Thursday, August 21, 2014

Unfettered Optimism: From BoBo to SloMo

Look, let's be honest, if you're nickname in college is "Slo-Mo", which is universally short for "slow motion" I'm not entirely positive that it's a compliment. I know this is supposed to be one of my super optimistic, "Spurs are going to be awesome" posts, but I want to get out of the way first, that I have many rather significant reservations about this year's draft pick Kyle Anderson. I don't deny that he perhaps has the unique skill-set that the Spurs may be looking for, that is, a big man who can sort of play like a point guard, and thus many pundits have been hailing the Spurs' draft pick as the second coming of Boris Diaw. Now, I'll be the first to admit, that there are times when I get overly optimistic, and while Boris Diaw 2.0 isn't exactly some claim to superstardom, I want everyone to just slow down for a second. I know the Spurs just obliterated the Heat in the Finals, and I know that the Spurs have a strong history of finding diamonds in the rough of the late first-round of the draft (i.e. Tony Parker, George Hill, Luis Scola, Leandro Barbosa, etc...), but let's take a step back and take a look at what we have here before we start handing out any accolades.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Buying in to the System

If the 2014 NBA Finals did anything, it was to once again reveal to us how amazing the concept of "system" basketball is. We often forget of how important the role players on each team are, in any championship team, the Spurs didn't rediscover this, they've known this all along, all 2014 did was to re-emphasize that point by the popularizing of role players like Boris Diaw, Patty Mills, and Danny Green against arguably three of the biggest superstar names in the NBA in recent history in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. After a struggle against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, which ended up being a brilliant chess match between Rick Carlisle and Gregg Popovich over 7 games, the Spurs handily defeated three teams that arguably had the hottest stars of the league. First it was the unexpected but dangerous duo of LaMarcus Aldridge, arguably one of the best if not the best PF currently in the league, with a mid-range game that makes him neigh unguardable at 6-11, and the up and coming PG Damian Lillard. After that, the team that was pegged to be locked in the next 5 NBA Finals with the Miami Heat, after their summary decimation of the Spurs in 2012, the Oklahoma City Thunder, featuring an unparalleled scorer in Kevin Durant and a blistering combination of athleticism and energy in Russell Westbrook (incidentally, the Thunder have not made it back to the Finals since). All of which led up to the first Finals rematch since Michael Jordan's Bulls faced off twice against a John Stockton and Karl Malone led Jazz in 1995 and 1996.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Spurs Still Looking Strong

Coming off of a convincing 2014 NBA Championship, it's really hard to think of how the Spurs could get significantly better. With most of the big free agent names accounted for, and the Spurs not being a landing spot for any of them, free agency for San Antonio fans essentially boils down to who make the Spurs' much speculated but typically irrelevant 15th roster spot.