Do we have a legit shot at the title?

[FAH1223]

The Spurs also have a ton of championship experience. They made their second Finals in a row two years ago and won it. Should have won the year before too. They are definitely capable of winning it all.

Yup. They still have guys from the 2014 team (Kawhi, Parker, Ginobili, Mills, Green).

Obviously Parker and Ginobili aren't what they were but they got 4 rings. Gasol has 2 rings. David Lee has a ring.

And Tim Duncan is still showing up to the practice facility all the time.

[europeanfan]

The Spurs also have a ton of championship experience. They made their second Finals in a row two years ago and won it. Should have won the year before too. They are definitely capable of winning it all.

When they won the championship Diaw was playing amazing and Duncan was the 1b to Kawhi 1a. That team completely changed.

For a while they had : prime Parker (best player of the 2013 Finals run), emerging Kawhi, still efficient Duncan, still good Ginobili, prime Danny Green (elite 3&D), revived Diaw (who is easily the most talented French player ever but lazy as ****), Tiago Splitter (good defensive center).

Not saying they can't do it now, just don't believe for one second until I see it.

Diaw was so underrated in the Spurs revival, he could switch on Lebron and prevent him to dominate with strength in the low post, forcing him to take jump shots, he was also the assist leader in the 2014 Finals.

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I think only Morris can "kind of" fill this role for the Wizards.

[stevemcqueen1]

The Spurs are better today than they were in 2013-2014. Aldridge is better than Tim Duncan was at that point. Kawhi is way better now than either he or Tony Parker were back then. He's a legit MVP. Gasol is way better than Splitter was. Lee is better than Diaw was and Dedmon is something they didn't have back then. Manu was still good in 2013 but he'd fallen off a cliff by 2014. He's actually having a better year this year. Danny Green is 29 years old, he's still Danny Green. Mills is still there and he's still good. The only player from their championship team who has significantly declined is Parker, which has been more than made up for by Kawhi becoming a legit superstar. And Parker is still pretty good.

The Spurs set their franchise win record last season with this same team. They'll win 60+ games again this year. The only thing that's standing in the way of them is a Golden State team that's been even better since SA won the championship.

[Kanyewest]

We're 16-8 against teams from the West this season, but 3-6 against teams from the SW division. So, on the one hand, we travel fairly well and can hang with most of the best teams in the league (which are in the west). But we're still in awe of the Texas teams and can't seem to ever beat them.

I think we'd be favored over any team in the East except Cleveland. I think we can beat Cleveland if Kevin Love isn't healthy. LeBron + Irving > Wall + Beal, but without Love, our 3-10 is way better. We could win a war of attrition against them.

The West is a different story. I wouldn't be that scared of playing Golden State without Durant, but if he's back, they're overwhelmingly good. They'd beat us easily. San Antonio would be a scary opponent too. They have tons of championship experience and don't make mistakes and they have the size to wear us out inside and the perimeter defenders to harry Wall and Beal. Wall and Beal would have to go super saiyan and we'd need huge contributions from a bunch of different role players to upset them in a series.

The thing about San Antonio is that they typically overachieve in the regular season thanks to their incredible discipline, effort, and coaching. But I get the sense that they don't have an "extra gear" for the playoffs.

I don't think San Antonio matters. They'll get beat by Golden State if they make it to the WCF's. They might lose in the 2nd round to Houston.

It depends, they're deeper this year. Their defense is still good and they can give GSW trouble with their big men and the rebounding advantages.

And guys like Mills/Green/Simmons could just get hot because they'll be open due to the system/spacing...

The big key is Kawhi... can he play like he has in the regular season and when he won Finals MVP in the postseason? The last couple years since the championship he hasn't put in that extra gear in the playoffs. Aldridge if he comes back also has had insane postseason games but not consistent.

I suppose the Spurs have a chance if Kawhi plays better than he did last postseason. They were one crazy ending awqy from making that OKC series to go in a different direction. Their chances increase significantly if Durant is not 100%.

Although I am not 100% certain that the Spurs are deeper than they were last season given that they lost Duncan, West, and Boban although they made decent signings with Gasol and Dedmon.

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[Meliorus]

Spurs could just as easily win the championship as make a casual 1st/2nd round exit.

2015-2016: Lost in 2nd round to OKC
2014-2015: Lost in 1st round to Clippers
2010-2011: Lost in 1st round to Grizzlies (as 1 seed)
2008-2009: Lost in 1st round to Dallas

You don't even get surprised when it happens...it just sorta happens.

[FAH1223]

I suppose the Spurs have a chance if Kawhi plays better than he did last postseason. They were one crazy ending awqy from making that OKC series to go in a different direction. Their chances increase significantly if Durant is not 100%.

Although I am not 100% certain that the Spurs are deeper than they were last season given that they lost Duncan, West, and Boban although they made decent signings with Gasol and Dedmon.

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If Duncan didn't have his knee injury last year, the Spurs probably get to the WCF. His injury destroyed his effectiveness on offense.

David West lost steam in the postseason. Boban wasn't used enough by Pop.

But Dedmon and Gasol have both been upgrades IMO. David Lee also has found life and is playing better than David West was at this time last year. They got younger in their big men rotiation.

[dangermouse]

Shame we didn't have this season last season. We might have been rolling with Durant right now

[Dark Faze]

Really? I'm worried Ibaka would reek havoc on our slower, less athletic frontline while John would expose Isaiah Thomas' defensive deficiencies if we played the Celtics. I'd rather play Boston.

Lowry is notorious for being horrible in the playoffs and he'll be back coming off injury. Every year people make excuses for him and it's going to happen again this year. So its basically Ibaka and DeMar "Midrange" DeRozan. I don't think the Raps have enough offensive tools to beat us if Lowry is bad again.

I don't think Boston is a death sentence but we're probably going to get banged up. Too much bad blood. It's going to be really really ugly and super super try hard.

Yeah that series would be an ugly 5-6 games for Boston.. you're definitely alone on this one. Nothing they do well is going to translate to the playoffs. They're winning reg season games based on depth and having waves of rotation guards/wings to throw at opposing teams, in the playoffs when you have to match up your best 5 vs the other team's best 5, they'll get exposed.

5'9 Thomas will get shut down by playoff defense, as we've seen in the past. Their best big man is Al Horford, who might get 7 rebounds on a good night. Celtics are going to get brutalized in a physical series vs anyone they play (even Detroit in the first round could be very problematic for them)

I think we could beat Toronto as well due to the factors you mentioned, but they'd likely take more out of us. The Raps have two big men who are better than any PF/C on the Celtics. The main advantages we have on Toronto are that 1) they can't defend our guard penetration at all and 2) Otto is much better than any of their SFs. Even if Wall/Beal and Lowry/Derozan are a wash (which.. lets be real, our guys would likely outplay them), Otto will destroy Carroll or whoever they run at SF.

But anyways, with the standings how they are it's extremely unlikely that a Washington-Toronto series would occur this season.

I will remember this post. And hey, I hope to god you're right.

I think Thomas lives and dies by how the refs decide to call the games. If they are quick with the whistle he's a beast, if not he can struggle. You get a lot more physical play allowed in the playoffs but there are still games that are whistle heavy.