[I originally posted this in the comments section of ATS' post, but LatinD among others suggested I re-post, so here it is...]

{oh-- and Stampler, if you read this-- I'm STILL waiting for a scathing recap....}

I’ve been lurking on this blog since a buddy of mine forwarded me Stampler’s re-cap of the Golden State Warriors game in which James White got his first NBA dunk. I felt like I was trapped in a bad Jim Rome e-mail as I proctored a mid-term for my university class and desperately tried not to laugh so hard that I sprayed Diet Coke all over my keyboard. "an erection that would frighten Traci Lords" indeed… hilarious.

I posted a couple of times in the past under a different screen name but have since had the login deleted. I was sad to see Matthew go. I’m still waiting for Stampler to say something scathing yet amusing about the way the season petered out. And I’m ready to throw in some cents of my own:

1) While your post is great and insightful, ATS, I’m amazed that no one has pointed out this essential truth— Matt Bonner sucks because he AGREES WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAID ABOUT HIM. There are countless players with NBA rings who have MUCH more marginal NBA talent than Bonner (Avery Johnson, take a bow… Kurt Rambis, you’ll get another shot at leading an NBA team… [not]) but all of those guys played like they had a giant chip on their shoulder to prove that they belong. Matt plays like he put down one bet in a casino, one 18 gazillion with it, and knows that each subsequent bet is just losing money for him. Deep down he believes that he doesn’t belong, and when the pressure is on him, he proves it to us. So, yeah— offseason priority, hasta la Bonner.

2) Why has no one mentioned the fact that first round picks get guaranteed contracts? When you’re picking deep in the first round, as the Spurs have been for the last decade due to their playoff successes, you get first rounders who are “first round” in name only. In reality, you’re picking first in the second round. So the Spurs deliberately picked guys that they had no intention of bringing in, nor room for, so that they could avoid using cap space on marginal players. It’s a risky strategy, but it has worked for them. Say what you will about losing a player of Scola’s quality, but if we hadn’t drafted him using that strategy, he wouldn’t have been ours to lose. And we would have been paying a guaranteed contract to some schmoe that none of us would remember. And finally, since our first championship, we’ve avoided the huge mistake of giving big free agent deals to marginal talents to “reward” them for their past contributions. (Can you believe that Isiah was willing to pick up Malik’s contract? Does anyone remember the fat tub of goo that showed up in 2000 wearing Jaren Jackson’s jersey??)

3) I don’t think that there can be any doubt that everyone in the Spurs organization knows that they are undersized and that they can’t get away with it anymore. I can’t remember which run it hit me in (probably the ’03) but after having three seven footers in our front line (Tim/David/Perdue) we were down to having Tim plus one shaky tall guy (end of career David; Rasho McSulkavic, endless string of guys who were a) unathletic or b) athletic but dumb as a sack of hammers). And Tim has been successfully covering for that sucky extra big for the past 6~7 seasons. And he can’t do it any more. Tim’s got to be the suck guy. He’s got to be the one getting the Kurt Thomas 15 foot jumpers because the other team is collapsing on the dangerous guy. If not, he’s out of the league within two years. If so, maybe he’s got another 5. Once nice thing about not having any athleticism—when you lose it, it doesn’t take away your whole game. So I expect this offseason to be real serious when it comes to getting big bodies in the fold. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple of summer league line-ups that consist of George Hill, Marcus Williams, and three bigs (how ‘bout Javotkas, Mahinmi, and Gist?) just to be sure we know who to bring to camp. Oh, and a last word in Bonner’s "defense"—can anyone name a big that the Spurs have released in the last 5 years that’s in this year’s playoffs? Is Samalki Walker tearing it up somewhere? Are Jackie Butler and Francisco Elson leading the Cavs’ renaissance?

4) Things that I would love to see in 2010:
- Gist in a Spurs (not Toros) Jersey
-Yawn with an ankle not made of pixie dust and rainbows
- no trace of JV, Billy Ocean, Davy Jones, I’m Clankdoka, and the aforementioned Matthew Ball-less.
-enough young players who have no clue what the f&*) is going on that Pop gets back to being Pop, which means regular tirades that leave assistant coaches exhausted from hauling him off the court and his wife speed-dialing their pharmacist for extra blood pressure meds.

Finally, I love the Spurs. I will never root for another NBA franchise. I’m completely disinterested in who wins the championship this year. And I knew that this season was not meant to be. There is no contradiction in loving your team and knowing that they don’t have a chance in hell—I’ve been rooting for these guys since Gervin was hoisting ‘em up at the Hemisfair… which is now a 5-star hotel convention resort. Sheesh.

Oh, and for all of you guys that criticize RC—have you ever met him? He may be the poster-child for the 2-o’clock pick me up cocktail frat boy made good, but if he wasn’t so damn good at his job, he wouldn’t lose so much of his staff every off-season.

Peace,

vespaguy

{eds note-- the post I read was not written by stampler, even though it did reference him.  It was titled "Unbiased recap of James White's 1st 15 Minutes in the NBA" and can be found in the March '07 Archives}  -ocd vespaguy