NBA4life

Nah, I don't mean that the Spurs board is asleep but the Spurs as a "sleeper" pick to win next year's NBA championship? It could happen.

It seems that the Lakers and Kings are getting most of the attention. Even the Mavericks seem to be getting some run as the top team in the Midwest. What about the Spurs? Can they somehow win a title in David Robinson's last year? Why wait till 2003 to sign a big time free agent to play alongside Duncan(assuming he re-signs) and then that's when the Spurs can challenge for the title? What about challenging for the title now? Its a possiblilty. The Spurs are still a great defensive team with the Twin Towers inside and Bruce Bowen outside. With a year under Tony Parker's belt, he should obviously improve. Losses of Antonio Daniels and Terry Porter hurts a little bit, but acquisitions of Speedy Claxton and Kevin Willis still make the Spurs a soilid team. The biggest factor though, has to be the signing of Emmanuel Ginobili. He could definitely be the second scoring option from the perimeter....something the Spurs desperately needed last year. Ginobili may surprise some people and turn some heads. The only thing San Antonio needed last year was 'offense'. Duncan couldn't do it by himself in the playoffs. Ginobili may prove to be the offensive firepower the team was looking for.

We can all speculate as to who will win next year's championship, just don't count out the San Antonio Spurs, they could creep up on you.

mdc5010

I'm with you man. The Spurs play Defense. It's funny how Shaq went from being hurt, to feeling better against Sac, to being fully recovered against the Nets. Commentators suck.

The Spurs have actually upgraded themselves in a matchup kind of way. I kept asking myself what would happen to them if they lost Robinson. they've answred it. They need Claxton and Ferry to be steady and Manu to be very very very good. Iknow it's asking a lot, but, it is within the realm of possibility.

NBA4life

I actually think the Spurs have a better team than last year's team. Mainly because of Manu Ginobili. From what I've seen, his offensive game is just what the Spurs need. He has the ability to penetrate and go hard to the rim. He also has a sweet jumper and shoots it at a pretty accurate clip. Its still to early to tell if Ginobili will break into the starting lineup over Steve Smith, but I'm assuming he should take that 2 spot over Steve Smith pretty quickly . With Rose, Willis, Claxton, Ferry, Smitty coming off the pine, thats a very solid second unit coming off the bench. Just another reason why the Spurs could definitely be a sleeper pick to win the championship next year.

Wilt_The_Stilt

I think the Spurs will win their division and end up being the number 2 seed-with a great chance to make it to the WCF..however I do think they will lose in the WCF to the Lakers Duncan is so good that they will always be good as long as they have him

__________________
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NBA4life

Its funny you say that. San Antonio will always be "good" as long as they have Duncan. What happens to San Antonio once they get an improved Tony Parker next year and the European phenom Ginobili into the lineup? Then the Spurs "could be great"! Everyone saw it in last year's playoffs versus the Lakers, Duncan was basically out there by himself. He was the only one scoring. Nobody else could make a shot.

I'm obviously being very optimistic about San Antonio's chances to win the title next year, simply because the only thing they were lacking last year was "offense". Defensively, they are still one of the best in the NBA. That alone makes them contenders for the title. If they can somehow improve in the offensive categories(hence the importance of Ginobili) then they can seriously challenge the other top teams for the NBA title.