Tech, Politics, and Whatever’s Relevant

Even though I had a $50 bet that the Spurs would be experiencing a first round exit this year, I really wanted them to beat the Mavericks. Unfortunately the only chance of them getting to the Western Conference Finals really ended April 6th, when it was announced that Ginobili would be missing the rest of the season due to injury.

It’s ironic that as I spell-check the word Ginobili in Google, one of the suggestions is Ginormous, because that’s really what he is (figuratively speaking of course.) Ginobili is really the only competitor on this team who really plays to win. No disrespect to Duncan or Parker, but Duncan doesn’t play with any heart (outside of Game 7 against Detroit in 2005) and Parker really only plays for personal stats and his own fame. Without Ginobili, the Spurs go no-where fast. And this is what we saw.

So without further adieu, here are the changes that I think the Spurs need to make:

Cut the Garbage
Really, the following people need to be traded/released/retired/not-resigned/

• Finley – I’m pretty convinced that Finley is really playing out of boredom/for money. He seems to have no will to win, nor help his teamates. Yes, he has hit some clutch shots, but really his time is up. He’s nowhere near what he was when he played for Dallas, and he needs to retire. Finley has one more year left at his option, but Pop should talk him into retiring.
• Gooden – This guy thinks he’s Tracy McGrady in the post when he really needs to defer the ball to somebody else who’s a more reliable scorer. The Spurs really need somebody who’s more athletic than this. Gooden is a free agent.
• Vaughn – This guy is mediocre. Can’t create, just dribbles down and dumps to Duncan when he plays. Can’t score, zero athletic ability and old. Vaughn is a free agent.
• Bonner – Bonner seems like a nice guy, and that’s about the only thing with him that fits with the Spurs. Zero athletic ability, unreliable clutch scorer, and the inability to play defense makes this guy cut material. Fortunately he didn’t do bad during the regular season which makes him good trade material with…
• Fabricio Oberto – I’m a little concerned with getting rid of him because apparently he’s a good locker room asset and Manu’s friend. But he’s an overpaid, mediocre center. Would make good trading material with Bonner to a team that may be stacked with shooting guards and short on bigs.
• Ime Udoka – Really this guy needs to go, he’s a free-agent and although the Spurs are getting him at some-what of a bargain (1 mil a year) he can’t shoot and is much more of an offensive liability than Bruce. Yes he can play defense, but the Spurs are in desperate need of shooters.

Have Some Team Spirit
Watch some of the younger organizations and notice… they all have some sort of team unity that drives them. This Spurs team doesn’t have that. Everybody seems to play individually with nobody else in mind but the individual. This is why they go long periods with difficulties in scoring, they just don’t know how to be a unit. This is what Lebron is great for, he brings everybody together. Unfortunately San Antonio is a leaderless team. Duncan is no Kevin Garnett, and Parker is the second youngest guy on the Team, it’d be hard for him to take a leadership role in anything other than scoring and not catch ire from seniors (another problem getting younger will solve.)

Yes the inevitable, Get Younger
This is a strong one to consider and also is a reason I believe that people saying that the Spurs need to try and obtain the likes of Rasheed Wallace and Allen Iverson are wrong. While they are great players, Rasheed is old and Iverson can’t be on a team where he isn’t the primary offensive focus. Even if they need to draft some guards and project centers and develop their own personnel, they just need some young, athletic guys, no big names needed. Portland tried to draft Greg Oden and look where that got them. Centers are so hit or miss it doesn’t really matter if they are well known. Hill has already developed into a good backup behind Tony. The Spurs would be better off calling up their entire Austin D-League Team than resigning the above players.

So yes while the Spurs are in some trouble, they really have some time to sort things out. Yes I realize that I cut pretty much the entire roster, but something drastic does need to be done when you finish a series where you have only two guys who seriously contend. I’m looking forward to seeing what movies the FO makes in the off-season.

FO = Front Office