Stephen Hale, Author at San Antonio Spurs Dynasty

Guys, #thestruggle is real.

This month we have seen the defending champions go 9-3 in their last 12 games and Spurs fans are starting to step back from the ledge a bit. Of course, the Spurs aren’t the Atlanta Hawks (wait, did I really just write that?), but they seem to have righted the ship a bit. This is to be expected, all things considered.

While the Bulls did beat the pants off the Spurs last week, the Alamo Boys certainly seem to have forgotten about the holiday season. Of course, having number 2 back in the line-up really helps. As we await the return of our beloved Sylvester Stallone Doppelganger, Marco Belinelli, and having this team back to full health (is there even such a thing?), we find solace in the familiarity that is the win column.

Much of this has to do with strength of schedule. Much of it has to do with coaching changes. Much of it has to do with players. Much of it has to do with health. But even still, more of it has to do with a methodical way of doing things. The message has always been, “stay the course.”

Everything that is the San Antonio Spurs represents this thinking. You don’t panic in the fourth quarter when shots haven’t fallen and you’re down 7 with under 4 to play. You don’t panic when you’re down 2-1 in a playoff series. You don’t panic when Billups hits that three. You don’t panic when Jason Kidd is throwing lobs to Kenyon Martin and Vince Carter like a swimming pool dunk contest. You don’t panic about CBA changes. You don’t panic when you trade a beloved backup point guard to move up in the draft to get a guy you hope pans out. You don’t panic when you finish the month of December with a losing record.

And in a brutal Western Conference, where a 9-3 record over 12 games still isn’t good enough to move up even one spot in the standings, you still don’t panic.

This methodical thought process echoes through the halls of the AT&T Center from center court to the front office. It’s why the Spurs have won 5 championships in 15 years. It’s why Pop has won Coach of the Year three times. It’s why R.C. Buford has won GM of the Year. It’s why Duncan and Parker and Manu have won multiple championships playing multiple different roles over multiple years.

Stay the Course.

All of this, and we find ourselves just a few games past the midway point. The first half of the year was ugly, to say the least. But since the Spurs stayed the course, let’s try to do the same as fans. While there is still a ton of basketball to be played, I figured now would be a good time to hand out some mid-season awards, and include a few thoughts on who doesn’t get an award.

Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

MVP: Tim Duncan

There are insufficient adjectives or adverbs to describe this guy. We are beyond fortunate to live in a time where we get to watch him play basketball. He is the Bill Russell of his generation. Our grandchildren will tell stories about Tim Duncan. As great as he was in his younger years, I have enjoyed watching Duncan play the last three years more than during any other part of his career. What he has done this year is nothing short of miraculous. At 38 years old, we see him not only playing well, but carrying this team, leading them through the storm and basically doing it on a knee that doesn’t even bend. Snubbing Duncan as an All Star this year would be the biggest All Star snubbing in the history of All Star snubbing. No one else on this team is even close, but without bias, Duncan should be a lock. Should be.

We live in a world where some of our biggest stars are just flat out breaking down, including perimeter guys who don’t take half the beating a big man does (hello hand-check rules). Duncan’s longevity and durability should be more than enough to push him above Kobe as the best player of this generation. Kobe just had his third season-ending surgery in as many years. Duncan has played one less year, but 34 more games. Bryant is also two years younger and hasn’t taken the beatings Duncan has (Oh, he attacked more, so he took more beatings? Right. Because playing against Shaq, Stoudemire, Dirk, the Wallace brothers, the Gasol Brothers, Webber, Malone, Ewing, Elton Brand, Garnett, and young bucks like D12, Aldridge and Anthony Davis, ALL IN THEIR PRIMES, doesn’t mean beatings.)

This isn’t a bash Kobe section, but the point is, Duncan is 38 and he is still playing legitimate basketball, efficient basketball, and he’s also PLAYING BASKETBALL. Take away Duncan and add up all these injuries and the Spurs miss the playoffs.

Photo: Edward A. Ornelas /San Antonio Express-News

Defensive Player of the Half-Year: Danny Green

I got in an argument with a guy on Twitter last year who was saying something to the effect that Danny Green was the best defensive guard in the league. I thought that was a stretch and I still do. But he certainly is up there and that statement isn’t as far off as I once thought. He gets overshadowed by Leonard a lot, but his ability to guard multiple positions is what will keep him in this league for a long time, especially since he doesn’t quit on a play. More importantly, he carried the bulk of the defensive assignments in the absence of Kawhi and performed well above expectations. He’s proven he can hang with quick point guards like Chris Paul and Russell Westbroke (not a typo), and he can swing with longer bodies like LeBron and Durant. He’s been our defensive rock star while Kawhi has been out.

Sixth Man: Manu Ginobili

I mean, I can’t speak for you guys, but I think he is quietly having one of his best seasons in years. He’s about as healthy as a player of his style can ever be and I am sure he leads the league in “Assisted to Heart Attack Ratio,” but to this day, there still isn’t a player on the planet that can stop Manu Ginobili. He is literally unguardable. By anyone. The only person who can stop him is him, which unfortunately, goes with the territory with Manu. The days of Manu winning Sixth Man honors league wide and sneaking in as an All-Star reserve are over. But being the guy most opposing second-unit players think is too old to do what he once did? Ya. Manu can be that guy.

Most Improved: Cory Joseph

I hate that our star point guard has had such a rough season so far. But I’m thrilled that it has paved the way for some legit clock for our boy CoJo. Joseph has obviously gained the trust of Coach Pop and become a guy that can be thrown into virtually any situation and offer production. The turnaround for me was that dunk on Ibaka in garbage time last year. I think that really did something for him and he hasn’t skipped a beat since. This year, he has played like a starting point guard in Parker’s absence. I say this because, often times, a backup comes in and plays like a backup trying to be a starter. It’s a very different role adjustment in the NBA, vice the local pickup game at the YMCA. Cory took it in stride.

1st Team All Spurs:

Tim Duncan
Kawhi Leonard
Danny Green
Patty Mills
Cory Joseph

I have nothing to base this on. It’s just my favorite lineup based off how everyone has played so far this season. Since I am writing the column, and I am picking the five players, I can put this in and you have to read it (sticks tongue out).

Eric Gay / Associated Press

Honorable Mention: Tony Parker

Here’s the truth.

As well as CoJo has played…
As quickly as Mills has returned…
As solid as Green has been…
As consistent as Duncan has been…
As surprisingly good as Leonard has been…

This team needs its point guard. Parker is the gate keeper. When he is Tony Parker, everything else flows. His penetration creates lanes and open shots. He keeps the defense honest and controls the tempo. One of two scenarios takes place when he is missing.

Scenario A: He isn’t even on the court, either from injury, or rotation, or whatever. When he isn’t on the court, the Spurs generally get good production from Mills and Cory, at least this year.

Scenario B: He is on the court and just mucking it all up. This is a bad Parker. We need Tony to be at full strength, in body and in mind, if this team wants to make a second half push. I think he needs the All Star break to refocus and rest. I expect big things from this guy in the second part of the year, especially the final 30 games. We have seen it in spurts. Now it’s time to make it continuous.

Farewell: Austin Daye and JaMychal Green

Really glad about Daye. Indifferent about Green. Daye wasn’t a Spur and I was very vocal about my dislike for him. Maybe I’m spoiled, but I just have a certain expectation as a fan for who I want to represent my team. That guy wasn’t it. Am I wrong? Then why isn’t he still a Spur? Exactly. Because Pop agrees with me. He told me personally before he made the decision.

As for JaMychal, nothing personal, but it just wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t the first person on this team to get one 10-day contract and then be sent on his merry way and he won’t be the last. Truth is, he was expendable and as the Spurs get closer and closer to Mid-February and early March, an empty roster spot is more appealing to the Spurs.

So that’s that. Hope this found you in a cheery mood and I hope you agree with everything I said. But even if you don’t, like, I will stay the course.

Go Spurs Go!

I mean, at this point, what else is there really to say? If you are like me, you probably spend most of your time during the course of a Spurs basketball game watching through one eye, gritting your teeth, slamming the remote on the ground, yelling at the TV, checking Twitter to see if someone has a magic formula and, basically, pulling your hair out to match Manu’s. Needless to say, it’s rough being a Spurs fan right now.

The Spurs improved to a measly 24-16 with their road win against the Hornets. Finishing the week at 3-1 isn’t really that bad. In fact, it’s dangerously close to normal. Considering that the “team” showed some intestinal fortitude against the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, won another two they should have won, and lost to a team who is actually currently better than them, I would dare to call it a good week. If anything, that seems to be progress because the Spurs are showing, at least in 2015, that they can win the games they should win.

In the month of Dec… the Dark Ages… it didn’t matter who the Spurs played. We all kind of felt like they might lose. It was rough and ugly and scary. We still aren’t back to the place where we would like to be. You know, where Spurs fans irrationally think these guys will win every single night? Man, those were good times.

Instead, we are in a new phase of the season where we are sure that the Spurs will win games against teams of the Wolves and Hornets, pretty sure they will win against teams like the Suns, and pretty sure they will lose against teams like the Wizards. We just hope they don’t drop those “probably will wins” and we hope we sneak one in against the “probably will lose.”

Of course, as the Spurs rolled out there 419th different starting line-up in 40 games, one can’t be surprised that each game is a roll of the dice. At this rate, there’s a good chance we may see the Coyote suit up before long. In past years, we have seen a lot more Southwest flights home and “DNP-Old”s. But this year, it seems the shoulder surgeries, fingers in the eyes, calf strains, groin strains, back spasms, hamstring pulls and stomach bugs are the order of the day. Miraculously, this team is staying afloat and find themselves only four games out of first place in the South West Division behind the Memphis Grizzlies.

That’s insane.

As we near the midpoint of the season, I think it’s time that we all took a deep breath, stepped back from the ledge and regroup ourselves as the Spurs aim to make a second half push, complete with a Rodeo Road Trip. We have all talked about enough negative over the last month or so. Being that the team finished 3-1 and are 4-2 in 2015, let’s end on a positive note.

Austin Daye is currently our starting Small Forward.

Oops! I said positive. My bad.

Our starting Small Forward is a lot closer to returning than he is sitting out. Kawhi should be back in the very near future. He gives me hope that upon his return, everything will be ok. He should just be days away and then everything will be all better. I think…

Our starting Power Forward is really, really, REALLY, good at basketball. He will be 92…er…39 this April, but still.

Our backup guards are pretty much the most exciting back-ups in the NBA. Patty Mills has come back on a tear. He’s ripping off threes and causing havoc all around. With Parker limping around out there, I almost prefer CoJo or Mills to Parker at this point. Almost.

Matter of fact, our bench is probably the most exciting bench in the league. If I am being honest, sometimes I actually wish our starters didn’t even come back into the game. My current favorite lineup is Manu-Patty-Cojo-BoBo-Duncan, but only if Manu doesn’t shoot.

Boris Diaw is almost improving. Seriously, I think he is getting better at basketball. The dude isn’t getting any smaller. But I feel like each game he shows us something we didn’t know he could do.

Jeff Ayres has played admirably as of late. Washington’s game might have been the best of the season for him, at least in my book. He’s got bricks for hands, but the guy can finish if he ever gets his hands on it. He’s also shown that he is pretty much willing to do anything for minutes. He busts his butt on defensive and never stops moving. He’s a very limited player. But Boylen has really learned to maximize his abilities.

I guess I can’t really mention Jeff Ayres and not mention Austin Daye. Look, let’s just get this out in the open. Most Spurs fans, don’t really like Austin Daye. Personally, I don’t really think Pop likes him too much. But it’s sink or swim time for this young buck and my sense is that Coach Pop wants to figure him out and know what he has. Thus, the insertion into the starting line-up. The way to learn is by being tossed into the fire. After a miraculous performance against the Wolves, Daye returned to planet earth for the Wizards and Hornets game. It will be interesting to see what Pop does moving forward. For me, in my amatuer opinion, Daye is a bit too pretty for Spurs basketball. In high school, we referred to it as “too much honey, not enough bread.”

Spurs basketball is methodical, grinding and for all of the cliches, boring. This team doesn’t have time to be pretty. When this team is at their best, they go to work. They don’t think, they just do. It just bread. But bread sustains you, not the honey. Bread is what won this franchise 5 championships. Honey is what finds the Knicks, Lakers, and Cavs, you know, the teams with the 3 best players on the planet (arguably) currently at the bottom of the standings (or falling). We all like the honey, but the bread is where we get fed.

For the Spurs to be the Spurs, they have to get back to the “bread” of their game. They can have all the honey they want in June.

Author: Stephen Hale (Page 12 of 22)

Week In Review: Stay The Course

Week In Review: Too Much Honey, Not Enough Bread

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