Spurs players take to Twitter after Olympics
On Sunday, the United States won the Gold Medal on the final day of the 2012 London Olympics as the
U.S. defeated Spain. Before that game, San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili and Argentina fell to Russia for the Bronze medal, Ginobili and Co. would finish fourth in the Olympics.
After the game, Ginobili took to Twitter to discuss how he felt after the game. In the end, he said he was proud to be apart of the Argentinian National team.
How sad I have! It hurts when you're so close! Too bad end like that, but as always, proud of this team. THANKS!
DeJuan Blair was up early on Sunday watching the Gold Medal game, immediately after the game ended, he was tweeting about the U.S. On Twitter, I asked Blair if he and Kawhi Leonard are prepared to defend the Gold in the Rio games in 2016.
YESSIR RT @24writer: You and Kawhi ready to defend it in 2016? RT @DeJuan45: USA!!!!!!!!!
Spurs guard Danny Green was also on Twitter Sunday and said it would be a dream come true if was presented with the opportunity to represent his country in the future.
Would b a dream come tru RT@TarHeelMonthly:This summer DGreen said one of his big goals is playing for US team ... http://m.tmi.me/vedLi
Apparently Spurs draftee Adam Hanga was also watching the Gold medal game, as he said that Spain gave it their best shot.
Great game made the Olympic final! The Spaniards in the tournament is now played all the best.
And to close, Patty Mills told one Twitter follower that he will be returning to the U.S. and Texas in particular, very soon.
“@LacyDavenport: @Patty_Mills when are you coming back to #texas ???? #gospursgo” I'll be back soon ;)
the thunder are still the best tean in the west in my book and we can handle the flakers any time of the day.
Spurs remain to be a team give others problem but they don't manage to put themselves over the top.
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Plus this year we will have an actual backup PG for TP! Last year's playoffs saw Ginobili and some Neal backing up Parker, and while he can do that its not natural for him and takes him away from his normal position. Pop did not trust Mills or CJ to fill in during crucial moments, as they did not have a lot of experience with the team. Next year, they will have that experience. I hope to see much more of Mills this year, and maybe we can see how much progress CJ has made too.
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Thunder still have the weapons to destroy the Lakers. Who is going to guard Durant? Hot-headed Metta? Durant will blow right past him. Nash on Westbrook? You better hope Westbrook tries to shoot over Howard because he will get Howard in his predictable foul trouble easily. Harden coming off the bench with him and Thabo D-ing up Kobe. They did a pretty good job last year of shutting Kobe down with their size and speed. I don't see that changing. Not to mention the wildcard that is Perry Jones III. Who knows what he is capable of? Perkins will frustrate Howard because that is his sole reason playing basketball. Ibaka's athleticism will again frustrate Pau. Thunder will gladly run all day against this old and slow team. They made two changes to their starting lineup, one of them makes the Lakers substantially worse defensively, and the other makes them slightly better defensively against the Thunder. Sure, Nash will get his assists via pick and roll to Howard, but he can only play 30 minutes max. Westbrook will be blowing right past him and Kobe will probably end up guarding him like last year, wasting his limited energy. The Thunder still have a LARGE advantage over the Lakers. I don't understand how people think these moves addressed the Lakers' core problems: athleticism and speed.
We still present the biggest roadblock to the Thunder because of Kawhi's defensive intensity and Parker's offensive pace matching Westbrook's. The Lakers present the biggest threat to us, but not the Thunder. If we are able to bring over a defensive big, we will have the upper hand against the Lakers.
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Who cares about being right ? Some write on here as tho there is a contest among us. It is fun to think about what the rosters might do and compare them, but most said the same things last year, only different pieces have been used to argue for the Spurs demise if they don' t do what is suggested.
We are too old, too small, and not able to keep up with athletic teams, many keep writing. After we lost to the Grizz a few years ago and many said we were too old, too small, then the next year, we beat them 3 or 4 straight games. We beat the Thunder 3 out of 4 this year and the Lakers were too big for us, many said, we beat them 2 out of 3.
Basketball is more than size and skill, we certainly could use more skilled more athletic players, but it doesn't mean that we should ignore that the last 2 champs, won with what others called flawed lineups. The Mavs were too old and un-athletic, the Heat were too small and had no depth, so my question "to all the know it alls", is how does this keep happening that flawed line ups beat the bigger or more athletic teams ?
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It will be heresy to many... but while I believe the Lakers will be tougher with Nash, I think DH v Bynum is a wash... the Lakers will have a better regular season, but not a better playoffs. As Bayless said, DH is coming of major back surgery so he'll be limited early, perhaps later as well. DH can't shoot free throws, so you can foul him late (a la Shaq or Tiago last season - hopefully Chip has helped him with that, though I didn't see much improvement in the Olympics)... and they still don't have the team speed to stay with the Spurs' rotations or the Thunder's athleticism. I think they'll be a little better beause of Nash, but not necessarily better than the Spurs. If the Spurs can get the #1 seed again, they won't have to beat both of them in the playoffs... OKC will eliminate LAL.
Regarding OKC v SA... I think SA learned their lesson. I think OKC is still young, and will lose some games they should win... plus I think the Spurs will play better against them this season. OKC will have the bullseye... and SA will sly under the radar again. If we hit our season % for the open threes we had against OKC, we likely would have won the WCF. Everything else fell apart because we weren't making our threes. Our team is built on the 3ball, and clinical rotations on offense and defense. The same cast is returning... which will make the Spurs better than last year.
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No I think you're completely wrong. The lakers will be better. There's no arguing that. I don't however think the spurs or thunder should be written off at all. This might be just me being biased, but I expect the spurs to finish 1st seed. We're all forgetting how good of chemistry this team had. It was, at the risk of sounding cliche, surgical. That main reason the spurs lost was because they got nervous. We all know basketball is a game of confidence, and the spurs just lost it. The lakers' bread and butter is going to be Nash and Howard. Howard is the best big in the game, but it could be comparable to the Suns when they had Amare too. Kobe is just another scorer. Honestly, if I were the lakers' gm, I'd trade kobe. He takes up too much cap space considering how much less he's gonna do this next season. Sure if the dwight and nash combo isn't working, you go to kobe. And yeah, dwight and nash can create their own shots too, but I don't for a second think that they will be as surgical or effect as the spurs or thunder (in the western conference finals when they played like the spurs). The thunder showed they can be good, really good, but only for one round of the playoffs. they in no way played like they did against the spurs. regular season is going to be the spurs'. post-season is up in the air.
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@aamador521 Kobe has a No Trade Clause and he is the heart of the Lakers. If you trade him, it would be tantamount to a coup in Lakerland. Much like trading Timmy D would cause a San Antonio riot parading down AT&T Boulevard. Howard won't even be playing until a month has gone by in the regular season making Laker team chemistry a complete toss up. As you saw with Lobcity in the same arena last year, just because you have an athletic big who can catch alley-oops like it's a layup drill, doesn't mean you'll have a successful team.
@aamador521 Yeah, Lakers will be tougher. But not unbeatable. I've thought a Kobe trade would be good for the Lakers for a while, they could get some good talent for him before he deteriorates completely. But it will not happen. Despite their offseason pickups it is still Kobe's team, he is the face of their franchise.
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If the spurs are OLD, what are they Lakers? Geriatric? They replaced Sessions with Nash (who really can't be considered old despite his age) and Bynum with Howard (who is older and coming off back surgery). Plus Kobe and Pau aren't spring chicks. I think there's a Spurs trade brewing, but even if not, the Spurs were amazing last year, and more knowledgeable of our system this year. If the lakers stay (and DH gets) healthy they are a tough team, but they are always a tough team. I'm more concerned about Nash than Howard though... Plus OKC's drafted rookie (can't remember his name) will make them tougher come playoffs.
Revenge. with the same lineup? Hardly. Its tiresome pointing out that the Spurs need some adjustments. First, they need to sign a young, athletic, aggressive and BIG interior operator. How many times this fact has to be pointed out? ONly the Spurs coaching staff know it. The Thunders will roll over them. Maybe the Lakers will do the same and some other western conference teams.
