Hoops Playground

SAN ANTONIO SPURS (56-26) – ELIMINATED CONFERENCE FINALS

Just because…

The San Antonio Spurs are the model franchise when it comes to professional sports.  They’ve only missed the playoffs FOUR TIMES since coming into the NBA in 1976, winning four titles in that span (all of them coming in the last ten years).  Any fan would kill for that kind of success.  The team just knows how to constantly reload and continue to win.  And it doesn’t look like that’s going to stop any time soon.

An all-time great.

Face of the Franchise: Tim Duncan. And it will be Tim Duncan until he retires.  As previously stated, the Spurs have won all their titles in the last ten years.  Duncan is entering his twelfth year in the league.  Coincidence?  Hardly.  Luck on the Spurs part?  Maybe.  David Robinson played only 6 games in the 1996-1997 season because of injury and the Spurs ended up with the third-worst record in the league.  They were fortunate enough to land the #1 pick and the rest is history.  When it’s all said and done, an extremely strong case can be made for Duncan to go down as the greatest big man in the history of the NBA. For as long as he plays (and he presumably will end his career in San Antonio), the Spurs will be a legitimate threat in any playoff series.

Send Him Away: This is the one team where I look at the players and their salaries and really can’t pick a player they should ship away.  I mean, Duncan will be making over $20 million at the end of his deal and production-wise, will he be worth that much?  Of course not.  But after all he’s done for the team, would you want to deal him?  Of course not.  The only other players who make eight figures are Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili and both of those players have been vital to the Spurs’ recent success .  There is not one bad contract on the team and that is a testament to GM RC Buford and head coach Gregg Popovich, two men at the top of their respective professions.

Impact Newcomer: Roger Mason, Jr. The fifth-year man out of Virginia will be counted on to produce as Manu Ginobili heals on the sidelines.  Mason, who is already joining his fourth team has barely been a role player in the NBA but he showed last year that he can play when given minutes.  He averaged 9.1 ppg last year and scored 31 points in the second-to-last game last year against Indiana, both career highs.  The Spurs are counting on him to continue that success until Ginobili comes back.

One of the most exciting players in the NBA.

X-Factor: Manu Ginobili. He’ll be out until December but the Spurs will still be able to win because well, they’re the Spurs.  But when he gets back he needs to stay on the floor because there’s no way they can win a playoff series with an injured Manu.  He’s shown that he’s one of the most clutch players in the entire league and San Antonio will desperately need his (healthy) services in the post-season.

Forecast: Playoffs – 7th seed. Despite all the praise I’ve laid on the Spurs, I think they’ll struggle a bit in the regular season mainly because of a hobbled Manu.  He’ll be out two months and who knows how much longer it’ll take for him to get back to his old self.  But they’ll still make the playoffs because, you guessed it, they’re the Spurs and they will be a feared team no matter their seed.