• Seems being away from home on the Rodeo Road Trip allows for some team bonding for the San Antonio Spurs:



 • Speaking of the Spurs' Rodeo Road Trip, Antonio McDyess knows all about dining on the road:

McDyess said that landing late at night into a city and finding food isn’t always so easy. “It’s always tough,” said McDyess. “You don’t know when to go to sleep, when not. Some hotels have room service, some don’t. Especially for the young guys. It’s tougher for them as opposed to us old guys who have a little more experience with this.”

McDyess said he prefers to order in as opposed to venturing out in foreign cities. However, when it comes to New York City, there is one place he just has to visit: Angelo & Maxie’s Steakhouse on Park Avenue and 19th St. in Manhattan. (sportsandfood.com)

• But which Spurs player is the biggest eater? If you guessed DeJuan Blair, you are correct.

“DeJuan [Blair],” McDyess said with a chuckle. “But I can’t say that to him because he’s on a diet.” (sportsandfood.com)

• Pounding The Rock talks about Spurs' Steve Novak, 100 three point-shots, and the art of shooting.

• The Tower Light has some nice words for Spurs' Gary Neal and his participation at the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge:

Gary Neal’s story is pretty awesome if you ask me. He has gone from playing at LaSalle and Towson in his college career to the European leagues and now the Spurs. Every stop of the way has come with bumps in the road, but there have been more peaks than valleys with the league-leading Spurs.

I’ll be glued to my TV set this Friday night to catch a glimpse of Neal amongst the NBA’s brightest young stars at All-Star Weekend. I can see it now: Neal throwing an alley-oop lob to Blake Griffin, who throws it down and gives the Spur a high-five as he struts down the court. Everyone smiles. Especially me.

• And speaking of Neal, Express News' Tim Griffin reports ESPN's Outside the Lines will do a feature on Neal.

Hit the jump to read how to win free tickets to the upcoming Spurs-Oklahoma City Thunder game in San Antonio, where a former Spurs' player is now playing, which former Spur was listed as a bust in the NBA, on the Spurs winning quietly, about a former Spur in some legal trouble and more.

San Antonio Spurs' point guard Tony Parker was on the ballot to participate in the 2011 Taco Bell Skills Challenge at the 2011 All-Star weekend which kicks off tomorrow in Los Angeles.

For the first time fans were allowed to vote on who will be participating in this competition and the fans did not vote for Parker to participate.

Here is who the fans voted in:

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, John Wall of the Washington Wizards and Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder were selected by fans to compete against Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets in the 2011 Taco Bell® Skills Challenge on Feb. 19, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. (nba.com)

After being considered an All-Star snub, seems Parker just can't get any love from NBA fans.

Hopefully for the All-Star weekend next season, Spurs fans can come out in force to get Parker voted into this event if he is on the ballot.

According to the Huffington Post, San Antonio Spurs' star Tim Duncan will start at center for the 2011 Western Conference All-Star squad this Sunday in Los Angeles:

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich says Tim Duncan will replace Yao Ming in the Western Conference's starting lineup for Sunday's All-Star game in Los Angeles.

The 34-year-old Duncan is averaging a career-low 13.4 points and 9.2 rebounds, but was picked as a reserve by the coaches. Now, the longtime San Antonio star will make his 12th consecutive All-Star start.

Popovich, who will coach the West, says "it's totally appropriate and obvious" that Duncan should start the game at Staples Center.

According to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News, Antonio McDyess has decided that he's not yet ready to hang up his size 14 sneakers.

Antonio McDyess, the 36-year-old Spurs forward who as recently as last month had been leaning toward retirement at the end of the season, said Thursday he plans to return for a 15th season.

“My mind is pretty much made up,” McDyess said. “I feel like I’ll be able to lace ‘em up and go again.”

When McDyess joined the Spurs as a free agent in July 2009, his plan was to play two more seasons and call it quits. As an incentive, the Spurs built into McDyess’ contract a third season in 2011-12, of which only $2.64 million is guaranteed — sort of an early retirement present.

McDyess is playing about three minutes less than last season and his numbers haven't seemed to be effected by the dip in playing time. He's also played a bigger role this season than originally expected, something he didn't foresee coming into this season.

"I don't know what my role will be, but whatever it is I'm going to take it and I'm pretty sure it's going to be totally different than what it was last year," McDyess said during training camp.

McDyess' role hasn't changed due to Tiago Splitter's development taking longer than expected, especially due to an injury during training camp. After a few turn-back-the-clock games and his game-winning tip in in Los Angeles, I expect that Spurs fans are glad to hear that he'll be sticking around.

The San Antonio Spurs (46-9) will face the Chicago Bulls (37-16) tonight in Chicago and conclude the Rodeo Road Trip.

After the Spurs' win against the New Jersey Nets this past Monday, I got some quick thoughts from Spurs' center DeJuan Blair on the Bulls and Carlos Boozer heading into tonight's matchup.

"They got a heck of a team. We got to bring everything," said Blair. "We cant slack off and do nothing. We just got to play hard, and try to get this. Get a great, great, great, great start off."

Blair will also be facing the Bulls' big man Carlos Boozer, and Blair is eager to face him.

"Boozer is a wonderful player. I played against him last year in Utah. I can't wait to play against him. It's going to be fun."

Project Spurs' affiliate site Toros Nation, which covers the San Antonio Spurs D-League affiliate, Austin Toros, recently added Toros' player Michael Joiner to the writing staff.

Joiner is a four-year D-League veteran and in his second season with the Toros. He has agreed to write an “On the Road” series for Toros Nation and this is his second post, which he wrote before last night’s win against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. To read his first post click HERE to visit Toros Nation.

If you have any questions for Michael or would like to comment on his posts, feel free to comment below or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   and we’ll be sure to get your questions/comments to him. Follow Michael on twitter @mjborn2win.

Enjoy!

By Michael Joiner

It’s game day against the Rio Grande Vipers. We are on the road playing down in the valley. It was a long and exhausting day of travel for the team yesterday. Bags were lost by the airlines, but we eventually got them later on that night.

How’s the team? Well, I will say that we are good. Today seemed to be different. Why? Just because everyone really had a different pep in their step. The word of the year has been “Swag” and you can see everyone really bonding and really in their own zone. Even though the results we wanted in our last game did not show up as the game came to a close, but we have honestly showed some strides in what we can accomplish this season.

Our team defense has gotten a lot better. Guys seem to start understanding how to play this game now. Honestly, for me it seems like it was a long time ago when I was some of these guys age…lol. But I had some great basketball teachers that helped me to mature and grow quickly in this game.

Click HERE to read the complete article at Toros Nation.

San Antonio Spurs' guard Manu Ginobili wants you to raise your arms confidently.

Check out the latest Gillette commercial staring Ginobili and "levanta los brazos" Spurs fans.

The San Antonio Spurs (46-9) will conclude their Rodeo Road Trip when they face the Chicago Bulls (37-16) tonight in Chicago at the United Center.

The Spurs are coming off a win against the New Jersey Nets (102 to 85) in New Jersey where Manu Ginobili led the way with 22 points.

The Bulls are also coming off a win against the Charlotte Bobcats (106 to 94) and will be looking to maintain their home court dominance this season as they are 24-4 at the United Center.

Both teams will be looking to head into the All-Star break with a win and to discuss tonight's match up I turn to fellow Bloguinite Marco at Horns to the Hardwood. Your one and only stop on the Internet for all things Bulls.

In this Q&A, Marco talks about the Bulls flying under the radar, keys for the Bulls to beat the Spurs and more. Check out my Q&A I did for Marco by clicking HERE.

Jeff: So many focus on the Celtics, Heat and Magic. Are people sleeping on the Bulls in the East?

Marco: People definitely are, except your John Hollinger's of the world.  Everyone is enamored with the Heat and the Celtics.  The Heat get the attention for having 2 superstars and one good player on their team.  The Celtics get the attention because they're really good, and because Boston is ESPN's child.
 
The Bulls sit at 37-16, two games back of the 1 seed in the East.  Of those 53 games, the Bulls have only played 9 with their starting lineup in tact due to injuries to Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah.  And the biggest reason teams are sleeping on the Bulls is because you really don't know how good Derrick Rose is until you see him everyday.  He's really picked up the load with Noah and Boozer out for extended stretches, and will carry them deep into the post-season. 
 
What's the latest on Joakim Noah and his injury?

Sounds like Joakim is progressing quite well.  The news is that he should be back after the ASB.  He's just started shooting jump shots, and has been cleared for some contact activity in practice.  The Bulls have done a great job with handling the injury, considering they're playing well without him.  That's the scary part for the rest of the East - what do the Bulls become when Noah returns?
 
How would you assess Carlos Boozer's play since joining Chicago? Likes? Dislikes?

• The San Antonio Spurs will face the Chicago Bulls tomorrow night to conclude their Rodeo Road Trip. It will be a huge game for both teams but don't tell that to Bulls' coach Tom Thibodeau:

“Every game's a measuring stick for us,” Thibodeau said Wednesday at the Berto Center. “We want to be consistent with our approach.” (dailyherald.com)

• Bulls' Derrick Rose weighed in on tomorrow's matchup and if it's a measuring stick for the Bulls:

“If they think that, that's great,” Rose said. “I wouldn't mind that at all. It's a measuring stick for us to see how far we've come.” (dailyherald.com)

In just a few short months, San Antonio Spurs guard Gary Neal has gone from being an unknown 2010 NBA Summer League team invitee from Towson to being a regular part of Gregg Popovich's rotation.

What a difference a few months makes.

For aspiring professional athletes, opportunities are few and far between and when one comes calling, players are prepared to make whatever changes or decisions necessary to make their NBA dreams happen.

For Gary Neal, that included relocating his honeymoon to Las Vegas for a week's audition at the Thomas & Mack Center instead of a few weeks in Cabo San Lucas relaxing by the beach.

if you think the change was a drastic one for Neal, imagine how the newly-wed Leah Neal must have felt about changing her vacation plans, no doubt the contents of her Samsonite luggage.

"I got married on Saturday and my first summer league game was on Monday," Neal said recently.

But for Neal, he didn't mind making alternate travel arrangements and he said his wife didn't mind doing the same, especially considering the results his summer league performance yielded.