Never been this excited for a Spurs season before, and I'm ALWAYS excited for Spurs bball.

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Gonna be a three horse race for #1 in the West between OKC, Spurs, and Warriors, IMO.

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I feel like you could change that to three horse race for the championship, and replace OKC with Cleveland...of course, this all assuming health.

I just don't think the Thunder have the depth.

(However, I could see about 6 potential teams reaching the WCF)

To be clear, I'm strictly talking about the #1 seed, not to win the West. I don't think Thunder will have a chance against Spurs or Warriors, and the Rockets or Clippers would have a pretty decent shot to knock them out as well.

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Never been this excited for a Spurs season before, and I'm ALWAYS excited for Spurs bball.

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Same. For so many reasons.

I'm in OKC this week and the local sportscaster led with the Thunder pre-season schedule last night and then showed ESPN's West predictions..Golden State, SA, Houston, Clips and OKC 5th. Sports guy was salty.

NSIAP Crazy stat shows how little the San Antonio Spurs will pay Tim Duncan this season
http://read.bi/1gUBrkG

Tim Duncan named the 2014-2015 Teammate of the Year.

http://www.nba.com/spurs/tim-duncan-wins-2014-15-twyman-stokes-teammate-year-award

http://www.nba.com/spurs/tim-duncan-winning-2014-15-twyman-stokes-teammate-year-award

I just don't see it with OKC. To be a contender, they need:
1) Durant's foot to hold up. (he had THREE foot surgeries last year) I hate to say it because he is such a talented player, but if this was it and he never returned to form, nobody at all would be surprised.
2) Donovan to work out. Can he adjust to the NBA game in less than a third of a season or two? (any longer than that and you're going to spend the entire playoffs on the road) Will the players buy into a career college coach's system and style?
3) Ibaka to stay healthy. He reminds me of Parker. There's always something wrong with him now.
4) The Westbrook/Durant dynamic, which has always been a tad rocky, to not get markedly worse. This could be tough. All the news outlets spent months lauding his abilities and saying he's a top 5 player, good enough to be an alpha dog, etc. He's a proud dude and a bull hog to begin with. It's going to be tough for him to go back to #2.
5) The bench issues to work out.
6) The play style to work out. They've suddenly got 3 big men who can score and reliably generate points down low (Ibaka, Kanter, and Stevens). Can they find some offensive balance or are they going to continue with their outside game?

Even contenders have a question/issue or two that need to be answered/managed going into new seasons (how will X work out?), but the more issues you have, the higher the chances that one or more will blow up and derail the season. I just don't see all of these breaking OKC's way. One of them's going to give.

In response to #3, I think the college coach to NBA failures in the past had more to do with lack of talent or college coaches taking over mediocre teams. As shown in this year's NBA finals, coaches from diverse backgrounds can take teams to championships when you have talent.


Donovan's biggest issue is if he can get Westbrook to buy into the value of a possession and eliminate TO's and bad shots.

Yea I'm not even talking about a full failure, but how long it takes him to adjust to the NBA. The West doesn't give him much time. Win "only" 50 games and he's the 6 or 7 seed.

Couple Spurs clicks this week.

Kawhi wants to be an all star and NBA MVP
http://mweb.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25277016/spurs-kawhi-leonard-i-want-to-to-be-an-nba-all-star-and-mvp

The actor playing Jimmy Olsen on the new Supergirl TV show is a Spurs fan from Austin.
http://m.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/entertainment_columnists/jeanne_jakle/article/Supergirl-star-a-super-fan-of-Spurs-Parker-6458220.php

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In response to #3, I think the college coach to NBA failures in the past had more to do with lack of talent or college coaches taking over mediocre teams. As shown in this year's NBA finals, coaches from diverse backgrounds can take teams to championships when you have talent.


Donovan's biggest issue is if he can get Westbrook to buy into the value of a possession and eliminate TO's and bad shots.

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The reason college coaches have failed is they have far less authority in the pro game than in college. That is especially true in OKC where Westbrook and Durant have the power, not Donovan. At UF, Donovan had an established system and ran a great team oriented style of ball. If he can't get Westbrook and Durant (and the rest) to buy in to his system he will fail. Considering Westbrook is mega talented and mega immature and egotistical that is no easy task. Westbrook will likely only give Donovan a small amount of leeway and if he doesn't like what he sees he will pout and ask for a trade or just make life miserable for Donovan.

OKC is not an ideal situation for a college coach honestly, the inmates have been running the asylum there for a long time.

What is that from!? That's so awesome.

saw it on my twitter feed.

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Pop being Pop.



Why can't he run for President?

I can just see him going in to meet Congress and walking up to John Boener and Nancy Pelosi and all them and say "I'll forget your names, but I thought It was polite to at least ask, or start that way, because I don't really give a shht what your names are."

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Pop. Is. So. Effing. AWESOME.

Holy crap I love that guy

Lol.

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Pop being Pop.



Why can't he run for President?

I can just see him going in to meet Congress and walking up to John Boener and Nancy Pelosi and all them and say "I'll forget your names, but I thought It was polite to at least ask, or start that way, because I don't really give a shht what your names are."

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Pop gonna Pop

Growing up in the RGV, the Spurs always ran summer camps. I remember when Pop was just another assistant coach. He was pretty popular with all of the kids b/c he would just talk like a normal dude. Just like that video without the cursing.

Funny to see how his career has gone.

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Pop being Pop.



Why can't he run for President?

I can just see him going in to meet Congress and walking up to John Boener and Nancy Pelosi and all them and say "I'll forget your names, but I thought It was polite to at least ask, or start that way, because I don't really give a shht what your names are."

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SI released their top 100.

http://www.si.com/nba/top-100-nba-players-2016

Their write-up for Duncan at #11 was pretty funny.

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The new Netflix series "Narcos" repeatedly recites an old line, the one about how only the cockroaches will survive a nuclear holocaust. I watched as the show's camera tracked these perseverant little bugs across a post-apocalyptic desert, and I kept expecting an unfazed Tim Duncan to be banking in jumpers and posting a 20-plus PER somewhere in the dusty background.

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Try as he might to cede some of center stage to his younger teammates, Duncan proved to be San Antonio's most formidable figure again in the playoffs. Tony Parker didn't look healthy. Manu Ginobili was just too shaky. Danny Green was streaky. Kawhi Leonard never fully took over in the series-deciding sequences. And yet there was Duncan, nuclear winter survivor, posting 28/11 in Game 2 to even the series and 21/11 in Game 5 to give the Spurs a 3-2 series lead. There was Duncan, stymying Griffin in signature fashion.

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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2540806-tim-duncan-revs-up-style-in-his-car-shop-revealing-a-rare-portrait-of-a-legend

God I need some Spurs basketball. Might watch all of the championship DVDs.

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God I need some Spurs basketball. Might watch all of the championship DVDs.

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I feel ya (just substitute Rockets instead of Spurs)

Only 49 more days to go until opening night!

We can make it!!!

You gonna make it down to the Countdown City for any Spurs/Rox games, HS?

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God I need some Spurs basketball. Might watch all of the championship DVDs.

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Aggie wins and Longhorn tears are keeping me plenty entertained until November.

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Same, I'm just more stoked than usual since I just moved back to town.