tim Duncan era the Spurs have operated on a certain stonecutters credo. Ironically, they now operate between a rock and a hard place. With a broken chisel. The rock? Richard Jefferson’s burdensome contract. The hard place? The NBA Salary Cap. In the short term, there will be those who are disappointed that the [...]
Leaving the All-Star weekend, perhaps no theme encapsulated the Spurs more perfectly nor enemy loomed so big-well, maybe the Laker’s frontline-as time. And not just time, as in the amount of time left in their stars’ careers, but timing. Timing is everything.
It’s common knowledge that the San Antonio Front Office possesses a level of forethought and insight that many franchises lack. Popovich and Buford have an aptitude for unearthing a player’s hidden value, both athletically and financially. Given our small market location, the FO’s ability to balance financial savvy and basketball acumen has been critical to [...]
In his final interview of the season, Gregg Popovich talked about hard offseasons. This offseason, he suggested, would be difficult because the team will say goodbye to some of its role players. Telling the Robert Horrys of the world that it’s time to part is never easy. But then Pop said something else that struck [...]
Austin Nichols is Ime Udoka is Roger Mason Jr. is Bruce Bowen. Since the Spurs were eliminated from the playoffs, I’ve tried to paint a big picture of their options this summer. Those sort of discussions always gravitate toward marquee names. That’s fun, and given the current state of team, entirely possible, but as some [...]
In Wednesday’s post, I suggested the Spurs needed to put their backcourt house in order. This might come about naturally as players develop and learn the system. The return of Manu Ginobili will help, as if I needed to tell you. But if I let the impression with any of our readers that the Spurs [...]
One of the unanswered questions-so far-of this offseason is trying to figure out how the Spurs see their 2009 backcourt. Personally, I see George Hill as a point guard and Roger Mason Jr. as a shooting guard. But that’s not how Pop played them down the stretch, and we have reason to wonder how things [...]
The Spurs have 3 second round selections in the 2009 draft, number 37, 51 and 53. Most of us would agree that their position of greatest need is small forward. So in the initial weeks of our draft discussions, I’m going to focus more heavily on that position. But honestly, I’m pretty excited about this [...]
There are a lot of things I want to talk about in the Offseason Breakdown series. And, judging from the comment thread under the first installment, you have a lot on your mind too. Here’s what’s ahead: my thoughts about what direction the team should go with its backcourt, how to address the small forward [...]
In their Macrophenomenal Almanac, the Free Darko crew warn us about The MONGP: The Myth of the Next Ginobili-Parker. They write:
As part of the excellent DraftExpress coverage of the Final Four, Jonathan Givony took a minute to speak with Coach Popovich, who is in Germany with R.C. Buford and Dennis Lindsey on the scouting trip. Here is a little taste, but you’ll have to go to DraftExpress for the rest. Jonathan Givony: When you’re watching [...]
