Not many teams in this economic climate are making a strong run for the title. While this may seem counterintuitive, a majority of teams are more concerned with cost cutting than hoisting commissioner O’Brien’s trophy. One team that made their championship intentions readily apparent were the San Antonio Spurs. In what is considered the first major move of the offseason, the Spurs traded Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, a couple bags of balls, and a season pass for tours of the Alamo to the Milwaukee Bucks for Richard Jefferson. Then, the Spurs put on their bandit masks and drafted DuJuan Blair, a 6′7″ power forward with a 7′3″ wing span. Blair is more freakish than his wingspan, he has no ACLs. This does not prevent him from being a banger inside and can easily be a 10/10 player off the bench. Blair was allegedly a lottery pick, but concerns about his knees, or lack thereof, allowed him to drop into the Spurs lap. In two additional brilliant moves, the Spurs signed Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff. McDyess will likely instantly start, though in a complete timeshare, at the center position. Ratliff is a pure backup at this point in his career, but is still a strong, yet underrated, defensive presence. Ratliff will be a nice change of pace player in conjunction with Matt Bonner, who is more of an offensive oriented center.

If the youth injection of Blair, Malik Hairston, and George Hill can help in keeping the Spurs legs fresh, they are a clear contender, if not favorite, for the Western Conference title. Tim Duncan’s time is winding down, although he showed he is still a capable 20/10 player when th eneed arises. The crunch time lineup of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, Duncan, and McDyess is formidable, and may prove to be far too much talent to put on the floor and expect a loss.

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