A Look to a Bright Future

Bleh.  What an awful end to the season.  Although, as bummed as I am I can't help to think that there's some good that has come out of these '08-'09 playoffs and season.  I am going pontificate about what good I see that came from this season and playoffs and what we can look forward to.
These are in no particular order:

1. Tim Duncan has gas left in the tank.  If his knees hold up he's really good for 3 or 4 more years.  He carried this team early in the season and played like the champion he is in game 5 last night.

2. Tony Parker isn't as good as he's going to get.  This guy just keeps getting better.  If he can cut down on those 5 bad possessions a game, he'll be an MVP.  He carried this team as times this year and I think he'll just get better.

3. George Hill is going to be a stud.  The way he came through early in the season and then the way he handled getting told he's not going to play in the playoffs and them coming out and playing very well.  I like him a lot.

4. Gregg Popovich played a rookie in the playoffs!  Maybe Pop can learn new old tricks (yes, I said "new old" on purpose.  He used to have play young guys a long time ago).

5. Manu has all summer to rest, get better and come back with a vengeance, which I fully expect him to do.  The Sickness will be motivated and that will be great for the Spurs

6. Roger Mason, Jr. was a great pick up and I like that he's on our team.  Once his roll is defined as "shooter" only on offense he'll do better.  I think he can pick up the defense and be a help out there.

7. The Spurs have the best D-League team around.  We can develop young players and that might be better than spending a ton on free agents, see Malik Hairston. 

8. The Spurs have all sorts of room to pick up players the next 2 years.  There are going to be lots of guys available and only a handful that will work for our team.  I'll be interested to see how the FO handles this.

9. Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas are still good defenders.  These two guys played very well on the defensive end.  I’m not sure how much Bowen has left, but I think he’s good for another year.  Thomas was great all year for us.

This team showed that when healthy they are as good as anybody.  Mid-season when we were healthy the whole league was worried that the Spurs were at it again.  We didn’t make a deep playoff run this year and that’s disappointing, but it also means that our guys will get rest they haven’t had in 10 years.  That bodes well for next season.  I know there are things to analyze and critic, but I will leave that to somebody else.  All I know is that I am looking forward and I can’t wait see how motivated this team is in ’09-’10.

The future looks good:

via www.geekologie.com