CBSSports.com wire reports
Jan. 2, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS — Rick Adelman was wondering how his young Minnesota Timberwolves would handle their first taste of prosperity.

He couldn’t have been much happier after watching them thump the San Antonio Spurs, who now find themselves knee deep in adversity with the loss of star guard Manu Ginobili.

Kevin Lovehad 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves to their second win in a row, 106-96 Monday night over the Spurs, who lost Ginobili to a broken left hand.

Luke Ridnour had 19 points and nine assists and Wes Johnson broke out of a shooting slump with 14 points and 6-for-6 shooting for the Timberwolves, who snapped an 18-game losing streak with a win over Dallas on Sunday.

“You’re not satisfied with last night, you build off of it,” said Adelman, whose Wolves scored 65 points in the first half on the second night of a back-to-back. “That’s what I just told them. We’ve got two more home games on this homestand and we want to build off it.”

Ginobili injured his shooting hand in the second quarter. The two-time All-Star will be examined in San Antonio on Tuesday.

“It’s going to be tough for us because he was playing at an All-Star level,” said point guard Tony Parker, who had 11 points and nine assists. “And now we’re going to have to have everybody pick it up.”

Tim Duncan had 16 points and five assists and Richard Jefferson scored 16 points for the Spurs.

The Timberwolves shot 58 percent for the game and were above 70 percent shooting midway through the third quarter.

Playing with five stitches in the index finger on his shooting hand, Michael Beasley had 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting and Johnson bounced back after going 3 for 13 in his previous two games.

“I was pressing,” Johnson said. “I was trying to find my shot moreso than letting it come to me. As I saw tonight, if I just be patient, it’s there.”

The Spurs will get over the loss to Minnesota quickly. The loss of Ginobili could linger for a while.

The team’s leading scorer is the emotional and fiery center of this proud, veteran team. With Duncan getting older and having his minutes limited to save him for the postseason, the offense revolves around Ginobili’s perimeter shooting and slashing to the basket.

“Manu is pretty important to us and we lost him,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’ll just have to deal with it.”

The former Sixth Man of the Year quickly walked to the locker room after he was injured for X-rays, which revealed a broken fifth metacarpal on his shooting hand.

“He means a lot to the team,” said James Anderson, who figures to get a lot of the playing time in Ginobili’s absence. “He’s one of the biggest plusses to the team. Without him we lose a lot of stuff, and that’s on both ends.”

Without Ginobili’s offensive punch, the Spurs simply couldn’t keep up with Minnesota’s torrid shooting.

The Spurs have hung their hats on the defensive end for years, building a championship foundation that let opponents know they were going to have to work for every bucket against Duncan and Co. Coming into the game, they held their previous two opponents to 4 for 33 on 3-pointers.

That’s why it was so startling to see the Timberwolves have such an easy time on Monday night. They shot a scorching 67 percent from the field in the first half, including 7 for 8 from 3-point range. A lot of those were wide open looks for Love, who buried 3 of 4 from long range thanks to superb ball movement from Ridnour and Ricky Rubio at the point.

The Wolves hit 12 of 21 shots from deep for the game.

Rubio, the impressive rookie from Spain, was quiet with six points and three assists in 24 minutes, but the veteran Ridnour more than picked up the slack by hitting seven of his 10 shots and two of three 3-pointers.

“There’s going to be so many games this year, if you can try to find a way to get on a run at home, it’s going to help you in the long run,” Ridnour said. “To be able to win two in a row against Dallas and San Antonio, for this team, is huge.”

Notes

• Timberwolves G JJ Barea sat out the game to rest his strained right hamstring.
• Spurs G Gary Neal, who has not played this season because of an appendectomy, has been assigned to the D-League Austin Toros to get some practice time in before rejoining the team.
• Danny Green played a solid 17 minutes for the Spurs, scoring nine points and playing tough defense on Rubio.

Thanks for reading! .

The San Antonio Spurs will be without one of their top players for the next few weeks after Manu Ginobili broke his left hand in Monday night’s 106-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The injury occurred with 2:38 remaining in the first half when Timberwolves forward Anthony Tolliver tried to strip Ginobili of the ball as he attempted a shot from near the arc.

“I have the 5th metacarpal of my left hand fractured. I guess I’ll miss a few weeks. Sad day 4 me,” Ginobili tweeted after the game on his account, @manuginobili.

X-rays taken at the arena confirmed the break, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The two-time All-Star will be examined in San Antonio on Tuesday.

Ginobili leads the Spurs in scoring this season at 17.4 points per game and was shooting a team-high 59 percent from the field.

”It’s going to be tough for us because he was playing at an All-Star
level,” said point guard Tony Parker, who had 11 points and nine
assists. ”And now we’re going to have to have everybody pick it up.”

The Spurs will get over the loss to Minnesota quickly. The loss of Ginobili could linger for a while.

The
team’s leading scorer is the emotional and fiery center of this proud,
veteran team. With Tim Duncan getting older and having his minutes limited
to save him for the postseason, the offense revolves around Ginobili’s
perimeter shooting and slashing to the basket.

”Manu is pretty important to us and we lost him,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. ”We’ll just have to deal with it.”

”He means a lot to the team,” said James
Anderson, who figures to get a lot of the playing time in Ginobili’s
absence. ”He’s one of the biggest plusses to the team. Without him we
lose a lot of stuff, and that’s on both ends.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

San Antonio • The Jazz’s locker-room door opened Saturday night and C.J. Miles sat hunched down in a chair, studying a box score, while Paul Millsap eyed rows of statistics over his teammates’ shoulder.

Utah had fallen 104-89 to the San Antonio Spurs. The Jazz shot just 37.1 percent from the floor, 12.5 percent behind the 3-point line, distributed only 11 assists and scored 21 points or less in the first three quarters.

With 9 minutes, 52 seconds left in the fourth, Utah (1-3) was down by 27 points and the team’s third blowout in four games to start the 2011-12 campaign was already in the books.

But what wasn’t in the box score were words such as effort, energy and communication. They were the same problems that plagued the Jazz during back-to-back road embarrassments to open the season. And they were the exact issues Utah coach Tyrone Corbin hammered home after watching San Antonio (3-1) run the Jazz out of the AT&T Center via a 20-8 second-quarter run that featured 11 consecutive points from Manu Ginobili, who scored a game-high 23 and drilled 5 of 6 3s.

Al Jefferson led Utah with a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds, while reserve Josh Howard added 18 points and seven boards.

Corbin knows this will be an at times rough, at times joyous season for the Jazz. Utah’s young and rebuilding, but still trying to win games with veterans such as Devin Harris, Millsap and Jefferson. As a result, unpredictability will rein.

But the one thing Corbin’s squad can control is its nightly effort. And after seeing the Jazz lose three games by an average of 19 points – all featuring big-time, game-changing runs by the victors – consistent effort could be the one trait that keeps Utah moving forward even if defeats pile up.

“We need to keep searching for who we are. We just need to make sure we understand that we need to keep working to get better,” said Corbin, who kept the locker room closed longer than normal for the second game in the three contests.

Story continues below

He added: “We just need to make sure the guys understand that it’s a long season. We need to stay together and work.”

Sticking together was again a familiar postgame refrain. Reserve forward Derrick Favors said it’s the Jazz’s primary problem when on-the-court play falls apart, while veteran backup point guard Earl Watson said Utah’s shown a tendency to cave when it falls behind on the road.

The Jazz have trailed by double-digits in all four games this season, and Utah had to come back from 13 points down Friday to knock off Philadelphia at home.

“We’re a different team on the road. It’s obvious, for whatever reason,” Watson said. “But you can’t sit there and look for the reason why. You have to look for the reason how to win on the road. First, we’ve got to start getting close.”

The Spurs made that goal almost impossible. San Antonio ran a shooting clinic during the first half, burning Utah on rotations that left the Jazz’s perimeter naked and allowed the Spurs to drain 80 percent (8 of 10) of their 3s.

After Utah was lifted by its youth movement Friday, Saturday was a replay of blowouts to the: poor defense, a methodical and lethargic offense, and energy that occasionally spurted but never became in vogue.

Now, the Jazz return to Salt Lake City staring at a cushion of 12 of 15 January games at EnergySolutions Arena. But two months of brutal road travel follows, and Corbin’s more concerned with his team’s progress and evolution than random home wins.

“It’s going to be up and down for a while until we get [settled],” he said. “It’s just not the way that you lose games – it means something the way we play in a losing ballgame. For the most part, the 48-minute effort that we’re looking for, we haven’t gotten in the losses.”

bsmith@sltrib.comTwitter: @tribjazzfacebook.com/tribjazz

There is the quick update of the day.

CBSSports.com wire reports
Dec. 28, 2011

SAN ANTONIO — The Los Angeles Clippers might be the talk of the Western Conference right now, but the San Antonio Spurs showed they still have plenty of life left.

Manu Ginobili scored 24 points and DeJuan Blair added 20 to lead the Spurs to a 115-90 win over the Clippers on Wednesday night.

Blake Griffin scored 28 points for the Clippers, while Chris Paul was held to 3-of-10 shooting and finished with 10 points.

Richard Jefferson added 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting for the Spurs, who have won 17 straight home games against the Clippers, a streak that dates to Jan. 31, 2002. Tony Parker scored 14 points, James Anderson 12 and Tim Duncan 10.

The Spurs hit 45 of 80 shots from the field while limiting the Clippers to 29-of-74 shooting. San Antonio led by only four points at halftime but outscored Los Angeles 38-17 in the third quarter to take control.

“Our defense in the second half was great,” Ginobili said. “They couldn’t get lobs. They scored under 40 in the second half. We were pretty good on defense. We moved the ball, and everybody scored.”

San Antonio outscored Los Angeles 57-36 in the second half.

“They tore us apart in that third quarter,” Griffin said. “Our defense needs to be better, and it can get better. The good thing about the mistakes out there is that they are easily correctable.”

While Blair didn’t limit Griffin’s scoring, he was able to do enough offensively to nearly offset him.

“I try to read them,” Blair said. “They’re very athletic. They jump high. I jump a little bit, but I’m undersized, so I just try to read them. Just look for schemes to get around the taller defenders. I watch a lot of Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, try to get a low shot. But I’m doing great with what I’m doing.”

The Clippers weren’t able to get closer than 19 in the fourth quarter. After DeAndre Jordan’s free throw made it 98-79, Ginobili hit a 3-pointer then found Blair for a short jumper to put the Spurs up 103-79.

“They’re dunkers,” Blair said while laughing when asked about the Clippers being called Lob City. “But, yeah, not tonight.

The Spurs hit 16 of 21 shots in the third, with Parker scoring 10 on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and 2 of 2 from the free throw line. Anderson converted a three-point play with 0.3 seconds left in the quarter to give San Antonio its biggest lead of the game at that point – 96-71.

“We were down four, and I look up to see we are down 68-58 at one point,” Paul said. “We are going to practice tomorrow and figure out what we did right and figure out what we did wrong. First things first, we need to start with me.”

The Spurs led 58-54 at halftime behind 16 points from Ginobili, who hit 4 of 6 attempts from 3-point range in the half.

Blair added 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Jefferson had 10, including a pair of 3-pointers. Griffin had 16 points in the first two quarters and scored all but four of those points on either layups or dunks.

San Antonio led by as many as 15 points in the first half, but the Clippers went on a 16-4 run and tied the game 52-all on Griffin’s dunk with 47 seconds left in the half.

The Spurs led 26-19 entering the second quarter after holding the Clippers to 8-of-22 shooting in the first. The Clippers jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Ginobili responded by scoring the next nine points. Ginobili sandwiched two 3-pointers around three free throws after he was fouled by Chauncey Billups on a 3-pointer.

I’m kind of surprised,” Ginobili said of the team’s 2-0 start. “I didn’t think that the team was ready to have two games like this — to be so solid defensively. We’re looking sharp, but I don’t want to get too confident. I don’t think it’s fair or it’s true. We still have a long way to go. It just so happened we played two very good games.”

Notes

• Jordan hit 4 of 6 free throws. He went 4 of 12 in the opener against Golden State.
• Since Dec. 10, 1997, the Spurs have won 47 of 52 against the Clippers.
• The Spurs are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2008.
• The big win allowed the Spurs to rest several key players. Duncan played 26 minutes, while Ginobili and Parker played only 27.
• Caron Butler and Mo Williams each had 12 points for the Clippers. Billups had 11. Ginobili hit 5 of 8 3-pointers and 7 of 7 free throws.

Comment Below!.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

That’s all the news for today.

Gotta run!.

SAN ANTONIO — At times, the Grizzlies looked like they were just getting acquainted with each other. And that’s because they were, with a rotation that counted on a couple of players who joined the team in the last 72 hours.

Then there were times — too many for the coaching staff to stomach — when the Griz just stumbled and miscarried on both ends of the court.

Instead of looking like the squad that gelled into a playoff darling last season, the Griz opened the 2011-12 season Monday night in ragged fashion and with a 95-82 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the AT&T Center.

At the crux of the Grizzlies’ problems were 25 turnovers and uninspired defense.

“It’s frustrating because we know what we’re capable of,” Griz forward Rudy Gay said after finishing with a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds. “With the talent we have in this room we can play with anybody and we didn’t show it.”

Manu Ginobili’s 24 points led the Spurs, who also enjoyed a 15-point, seven-assist outing by Tony Parker.

In a rematch of the teams’ 2011 first-round playoff series, the Spurs were methodical. The Griz, however, showed they need more time to re-establish chemistry even though they returned the core players.

Griz forward Zach Randolph dominated the Spurs last spring in the postseason but was held to 10 points and six rebounds. He only attempted eight shots with the Spurs effectively crowding the paint.

“They didn’t do anything special,” Randolph said. “We just have to know what we want to do. We’ve got to get our identity. We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to play.”

Griz coach Lionel Hollins agreed, saying the Spurs only employed the same pack-the-paint strategy that the Griz saw most of last season.

“Everybody does,” Hollins said. “They don’t fear us out on the perimeter. … The Spurs came out in the second half and just imposed their will on us.”

The Griz trailed 52-49 with 8:13 left in the third quarter when they lost total control. They got overwhelmed by the Spurs’ 21-3 run, which included 16 unanswered points.

San Antonio took a 19-point advantage and the lead dipped below double digits for only 20 seconds in the fourth quarter. When the Spurs didn’t drive-and-kick for 10 3-pointers, they scored easily off fast breaks.

“We were very active. We crowded things,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We got back in transition and we got our hands on a lot of balls. We did a good job of that and it fueled the break back the other way.”

Credit the Spurs’ defense. But the Griz also just handed over the ball.

“They force the ball, play in a crowd, make bad decisions,” Hollins said of his team’s turnovers.

Point guard Mike Conley started the fourth quarter by losing his dribble to Parker on consecutive possessions.

Tony Allen had four turnovers mostly by losing his dribble in a crowd of defenders. One possession in the third period saw Allen turn a dynamic offensive rebound into an offensive foul. Allen was looking to score while open teammates called for the ball at the top of the key.

“I don’t mind the ones when we’re trying to make the extra pass,” Griz center Marc Gasol said. “The ones we have to cut down on are the ones when we’re trying to go 1 on 4.”

Memphis led 44-43 at halftime after it had led by 10 in the opening period. The Griz undermined 53-percent shooting by committing 15 turnovers in the first half.

“I don’t think we’re playing with the pace we need to play with,” Conley said. “We’re not moving the ball from side to side and there’s indecision with our second and third options. There’s no doubt we have to get better.”

— Ronald Tillery: (901) 529-2353

What are your opinions.

Grizzlies vs. San Antonio Spurs

AT&T Center, San Antonio, 7:30 p.m.

TV, radio: SportSouth, WMFS 92.9-FM/680-AM

Records: This is the season opener for both teams.

Lineups

Grizzlies: Mike Conley, 6-1, Tony Allen, 6-4, Rudy Gay, 6-8, Zach Randolph, 6-9, Marc Gasol, 7-1.

Spurs: Tony Parker, 6-2, Manu Ginobili, 6-6, Richard Jefferson, 6-7, Tim Duncan, 6-11, Tiago Splitter, 6-11.

THE SKINNY

The Grizzlies will begin their most anticipated season in Memphis on the road against the team they ejected from the playoffs last season. Memphis began its historic playoff run by eliminating top-seeded San Antonio in the first round. This rematch of that series will feature most of the same players, as neither team dramatically changed its roster. Last season, San Antonio finished tied with Chicago for the NBA’s best home record at 36-5. But the Western Conference is changing. Memphis and San Antonio split four regular-season meetings in 2010-11, though the Spurs have won 14 of the last 16 matchups at home including the playoffs.

– Ronald Tillery

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Usually NBA season previews are best read in October, back when football games hardly mattered, Midnight Madness was a few weeks away, and baseball was winding down. Perhaps with the last of the offseason’s iced tea in hand, as you whiled away on a too-warm-for-the-season afternoon.

Well, pour yourself a glass of bull shot and tighten those mittens, because it’s late-December and the NBA decided to have a season this year. As such, the exegetes at Ball Don’t Lie are previewing the 2011-12 campaign in a mad rush, as if you or we would have it any other way. So put down the shovel long enough to listen to Kelly Dwyer, Dan Devine and Eric Freeman as they break down each of the NBA’s 29 teams, plus Toronto.

This time? It’s the San Antonio Spurs.

Kelly Dwyer’s Reasons to be Cheerful

There is no conceivable way to follow the San Antonio Spurs without being cheered up by perhaps the least-cheeriest coach in the NBA, Gregg Popovich. Coach Pop’s talent, edge, humor and all around prickishness remain one of the highlights of any NBA season. I wouldn’t want to be his son-in-law, video coordinator, or starting small forward; but I sure will enjoy Popovich as he resumes a coaching career that began about 15 years ago when the then-GM Popovich kicked coach Bob Hill to the curb.

(On the same day that David Robinson returned from injury and played his first game of the 1996-97 season. Cold, dude. Cold dude.)

I don’t care where the collective knees end up in 2011-12, because this year will be no different than any other. And that consistency is warming. There will be nights, weeks even, where the Spurs will look like this year’s champion. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili on full blast at even 30 minutes a game will win plenty of games, and all it takes is a proper matchup in the first, second, third (OK), and fourth (maybe) rounds to bring home the team’s first even-year trophy.

Kawhi Leonard isn’t going to put this team over the top, Richard Jefferson might be a inching closer to a lost cause at this point, and it’s hard to imagine Tiago Splitter making a massive jump in his second season (though he will improve, enough earn big minutes on most nights and possible consideration as the league’s Most Improved Player).

DeJuan Blair, Matt Bonner and Kawhi all have significant holes in their games. It won’t matter. Coach Popovich will have this crew playing larger than the sum of its parts. We’ll know why they lost, when they lose, but we’ll never be able to accurately articulate just why they’re winning. Unless they play the Raptors.

This group isn’t deep. It has to hope that its injury-prone trio of stars — Duncan, Parker and Ginobili — also manage to avoid accident injuries to pile on top of the fatigue that comes from wear and tear. And as far as the 66-game season? We’ll only know following 2011-12. And even then, this weird turn will be a one-season sample size, hopefully never to be replicated again. Will the Spurs’ veteran guile earn them an advantage, or will their “drafted in 1997″-knees push them aside? You’d have to think those two sides would even out, righto?

This will be entertaining, this will be compelling, and this will be as fun to Spurs fans on that team’s opening night as it will be some time in May when the team’s season ends.

Or June, even.

Dan Devine Has Feelings about Your Team: San Antonio Spurs

I’m so excited for you!

It stands to reason that San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, general manager R.C. Buford and owner Peter Holt would command an awful lot of respect from NBA pundits and fans — after all, over the past 17 years, they’ve presided (to one degree or another) over a monstrous run of success that has produced 16 playoff trips, 15 50-win seasons, four 60-win campaigns, seven trips to the Western Conference finals, four NBA titles and just one losing record. (Which, naturally, got them enough ping-pong balls to win the chance to pick Tim Duncan.)

Sure, players win games and championships; Popovich knows that as well as anyone. But someone’s got to identify, evaluate, procure and develop the players, and doing so isn’t easy. Continue to do that well over a long enough period, and people not only take notice — they start to think every move you make is sainted. And that’s why damn near everyone (this writer included) who thought Kawhi Leonard would be good when the Indiana Pacers chose him with the 15th pick in this past June’s NBA draft quickly became positive he’d be excellent once the Spurs get their hands on him by agreeing to send George Hill toward Pawnee.

The hands are a big thing (um, literally) with Leonard. Scouting reports talk about the 6-foot-7 former San Diego State star having hands like catcher’s mitts at the ends of his outsized arms (he’s got a 7-foot-3 wingspan), which come in handy when corralling rebounds, grabbing loose balls, deflecting passes and generally making life miserable on opposing players. Adding a player with that kind of skill set gives Popovich a potentially interesting weapon — one that the coach could use not only to back up Richard Jefferson, but also, depending on health and matchups, in some other interesting ways.

Maybe Pop uses the 20-year-old Leonard more often to take a load off Manu Ginobili, who played 25 percent of the Spurs’ minutes at the three last season, according to 82games.com’s positional stats. Maybe the rookie’s quickness allows the Spurs to get away with sticking him on rabbit point guards for a bit to give Tony Parker — who will hit age 30 during this shortened season and now stands at 29,967 combined regular-season and playoff NBA minutes — a breather now and again if new backup T.J. Ford can’t stay healthy or fellow rookie Cory Joseph isn’t ready. Maybe, against teams without great size and dominant big men, Pop can even use Leonard’s length and quickness to steal a few minutes at the four spot to help the Spurs’ thin front court (more on that in a sec).

Maybe Pop won’t use Leonard in any of these ways, and maybe — like many coaches — he’ll be reticent to give a rookie that much faith and that much floor time. But with an aging roster facing a compressed schedule that will include a pair of back-to-back-to-backs, giving a coach as intelligent and innovative as Popovich a new piece with fresh legs that (if things pan out as the Spurs hope) isn’t a defensive liability to deploy as he sees fit could open a lot of doors.

Leonard is reportedly quite raw on the offensive end, needing to develop consistency in his jump shot if he’s going to be able to work on the wing in an offense where most of his half-court attempts would likely come off of passes out of the post, drive-and-kick dishes from penetration by Parker and Ginobili, or ball swings resulting in that trademark Spurs 3-ball from the short corner. But in terms of his defense, rebounding and effort, Popovich recently said, “Kawhi is what we expected … Already he’s a little more explosive than we expected,” which is about as ringing an endorsement as the Spurs’ famously acerbic coach is likely to give a rook.

Two years after an aged and ineffective Bruce Bowen retired, the Spurs look to have imported an evolutionary wing stopper more on the order of Shawn Marion — a long, quick small forward capable of guarding three or possibly four positions on the court. Leonard’s defensive versatility and energy should enable him to contribute right away on a veteran Spurs team that could use some vim and vigor. If his offensive game develops quicker than anticipated, he might put Jefferson on the bench sooner rather than later. That’d be pretty exciting for San Antonio fans eager to lessen the price their team pays for “RJ’s boondoggle.”

I’m so worried for you!

Tim Duncan is Tim Duncan, so the Spurs will be good. But nearing age 36, with almost 45,000 minutes of NBA ball on his body, Tim Duncan isn’t TIM DUNCAN anymore; he needs more help than he used to. Last season, San Antonio’s approach was predicated largely on getting increased contributions from the backcourt and wings to push the attack — Parker, Ginobili, Hill, Jefferson and Gary Neal provided 67.3 of the Spurs’ 103.7 points per game in 2010-11 to pace the second-most efficient offense in the NBA.

But the top-seeded Spurs’ perimeter-heavy attack masked a thin frontcourt rotation that got exposed in their first-round upset at the hands of the eighth-place-finishing Memphis Grizzlies. Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol got everything they wanted in the paint against Duncan, Tiago Splitter, Antonio McDyess, DeJuan Blair and Matt Bonner. That five-man front line was simply overmatched.

Now, Duncan is a year older, McDyess has retired, Splitter and Blair can’t play together, and all San Antonio has added on the front line are training camp signees Gani Lawal and Luke Zeller. And barring a trade, there’s not much the Spurs can do to add any quality bulk (if any even remains). The team’s payroll still looks to be over the $70 million luxury tax line, even after shedding McDyess’ contract and waiving Steve Novak and Da’Sean Butler, which means San Antonio would only be able to use the so-called “mini” mid-level exception to sign a player. Unless Splitter, Blair or both are able to make massive improvements fast, the Spurs look to be heading back into battle in a pretty tough Western Conference — for what might be the last year of the Tim Duncan era — looking worryingly light up front.

I have no idea what to make of you!

Piggy-backing off the last section, I’m not yet sure what to make of Splitter. Finally coming over to the NBA from Spain several years after the Spurs tapped him with a first-round pick, the 25-year-old rookie was heralded by some as just what the doctor ordered for the twilight of Tim Duncan’s career — a young, talented big man who could take ease some of the low-block burden shouldered by the aging Hall of Famer, just as Duncan had done for David Robinson in the late 1990s.

That idea was probably always at least a little far-fetched — while Splitter was well regarded, Duncan had been touted a can’t-miss, must-tank-for No. 1 pick way before he ever left Wake Forest — but Splitter performed pretty well in limited run during his debut campaign. The Brazilian big man only averaged 12.3 minutes per game — an early calf injury slowed his integration and made cracking even a thin rotation difficult — but he hit 52.9 percent of his field goals and rebounded at strong rates, especially on the offensive boards. Splitter did virtually all of his damage at the rim, hitting just one-third of shots taken from three to nine feet away and less than one-quarter of his tries from 16 to 23 feet out, according to Hoopdata, but he did put up 13.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per 36 minutes of action.

In your first year playing against Western Conference bigs, posting an above-average Player Efficiency Rating (16.0) is pretty dang good; given full health to start his second year, it’s reasonable to expect an improved Splitter getting closer to the vision the Spurs front office had when they used the 28th overall pick to draft him in 2007. But Splitter’s shaky performance in this summer’s FIBA Americas tournament, plus a whiplash training camp that curtails the amount of time the still-developing big man will get with the Spurs’ coaching staff, may cast some shade on that sunny assumption.

The jury remains out on Splitter’s ceiling; with Duncan’s time drawing to a close, Spurs fans are hoping that the verdict comes back in their favor, and soon.

Eric Freeman’s Culture Club

The worlds of the NBA and popular culture intersect often. Actors and musicians show up at games, players cameo in their shows and movies and make appearances at their concerts. Yet the connections go deeper than these simple relationships — a work of art can often explain the situation of an NBA team. Eric Freeman’s Culture Club makes these comparisons explicit. In each installment, we’ll assign one movie, TV show, album, song, novel, short story, or filmstrip to the previewed team.

San Antonio Spurs: “Cocoon”

The Spurs are an old team. This is not a particularly controversial statement, because it’s right there in the core: Tim Duncan might be close to retirement, Manu Ginobili is 34 with enough wear on his joints to make a much older man blush, and Tony Parker is right at the age where players who rely greatly on speed start to dip. The 2010-11 regular season proved that they still have plenty of ability, but their playoff series against the Grizzlies showed they have plenty of weak spots. In order to improve, they’re going to need young players like rookie Kawhi Leonard to take on a bigger role.

Yet the idea isn’t so much that the youngsters must prop up the aging stars, but that their strengths will complement each other. It’s a concept discussed in the 1986 smash hit “Cocoon,” in which a bunch of old people absorb an alien life force and regain some of their youthful vim and vigor. Crucially, especially as it corresponds to the Spurs, Wilford Brimley and Co. don’t get younger — they stay old and simply get livelier. They don’t lose the things that make old people useful, like wisdom and experience. Instead, they just manage to have more energy.

If the acquisition of Leonard pans out, he’ll reinvigorate Duncan, Ginobili and Parker. He won’t supplement, but act in concert with his aged teammates. And if things really go well, he’ll take on the importance that major Hollywood star had for the box office prospects of “Cocoon.” Sometimes, a young guy provides enough to make a movie starring a bunch of old farts a blockbuster. Who knew?

Related: George Hill, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, Tony Parker, Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobili, Shawn Marion, Tim Duncan, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs, 2011-12 Season Previews

That’s all the news for today.

The LA Clippers already have multiple pieces in place for the upcoming season and many view them as a dark horse candidate in the Western Conference. With free agency looming and trade rumors flying left and right, it’s time to look at the Clipper’ free agents and what may happen with the team.

Restricted: PF DeAndre Jordan

Unrestricted: PF Craig Smith, SG Jamario Moon

As you can see, there is not a lot left to be done. Re-signing Jordan will obviously be the big move, but many teams around the league will be interested in the lengthy forward after a breakout season. Keeping Jordan in LA should not be too difficult with the NBA’s new labor deal in place, but you just never know with the madness of free agency. All it takes is for one team to offer a ludicrous deal.

Neither Craig Smith nor Jamario Moon will be top priorities for the team, although they could elect to stay with the Clippers in a bench role. Los Angeles will be one of the younger teams in the league when games begin in a month and a veteran presence off the bench could be big for the franchise.

For more, head on over to Clips Nation.

Leave your comments on the news below.

The rumor for a while now is that San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili(notes) will sign with Virtus Bologna in Italy, where he played from 2000-2002. Word came Tuesday that it was a done deal as long as Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant(notes) told the team he wasn’t interested in the deal the team offered him, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

However, Ginobili’s agent, Herb Rudoy, told the Express-News, via text, “Not true!” when asked if this was true.

“Bryant, who attended Tuesday’s negotiating session in New York between the NBA’s owners and players, was non-committal about his offer from Virtus Bologna,” the paper reports: “I don’t think there’s anything stopping it or pushing on it,” Bryant said, the Express-News notes. “I think it’s its own separate structure. The developments that it has to what’s going on here is that I have time to be able to play overseas. In terms of what’s holding up the deal is the same as any other deal.”

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Source: San Antonio Express-News

Related: Manu Ginobili, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs

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By Tom Ziller

– NBA Contributor

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Apr 30, 2011 – How do you tell when the San Antonio Spurs are dead? Well, that’s a trick question: the Spurs never die. They just lay down sometimes. When the grave is prepared and the last rites are being given, the Spurs sit up, grab a ball and beat the snot out of another team. They never die.

But in the wake of San Antonio’s submission to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday — Memphis went on a tear with four minutes left, and won 99-91 to take the series 4-2 — we’re left wondering if maybe, just maybe, the Spurs actually are dead this time. Sure, we’ve been fooled. In 2006. In 2008. In 2009. In 2010. We’ve been made fools reading eulogies for Tim Duncan’s dynasty, only to watch him sparkle from the deathbed (insomuch as Tim Duncan can sparkle).

But is this different? Are the Spurs actually dead?

Tim Duncan is slowing down at an alarming rate. Big Fundamental is the rock of this team; while Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have taken turns as the team’s MVP over the last seven years, Duncan has been completely dependable, and underrated (insomuch as a former MVP can be underrated). There’s a reason this is the Duncan dynasty — he’s the engine. Without him, this is just a well-coached team with awesome guards. Duncan makes them The Spurs.

Now look at Duncan’s playoff PER over the last 13 seasons.

Duncan’s last two playoff performances have been his worst playoff performances since his rookie season. He’s now playing at an average level in the playoffs; against all the great big men in the Western Conference, most of whom are substantially younger than Duncan, that’s not likely to improve a great deal. The Spurs used to have a superstar big man, even as recently as two years ago. No longer is that the case.

The Spurs are not making wonderful personnel decisions. Pardon me the vanity needed to criticize R.C. Buford (best GM since Lakers era Jerry West) and Gregg Popovich (up there with Auerbach and Jackson, in my book). But signing Richard Jefferson for $39 million over four years and Matt Bonner for essentially $11 million over three years — those don’t look like great moves. The hallmark of the Duncan dynasty was that the Spurs refused to make long-term, expensive commitments to anyone outside of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker. That’s why Duncan had a rotating cast of frontcourt partners (Rasho Nesterovic, Nazr Mohammed, Antonio McDyess), and it’s why so many roleplaying veterans just sort of disappeared when the Spurs no longer found a use for them (Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry, Brent Barry).

Jefferson is essentially the new Stephen Jackson: a fourth offensive option who doesn’t do anything spectacular but is a good player who fits the personnel. The Spurs let Jackson walk in 2003 after winning the championship. The Spurs signed Jefferson long-term after being swept out of the second-round in 2010. You know why Jefferson’s contract was such a shock to so many people? Not because he got $39 million — heck, John Salmons got that much, from Jefferson’s old team (Milwaukee) no less! It was because the Spurs made the deal. The Spurs don’t overpay roleplayers. Well, they didn’t, until last summer. Bonner was a bit of icing; there are dozens of specialty three-point shooters who can’t defend in the league. Maybe Bonner was the best available; that doesn’t mean he’s worth $14 million over four years (which due to a partial guarantee on the final year turns it into a $11 million, three-year deal, essentially).

There’s no natural succession. The Spurs don’t have an heir to Duncan. Tiago Splitter is next in line, but like Queen Elizabeth II getting itchy about letting her son Charles take over the monarchy, the Spurs don’t seem completely confident Tiago, the rookie Brazilian, is suitable. Splitter played in just three of San Antonio’s six playoff games, totaling 50 minutes. He’s already 26 years old. If Duncan tries to pass the torch, I have a feeling Pop will intercept it, extinguish it and light himself on fire in a sacrifice to the Basketball Gods in an effort to give Duncan’s legs new life. Splitter might actually be the answer, and Pop seems rather opposed to such a suggestion.

The Spurs do have good options in the backcourt; Parker and Ginobili are still wonderful, which is good, because each is owed quite a bit of money. Parker is due $50 million over the next four seasons; Ginobili $27 million over the next two. Behind them sit George Hill and Gary Neal, not nearly as electric, but solid.

But remember: without Duncan, this is a well-coach team with awesome guards. Without a new Duncan, this won’t be The Spurs. Sadly, the decline of Big Fun might very well — for real this time — the end of The Spurs.

Read More: Manu Ginobili (G – SAN), Tim Duncan (F – SAN), Tony Parker (G – SAN), Gregg Popovich (H – SAN), San Antonio Spurs

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