It’s been a few weeks since my last week in review. I assure you that, while my reviews have been slacking, my Spurs basketball viewing has not. I received my Bachelors degree last Thursday, so the last few weeks have been a whole lot of finals, a whole lot of essays and a whole lot of regalia fittings. In all honesty, I have watched and now, more honesty is required. So here is the truth.

I don’t really like what I am seeing.

Dan, Brantley, Noriel and I spent much of the past Spurs Dynasty Podcast talking about the Spurs playing down to their level of competition. Even still, I wonder how much of that is true and how much of recent results are just a whole lot of ticky-tacky injuries beginning to pile up. Whatever it is, the W-L column should be a better reflection of what this team is and, even moreso, who it is.

I am not so naive to unrealistically believe that the Spurs will go 82-0. Truth is, 50 wins in the Western Conference is admirable. Ideally, I’d prefer to see the Spurs wins total somewhere around 58.

After the Portland loss on Monday, the Spurs are on pace for a 55-27 record. At first glance, that doesn’t sound too terrible. But ask yourself: is the way this team has played the last two weeks worthy of 55 wins?

I say no. Not because of the 8 losses — currently good enough for the defending champs to have the 6th seed in the West — but because of the identity of this team. Currently, our point guards are really struggling. Cory Joseph has been wonderfully surprising. But with Mills still out and Parker suffering from a nagging hamstring injury, it seems that we find the Spurs asking a whole lot out of the young fella. So far he has delivered, but how much longer can he keep going?

There is also a trickle-down effect.

The injuries to Parker and Mills mean more of Manu Ginobili at the PG position. As we discussed in the SDP, our beloved Manu is guilty of committing a lot of bad turnovers. No turnovers are good, but if one must commit a turnover, hopefully it turns into a dead ball, so as to stop the play and allow the defense to get set. (Let’s call these the not-so-bad turnovers). I don’t have a stat, but Manu seems to really have a lot of “bad turnovers.”

I love Manu, but I really don’t like when he has to play point guard. When he does, it moves CoJo or Marco to the 2-guard spot and Danny Green to the 3. While they all play quite a bit above their potential for size at those positions, it still makes the Spurs smaller.

What can you do? Injuries happen. But herein lies the saving grace.

Of the eight games the Spurs have lost — to the Suns, Rockets, Pelicans, Kings, Nets, Jazz, Lakers and Blazers — only two of those were against teams above .500. And letss call those Nets-Jazz-Lakers games what they were. A whole lot of Spurs stars sitting and a whole lot of “A” games by the opposition (Teletovic-26, Hayward/Favors-20/21, Nick Young-29).

But of the 17 wins, the Spurs have beaten the Mavericks, the Warriors, the Clippers, the Grizzlies, the Hawks and the Cavaliers. So the Spurs are winning the games they should win and losing a couple here and there, while weeding out some injury headaches.

I’m not going to sit here and try to dissect the season so ar. What I can say is that this is when the Spurs are at their best. Not the basketball team, but the organization. Things are done now in preparation for April. And that leads me into my transition for what I’ll call this weeks, “Don’t underestimate…”

  • Don’t underestimate how important it was for Kawhi Leonard to come back in the Denver game and play like he did. Leonard said he wasn’t 100 percent, but yet, he still came out to play, in an early-season game. That shows he has a killer instinct. Also, guys don’t do that for teams they don’t want to play for…
  • Don’t underestimate the importance of CoJo, and his ability to play when thrown into the fire because Tony and Patty are injured. His real-life game-time minutes have turned him into a player who could be a starter on probably half of the teams in the NBA. (The same could be said of George Hill.)
  • Don’t underestimate how well Danny Green has played at the 3, versus the 2 spot. His rebounding and defending is largely forgotten, since we think of him largely as a shooter. Danny is a couple steps away from becoming a legitimate player in this league. As for now, he is a solid role player who is making himself valuable. He is also a big part of why the Spurs are 17-8 and not 12-13.
  • Don’t underestimate how much work the 37 year-old wonder is putting in. Dan left us with a closing stat on the SDP about how he leads the team in win-shares. If you believe in PER, John Hollinger ranks him at 15th currently. In the entire league. Check out this list of players who Old Man Riverwalk is ahead of: Chris Bosh, Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Dirk Nowitzki, John Wall, Damian Lillard, Zach Randolph and Kyrie Irving. Seriously. Look it up.
  • Don’t underestimate the slow, steady, return of Tiago Splitter. Calf injuries are no joke. It’s important that he is eased back in to this thing. The Spurs can’t afford to sacrifice the future on the altar of the now. In the next couple weeks we should see Tiago’s minutes increase. Then he will probably sit a few game. I expect him to be in full form by mid-January.
  • Don’t underestimate how valuable it is to have Boris Diaw on the court at any given time. He is a big reason why Duncan can keep going for so long. A high-low post entry creates movement in the defense and eliminates the banging of bodies. Boris Diaw might have single-handedly added years to Duncan’s career. Additionally, his court vision helps CoJo when Parker is gone, and helps Parker when he is there, too. Just ask LeLron: BoBo can guard a lot of different positions.
  • Don’t underestimate Matt Bonner. Bonner hasn’t shot the ball this poorly from this 3-point line since the 2009-2010 season. In his 11th season, this is his 4th worst shooting year. He is averaging an abysmal 6.4 PPG, 2.1 RPG and 1.1 APG. Has any player in the history of the NBA ever had that depressing of a stat line, and yet, still terrified every team he plays with every shot he takes? Seriously, any time the Red Mamba shoots, I think it’s wet.
  • Don’t underestimate Pop’s DNC and his ejection in which he surrendered the reigns of the team to Messina. (Am I the only one who thought of Gene Hackman in Hoosiers? No? Ok.). I’m not a betting man, but if I were, he gets my bet for heir to the throne.
  • Finally, don’t underestimate December. From December 15 to December 31, the San Antonio Spurs will play the Blazers twice, the Grizzlies twice, the Pelicans twice, the Mavericks, the Clippers, the Thunder and the Rockets. Yeesh. This could very well prove to be the toughest stretch of basketball all season, with the exception of the last two weeks of the season. This could determine a lot about the state of this team. December will be a time for the guys to test themselves and see where they are at and who they can be.

I can’t wait for that Christmas Day game against Oklahoma City.

Go Spurs Go.