Are the shit. NBA Champs this year if everyone stays healthy.

depends...

lal no.

LAKERSSSSSSS


GOOOOOGOOOOGOOO

+24

nope

gl to the spurs and there front line. Lakers obviously team to beat, back to back please

I've always liked Duncan, but he has to be getting up there in years.

I would like Manu if he wasn't such a huge flopper. I hate flopping.

Parker is good.

I think Jefferson is way overrated, but as a fourth option you could do a whole lot worse.

But I only want this team to contend if it's because of Duncan.

I've always respected Duncan and hated his guts for the amount of whining he does about calls when the refs have given him and the Spurs the superstar cheat for years and probably more than any other team for a long time. It seemed that last year they stopped cheating as much for them on calls.

I think Antonio McDyess will be more important than Jefferson to them this year since other than Duncan they are so thin up front.

They picked up Blair in the draft, that kid is gonna be a perfect fit for the Spurs.

The incessant whining seems like a relatively new development, like within the last few years or so.

Or am I just "misremembering?"

I can't really think of a superstar who doesn't whine about calls, but I do agree that it can grate on you.

Forgot about him. He was a steal where they got him as he has lottery talent but teams were concerned about his health.



He's always been a huge whiner and I guess it really got to me when he was whining so much while the refs were cheating for him and the Spurs more than any other team. Now that it seems the refs are no longer cheating as much for them his whining is off the charts.

The Spurs are one of my favorite teams but I have to clarify that Duncan is and always has been one of the biggest whiners in the league.

It's not that he whines so much as it is that he's just perfected the incredulous, "Who, me???" look. I've always been a Duncan fan, too, but got plenty sick of seeing him with his eyes wide and palms to the sky after a whistle.

How about Ginobili killing a bat during the game. All the players were jumping out of the way, but Manu swats it to the floor then picks it up and hands it to an usher. Remarkable, I'm rewatching it for the fifth time already.

He had to go get shots after. @ PETA being mad at this.

My favorite NBA highlight so far.

What are you talking about? Refs cheating for the Spurs? What? If anyone remembers the 2008 Westerin Finals, the lakers were CLEARLY favored by the refs. If you are talking about the 2007 Western Finals against the Suns and how there were suspensions on the Suns for players leaving the bench, then that is not the refs fault, that is the assistant coaches fault for not keeping their mind in the game and knowing to control their players.

ALL superstars whine, and if they dont, they could, easily. I saw Lebron James courtside this year in Philly and he literally yelled "HEY" to the ref every single time he got touched on offense, not fouled, touched. There were several Philly fans making fun of him which was hilarious, but the point is, if you are a superstar, you are allowed to whine. And yeah, some people are more obvious about it then others. Just because Tim Duncan has a simple facial expression that rubs people the wrong way, that doesn't make him a bigger whiner then someone who smiles all the time then bitches to the refs.

Spurs are the 2nd best team this year in my opinion. I concede the lakers are more talented and are the best overall team, but I am gonna bet to the end that the Spurs will win the championship this year, or lose my left leg in the process. And I love the Celts too, im originally from Boston, i just think if Spurs get to Finals, theres no way in hell they lose. Wow, what a sick upcoming Western Conference Finals (barring a huge injury). SPURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRS.

I'm talking the day in day our regular season games and a lot of the playoffs over the last decade. I watch a lot more basketball than the playoffs and the Spurs and Duncan in particular were favored by the refs probably more than any other team over that period of time.

Anybody who disputes that the refs aren't biased is either lying to themselves or doesn't watch basketball with a critical eye.

I do agree that the Spurs could be the 2nd best team in the West this year.

While I am not gonna say that you didnt watch all that basketball for all those years, stating that you think the Spurs were favored by the refs more then any other team for a decade is the classic kind of declaration that isn't supposed to be challenged. Obviously we aren't going to go back and watch 800 NBA season games (or maybe not haha). But I think its a huge cope out in a way to state that. I have watched a lot of NBA basketball since around 1998 for whats it worth. Of course there are biased refs, i never said there were not lol. Thats a good subtle dinger at the end too haha, gotta hand you that one. I guess there is no point at all, or really until around conference finals time, to argue over who is better.

And by the way, all those regular season games that cheating happened to benefit the Spurs, I mean there's a whole lot of regular season games, 82! Enough almost that it seems even if cheating did happen to them or anyone else that was great, they might somehow still make the playoffs since half of each freaking conference makes the playoffs. So once we get past that simple point, we come to the accusation you made that the Spurs are also the most favored team in the playoffs over the last decade. Really? Give me specific examples of exactly what you are talking about, I watched every Spurs playoffs and other playoff series since around 1999, and remember what happened to them each playoff year since, and am very curious to hear your examples.

You are way over reacting to the refs cheating for the Spurs comment. It isn't a knock against the Spurs, it's a knock against the refs and how NBA games are officiated.

The Spurs have been a model franchise with a great coach and some great players for a long time. The officials in the NBA cheat for the stars and the marquee teams. You even said yourself that the Lakers got the benefit against the Spurs last year and you're forgetting that I said it seemed that the refs stopped favoring the Spurs as much last year.

My comment about the Spurs possibly being the second best team in the West again isn't a shot against them. I really like the moves that they've made and if they stay healthy they probably are the second best behind the Lakers.

The Spurs probably have the best management in basketball.

That doesn't change the fact like many people have pointed out in this thread that Duncan is as big a whiner as there is in the game even if he is a great player.

PS - Duncan plays center, not power forward. It tilts me no end when people say he is the best power forward ever when in reality he is one of the greatest centers ever. He also seems to cling to this so that he gets voted to All Star teams instead of finishing second to the Yao Ming Chinese All Star voting juggernaut.

PPS - I much prefer classifying players as points, wings and bigs since there is so much cross over between centers and power forwards and shooting guards and small forwards but if you are going to use the tradional classifications saying that Duncan is a forward and Matt Bonner is the center insults people's intelligence.

Are you saying that the refs knowingly favor the Spurs in the way they call a game? Or just that there is a subconscious bias for them due to the factors stated in your other post?

I probably fall more in line with the Bill Simmons theory of officiating. That bad referees get caught up with home crowds and superstar players, not that there's any sort of conspiracy for or against certain teams.

My biggest pet peeve in regards to referees is the way they call the game with really physical teams. Physical teams get away with all kinds of things because they do it all the time and the refs don't want to keep blowing the whistle.

I don't think there is a smoking gun league memo saying that the stars should get better treatment but I do think it's in the culture of how NBA games are officiated and that culture is not something the NBA has a problem with.

Two examples from the Orlando - Raptors game on Sunday that I watched. Bosh got an early tech which he deserved for complaining about a non call that the refs missed. Later in the game Bosh and Howard got tangled up and if Bosh doesn't have the tech a double tech would have been called for sure but the refs didn't want to give Bosh the second tech. I've seen lesser players get the second tech and get kicked out of the game in the same situation. Same game early in the 3rd quarter the refs call a foul on Howard that was correct and clearly his. It would have been his 4th foul and another Orlando player pleaded that he committed the foul when it was clearly Howard but the ref changed his mind and gave it to the other Magic.

An interesting part of watching the replacement refs in the preseason was the fact that they seemed to treat all players the same whether a rookie or a star. I was at a Raptor game and DeRozan was getting a lot of calls going his way and we were commenting that he shouldn't get used to it since a rookie isn't going to get those calls when the real refs came back.

Your point about physical play I totally agree with. Since this is the Spurs thread just think about how many fouls somebody like Bruce Bowen should have had called against him for his physical borderline dirty defense but his reputation let him get away with way more than another player would have.

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