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8. The Southwest Division is nuts. The best division in basketball that sent all five teams to the playoffs last year added DeAndre Jordan and LaMarcus Aldridge. Seriously, whoever wins that division should get the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye.

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They were sitting around last week, at the first meeting in Los Angeles, and the Spurs were telling LaMarcus Aldridge about the young guys on their roster. This went on for a while until Tim Duncan interrupted.

"Hey," he said, "I'm still here."

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Aldridge is well aware of what he has signed up for. He asked pointed basketball questions Wednesday, and followed up with phone calls to learn more. That's a reason he and Popovich met again.

Aldridge likely realized something else. The same Popovich who was so charming in a posh Beverly Hills restaurant is the same Popovich who will someday scream as if the veins in his forehead are about to explode.

Aldridge should also be prepared for this on some January night: He will be called soft.

But Aldridge also knows he fits, and this is where the Spurs got lucky. The free agent they coveted happened to be a low-key, native Texan.

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That is why Saturday's news felt as if the Spurs had won a sixth title. They hit the reset button. With only one losing season since 1989, the Spurs reached a remarkable and unparalleled position for a franchise that has been successful for so long. The downturn still remains so far in the future that there is no timeline for it.

But this doesn't happen if Duncan, once a free agent himself, had chosen Orlando in 2000. This doesn't happen if Duncan had refused to change his role years later, or opted for the couch instead of taekwondo, or wasn't as effective at age 39.

This also doesn't happen now, this month, if Duncan wanted his rightful salary.

Duncan instead remained who he has been. Not coincidentally, that's the kind of person Aldridge said he grew up idolizing.

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This is Aldridge's new Rip City: When Popovich rips into Duncan, Aldridge will understand he's not immune.

If Aldridge simply remains what he's been, the Spurs should still celebrate. They can win a title with the Aldridge who played in Portland.

But if LaMarcus is to eventually become LaTim, someday centering this franchise as Duncan has, remember who is responsible.

He's the same one who was responsible for the previous 18 years, and he's still here.

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ls there a better front office in sports? We're all happy about Aldridge for his own sake, and rightfully so, but in context this isn't supposed to be possible.

The Spurs had a team with three Finals MVPs returning and two starters lining up for their big pay day contracts (one a Finals MVP getting the max, the other an elite defender with the NBA Finals record for most threes made). You're supposed to lose 1-2 of those guys, wander in the wilderness for a couple years with a top heavy, bloated roster while the youngsters really come into their own and a couple nice draft picks bring in some cheap young talent. The Spurs just short circuited that. They've got the best 2-3-4 combo in the league by a comfortable margin signed for at least four years... and oh yeah, the 1 and 5 are Tony Parker and Tim Duncan.

They didn't do this by pulling a Morey and chasing every big name every offseason, they waited until the need met the right free agent and landed their guy quick and clean.

There will be some growing/meshing pains, but if Parker comes back healthy (big if) this is not a team that can be stopped on offense and should be quite good defensively in today's perimeter oriented game.

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This is a great article.

They were sitting around last week, at the first meeting in Los Angeles, and the Spurs were telling LaMarcus Aldridge about the young guys on their roster. This went on for a while until Tim Duncan interrupted.

"Hey," he said, "I'm still here."
Aldridge is well aware of what he has signed up for. He asked pointed basketball questions Wednesday, and followed up with phone calls to learn more. That's a reason he and Popovich met again.

Aldridge likely realized something else. The same Popovich who was so charming in a posh Beverly Hills restaurant is the same Popovich who will someday scream as if the veins in his forehead are about to explode.

Aldridge should also be prepared for this on some January night: He will be called soft.

But Aldridge also knows he fits, and this is where the Spurs got lucky. The free agent they coveted happened to be a low-key, native Texan.

He's the same one who was responsible for the previous 18 years, and he's still here.


http://www.expressnews.com/sports/columnists/buck_harvey/article/Sixth-title-LaTim-lands-his-successor-6366710.php?t=47113230a9ebaa2aab&cmpid=twitter-premium

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We need to see him healthy. Tony can still be a force if healthy.

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I think this Tim Duncan kid will be good, I'm glad we drafted him instead of Keith Van Horn.

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I think this Tim Duncan kid will be good, I'm glad we drafted him instead of Keith Van Horn.

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