The Mid-Season Moult
The question on my mind this morning is how much can the Spurs expect from their role players? The Spurs are showing signs of shedding their early season skin, twisting and turning their way into the class of elite contenders. There were no asterisks at the conclusion of yesterday’s game. Both teams played well, each one showing the other its championship form. The difference in the game was that San Antonio’s surrounding cast outshined Boston’s. But watching the game, one sensed more than the tension of two recent champions with lofty expectations. There was also the sense of competing paradigms.
When the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol they, perhaps unwittingly, raised the ante on the formula for winning championships. The Dynasty Bulls and Spurs had developed a formula of surrounding three stars with bench players that would run through a wall to help the team. But the Gasol Lakers have upset the apple cart—Los Angeles adopted a formula that features 4 stars and a stalwart bench. For those who would quibble about Lamar Odom’s inclusion into the Lakers star column, please see yesterday’s Lakers-Cavs box score. Boston has followed the Lakers suit, although their arrival at a 4 star formula is somewhat accidental. I don’t think Danny Ainge expected Rajon Rondo to develop into an All-Stat level talent, he just has. When healthy, the Lakers role with a quadumvirate of Bryant, Gasol, Bynum, and Odom. The Celtics flaunt a starting line up that features could be All-Stars Garnett, Pierce, Allen and Rondo. The 3 Star model is under threat.
It’s not atypical for this time of year, but the Spurs are oft-rumored conversation partners in trade talks. The difference this season is that the rumors involve names such as Rasheed Wallace, Brad Miller, and Vince Carter. The Spurs front office, we are led to speculate, is in the market for another All-Star. They see the money on the table, and the question is whether or not they should see the bet or call the bluff. If they are to compete with Los Angeles and Boston, should they go all in for another star? The Spurs always moult into something new after the All-Star break, but this year’s transformation could prove far more dramatic than seasons past.
Setting aside Manu Ginobili’s late steal of a lazy Ray Allen inbound pass, the Spurs came away with an impressive win in Boston on the strength of Roger Mason Jr., Matt Bonner, and George Hill. My temptation is to wax poetic about the front office in making something of unwanted free agents and unknown draft picks or to laud Popovich’s ability to get so much from so little. But I’m stopping short of those praises with the sincere inquiry: will those players be enough of a compliment to the core when the games count? For as well as Mason, Bonner, and Hill are capable of playing, none of them are All-Stars.
The optimistic in me wants to be heard, too. Maybe what we learned from yesterday’s game is that a model of 4 stars plus a solid bench is an unnecessary luxury. We learned the Spurs Big 3 can hang with the Celtics Big 4. We learned that there is no reason to panic, and that the Spurs can round what they have into championship form. I’m not sure. But I think it’s a debate Pop, Buford and the gang are currently having amongst themselves.
