Panic Time for the Spurs?

The Manu Ginobli injury has definitely hurt, but San Antonio’s underachieving start is definitely something to worry about. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at the standings where San Antonio currently holds the cellar of the Southwest Division, a title previously monopolized by the Memphis Grizzlies. The Spurs have been the league’s model franchise ever since Tim Duncan was drafted 11 years ago, but they are really starting to show some kinks in the armor. While nearly every team in the loaded Western Conference is getting younger and stronger, San Antonio is quickly growing thin. Hosting the division rival Mavericks in a key early season showdown, Gregg Popovich’s crew was beat up in a 17-point blowout loss, the third successive setback to a playoff contending team in the West. Even worse, it marked the first time in the Spurs NBA history they had ever gone winless in their first three games. You have to go back to their ABA times in the 1973-74 season to find the last time they got off to a 0-3 start.

Last spring’s Western Conference Finals exposed the Spurs as an aging team that lacked any kind of depth after its awesome trio of Duncan, Ginobli, and Tony Parker. The blueprint was to surround their three stars with veterans who could fill the holes, especially defensively. San Antonio’s aging veterans were weak options offensively and just couldn’t compare to the great bench of Los Angeles. The Spurs had numerous offensive breakdowns and were whipped badly by the energetic Lakers. It still ended a season that was three wins shy of a second consecutive NBA Finals appearance, which gave the impression that the model was working. At the time, it was just a credit to the Lakers and their tremendous run in the playoffs. Everyone around the organization believed it was expected that the Spurs would come back with Popovich and their core group ready to contend for another title this year. However, the team’s issues have grown and become much more complicated.

In the season opener against Phoenix, San Antonio’s defense couldn’t get their usual defensive stops down the stretch and the Spurs lost at home to a team they’ve owned for years. A Popovich-led team is known to be a great defensive team, first and foremost, but San Antonio looked nothing like it in their debut. The Suns were in the process of breaking in new coach Terry Porter and trying to understand a completely new philosophy. Yet Phoenix was able to win San Antonio, an almost impossible feat in years past, on day one to send a powerful message to their nemesis. Looking for redemption against the Oden-less Blazers, the Spurs failed again to make enough plays during crunch time, and fell to a much more inexperienced team. All that frustration from those two missed opportunities carried into Tuesday night’s game, which the Spurs were out of by halftime.

Without Ginobli, their third leading scorer and spark plug, Popovich has struggled to find enough scoring and defense to support Parker and Duncan, who are playing 34 and 39 minutes, respectively per game. The Spurs have been masters at conserving the amount of playing time they give their franchise players so as to keep them ready to go for playoff time. This year, that is becoming a near impossible task, given what Popovich has to work with. Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas have played instrumental roles for this franchise in the past, but are regressing dramatically. It’s getting to the point where Pop can’t even play either guy for more than 20 minutes. Roger Mason was paid big bucks (two years, $7.3 million) to provide some depth, but should not be the third leading scorer on any contending team. In Washington, he was a super-sub at his best, but now he’s one of the primary options for the first unit. That just can’t happen. Matt Bonner is the team’s starting center, but entered the year with only nine career starts. He just can’t contend with the bigs around the conference like Bynum, Chandler, Yao, or Boozer. With the reigning Sixth Man of the Year out another month, things aren’t getting any easier.

Possibly the most discouraging part of this rough start is the wonderful play of Parker and Duncan. The duo has been simply brilliant in the early going, with each tossing in 26 points a game. Mr. Duncan is right at his usual benchmark of 10 rebounds a game, and Parker is distributing eight assists a night. The two of them have played their hearts out and looked great doing it. They have shown that they are still elite players, capable of playing at a championship level. Yet the rest of their team has been frustratingly inadequate and they stand winless. Two terrific players with no supporting cast won’t get your very far in the NBA and finding depth around the league is as hard as finding a needle in a haystack. Parker and Duncan can’t really play much better than they have been, which makes things extremely complicated in the Alamo.