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Hello im new here im a sas fan 4ever , you guys think we have a chance to be champs with the lakers i think we can but we need to make some trades like getting a backup Sf a defensive guy like bruse bowen i think bogan was goog but was small and bad shooter , i think we need to rest the big 3 and let splitter blair hill ect play because always the big 3 got hurt and we lose to teams like phoenix last year i think we can have a 50-60 season with the noobs and playing limited minutes with td tp and ginb we need a champ this year is our last year if we lose tp we need to rebuild with the players we had , trade mc dice for a sf is a great idea and we are complete for the 5th thanks for your time and sorry for my english

At the moment I think we're 2nd tier in the west, meaning anywhere from a 2 to 8 seed. Lakers are in a class of their own in the west and we're all playing catch up.

Agreed with Donald. Fact is, there's no Bruce Bowen out there in this league. The best perimeter defensive SF in the league is already playing with the Lakers. And we're sure not going to get such a great perimeter defender for McDyess.

The thing that sucks right now IMO is that we need to hope for two things to be on the same par with LA. They have atleast one injury to the starters and also everything went well for us. That means Splitter lives up to the hype, Blair is a beast that plays more than 18 minutes, Hill continues to improve, Anderson had a very solid rookie season, and Jefferson gives consistent production. We need ALL of that to happen and I must say, that's a lot to expect. Not to mention that even if all of that goes well, I think we still need LA to be less than 100% for us to take them down. They're the ones that has it all right now. The length, the size, the youth, the athleticism, the best player, the depth, the shooting, the defense, the paint production...

I can't see how we can complete with LA, Mia, or even Boston or Orlando. Duncan and Manu have a lot miles on them. We always put together a competitive team but our championship days may be behind us.

Right now my hope is Kobe's finger falls off, Bynum jacks up a knee getting out of the shower, and Odom gains 30 pounds off of candy. I hate the Lakers and always will. I'd be happy with a sweep in the Regular season and anyone upseting them in the Playoffs perferably us.

I got stationed in San Diego and can't wait for the Spurs to come to LA.

We are contenders, actually, there are a lot of contenders. Lakers are just above us. Thats Gasol trade put them leaps above everyone else in the west. Everyone is catching up. The thing is, if they keep using their 5 mil exception, it will be hard to ever catch up until Kobe retires.

Donald Kaufman wrote:At the moment I think we're 2nd tier in the west, meaning anywhere from a 2 to 8 seed. Lakers are in a class of their own in the west and we're all playing catch up.

^
That pretty much sums it up.

Every time I think we are a contender I remember we got swept by the Suns. The freakin Suns for crying out loud. How does that happen. With a team virtually the same I can't see us winning a championship. None the less i'll be supporting our team and hoping for the best

SApuro_ wrote:Every time I think we are a contender I remember we got swept by the Suns. The freakin Suns for crying out loud. How does that happen. With a team virtually the same I can't see us winning a championship. None the less i'll be supporting our team and hoping for the best

Well we added Splitter and Anderson two guys who should be good contributers for us next year. Plus i'm expecting bigger things from Blair and Hill next year too. Although we didn't make many additions I think the teams going to be much better next year.

Yeah, Spurs add some better players, but i think it's a must to improve our defense.
We need to play solid all season, we need health from the big 3 and that chemistry we used to have.

In today's FA everyone picks up players.

Lakers: Blake, Barnes
Mavs: Chandler
Nuggets: Harrington
Blazers: Matthews

I like TS and Anderson but they don't vault us to championship contenders. They are solid additions that will continue to make us competitive. I expect another 50+ win season but getting past the Lakers doesn't seem realistic.

Out of those 4, the only team that improved themselves are the Lakers.

I don't see Chandler, Harrington and Matthews making significant difference to the teams that acquired them.

SApuro_ wrote:In today's FA everyone picks up players.

Lakers: Blake, Barnes
Mavs: Chandler
Nuggets: Harrington
Blazers: Matthews

I like TS and Anderson but they don't vault us to championship contenders. They are solid additions that will continue to make us competitive. I expect another 50+ win season but getting past the Lakers doesn't seem realistic.

Like DK said the Lakers are the only team out of those 4 that really improved themselves. Chanlder might help the Mav's for the 20 or 30 games he's plays in a year, I don't see how Harrington's going to be able get up enough shots to effective on the Nuggets and Matthews really isn't anything special as far as i'm concerned.

Chandler looks the healthiest he's been in a few years. He makes the Mavs better. Nuggets added Harrington which at a minimum will provide depth. Matthews isn't that special but the orignial argument was Spurs adding TS and Anderson. Matthews is equivilent to our Anderson pick up.

I guess my point of view was sure our team got a little better bet so did everyone elses most notably the Lakers....since we were talking about Contenders.

Splitter and Anderson don't vault us to contender status. We are better positioned than we were last yr but the west is still the Lakers to lose.

We can all agree that, barring injury, the Lakers have got the top seed on lock.

From there, it's a crap shoot. Portland are legit if healthy, but they're never healthy. Denver have the talent but are prone to knuckleheadness in key moments. Houston could be dangerous if Yao could get on the court long enough. The Jazz are good enough to win a series or two but aren't genuine threats. The Thunder have now become the most overrated team in the NBA based on 2 wins in the first round of the playoffs. They'll be good but not as good as some people are projecting them.

And then there's us. Good enough to win a series based on Pop and the big 3 alone, but that might be it.

No doubt there will be some surprises and disappointments among the 2nd tier of west teams, but the scenario will end the same as it did the past three seasons: LA making the finals and the rest of the west making adjustments.

Basically.. We are playoff contenders... I really don't think we're Title Contenders. To me, we're not on par with Miami, LA, Boston, or Orlando. They're the title contenders.

Well it's been a minute since I posted here but after reading this page maybe it's me, but it seems as if you guys are selling your boys short. I mean the Spurs for as long as Tony, Tim and Manu are in the fold you'll continue to carry the threat of beating us. Like co_laper said it may have to be at some type of circumstance for it to happen, but then again maybe not.

The Spurs are the one team that won't get frazzled out by playing the Lakers, second they probably can play up against the Triangle better than any team in the west. The only question mark is they don't have the consistent defender against Kobe like they had in the past. Kobe can now just pick his spots on them in some cases.

Sure the Spurs are contenders, I've been seeing all this Dallas is next behind us crap lately but I'm not buying that BS. Not after how your boys knocked them out this spring.

The only way to beat the Lakers is make sure it doesn't go to 7 games. No one's beating them in their building in a Game 7, definitely not from the west anyway.

Some people like to say they're not unbeatable, yet no one's beaten them in a series since the Celts in '08. They just find ways to win ballgames, even when their superstar shoots 6-24 from the floor.

Donald Kaufman wrote:The only way to beat the Lakers is make sure it doesn't go to 7 games. No one's beating them in their building in a Game 7, definitely not from the west anyway.

DK, not sure what to make of that comment. If you're indicating ref bias or it's just the fact the Laker talent may win out. But yeah you're right in theory, I mean you're suppose to win that type of game in your building.......but as we just saw it's not a lock it will be easy.

Donald Kaufman wrote: Some people like to say they're not unbeatable, yet no one's beaten them in a series since the Celts in '08. They just find ways to win ballgames, even when their superstar shoots 6-24 from the floor.

That's the thing DK, people still harp on Kobe's shooting and whatever but in cases like you stated guys refuse to see the growth of the team. Being a long time fan and one who's seen Kobe's entire career here, I can certainly say a few years ago with shooting like that it was a guaranteed loss. I generally don't like the term unbeatable, because in my mind every team is beatable in a sense. But the Lakers are making a good case,they've only lost 4 home playoff games in the last 3 years. Like you said though they're just finding ways to win.

I wasn't referring to ref bias at all. Speaking more to the fact that you guys are practically impossible to beat at Staples in a G7 scenario. I don't know many teams that could succeed in that type of environment. The C's are a vet team that dismantled a heavily favored Magic and Cavs last Spring and they couldn't do it. That's why I think to beat you in a playoff series, you need either home court advantage or to beat you in six and avoid traveling to LA for a G7.

Couldn't agree more. A bad shooting night from Kobe in '07 for example generally equated to a Laker loss. This highlights the leaps and bounds the team has made.

Ultimately, every team is measured against the best to gauge where they're at. And the bottom line is, we're not cutting the mustard. I'd love to be proven wrong, and I guess time will tell. I just don't see a great deal of competition in the west to dethrone LA.

I think they still have one more title run in them. It all depends on how Splitter works out. If he can be a defensive beast then it's a possibility IMO. I think if Splitter is good defensively then Duncan can focus less on scoring and more on holding down the fort defensively with Splitter. Parker, Hill, Jefferson, and Ginobili are all still solid scorers and can put up big numbers in any single night. Before it was just Ginobili and Parker but with Jefferson and an emerging Hill, who just finished in a three way tie for runner up to MIP, Duncan doesn't have to score a whole lot for the team to win. He's obviously getting up there in age and what's most important is if he is healthy for the entire season.