If there is an advantage to being a perennial lottery team, it’s the opportunity to piece together a talented core through the draft. GMs who have the luxury of compounding high draft picks over multiple seasons place themselves in the enviable position of acquiring the league’s best young talent. It sucks to lose, but the long term [...]
The Spurs play their first game of the NBA Summer League this afternoon. (The game is available through NBA Broadband, 3:30 6:30 EST, for those who are inclined to watch.) The Spurs’ roster is notable for who isn’t playing as much as it is for those who are. James Anderson, Ryan Richards, and Malik Hairston will [...]
“For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me…it was Tuesday.” —Street Fighter: The Movie And so renews the most heated one-sided matchup in recent NBA history. The San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns are an interesting story to tell, depending on who tells it. [...]
The greatest seventh seed in NBA history? Not exactly a compliment in the eyes of Tim Duncan. Certainly the San Antonio Spurs are the first seventh seed to eliminate a second seed since the NBA Playoffs switched formats to a first round best-of-seven series. But Duncan and the rest of the world will have to [...]
AT&T CENTER – A year ago, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said about then-rookie George Hill, “these playoffs aren’t for George.” And through three playoff games this season, current Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair hadn’t done much to prove that this year’s playoffs fit him very well either. But on Sunday night, Blair left [...]
AT&T Center–A game after Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle benched each of his team’s new acquisitions in the second half, the San Antonio Spurs turned to theirs with the trio of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker struggling. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich’s faith was aptly rewarded. Antonio McDyess hit open jumpers, scoring [...]
THE PRESENT — It’s strange to think about the emotional arc of the last twelve months: The soaring heights, the seemingly bottomless depths. This team tossed me around like a rag doll, while all along, without us knowing it, history was set on loop. The San Antonio Spurs will face the Dallas Mavericks in the [...]
The NBA playoffs open up with the San Antonio Spurs in their lowest playoff seeding of the Tim Duncan Era. But to understand why the Spurs are not discouraged about opening on the road in Dallas, instead of the friendly confines of the AT&T Center, there must first be an understanding of their philosophy. San [...]
According to Winston, the Spurs will beat the Mavericks so long as Keith Bogans doesn’t receive too much burn. That, and DeJuan Blair and Matt Bonner should play together. (They did last night, and it didn’t seem to hurt.) You’re right, it’s not that simple, but Winston raises several interesting points. Here’s how the Spurs [...]
European basketball site In the Game is running a long list of APM observations regarding some of Europe’s best players. Regarding San Antonio Spurs draftee Tiago Splitter, they write:
When a team is playing well, it typically moves from lesser to greater certainty as the season progresses. All the big questions that lead the season find a satisfactory resolution in a sharp player rotation, efficient scoring, and a defense that can, at least, get the necessary stops that winning requires. Those things come together, [...]
Wayne Winston, who served as a statistical consultant to the Dallas Mavericks for the last nine years, and is the author of Mathletics, was kind enough to explore a handful of Spurs-related questions with me. Over the next few days I’ll put up a series of short posts detailing the more salient moments of our [...]
Last week we ran a series of features exploring three options for the Spurs: Make no move; make a minor roster move; and make a major roster move. There was supposed to be one more- a post arguing that we should make moves focused on future seasons- that for various reasons was never published. After [...]
