RealGM

Spurs organization obviously does an amazing job finding excellent role players, and even all stars to put around the superstar, but it's obviously rather difficult to imagine modern day Spurs without a superstar level big man.

This guy almost certainly won't come as a free agent, nor trade.

I think the Spurs will try to win as long as they can even after Tim Duncan retires. Personally, I think we'd become one of those teams that just become stuck at being average. A low seeded playoff team. And then after a few years of that, anything is possible. Hopefully we get lucky and someone actually develops into a star quality player. If not, then yeah probably Spurs blow the whole thing up and start from scratch.

But I just don't think the Spurs totally blow it all up and start from scratch the minute Duncan retires.

And I do think Splitter is Duncan's replacement.

What about Pop's replacement?

The Spurs have always adapted to change and player retirement so well for so long. Duncan will be a big loss... but when he finally ages and retires how big of a loss will it be and how well will the franchise transition. Even if they keep Splitter I have a hard to seeing him being the lead big on a contending team... as much as I happen to like him as a player.

If the expectations was to remain a title contending team, then I think it's safe to say that Duncan's retirement will put an end to that.

Without Duncan, we're severely weak on the defensive end. Mainly rim protection and rebounding with the roster currently as it is. Although, when Duncan retires, Shotblocking and rebounding will likely be the priority as they search for Tiago's frontcourt partner. But a guy like that is hard to find. We can probably find a rebounder or a shotblocker, but to find one who can do both and do it at a high level is basically finding a Ben Wallace.

Right now, I think the guy most crucial to our hopes is Tony Parker because we need his slashing/rim attacking ways for this offense to be successful. Him and Manu are basically our only two playmakers and Manu likes to launch 3 pointers nowadays instead of attacking the rim. Tony attacks the rim ALL THE TIME.

Have you ever thought about adding Dwight Howard?

Air Poohdini wrote:Have you ever thought about adding Dwight Howard?

Yes, but there's nothing that make sense out there.

Last year when Dwight's with Orlando? No package looking good enough and realistic enough for Orlando.

Midseason trade? No way Lakers do it.

This summer Free Agency? Don't have the money unless we say F you Manu.

Not to mention that him coming here present all of the same problems he's having with LA.

Be the number 1 scorer? Nope. Get loads of touches on the post? We have the league's best offense that consist of loads of pick and roll. Even if we give Dwight all of the touches in the post, it still won't be enough. And then we're a small market team. Dwight wants to go to Big market right?

I mean, nothing realistic has ever linked Dwight to San Antonio. And with all the drama going on the last 2 years, I seriously doubt Spurs are going to go after him this summer.

But on NBA 2k Association Mode, I'll ditch Manu to get Dwight.

I'm not worried about the Spurs if I'm a SA fan. They'll probably have some rough years ahead of them after Duncan/TP/Manu retire, but you have to have faith in the FO in terms of drafting, staff-hiring, etc. They're among the best in the league.

To answer the topic question: yes, they'll probably have to tank somewhere down the line, but I'd be surprised if they get stuck in tanking/treadmilling hell like some of the poorly-run organizations (i.e. Toronto, Sacramento, Milwaukee , etc.).

I wouldn't start to worry about tanking until the moment Pop retires..

for that is a moment i dread.

The spurs will be fine as long as this man is leading the charge on the court. We see what he can get from 2nd and 3rd string players that other teams discard.
Hell, we saw their 2nd and 3rd string just BARELY lose in miami earlier this season; and that was playing against home-cooked officiating. The spurs coaching staff truly knows how to maximize a players positive potential.

Duncan hasn't even been playing a signicant amount of minutes and they're still dominating...

I don't think they will ever find a replacement for Tim Duncan. No team can.

nbakingmixes wrote:I don't think they will ever find a replacement for Tim Duncan. No team can.

greg oden when healthy

I think teams usually have to tank to reload/rebuild, but the Spurs seem to be bucking this trend, and I have a hunch they will continue into the future. I mean, they just drafted a guy in 2011 who would easily be a top 5 pick that year at #15. So if they can keep finding steals like that from low picks and overseas, maybe they hold off a while longer. They've got a couple of prospects overseas who could turn into really nice players too, including Livio, and more importantly Bertans. Nobody has heard of Bertans, but I think he will surprise a lot of fans 2 years from now.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzbTAkou8DE[/youtube]

There are two general lines of thought. {1.} The Spurs coaches/front office (their "system") is so good that they won't need to. They are just that good. {2.} Tim Duncan is most of the reason they won and they will be in a world of hurt without him.

I personally am in camp 2. I say if they had no TD for the last 10 or 12 years that they (Popovich, Manu, Parker) would have never even reached the WCF. They would be lucky to get out of the first round.

TD was great on both ends of the court. He drew the double teams on offense and thus gave everyone else a lot of easy shots. On defense, he not only guarded his man but was a great help defender and covered up a lot of mistakes that other people made.

Without TD they will be lucky to have teams that will be 6, 7, or 8 seeds in the West. And no big time free agents are going to go there. So getting an all star caliber big man through the draft will be about the only way they get one.

So, IMO, if they want to be a 7 or 8 seed every year they won't need to tank. If they want to compete for a championship (even just a western conference championship), they will have to tank and get lucky in the draft.

If more of their low picks turn into guys like Kawhi, Manu, Parker, etc, they'll be in good shape though...

no one can replace duncan

wenzi wrote:no one can replace duncan

Not even Oden?

The Spurs tanked back when you could and get away with it. Now with the lottery it's not always definite you will get a Tim Duncan. As a Sixers fan, I hate Duncan for not coming out after his junior year. He would have been in Philly. But there will never be another Duncan. He is elite. When he retires, the Spurs will come back to mediocrity. Pop will retire and Duncan will be gone. Enjoy it while you can.

There were no guarantees in 1998 either.

SJSF wrote:The Spurs tanked back when you could and get away with it. Now with the lottery it's not always definite you will get a Tim Duncan. As a Sixers fan, I hate Duncan for not coming out after his junior year. He would have been in Philly. But there will never be another Duncan. He is elite. When he retires, the Spurs will come back to mediocrity. Pop will retire and Duncan will be gone. Enjoy it while you can.

The Spurs did tank that year(I remember David Robinson getting hurt early and there was never a thought of bringing him back that season) but half the league is blatantly tanking tanking this year to the point it's embarrassing.

I think that the biggest blow to the franchise will be that when Timmy retires, Pop will follow him.....

That is another problem, but hopefully not an insurmountable one. I'm not sure any of the current Spur assistants are up to it, and I've been thinking maybe an option is to bring over Euro coach Bula Dovichi, who Pop has praised (and stolen a lot of plays from)
http://www.86wiki.com/view/54135.htm
Otherwise I guess just wait and hope some of the coaches from within grow enough.