Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Olympic hoops loaded with Spurs

Even without any Spurs suiting up for Team USA at the Olympics — although Tim “FIBA Sucks” Duncan would certainly look good in red, white and blue, even at his advanced age — there’s still plenty of reasons for San Antonio fans to keep a close eye on the competition.

No fewer than six Spurs will be taking part: Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and newcomer Nando De Colo with France; Manu Ginobili with Argentina; Tiago Splitter with Brazil; and Patty Mills with Australia. Whether or not some of them should be there is a moot point — even with concerns about age and injuries, players like Parker and Ginobili would have had to be forcibly barred from participating.

So Spurs fans have no choice but to enjoy the spectacle and mull the same debate their foreign legion has posed in previous Olympics: Club or country? If it’s the former, here’s a look at each team’s schedule with a brief overview. Must-see viewing is France/Argentina on Tuesday, pitting Parker and Ginobili against one another after so many years together in the NBA.

(For those not familiar with the format, the 12 teams are split into two groups of six, with the top four teams advancing to the tournament stage after playing each other once. The gold medal game is Aug. 12.)

Group A

Argentina (Lithuania, Sunday; France, Tuesday; Tunisia, Thursday; Nigeria, Saturday; USA, Aug. 8): If the USA had the Dream Team, Argentina has the so-called “Golden Generation” of Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino, who helped Argentina win the gold medal in 2004 and become the first team to beat Team USA with a full NBA roster at the 2002 World Championships. It’s an old group — average age, 33 — but it came as no surprise that they managed to give U.S. another challenge in their recent exhibition meeting.

France (USA, Sunday; Argentina, Tuesday; Lithuania, Thursday; Tunisia, Saturday; Nigeria, Aug. 8): With Parker and Diaw having long established themselves, the Olympics will afford most Spurs fans with their first real look at the team’s latest addition — swingman Nando De Colo, a fixture with Les Blues since 2009. Especially interesting will be how he matches up with his future NBA contemporaries in Sunday’s opener against Team USA. You can also guarantee Gregg Popovich, expected to be in attendance, will be keeping a close eye on Parker post eye injury.

Group B

Brazil (Australia, Sunday; Great Britain, Tuesday; Russia, Thursday; China, Saturday; Spain, Aug. 8): Unlike France and Argentina, Brazil’s lone Spurs representative, Splitter, is more role player than workhorse. He still fills a valuable role, teaming with Nene and Anderson Verejao to form a frontcourt rotation that worries even the mighty Americans. Combined with NBA veteran Leandro Barbosa and point guard Marcelinho Huertas, and coached by Argentine legend Ruben Magnano, it’s easy to see why some pick Brazil as a serious medal candidate.

Australia (Brazil, Sunday; Spain, Tuesday; China, Thursday; Great Britain, Saturday; Russia, Aug. 8): The same cannot be said for the Boomers, who could have a tough time getting out of pool play. While he’s never been a star at the NBA level, Mills has been a mainstay of the national team since he became one of its youngest members in 2007. He averaged 14 points to lead the Boomers at the 08 Olympics. Observant Spurs fans will also recognize Australia’s head coach , a long-time assistant and front office member.

Duncan as an Olympic Bird

LONDON – Tim Duncan would have helped the 2012 U.S. basketball team. But that’s not why he should be in London these next few weeks with Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.

Duncan deserved a do-over. He deserved better teammates, and a better Olympic memory.

Yes, he deserved a better result, too.

Duncan never considered signing up again. When he left Athens in 2004, it was for good.

He had never planned on 2004, either. Had his knee not required surgery in the summer of 2000, he would have gone to Sydney, won gold and been done with the Olympics forever.

Duncan came back for Athens, as well as for qualifying the summer before, and others didn’t. If Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett had joined him in Greece, the U.S. team would have won.

Instead, Duncan drew a group that didn’t impress then, and impresses less in hindsight. Allen Iverson has since gone bankrupt, Stephon Marbury to China, Lamar Odom to the Kardashians.

As for the small forward who the USA staff leaned on then: If the Spurs couldn’t count on Richard Jefferson, how could a nation?

Duncan’s jersey number, 13, summed up his karma. And he acted as cursed, walking through the mixed zone after games with headphones on, ignoring the clamor around him.

What followed was the worst American showing in the Olympics in the NBA international era. And what teammates didn’t do to Duncan, officials did. He was called for 30 fouls in eight Olympic games, which gave way to his parting words in Athens.

Then, after saying his international career was “95 per cent” finished, he added, “FIBA sucks.”

Announcing “Federation Internationale de Basketball sucks” wouldn’t have had the same ring.

Duncan’s image took a beating then, though the 2005 title erased most of that. Jerry Colangelo continued to offer him a spot in the revamped program, because Duncan was still among the top three in the game then, but Duncan never wavered.

Duncan figured he was past this part of his life and, besides, he had done his duty. He played on seven various international teams, and four of his teams went undefeated.

As for the idea that his resume is incomplete without a gold medal: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Walton managed to survive without one, too.

As the years went on, his inclusion made less and less sense. Now, at his age and with his knee, the last thing the Spurs want to see Duncan do is bang against the Gasol brothers in the summer.

But Larry Bird was in far worse shape as part of the Dream Team in 1992, and he treasures that time. Furthermore, just as Duncan doesn’t have to carry the Spurs anymore, he wouldn’t have to carry his country.

He could have played spot minutes, and here’s the kicker: The U.S. could use a smart, effective big man.

So Duncan deserved something better than spending another summer at the Spurs’ practice facility, and who knows?

Maybe he would have liked London, too.

Standing pat is just fine with Popovich

LAS VEGAS — To hear Spurs coach Gregg Popovich tell it, negotiating a new contract with franchise big man Tim Duncan this summer was a lot like negotiating with the mob.

“He was just as big a pain in the neck as he was when he almost went to Orlando,” Popovich joked, referring to Duncan’s free-agent flirtation with the Magic in 2000.

“He toyed with me. He lied to me. He intimidated me. He threatened me. In the end, it worked out. But I had to take much abuse to get it done.”

Having last week secured Duncan’s autograph on a three-year deal believed to be worth $39 million — one that could carry the 36-year-old future Hall of Famer to the conclusion of his career — the Spurs’ front office commenced on an offseason signing spree that went quickly, quietly and by design produced little in the way of roster turnover.

With guard Danny Green (three years, $12 million), center Boris Diaw (two years, $9.2 million) and backup point guard Patty Mills back in the fold, the team the Spurs trot out on opening day 2012 will look remarkably like the one last seen slumping off the court at Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals.

“We had a very good year, went a pretty long ways,” Popovich said earlier this week from NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. “We would have liked to have gone further, but we want to keep that group together.”

Since the start of free agency July 1, the Los Angeles Lakers added a two-time MVP in Steve Nash, Dallas almost completely revamped around Dirk Nowitzki, Phoenix remade itself for the post-Nash era, and Houston cashed out Luis Scola for a dose of Jeremy Lin-sanity.

In the face of such a shifting landscape in the Western Conference, the Spurs opted to make like the Grand Canyon and hardly change at all.

The only new addition so far is Nando de Colo, a 25-year-old French guard drafted 53rd overall in 2009, who Popovich likens to “a poor-man’s Danny Ainge.”

“He’s a good basketball player, fits in well with the group, makes good decisions, finishes on the break,” Popovich said. “He’s going to be fun to watch.”

For the 16th consecutive season, the Spurs will build around Duncan, who enjoyed a resurgent campaign (15.4 points, nine rebounds in 28.2 minutes per game) in 2011-12.

Once Duncan’s new deal sapped any shot the Spurs had at salary cap room, doubling down on a roster that won 50 of 66 games last season and came within two wins of the NBA Finals became the only sensible play for Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford.

In a turn of events that should please team chairman Peter Holt, the Spurs were able to do it without crossing the luxury-tax line of $70.307 million.

“Lots of times you don’t have a choice (but to stand pat), because of contracts or numbers or whatever,” Popovich said. “This year, we were able to do everything and stay under the tax at the same time. That was a goal, to stay under the tax. We weren’t sure we were going to be able to do it.”

Between now and the start of training camp in October, Popovich and Buford will keep an eye on the waiver wire for opportunities to upgrade the roster.

The bulk of the front office’s summertime work, however, is already done.

The Spurs already have 14 players under contract for next season, one less than the league maximum, though they could create an extra space if needed by waiving DeJuan Blair’s non-guaranteed $1.504 million deal.

Popovich acknowledges the challenge of running down the young and hungry Oklahoma City Thunder — much less the NBA champion Miami Heat — with a roster nearly identical to the one that could not get it done last season.

He also sees room for internal improvement, particularly in Green, second-year small forward Kawhi Leonard and Diaw, who did not join the team until March.

“I think we can get better,” Popovich said. “We’re going to stick with the group and see how it goes.”

No Leonard, no win: Leonard’s summer league is over.

Having apparently seen enough in two dominant games from their second-year small forward, the Spurs allowed Leonard to leave Las Vegas for good Wednesday.

Leonard will not play in either of the Spurs’ remaining two games, ending his summer stint sporting a healthy 25-point per game scoring average.

Without their leading scorer, the Spurs lost 86-80 to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night. Cory Joseph continued a strong summer league with 22 points and six assists.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

Spurs’ summer schedule

The Spurs’ Summer League team has two games remaining in Las Vegas:

• Friday: vs. Heat, Cox Pavilion, 7 p.m.

• Saturday: vs. Mavericks, Cox Pavilion, 5 p.m.