It’s Memphis!

by Jesse Blanchard

 

The Spurs practice facility came to life again early Tuesday morning, the sound of sneakers squeaking and basketballs bouncing off the hardwood floor.

Players began trickling in earlier this week to prepare for the open of training camp, which could open either Friday or Monday morning. Eight to ten players took the court at different times, with Tony Parker and Matt Bonner rejoining a group of teammates, led by Tim Duncan, that have remained in the city through most of the summer to prepare for the season.

And while there still remain questions about who will still be here in the next few weeks (Parker and Bonner like Richard Jefferson as a teammate but trust Popovich and Buford to make the best decisions to improve the team, for the record), who they will be playing opening night appears to be settled. It’s Memphis, in San Antonio.

“They’re the one that beat us last year in the playoffs so there’s definitely a lot of motivation there,” Tony Parker told reporters while neither confirming nor denying their opening day opponent. “But it’s only one game, I want to play them in the playoffs.”

The NBA will release the rest of the schedule later this afternoon. In the meantime, the Spurs, like every other NBA team, will scramble to cram a summer’s worth of workouts and free agency into a few days.

Manu Ginobili arrived in San Antonio this afternoon just as Matt Bonner leaves, headed to New York to put the finishing touches on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement tomorrow. But there remains some comfort in familiarity as the Spurs retain most of the team that began last season on a franchise record pace.

“We’re fortunate most of our roster is set coming in. A lot of these teams, with free agency starting the same time as training camp are at a little disadvantage trying to fill out their rosters as fast as possible,” Bonner siad. “But we pretty much have the same group of guys and few new guys that I think are going to help a lot.”

Barring a trade involving Richard Jefferson, or a Michael Finley-type amnesty find, the Spurs will likely be who they have been, as Bonner jokingly acknowledged:

“I’m still going to stand out there and shoot threes and make Coach Pop mad on defense.”

But in a shortened season with so much uncertainty everywhere, there is some strength to that. And with a chance to exorcise last year’s playoffs demons from the opening tip-off, it’s good to have NBA basketball back in San Antonio.