Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About…

The return of Ginobili will certainly present quite a roadblock for Kevin Durant and the Thunder on their path to the Finals.…How the San Antonio Spurs are the West’s only hope of topping the Heat in the Finals? I know everyone loves the Thunder, who are sitting a rather comfortable 3 games ahead of SA right now, but OKC has essentially given the league their best punch, and in a lot of cases it hasn’t looked that great (recent problems with Golden State, recent blowout losses to LAC and SA, the inexcusable L to Washington). Whereas Oklahoma City’s injuries are almost afterthoughts that many fans aren’t even aware of (Sefolosha has missed the last two weeks, Maynor has missed a bunch of time), the Spurs have been going without Manu Ginobili since January 2. They started slow while again re-inventing themselves, are missing possibly their best player, have played a much harder schedule than the Thunder, and have been resting what seems like the whole frickin’ team by simply rolling over and giving up games that look like probable losses in order to keep the stress and pounding off their starters’ bodies (which creates a record that’s deceivingly worse than it should be). After the Thunder topped the Spurs in early-January in a contest in which SanAn sat their starters down in the middle of the third quarter, the Spurs starters actually played something resembling starter minutes on Saturday and they blew the Thunder out of the building. Just last night they topped the 18-7 Sixers in Philadelphia to extend their win streak to 6, not too bad for a club that supposedly can’t win on the road. The Thunder have certainly looked very good at times, but we’re seeing them go all out for this season as the Spurs are content to do the bare minimum to sit in second place as the Clippers, Nuggets, Mavericks, Blazers, Lakers, Jazz, and Houston keep playing musical chairs with the other playoff positions, none of whom looks serious as a contender. Barring consecutive seasons of multiple massive injuries to San Antonio in the playoffs, it’s the Thunder or Spurs going up against the Heat in late-June. And if fans would pay attention to what’s been going on this season, they’d know the Spurs are by far the more prepared team to handle that task.

…How great the top of the 2013 Draft is shaping up to be, especially the big men? The glut of talent that will be drafted this summer has been known and discussed for quite some time (for the millionth time, Perry Jones is way overrated – don’t take the bait), but 2013 to most fans is nothing more than the next draft. Well the top high school center in the nation just reclassified as a senior last week, so Nerlens Noel is now the projected #1 pick in two years. Who? Noel is considered by virtually every pundit to be a better shot-blocker and all around defender than Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, who will be this year's top pick and who just broke Shaq’s SEC record for blocks by a freshman. Throw in Noel’s springy rebounding (as opposed to bruising) and quickly emerging offense, and you have a great #1 pick in 2013. You’ll also have Steven Adams, a giant New Zealand product headed to Pitt next fall with the size, strength, and mobility to own the paint at both ends in the pros, something he put on display the last two summers in the adidas Nations event where he was clearly the dominant big-man over all of the USA’s best upcoming centers (Andre Drummond, Isaiah Austin, Dajuan Coleman, Kaleb Tarczewski, etc.). This pair of players alone will give two franchises a cornerstone center to build their futures around starting in two summers. Two other big men who will also likely be top picks in 2013 are current college freshmen Cody Zeller (Indiana) and James McAdoo (UNC). McAdoo’s work ethic and base skill level guarantees he makes a giant leap next year toward becoming an elite PF, and Zeller has already shown extended flashes of being an outstanding scorer and very good defender. Another year in college will make both Zeller and McAdoo very intriguing picks. Throw in the other current high school seniors who might be good enough to do the one-and-done thing (Shabazz Muhammad – possibly the best scoring instincts and skills of any SG prospect in the last 10 years; Isaiah Austin – insane combination of freakish size and athleticism; Dajuan Coleman – think a larger and more skilled Paul Millsap), big-time underclassmen talents like freshman PG Myck Kabongo (Texas) and sophomore SF Andre Roberson (Colorado), plus International shot-blocker/rebounder extraordinaire Rudy Gobert (France), and the 2013 Lottery might be just as strong as this year’s, which is saying quite a bit.

Comments

[Thunder fan]

There are definitely some recent issues with our team, but I still believe we'll be in the Finals when it's all said and done. The Spurs are always injured and Durant can go on a tear when the going gets tough.

[Gav]

I'd love to see Duncan get another ring, too old or still got his game?