GMs say Spurs will be champs this year
October 25th 2006 03:07
According to a preseason poll of the NBA's general managers, the San Antonio Spurs will win another title. They also said LeBron James will earn his first MVP award, Brandon Roy will be the rookie of the year, Pat Riley of the Miami Heat will take the best coach honors, and Kobe Bryant is the player they want taking a shot when a game is on th line.
ESPN said all but two of the GMs responded to the NBA.com survey.
If you recall your recent NBA history, the Spurs lost to the Dallas Mavericks in last year's Western Conference semifinals. You'll also observe a trend in San Antionio's championships: 1999, 2003, 2005.
See anything fishy?
No, not that they didn't win a title in two straight years. They were all in odd-numbered years. So this year, the Spurs might win it all because it's the 2007 season, an odd-numbered year!
It sounds ridiculous, but it could happen. The team's offseason moves seemed right, though you'll never really know until the season starts. The most interesting of them is the signing of Francisco Elson, Eric Williams and Matt Bonner.
These acquisitions seemed to show that the Spurs are preparing for the Mavericks. Elson is a quick, seven-footer with good rebounding averages; while Bonner is a 6-10 center that shoots the three. Williams is a good defender with low-post moves.
These were the kind of talents the Spurs needed during that Dallas series because:
A) Their big men, Robert Horry and Nazr Mohammed, were neutralized. Horry is not quite his original Houston-Rockets-small-forward self in terms of speed (because of his weight and age), and the Mavs ran circles around Mohammed. The Spurs needed quickness to keep up with their opponent.
B) A center/three-pointer like Bonner would cause a lot of nightmare mismatches, especially when he plays at the perimiter, keeping his defender outside the paint and opening up the floor.
C) The Spurs needed more perimiter defenders. Let's face it: all the Spurs saw during the series were the backs of the Dallas guards' jerseys. With help in the perimiter D, the story just might change during the next playoffs, unless the Mavs are eliminated by another team (like the Suns).
Partial results of the GMs' preseason poll was reported by ESPN, and the complete tally will be available at NBA.com at Wednesday this week.
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