It’s over.
It’s not just us saying that the championship era of the San Antonio Spurs has come to an end, it’s now the Spurs themselves.
Tony Parker was interviewed by French sports paper L’Equipe, translated by the official FIBA website (via the amazing Tom Ziller), and he was frank about the future of this Spurs roster.“At the start of the season I said this was our last chance,” he said. “Tim (Duncan) and Gino (Manu Ginobili) are getting old. It’s going to be tough to regenerate ourselves.
“We will always have a good team but we can no longer say that we’re playing for a championship.”
Parker talks about the frustration and disappointment of the season’s ending, having a great regular season (top seed in the West) that came crashing down in the playoffs. The fixes needed to make the Spurs contenders again are not simple tweaks or Gregg Popovich forcing the team focus back to defense. The changes to the roster will be deeper.
On another note, Parker said he will play for France this summer in EuroBasket, with Olympic bids on the line.
But he also discusses the big issue with NBA players in that and other international tournaments this summer — the lockout and insurance.
“If there is a lockout, the NBA won’t pay their part for the players’ insurances (to play at the EuroBasket, FIBA Americas Championship, Afrobasket, FIBA Oceania Championship),” he warned.
“So that’s going to create a huge problem. There have already been some meetings and we will see what happens. We will see what Patrick Beesley (France national team director) and his team get out of it. We will have to see with Boris (Diaw) and Joakim (Noah) if we can get together and find a common accord. We’ll see.”
It’s over.
It’s not just us saying that the championship era of the San Antonio Spurs has come to an end, it’s now the Spurs themselves.
Tony Parker was interviewed by French sports paper L’Equipe, translated by the official FIBA website (h/t to the stud that is Tom Ziller), and Parker was frank about the future of this roster of the Spurs.“At the start of the season I said this was our last chance,” he said. “Tim (Duncan) and Gino (Manu Ginobili) are getting old. It’s going to be tough to regenerate ourselves.
“We will always have a good team but we can no longer say that we’re playing for a championship.”
Parker talks about the frustration and disappointment of the season’s ending, having a great regular season (top seed in the West) that came crashing down in the playoffs. The fixes needed to make the Spurs contenders again are not simple tweaks or Gregg Popovich forcing the team focus back to defense. The changes to the roster will be deeper.
On another note, Parker said he will play for France this summer in EuroBasket, with Olympic bids on the line.
But he also discusses the big issue with NBA players in that and other international tournaments this summer — the lockout and insurance.“If there is a lockout, the NBA won’t pay their part for the players’ insurances (to play at the EuroBasket, FIBA Americas Championship, Afrobasket, FIBA Oceania Championship),” he warned.
“So that’s going to create a huge problem. There have already been some meetings and we will see what happens. We will see what Patrick Beesley (France national team director) and his team get out of it. We will have to see with Boris (Diaw) and Joakim (Noah) if we can get together and find a common accord. We’ll see.”