San Antonio Spurs

[icon_king]

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kabasa lang ko sa news bay nalimut ko unsa toh nga article ug newspaper... either sunstar inquirer ug philippine star

[johnnyblues]

di pa mu retire si duncan kay naa pa sha contrata hantud 2011 man ata. makabayad sha ug mu breach sha anang contrata nila.

[ballsandword]

completo naman sad si duncan, he has nothing more to prove. the greatest pf of all time.

[mab]

Thursday, October 29
MATCHUP AWAY TIME (ET)
San Antonio at Chicago 8:00 PM

friday nani sa ato noh..

[tackielarla]

Thursday, October 29
MATCHUP AWAY TIME (ET)
San Antonio at Chicago 8:00 PM

friday nani sa ato noh..

Yup yup Friday morning bai.

[tackielarla]

Spurs keep 15 on opening night roster
By Mike Monroe

The Spurs are one of 18 NBA teams keeping 15 players on their opening night roster, news that came as a relief to guard-forward Malik Hairston, the only player remaining on the squad without a fully guaranteed contract.

Opening night rosters had to be set by the close of the NBA office's business day on Monday, and the Spurs scheduled a 4 p.m. practice session to give the player personnel department the entire day to examine all possibilities, including potential trade offers.

By the time the deadline arrived, the Spurs opted to stick with the 15 players who remained after Marcus Williams was waived on Sunday.

Coach Gregg Popovich had said the reality of the economy would require one of the non-guaranteed players to play so well in pre-season that the basketball staff would have to be crazy not to keep him.

Hairston apparently passed the test of Popovich's sanity.

The NBA's also required teams to project which players will be inactive for season openers, but those are subject to change.

The Spurs' projected inactives for Wednesday's regular season opener against the Hornets are forward-center Ian Mahinmi, forward Marcus Haislip and Hairston.

The Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers listed only 13 players, the league minimum, on their opening night rosters, though they can add players, up to 15, before opening night.

[tackielarla]

Thanks to work on defense, Hairston sticking with Spurs
Mike Monroe

With a roster filled with guaranteed contracts and a payroll already bulging well beyond the NBA's luxury tax threshold, there was only one way for a player with a non-guaranteed deal to secure a place on the Spurs' roster.

“Someone is going to have to play so well we'd be crazy not to keep him,” Gregg Popovich said a few weeks ago.

Malik Hairston's presence on the official opening-night roster the Spurs submitted to the NBA office Monday is proof the coaching staff hasn't lost its collective mind.

The 6-foot-6 guard-forward from Oregon made no effort to suppress a wide smile as he met the media after Monday's practice session.

“How do I feel?” Hairston responded to the first question from reporters. “I'm sure you can answer that one yourself.

“I'm doing great.”

Acquired by the Spurs on draft night last year in a swap of second-round picks with the Phoenix Suns, Hairston used his first season in the organization — he appeared in 16 Spurs games, but spent most of the season with Austin in the Development League — as a learning experience.

More than anything, he learned that the most certain path to a spot on the Spurs roster begins, and sometimes ends, on defense.

“I focused on defense and let everything else come to me,” he said. “I understand that the Spurs are very defensive-minded. I knew that would be my angle to make this basketball team.

“This is a team of hall of famers and great scorers. My time will come to show some offensive things and some intangibles, but for now I just focused on defense.”

While he appreciated Hairston's focus on defense, Popovich said Hairston earned his spot with solid play at both ends of the court.

“Obviously, we think Malik Hairston did a great job in training camp,” Popovich said. “At both ends of the floor, he earned a spot on this team.”

Hairston played in all seven preseason games, shooting 55.2 percent from the field and averaging 6.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists in an average of 15.3 minutes. Long hours spent honing his shooting stroke were reflected in willingness to take open shots.

“He's really improving his mid-range shooting, and he's attacking the rim,” said Manu Ginobili, who sees in Hairston a player with similar skills to his own. “So he's becoming a really complete player, and his athletic abilities are unbelievable. We need players like that.”

Hairston and Marcus Williams, the Spurs' 2007 second-rounder who also played most of the 2008-09 season in Austin, waged a close fight through preseason for the potential final roster spot.

When Williams was waived Sunday, Hairston tried hard not to get too far ahead of himself.

Many of his teammates were as anxious as Hairston to learn his fate.

“I was getting text (messages) last night,” he said. “‘Have you heard any news?' That feels even better than how excited I am.”

Ginobili was one of the players most happy to find Hairston had made it.

“He's been great,” said Ginobili, “and last season, too. Even though he didn't play much, and he was in and out, he showed great work ethic and respect for teammates. He's a good kid, too.”

Hairston understands he is apt to spend many games in a seat behind the bench.

Most likely, that is where he will be on Wednesday night, when the regular season begins with a game against the New Orleans Hornets at the AT&T Center.

“Whether I'm dressed out, or in a sport coat, just to be a part of this is exciting,” he said.

[tackielarla]

SPURS - HORNETS tomorrow live!

[dandavix08]

SPURS - HORNETS tomorrow live!

way trade fodder dha?? hehehehehehehehe

[tackielarla]

For Spurs, it's a two-man game
Mike Monroe



For all the changes the Spurs made in the offseason — the trades executed, the veteran free agents signed and the rookies drafted — everyone in the organization understands a simple truth.

To have a legitimate chance to win the franchise's fifth NBA championship, power forward Tim Duncan and shooting guard Manu Ginobili must be their All-Star-caliber selves if the Spurs are to maximize success with a roster that may be the deepest in franchise history.

The long grind toward a postseason Spurs fans already anticipate eagerly begins tonight at the AT&T Center when the Spurs play the New Orleans Hornets.

In the seconds before tonight's game tips, Duncan will walk to center court and show off a body that is 15 pounds lighter and a right knee stabilized by a brace made of space-age materials.

In his 12th season, Duncan averaged 19.3 points and 10.7 rebounds and was voted to the All-NBA second team. Nevertheless, he applied himself to a different sort of offseason regimen intended to take some of the stress off knees that have bothered him for several years. That was because his performance diminished as last season extended and his knees ached more often.

He returned to training camp looking much like the svelte Wake Forest star who reported to camp in 1997 and became Rookie of the Year.

Ginobili reported after an offseason spent resting an ankle that recovered from a stress fracture, thrilled to be back on any court, even in the preseason, after missing the final six games of the regular season and the playoffs.

Both players looked fresh and invigorated during the preseason. They insist they are 100 percent healthy.

Duncan, according to one of his new teammates, looked every bit his All-NBA self through the entire preseason.

“Man, he's as talented and as good as he's ever looked since I was playing against him,” said Antonio McDyess, who competed against Duncan for 13 seasons before joining him this summer. “He came in with a loss of weight and ready to play.

“I don't know what it was, the trades or whatever, but he's got a championship in mind, and he's come out here and worked hard every day. You pretty much have to pull him out of practice. Looking at him every day, he just looks like he has that will to win every game.”

Ginobili, ever a harsh self-critic, believes the quirky, energized game that made him an All-Star and the 2008 Sixth Man Award winner remains a few weeks from returning to his hands.

“Physically, I'm fine,” Ginobili said. “Conditioning, I'm good.

“Basketball, I'm not ready.”

Duncan believes his Argentine teammate will find a big difference now that the games count for something besides evaluation of talent and game-shape conditioning.

“I think he looks great and is moving great and playing with a lot of confidence,” Duncan said after Tuesday's final preseason practice.

“Once you get on the floor and you're playing against an opponent, and not people who know everything you're doing every day, and with no (referees), I think he's going to feel better about himself. I think he will surprise himself.”

It is no surprise that Duncan believes Ginobili's mere presence in uniform will be an emotional boost for the Spurs.

“What he brings to the table is nothing you can orchestrate,” Duncan said.

“Having an X-Factor like that is huge for us. It's huge for anybody. You need an X-Factor. You can't plan everything, and everything doesn't go right all the time. But when you have someone who can make it up on the fly like that, it's a big plus.”

There are ample other reasons to believe the Spurs are primed for a solid season, many of them related to the front office's busy offseason:

• Richard Jefferson, acquired for three valued veterans, gives the Spurs an athletic small forward with the strength to post up defenders.

• Point guard Tony Parker has been given the keys to the offense and told by Gregg Popovich to be its shooting star.

• McDyess, Theo Ratliff and Keith Bogans, all veterans renowned as defenders, were signed as free agents.

• Second-year guard George Hill had such an impressive preseason, Popovich calls him his favorite player.

• Second-round draft pick DeJuan Blair put up preseason numbers so impressive, he has forced his way into Popovich's playing plans.

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