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ESPN tonight. Finally another game I can watch.

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This Ginobili guy is pretty good.

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This Ginobili guy is pretty good.

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He's shedding hair to conserve energy. Bald spot doing well to start the year.

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We're trying to be the best team we can be with Aldrige
Manu Ginobili - http://canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1...e-con-aldridge

I think in general we've had a good start to the season. I do get the feeling we could've won one of the games we lost (Oklahoma City & Washington), because we lost them due to a couple of mistakes that shouldn't have happened, but oh well. But in general, those were competitive games and not impossible to lose, it's not those kind of games that you end up thinking back that you lost because you sleepwalked through them. In general we're doing good, we have a good record (5-2) and about or gameplay we know we had up and downs. At times we're playing well, but at times we're just not as good. We're very streaky right now, but that's relatively normal. We have to adjust things due to the arrival of LaMarcus (Aldrige), but not only because we added him to our team, and because he has to learn the system, but also because he alters the balance we had before. So we have to make him play, make him feel part of the action, and make sure he's comfortable. And at the same time everyone else has to give up a little. All that takes some time. Same happens with David West, when he comes in with the second unit. Let me repeat it's just a matter of everyone finding their place. The upside is enormous and considering that we're 5-2 with a lot of those games on the road, makes us optimists. Of course there's a lot of work still to be done.

That has to do with the fact that everyone knew the team wouldn't transform to being Aldrige-dependent. He had to adapt to us and logically, us to him. Now he's trying to find out when to give that extra pass we use a lot, when to attack the basket more... he's studying the options. LaMarcus is the destination of a lot of possessions, something we didn't do with Tiago [Splitter]. So, all those plays used to be for Tim. Now they're not all for Tim, and he has to share with LaMarcus. And everything changes, because now there's a player who's an offensive force and creates for others, whereas with Tiago we had a player that rolled well and played with spaces. The team's equilibrium changed a bit. And we're all trying to accommodate ourselves.

Even for Tony [Parker] things change, because he now has another player to feed the ball, because Tiago perhaps didn't ask the ball too much. But it has little to do with LaMarcus asking for the ball, but his sole presence means that the ball has to go through him. That's why, we're tying to see how we can be the best team we can be with Aldrige. He's so good and capable, you want to maximize the way you use him.

Personally, I feel much better than I thought I would feel for a start of the season. I'm playing the minutes I thought I would play, I feel good, healthy, shooting well, helping the team extend leads with that second unit and moving the ball well. I'm happy, I know it's early because it's just seven games, you have to be cautious, but that doesn't mean that I can't be happy with the team's present and also with my own performance so far.

I know Pop said I was managing the program, but that's because he exaggerates and was obviously kidding. What happened is that Pop thought we had agreed not to play back to back games. He proposed that, but I don't think I ever accepted. I understood his point of view and I thought it was logical, but there's moments where you can evaluate how you feel and I was coming off a game at 3PM the day before (against Boston Celtics), we arrived early to New York, I rested well, and that's why I thought there was no reason not to rest. Plus, this is a time where the team needs to get to know eachother, play a lot, coordinate rotations. That's why I thought it was important to play. Even if they were reduced minutes.

Pop tried to convince me not to play, but I told him no, and that's why he sent me to talk to the assistant coaches. Looks like I convinced them, that's why Pop laughed and said his assistants were cowards because they didn't tell me not to play... But the honest truth is that we talked at length, we debated, and I ended up playing. Pop was just feeling like making a few jokes.

To be clear, I want to play because I feel well and because of this adaptation process we're all undergoing together. For example, I'm also taking on different responsibilities, some of which I had previously, but now are more defined. Even if I understand that my role now is closer to that of a Point Guard, which I do when we walk in with the second unit, I can say my function is even realtive in that case. Because we enter to run and move the ball, where everybody touches it, and even at time Boris [Diaw] looks like the PG. We share the ball a lot, nobody has it for long, except the last possesion of quarters where we want to control the ball a bit more. But in reality we're all in the same situation where we don't want the ball to stick. And in my case, it helps I'm playing with Patty [Mills] who is a great shooter, so that helps me focus more on creation. He knows I'll be looking for him and I'm going to create for him. We have a good chemistry and it works well together. It's true I'm not playing strictly as a PG, but my role is much more of a creator than a finisher.

We heard from before the season started about candidates and all that, and the reality is that we're not thinking much about that. We're more focused in finding our roles in this new team. That the new guys are happy and that they can be the best version of themselves. Last season there was none of this, we just had to beat the mental challenge of being hungry again after 82 games and reach the Finals again. I think it was a different mental challenge. This time around the challenge is more technical-tactical, having to make a team out of this collection of players and feel comfortable in the process. Sometimes change is good, shake the team up a bit to rebuild some stuff. It helps, but I insist it will take an adaptation period and we're hoping it will be short.

And everybody has high expectations, we know our fans too. Even if we only played two games at home, we notice everything that's going on with the team, the people of San Antonio are expectant. You can tell they're excited, they know Aldrige is an All Star, he's an incredible player, and we have a very high ceiling. The people of San Antonio is very special, very positive. It's 15 years of a lot of success, very good teams, and that's why fans are motivated. But for the first time add a Free Agent of such caliber, it multiplies that excitement. That's why we're all very hopeful with what could happen this season.

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I thought Doug Collins had some good observations last night about the difference in style between the Spurs' first and second unit, and about how Green's game has been impacted by Aldridge when they're on the floor together.

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