All good things must come to an end. TV fans learned that recently with the series finales of both Lost and 24. Maybe it is finally time the Spurs follow this theory and start blowing up their aging roster.
By: Peter Christian and David Kay
’09-’10 Season in Review:
It’s been said for each of the past 3 seasons (at least by me) but apparently I have to say it again; 2009-10 was the beginning of the end for the Spurs. They’ve aged another year, their bodies have more mileage on them and the effectiveness of their top three players has decreased.
Tim Duncan stayed relatively healthy all season which was a plus but he had the lowest rebounding and scoring outputs of his career. Tony Parker missed 26 games due to injury and when he was on the floor had his worst statistical output since 2004. Manu Ginobili was effective this past season, but not great and certainly not worth the 3 year, $36 million extension management gave him during the season. Most importantly, Manu’s mark on the 2009-10 season will be his insistence on wearing a maxi-pad on his face to “protect” his broken nose.
Through all of that regression from the Spurs Big 3, the team still surprised the Mavericks in the 1st round with a 4-2 series drubbing that gave the Spurs fans something to cheer about for one more season. And cheer they did… until they were swept by the Suns in the 2nd round. One big positive for the season was the emergence of rookie DeJuan Blair as an effective paint presence that can handle opposing NBA big men in short spurts. The Spurs capitalized on his slide in last year’s draft and he capitalized on the opportunity.
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