Season Preview: San Antonio Spurs

A continuation for those of you that have nothing better to do than read my blog. Hey, if enough people like it, maybe Skeets will notice too. I seriously doubt I'll ever make one of the 10-man rotations anytime soon though.

Starting 5:
PG- Tony Parker
SG- Michael Finley
SF- Bruce Bowen
PF- Tim Duncan
C- Fabricio Oberto

Off the bench
Guards: Manu Ginobili, Roger Mason Jr, Salim Stoudamire, George Hill
Forwards: Ime Udoka, Ian Mahinmi
Centers: Kurt Thomas, Matt Bonner, Anthony Tolliver

We'll see if Popovich decides to keep his rookies (George Hill, Anthony Tolliver, Malik Hairston, and James Gist) at the end of the roster or send them off to Austin to play in the D-League. Tack onto that the three recent call ups that the Spurs made from the D-League (Devin Green, Desmon Farmer, and Darryl Watkins) the Spurs roster looks somewhat bloated at the moment. It's understandable as their biggest weakness was exploited last season in a grueling series against New Orleans and then Los Angeles (Lakers not Clippers); they're getting old. If we look at the proposed 15 man roster I threw up, 9 of them are over 30 (Bowen, Duncan, Ginobili, Finley, Horry, Udoka, Thomas, Oberto, Vaughn), and at least 7 of the 9 (so maybe everyone but Vaughn and potentially Horry) are a major part of the rotation, including 4 of the 5 starters (everyone except Tony Parker). They haven't lost any significant pieces (Brent Barry I don't think was that significant), but they haven't gotten significantly better either, while Roger Mason is an upgrade over Jacque Vaughn and Damon Stoudamire, resigning Michael Finley and Kurt Thomas leaves them in the same place if not a worse off position than before, as they're both at the point where they're not getting one year better, just one year older. Ime Udoka ultimately did not turn out to be the Bruce Bowen replacement that they desperately needed, and so they'll look to some youth to bolster their roster.

Of the D-Leaguers Desmon Farmer shows the most promise, having averaged 24.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists on the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. With Ginobili out for a bit, at least the beginning of the season, after reaggravating his ankle during the Olympics, they'll need some backup at the 2 guard spot, and no, Michael Finley is not going to play 48 minutes. I think Popovich is hoping that Farmer makes the transition from D-League as well as Warriors swingman Kelenna Azubuike did. Devin Green played well enough apparently in Summer League to warrant a second look at training camp, averaging 10.3 points per game over Summer League. Apparently, he's played a bit in Italy too. George Hill was rather disappointing in Las Vegas Summer League, averaging only 8 points and 3 assists per game with 3 turnovers, but surprisingly a good 7 rebounds per game as well. Granted, it's the summer league, and we don't want to read too much into it, but they say he plays well at both ends of the court, something that the Spurs value highly. Right now most of the young talent on the Spurs can be summed up with the two words "potential" and "upside", which means, very low impact right now. Hopefully the vets have enough gas to keep going, and hopefully Ginobili is able to fully recover after his ankle surgery.

They're getting old and they're starting to slip, but that doesn't keep them from being a perennial contender. Tim Duncan can still eke out his 20 pt, 10 rbd, 5 asst, 4 blck games and Parker can still burn 90% of the point guards in the league. Solid 53-55 win season, easily into playoffs, and I'd say ousted anywhere between second round and Western Conference Finals.

UPDATE: So the Spurs signed Salim Stoudamire, which is a good add, he's a solid shooter kind of stagnating on the bench of a 3-happy Atlanta Hawks what with Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson in the lineup. He's supposed to be the Brent Barry/Robert Horry replacement and is a solid addition in the event that Roger Mason's shooting doesn't pan out as well as they'd like.

UPDATE: The internet likes me! They really do! Seriously, I really appreciate the guys that are reading this and all the feedback. So I took a look at the forum and I noticed someone asking why I didn't mention Ian Mahinmi, and to be honest, I hadn't really paid a lot of attention, so I didn't think he was that big. However, in doing a little more research I think he'd be a solid addition to the club, he apparently has made significant strides offensively and did fairly well in his previous season with the D-League (17.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.5 spg, 1.7 bpg). Still I stand by the whole "upside" and "potential" statement. Spurs can only hope to make steals off of the free agency and hope that their young prospects pan out, they really have no tradeable assets.