I can’t take it anymore. Even with the Fantasy Baseball Playoffs and the fact that football season has finally started and I am once again in an inordinate amount of fantasy football leagues (Eight to be exact – Money, IDPs, Keepers, Expert Leagues… you name it), I am anxious to focus on the upcoming basketball season. Let’s start today with a quick summary of what has happened and is about to happen in Spurs Land.

Last year we started the season with archaic has-beens like Theo Ratliff and Michael Finley, projects like Ian Mahinmi and Malik Hairston, and a deadly three-point shooter in Roger Mason. Oh yeah, and Keith Bogans (blech). None of them are in San Antonio anymore. Ratliff and Finley’s corpses were cast off mid-season, while Roger Mason’s jump shot and hopes for a lucrative off-season deal both died a horrible and unexpected death over an agonizing season of inconsistency.  Mason is now in New York where he will probably have much more opportunity to either find his jumper again or at least jack up tons of errant threes. Mahinmi was not retained and is now the problem of the Dallas Mavericks, and the promising Hairston decided he would rather play in Europe than watch his teammates play in the NBA. Oh, and Keith Bogans was allowed to leave (blech again).

Mid-season acquisitions Alonzo Gee and Garrett Temple are both still around as is Curtis Jerrells who was cut, then brought back later in the year.

The Spurs did mediocre in the draft by picking up James Anderson with the 20th pick and Ryan Richards at #49. I wasn’t a big fan of the picks (I liked Jordan Crawford, Dominique Jones, and maybe even Damion James better), but I am keeping an open mind.

Also added to the mix was Summer League sensation Gary Neal. And of course, the most unheralded major off-season acquisition, Tiago Splitter was finally brought to San Antonio from the Spanish League where he is the reigning MVP.

I’ll do some more analysis of the Spurs newbs in the coming weeks.

The NBA Preseason begins October 3rd, but the Spurs have their first game on October 7th @ Houston. Their first home game is October 9th vs Miami’s Dwyane Wade and Friends. The rest of the Pre-season schedule goes like this:
Oct 12 @ Clippers (in Mexico City)
Oct 14 @ Cleveland (at the U of Pittsburgh)
Oct 16 vs Vitoria (I believe that this is one of the 50 names for Tiago Splitter’s old Spanish League team)
Oct 18 vs Oklahoma City
Oct 21 vs Houston

The season opener is a home game vs the Indiana Pacers on October 27th.