San Antonio Spurs

[kamikaze426]

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I thought g kuha sa spurs si elton brand hehehe

[pjp_168]

20 pani sya??. whoaaa. long way to goo. .i hope he can play like charles barkleyy. .

[tackielarla]

20 pani sya??. whoaaa. long way to goo. .i hope he can play like charles barkleyy. .

Funny you mentioned Sir Charles coz he actually patterned his game after him.

[inc-pankz]

way to go spurs. . i love blair wayback pittsburg pa sya. .sayang napildi lng cila sa ? louiville?

[cxtknight]

mura najud xag 30 somthin hehehe

[tackielarla]

Eye-candy: The San Antonio Spurs Silver Dancers!

[cxtknight]

w00000000000000ttttttttttttttttttt....daaaaammmmmm mmmmnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!

[tackielarla]

Leaner Mason aims to keep key role
Mike Monroe

When talks aimed at securing a new collective bargaining agreement linking the NBA and its players' union began last week in New York, no team was represented, on both sides, quite like the Spurs.

National Basketball Players Association vice-president Roger Mason Jr., the Spurs shooting guard, took a moment to welcome his fellow NBPA vice-president, Theo Ratliff, the recently signed Spurs center, to his new team.

So, too, did Peter Holt, the Spurs CEO who was elected chairman of the NBA owners' negotiating committee.

Mason's message to his newest teammate when they met in New York: “You're going to love being a Spur.”

“That was the first time I'd seen Theo since the last Players Association meeting,” Mason said of a negotiating session he called strictly informational and cordial. “I welcomed him to the team, but he's such a vet he probably knows more about the Spurs than I do.”

Mason was back in San Antonio last week, visiting friends and speaking to youngsters at the Eastside Boys and Girls Club. He said he has watched the Spurs front office recast the roster this summer with an appreciative eye and a determined spirit.

Mason has heard — too often, he says — that the addition of swingman Richard Jefferson and the return of a healthy Manu Ginobili will affect his role this season. Determined to follow his best season — career highs in games and minutes played, 3-point percentage and scoring average — he expects to continue as a key contributor.

“I've been getting that question a lot,” he said of inquiries about his post-makeover role. “I know I'm not where I want to be, as far as my game's progression. The main thing is, I want to know I'm going to continue to progress, especially on this team.

“Last year I had a good year. This year, I want to have an even better one.”

To that end, Mason was back in the gym just days after the Spurs' first-round playoff ouster in April, focused on getting lean. He says he has reduced his body fat by four percentage points.

“This is the first summer I've been able to focus on my legs and my body,” he said. “I'm trying to be way more active. That's my biggest thing this year.”

Mason is sensitive to criticism of his postseason play. His scoring average in five playoff games against the Mavericks dipped by nearly five points from the regular season. He made only 1 of 6 3-point attempts in the final three games. By Game 5, his playing time was nearly gone.

“I would say this: The first couple of games I played well,” he said. “The first game I had 13 points and played solid defense, and I thought I brought the energy. The second game I had double figures, shot 50 percent.

“The last three games, I didn't play as well. That's fine. Did I think I could have done better? Sure.”

Postseason disappointment manifested in motivation.

“As soon as the season ended, I really went to work,” he said. “I worked on my quickness and my core and getting my legs back. I feel like I've made some pretty good improvement.”

Mason says the team's offseason changes have re-energized everyone.

“Everybody is excited about what we've done. There's a buzz in the air. We're all looking forward to being in training camp soon.

“I know we're going to work harder and we're going to try to improve from last year. That's the only thing I'd ever promise. But the effort is going to be there, that's for sure.”

[tackielarla]

Spurred into action
Time to ante up in San Antonio
By Peter May
The Boston Globe

For years, the San Antonio Spurs were the avatars of economy and frugality. They’d somehow find a way to win - or at least compete - and do so while keeping their payroll under control. There may have been one crossover into Luxury Tax Territory a few years back, but it was small and short-lived.

Now, all that is gone. Like Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson and Bob Dylan going electric in 1965, this constitutes a certifiable shocker. The Spurs are spending. They are doing so knowing the consequences and risks. They will be big-time luxury tax payers and, according to coach Gregg Popovich, it simply had to be this way.

“I didn’t think it was going to work any other way,’’ the Spurs’ hoops boss said last week while on the road to his vacation abode in Maine. “We could have waited until next summer and seen if LeBron [James], [Dwyane] Wade, and [Chris] Bosh all decided to come join us. But I had trouble seeing that happening.

“Our time is now. Timmy [Duncan’s] time is now. He has three years left on his contract. Something tells me that you don’t have to be too smart to figure out that the next three years are probably going to be better than the three after that.’’

Toward that end, the Spurs have made some changes, and according to Popovich, “If we can stay healthy, we are back in the championship talk.’’ They added Richard Jefferson via trade, signed Antonio McDyess as a free agent (along with Theo Ratliff), and drafted burly DeJuan Blair in the second round.

The additions of Jefferson and McDyess pushed the Spurs well over the tax limit (almost $9 million, according to one account) and required some arm-twisting of longtime owner Peter Holt.

“We told him that if we were going to compete, we had to go over the [tax threshold]. He did not like that answer,’’ Popovich said. “But he also said, ‘I don’t like it, but I understand it, so go out and do what you need to do.’ ’’

Jefferson is the biggest of the new arrivals, a scorer, a wing player who still has a few hops left. Popovich got to know Jefferson during the 2004 Olympics (as did Duncan, a US teammate) and looks forward to having the ex-Net, ex-Buck on the team.

“He’s a grown-up. He doesn’t have to be developed,’’ Popovich said. “And personality-wise, he fits. He has a great sense of humor. You can coach him and he can respectfully talk back to you. Timmy enjoys him.’’

McDyess is also a grown-up. “He’s Kurt Thomas, but a better scorer,’’ Popovich said.

As for Blair, the rebounding machine from Pitt, Popovich said, “He’s going to play right off the bat for us. He can rebound. I’m not going to teach him how to shoot threes. We know what he can do.’’

But just as crucial is the return to health (and good form) of the Big Three. Duncan, according to Popovich, is in the best shape of his career and eager to win a fifth ring. Manu Ginobili, who has been hurt in each of the last two postseasons, is healthy. Popovich said “my heart sunk’’ when he heard that Tony Parker had hurt an ankle while playing for France.

“It makes me sick,’’ he said. “There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s frustrating. But it’s a minor sprain. From what we read, it could have been a whole lot worse.’’

Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili all were big players in the last three San Antonio championships (2003, 2005, 2007). Another was 38-year-old Bruce Bowen, who went to Milwaukee in the Jefferson trade. The Bucks waived him at the end of July and he is a free agent. Might he be part of another Spurs run, albeit in a subordinate role?

“I’ve given him no such indication,’’ Popovich said. “He might come back with the right team in the right situation, but it’s probably not going to be San Antonio.’’

Popovich still puts the Lakers on top in the West, but the reconfigured Spurs have him energized as he prepares for his 13th full season as the main man in San Antonio.

“I’m really excited,’’ he said. “If we had come to training camp with the same group we had at the end of last year, everyone would have gone into major depression. I would have been saying, ‘follow me,’ and turned around to find nobody there. It was time to change the music and I think we’ve done that.’’

[owNinZ]

go spurs go!