Not that different, of course.
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Go-to-guy: Tim Duncan is 39, Manu Ginobili is 38 and Tony Parker looks a step slow for 33.
Double-double monster LaMarcus Aldridge left Portland and spurned both Los Angeles and New York to sign a max deal with San Antonio in July. The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are playing the first game of the ESPN doubleheader and the second game has the Lakers and Timberwolves.
Mills is driven by the desire to win another National Basketball Association title with the all-star Spurs line-up and at the back of his mind he’s already thinking about Australia’s Olympic campaign in Rio next year. A few may argue that Aldridge’s numbers may not be the best percentage wise to carry a team to a championship compared to Duncan’s, but we have to remember LaMarcus’ situation with his former team.
For me, David West is the one.
The Supreme Court of Texas on Monday appointed San Antonio’s Judge David Peeples to handle a lawsuit filed to remove Dallas County DA Susan Hawk from office. The Spurs were punished for their clinical ability to turn unknown players and perceived also-rans into viable rotation players in the offseason, for Cory Joseph, Marco Belinelli and Aron Baynes all received massive salary bumps the Spurs couldn’t match. Las Vegas Summer League MVP, Kyle Anderson. As if adding Aldridge wasn’t enough, they also managed to re-sign defensive player of the year Kawhi Leonard to a five-year, $90 million extension. West obliged, despite the $11 million sacrifice in salary. I wanted to take this challenge.
The Spurs will be coming into this season with more offensive firepower than they have in years (if ever). Even though they did not have any major free agent signings except for keeping Kevin Garnett over the offseason, they had the time to regain health and they also had the first overall pick in the draft. Duncan, of course, has been the one constant for San Antonio and will remain so until he retires.
Player with upside: While he may still be a season away from getting serious minutes, the Rockets have a promising young center in Clint Capela.
There are other minor questions the Spurs will have to answer throughout the year. Anderson is not exactly a carbon-copy of Belinelli, and perhaps the Spurs used their final roster spot on veteran swingman Rasual Butler anticipating that Anderson’s quirky game might not fulfill their need for another knockdown shooter.
New faces. New individual styles and personalities. An undefined rotation. Burgeoning and unsafe challengers in the West. Maybe this Spurs’ transformation will be tougher than we thought.
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It should be comforting to the Spurs that the PG is taking this approach, because the performance of Leonard and Aldridge will be key for the team.
