Earlier this morning, Jeff Garcia and I got on IM and the topic of our chat turned to the Spurs, like it often does. I’ve always thought some of our best stuff comes from these conversations and we often get ideas for this blog and the podcast from some of the things we talk about on IM, so we decided we should post the transcript of our conversation. It all started with Jeff telling me about Tony Parker’s appearance on “Quite Frankly” and ended with a dream of the Spurs roster in the near future.
Jeff: On “Quite Frankly” Tony guaranteed the Spurs will be in the Finals next season!
Jeff: uh oh
Michael: wow
Michael: he was on Rome last night as well
Jeff: man he needs to stop this
Michael: nah, i think its good
Jeff: no way
Jeff: remeber sheed?
Jeff: i dont like it when he talks like that
Michael: yea, but at least he feels confident and he’s ready to get back there
Jeff: well i am telling you now, the spurs will not make the finals
Michael: i think they have a chance, but a lot of things will have to happen to make them get back to the finals
Jeff: look at their squad as it is and compare it others. i think the mavs had better off season than the spurs
Michael: yea, but they still have the same starting 5
Michael: all the conditions im talking about are big if’s though
Michael: Manu has to have a relatively injury-free year
Michael: Tony has to mimic last years performance or improve on it
Jeff: but pound for pound they are better than the spurs
Michael: and if Elson or Butler can prove to be athletic enough to do the dirty work rebounding and average at least 8 a night, then I think we can get back to the finals
Jeff: the suns are better, the rockets “look” better, the clips stood pat,
Michael: pound for pound rarely matters in basketball, if it did matter the knicks would be in the playoffs every year
Michael: i dont see the suns as better than the spurs
Michael: who do they have to rival tim and manu
Jeff: i do
Jeff: amare
Michael: and tony and nash are pretty damn close
Michael: ehh, one player coming off an injury
Jeff: amare tore us up, remeber that
Michael: yea but not enough to get his team past us
Michael: phx does have a hell of a squad
Michael: i think theyre really close or about as good, but not better
Jeff: i say they are better bc they are more athletic than us
Michael: theyve been more athletic than us the past 3 years
Jeff: no finals for the spurs
Michael: we’ll see
Jeff: we saw the best of manu in 05
Jeff: TD is starting his decline
Jeff: parker is the only bright spot
Michael: dude, he had plantar fasciatis pretty much the entire second half of the season, before that, we both said he was having an mvp year
Jeff: whos left, finley? horry? bowen? barry?
Michael: finley
Jeff: no way!
Michael: bowen
Jeff: ehhh
Jeff: old ass vets
Michael: that can still play
Michael: we saw what finley did against dallas
Jeff: i just dont see it
Michael: welll, you know me i tend to look at things more optimistically while still being somewhat objective
Jeff: that clips team would have taken the spurs to 6 or 7 games
Michael: i dont see tim near his decline for another two years though, that injury did a number on him mentally and physically, but he was still able to play well in the playoffs
Jeff: no i say he is beginning his decline
Michael: after a full summer off, im telling you, this could be another mvp year
Jeff: i hope so, but the team as a whole is old and not athletic enough
Jeff: bench is suspect now
Michael: you’re right about that
Jeff: the bench?
Michael: javtokas and/or scola would have helped that quite a bit
Jeff: for sure!
Jeff: really look at the team, especially the bench
Jeff: oberto, horry, udrich, finley, barry, bonner, elson,
Michael: yea, i see only the 1 and 3 as solid for our bench, Beno and Finley
Jeff: no way, i’d like to see the bench get younger
Jeff: lots of energy from the bench would be great
Michael: Beno did pretty good for a 3rd pg’s minutes last year and fin averaged 10 points and 3 rebs last year in like 20 mpg, I’d say they are pretty solid at those 2 spots, the other 3 are weak though
Jeff: unless they can get bonzi then thing will be great
Jeff: even if its for 1 yr
Michael: if they get bonzi, then we are solid at 1,2 and 3 on the bench
Jeff: but not going to happen
Michael: i know, if we got him, finals for sure
Jeff: and w/ the heat in the running to sign him the spurs wont be the best teamin the nba
Michael: cant wait to get horrys contract off the books
Michael: bonner and williams too
Jeff: i think after this season the spurs will be in the finals w/ the cap space
Michael: i agree
Jeff: but not this season
Michael: if they don’t f*** it up ike they did this summer
Jeff: ughh
Michael: i wish someone would take barry off our hands too for a late first rounder or an expiring contract
Jeff: me too
Michael: if they dont get bonzi, denver could probably use a veteran 2 off the bench
Jeff: hmmm
Michael: im just looking for a team to save us from having to pay the last two years of his contract
Jeff: hornets almost did
Michael: no shit, and after this season, vaughn, bonner and williams will all be off the books, thats like 8 million
Michael: if horry retires, thats another 3.3 million
Jeff: awesome
Michael: if oberto takes his player option and becomes a free agent, thats another 2.5 and if finley takes his option and becomes a free agent, another 3 million
Jeff: damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff: go after KG!
Michael: yea, and bowen and beno both have team options after this yea
Michael: could be an opportunity to rebuild with some youth and a few young veterans
Michael: screw kg, i want dwight howard or chris bosh
Jeff: well bosh is out
Jeff: he resigned
Michael: yea
Jeff: howard would be nuice
Michael: yup
Jeff: imagine howard, TD, and mahinmi
Michael: wow
Michael: howard, a young athletic 3 on the cheap and javtokas would give us a kick ass team to compliment TP, Manu and Tim
Jeff: oh man, domination
Michael: i guess its ok to dream, but at least they’ll have the cash to do something
Feel free to comment on the topics we talked about and while you’re filling out a comment calling Jeff a Spurs hater (we’ll add it to the collection) write him a note of congrats as he gets sworn in as a full-fledged lawyer in New York next month.
