You must read this before the Spurs game

Timothy from “48 minutes of hell” is a “Spurs aficionado” and contacted me for a Q & A session before tonight’s game at San Antonio.

You will read my answers to his Sixers questions here (he was kind enough to put them into english, so that the reading should be less painful than usual…), while what follow are his answers to my questions about the Spurs.

Let’s elevate our usually low standards and talk about a title team, once in a year…:

S4G: After a slow start, Spurs seem to have found their rythm and put up a nice streak of Ws, even if many of them came vs mediocre teams. Do you see them as a contender this year or you think Lakers are still a step ahead? (as much as I hate the Lakers, I would pick #2…)

48 MOH: This is the question on the mind of most of the Spurs faithful. Based on how teams are currently playing, it’s clear that the Celtics, Cavs, Magic, and Lakers are the class of the league. Honestly, I think Cleveland is the most dangerous team. I’m afraid that February will see two unpleasant developments: 1) LeBron James taking his game to an even more dominant level and 2) the Cavs moving the expiring contract of Wally Szczerbiak for an impact player. If that happens, I’m not confident anyone in the league can beat them.

I see the Spurs in the next class of teams, which would also include New Orleans. What distinguishes this class? I’d give SA and NO a fighting chance. while still playing the underdog, against those teams in the first class, even odds against one another, and favored against the rest of the league. So far this season, the Spurs and Hornets have been inconsistent and appear a player or so removed from the elite class of teams.

But they could get there via trade or an intensification of focus. If you’d like to read more analysis about their current level of play, try this post from Wednesday.

You see Spurs making a move before the trade deadline? You hope for it? Which is the team’s biggest need?

Yes, and yes. I’ll be short because I’ve written about this a lot this season. From my perspective, San Antonio has two glaring weaknesses. First, the Spurs need a FC who can guard perimeter 4s and 5s–big man who likes to face the basket and/or shoot from deep, like David West, Dirk Nowitzki, and Amare Stoudemire. If this player could rebound and help on the boards, then great. The possibilites are slim in this regard, but I’m hopeful that something materializes, perhaps Joe Smith. Maybe the Spurs will try for someone more risky, like Sean Williams.

Second, the Spurs need a young, athletic small forward who can score going to the basket. This is a concern now and going forward. They’re developing a prospect named Malik Hairston, and he could help next season. In order to land this sort of wing they’ll have to be creative, becasuse they don’t have many assets.

How come the team didn’t add some more players and it’s still stuck with Kurt Thomas, Fabricio Oberto and Matt Bonner ???? C’mon, Roger Mason is a good addition, but I think that if you guys would have signed another big man (perhaps young and athletic) you’d be in a better position for another title.

Money and space. They neither have the roster space nor the cap room. I’ve written about their developing front court here. You can find information about their long term cap strategy in this post.

If you follow the cap strategy link, you’ll see that the Spurs are set up very nicely to completely re-load in 2010, when they could sign a player like Chris Bosh or Joe Johnson.

Would you want Sam Dalembert? For free, I mean. Hey, you won a title with Nazr Mohammed (…), let’s continue the tradition of former Sixers centers…

Probably not. Sorry.

Ok, I tried….

Thank you Timothy for taking the time, and I’ll definitely root for the Spurs against the Lakers in the Western Conference race, just like I did for the last 150 years.