5 Reasons To Watch The 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs

With the start of the 2013-14 NBA season rapidly approaching, we thought it only fair to share what makes each team so exciting. Ontologically speaking, all 30 teams deserve our eyeballs this season. Even disastrous lineups still present oodles of plays, personalities, highlights and headaches. Here are five things to keep in mind for each team before flipping the channel.

Next up, a San Antonio Spurs team still reeling from coming so close to winning the 2013 NBA Finals.

[5 Reasons To Watch: Kings, Lakers, Knicks, 76ers, Bobcats, Cavs, Magic, Warriors, Timberwolves, Nuggets, Clippers, Clippers, Rockets, Bulls, Pistons, Bucks, Nets, Pacers, Wizards, Thunder, Heat, Mavericks, Celtics, Raptors Hawks, Spurs, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, Suns, Jazz]

Imagine this scenario for an NBA team: they have arguably the best point guard in the league, they have the best player of a generation, they have one of the top two head coaches in the game, and they were one free throw or defensive rebound away from being NBA champions in 2013.


Sounds exciting, right? Wrong. Well, at least when it comes to the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs are the exact team I just described, and yet they are still viewed as the most uninteresting good team in all of sports. The Spurs are consistently a great, great team, and maybe that’s the problem. It almost gets boring watching them do the same thing every year, which consists of winning a bunch of games by playing fundamentally sound basketball.


It should also be pointed out that these Spurs have never had a really exciting player. Tim Duncan might be a better player than Kobe Bryant, but nobody outside of San Antonio would watch a guy nicknamed “The Big Fundamental” over “Black Mamba.” And it’s not just that the Spurs haven’t had a LeBron James or a Kevin Durant, it’s that they haven’t even had a Rajon Rondo or a Stephen Curry-type player: someone that’s just really, really fun to watch, even for a basketball-watching populace already overloaded with stimuli. [Ed. note: The Spurs ARE fun to watch for lots and lots of people, including us]


Despite all of that, I’m here to make a case for watching the Spurs this season on League Pass. And, almost surprisingly, things feel much more exciting in San Antonio than usual. Here we go:

*** *** ***

Kawhi Leonard Breaks Out
Kawhi Leonard isn’t just the most intriguing player on the Spurs’ roster, he’s also one of the top three or four players in the entire league that I’m excited to watch this season. Leonard introduced himself to a national audience during the 2013 NBA Finals (he averaged a double-double), and it feels like he’s about to have a coming out party where he evolves into a superstar this year. At 6-7, Kawhi has the full package on the wing: he’s a lockdown defender, he’s a great rebounder, and he can knock down shots from the interior and beyond the arc.


I know it’s said every single season and that the Spurs continue to prove everyone wrong, but this is an older basketball team. Father Time has already caught up to Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan is going to turn 38 next April. Combine that with the fact that the Western Conference is going to be even tougher than usual this year, and one thing is pretty clear: if the Spurs want to return to the NBA Finals in 2014, they’ll need someone new to step up. I fully expect that someone to be Kawhi Leonard. Don’t let me down, Kawhi

Avoiding a Finals Hangover
I hate to ever say that a team choked, but the Spurs should be entering the 2013-14 season as defending champions. They were up on the Heat by four points and were shooting free throws with 28.2 seconds left in Game 6. The series should have been over, right then and there. But the Spurs blew it. They literally did nothing right in those final 30 seconds. Ginobili and Leonard each missed a free throw, Gregg Popovich took Duncan out of the game right before San Antonio allowed Miami to get two crucial offensive rebounds on the final two possessions, and they chose not to foul on the possession when Ray Allen made the game-tying three. It was the worst loss that I’ve ever witnessed during my short lifetime.


I know this is a team with great veteran leadership and a coach that won’t be dwelling on the past once the season starts, but can they recover? The Spurs were so close to that championship, and it just seemed like that was Duncan’s last real chance to win another one. But maybe I’m wrong and the Spurs will only be more motivated to make up for that heart-wrenching loss. Regardless, it’s sure to be an intriguing storyline to follow.

Click for more reasons to watch…

Danny Green-Manu Ginobili Situation
Last season felt like the end of Manu Ginobili. He was awful in the regular season and even worse in the playoffs, with his performance in the Finals being especially painful to watch.
The retirement rumors that loomed over him throughout the season didn’t feel like the normal rumors; they felt legitimate, especially with Ginobili acknowledging the possibility that he would call it quits at season’s end.


But Ginobili didn’t retire. Instead, he was awarded a two-year, $14 million contract from the Spurs, something I still can’t understand. It just made no sense to me, especially with the way Danny Green played in the Finals. Green averaged 14 PPG against the Heat and made over 55 percent of his 3-pointers during the series, even knocking down 7 of them in Game 3.  


He’s just 26 and, in a situation similar to Kawhi, this season seemed like it had the potential to be a breakout one for Danny Green. Ginobili has had a legendary career, but his return to the Spurs this season could really stunt Green’s growth as a player. I will definitely be keeping an eye on the shooting guard situation in San Antonio.

Renewal of Intra-State Spurs-Rockets Rivalry
The Rockets’ acquisition of Dwight Howard might be detrimental to the Spurs’ championship aspirations, but it’s going to be great in renewing the rivalry between the two teams. It’s been a long time since the Rockets were relevant, but Daryl Morey has restored order in Houston. With Howard, James Harden, Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons and a bunch of other three-point shooters, the Rockets have a legitimate chance to win the Western Conference or at least get to the conference finals.


The Spurs-Mavericks rivalry might be completely dead, but this one could be just beginning. Houston and San Antonio will go to battle on November 30, Christmas Day, January 28, and April 14. Yes, you have my permission to go ahead and circle those dates before proceeding to read the final reason you should watch the Spurs this season.

Tony Parker: MVP Candidate
If it weren’t for the ankle sprain he suffered in early March and LeBron having the best ever regular season for an individual player, Tony Parker would have had a very strong case for MVP in 2013. He was the best player on the Western Conference’s best team, averaging over 20 points and nearly eight assists per game while shooting an incredibly efficient 52.2 percent from the field, a mark that’s almost unheard of for a point guard.


The Spurs are — and have been for a while now — Parker’s team. He was the main reason that San Antonio was in position to win the 2013 Finals. In Game 5, he scored 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting in a 10-point Spurs win, and in Game 6, it was Parker who hit the game-tying 3 and the go-ahead jumper late in the fourth quarter before the Heat comeback.


I’ve been saying it for a while now: Tony Parker is the league’s best point guard, not Chris Paul (who has never made it out of the second round), and I fully expect him to be in the MVP race this season. Will he win it? Because of LeBron, probably not, but all eyes should still be on Parker throughout the season.

What do you think?

Follow Michael on Twitter at @michaelburke47.

Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.

Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.

×