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Getty Images

Silver, black and white confetti rains onto the court of the AT&T Center for the first time in 12 years1. LeBron James sulks out of the arena, wondering how this could have happened two years in a row. How could that team, half of whose players arrived to the arena wielding canes or walkers, have sent him into the offseason with a swift kick in the pants and a ‘thank you, come again’? Manu flashes his effervescent smile to the home crowd for what is surely his last time on this court, and I wish it would never end. Tony, hobbled and in disbelief, shares an embrace with a man who we all thought would be his killer in 2004, but who now looks at Tony like a brother-in-arms, after their 17th tour of war together. There is Kawhi, elated that it isn’t him in the spotlight this time. This is because, in the middle of it all, with his arms stretched wide as far as they can, there is an exultant figure of basketball dominance, eyes to the sky. That man is Tim Duncan, the man who just locked up his 4th NBA finals MVP and sixth NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs. The greatest of his generation, perhaps the greatest ever. That old, boring, dead-eyed, lifeless, machine-like destroyer of the younger generation has finally shed any shadows cast over him. He has attained basketball nirvana. The Spurs have defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-2 in the NBA Finals.

Then I wake up. The dream was nice. The reality is harsh: A team that employs Spencer Hawes, a 92-year-old (by my calculation) Hedo Turkoglu, Austin Rivers, and starts Matt Barnes had just ripped out the collective heart of Spurs fans in the Staples Center of Los Angeles in Game 7 of the Western Conference 2015 Playoffs First Round series. The Staples Center and the Spurs go way back. This wasn’t the first time they experienced playoff heartbreak on this floor, but it’s the first time it was painted red and blue.

This is now, as the say, history. And outside of video games, one can’t change history. One can, however, learn from history – although I’d argue that there wasn’t a whole lot we can learn that the Spurs did wrong in that series against the Clippers. As much as I hate the end result, I have to argue it was one of the most entertaining playoff series I can remember2 and it was the only first round series that kept even casual fans interested this year.

Here’s the thing: The Clippers won by one measly point in Game 7. At home. This does not suggest that the Spurs were severely outmatched. It means a few things didn’t go their way. And the worst part is that Kawhi Leonard all but disappeared when it mattered most. Or maybe the worst part is that, when everyone else couldn’t get their shit together, the 5,000 year-old demi-god Tim Duncan was out there dropping double-doubles like a line cook at In-N-Out, night in and night out, all for naught.

So what now?

For the first time in several years, I think we’ll hear the term “New Look Spurs” any time the Spurs play a nationally televised game in the 2015-16 season. What’s the new look? It’s hard to say. We hear Aldridge and Gasol are targets, but we also hear differing opinions on how interested those players are in making San Antonio home.

I have a summer wish list for the Spurs. Some of it is going to be unpopular with the fan base, but you should know that it’s all coming from a good, well-intentioned place.

1) I want Manu Ginobili to retire.

Without even going into what his salary is and what the Spurs could do if they weren’t paying Manu Ginobili to play basketball for them, as a fan, I want Manu Ginobili to hang ‘em up. Don’t even get me started on how much I love the guy. It’s clear he’s not the kind of guard that can defend or keep up with today’s players. I will forever miss his WTF passes that worked. I will also forever miss yelling at the top of my lungs at my TV at how stupid his WTF passes were that didn’t work. But I will never stop loving seeing that guy give it his all whenever he was on the floor.

2) I want Tim Duncan to retire.

But I don’t want to admit this. I think Tim Duncan has another year in him, and I think Tim Duncan thinks he has another year in him. And who am I to question Tim Duncan? The problem is – and maybe I’m way off base here – I think it’s going to be way easier to orchestrate a New Look Spurs makeover this summer than next summer. Sure, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Brook Lopez, and Kevin Love are all going to be free agents in 2016, but I don’t think any of them would join the Spurs. And wouldn’t it be cool to re-tool and glue together the New Look Spurs to get a seasons worth of cohesiveness and team-building in before those guys jump ship to form super teams somewhere else?

3) I want the Spurs to sign LaMarcus Aldridge, keep Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili to become the best Assistant Coach of all time.

Continuity! Let’s keep Tim Duncan and use his last year of wizardry to make LaMarcus Aldridge feel loved and play great basketball in San Antonio. He presumably loves Austin – only a stones throw away – and winning basketball games. Why haven’t we made this deal already? It’s not like there’s basketball being played anymore this year!

4) I want the Spurs to overpay and keep Danny Green.

Listen, I just… I just really like Danny Green, okay? I don’t know what it’s going to take to keep him in silver and black, but I’d prefer it, if that’s how things work out.

5) I want to be able to feel good about the Center position going forward.

How much attention is Gasol going to get this offseason? Is he as good as we all thought he was before this postseason? If the Spurs don’t retain Tiago Splitter, is he going to tear my heart out as an insanely productive and unassuming member of another playoff contender? These are questions that don’t keep me up at night, but they concern me enough to write them down in paragraph form.

And, is DeAndre Jordan the kind of guy you want on your team? What would he be like as a Spur? Can one assume that he, like Aldridge, must be fond of playing in Texas? Can he exist in the same locker room as people like Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, and (last but not least) Tim Duncan? These are questions I never considered until five minutes ago. We can at least agree that we don’t want Omer Asik on our team, right?

6) What about the best bench in basketball?

Belinelli, Baynes, Joseph, and Bonner are all free agents. Folks who know way more about basketball and salaries are saying that if the Spurs want someone of Aldridge’s ilk, we may not keep any of those guys, and may have to shed people who aren’t free agents. If we’ve learned anything this postseason, it’s that without depth, you cannot win the Western Conference. I’m looking at you, Rockets and Clippers (damnit). So how does a team acquire major talent without sacrificing depth? If any time can figure it out, it surely must be San Antonio.

And please, Spurs front office, please keep Spuran Spuran together. (Also, did you realize Matt Bonner is 30th all-time in scoring for the Spurs?)

Here’s what we do know: This franchise is smart, this franchise makes extremely calculated moves, and this franchise already employs very talented basketball players. Remember, the Spurs lost by one point because a one-legged Chris Paul made a miracle floater with 2 seconds left on the game clock in Game 7.

Would the Spurs have bested the Rockets in Round Two? Why not! But it doesn’t matter. They weren’t that far off, and until proven otherwise, we have no reason to believe that the team we love won’t be back in the thick of it next April.

Go. Spurs. Go.

P.S. Warriors in 6. And now that everyone in San Francisco is distracted, I’m going to see if I can finally get a table at one of these exclusive restaurants I keep hearing about while all the rich people are busy checking their phones at Oracle Arena over the next two weeks.

1 The Spurs have not won the Finals at home since 2003 against the New Jersey Nets.

2 The 2013 Spurs-Heat series was really entertaining until my friend tapped me on the shoulder with 2:33 left in the 4th quarter of Game 6 and yelped, “Dude! I can’t believe the Spurs are gonna pull this off!”