Pat yourself on the back, Spurs fans. We’ve made it through the first half of the off-season. Now with only two more months to go until the new season starts, we need some dates to put next to teams. The NBA has given us those dates today with the release of the 2010-2011 NBA schedule.

First off, back-to-back nights are a pain in the butt. Lucky for the Spurs, they have one of the fewest back-to-back totals in the league with only 17. Here’s every back-to-back on the schedule:

- Nov 19-20: @ UTA, vs CLE
- Nov 30-Dec 1: @ GSW, @ LAC
- Dec 15-16: vs MIL, @ DEN
- Dec 22-23: vs DEN, @ ORL
- Jan 4-5: @ NYK, @ BOS
- Jan 11-12: @ MIN, @ MIL
- Jan 21-22: vs NYK, @ NOH
- Feb 3-4: @ LAL, @ SAC
- Feb 8-9: @ DET, @ TOR
- Feb 11-12: @ PHI, @ WAS
- Mar 1-2: @ MEM, @ CLE
- Mar 11-12: vs SAC, @ HOU
- Mar 18-19: @ DAL, vs CHA
- Mar 27-28: @ MEM, vs POR
- Mar 31-Apr 1: vs BOS, @ HOU
- Apr 5-6: @ ATL, vs SAC
- Apr 12-13: @ LAL, @ PHX

The annual Rodeo Road Trip is the biggest road stretch for the Spurs. Spurs will fill up the tank, and head out for a much easier Road Trip than years past with:

- 2/1/11 @ Portland
- 2/3/11 @ LA Lakers
- 2/4/11 @ Sacramento
- 2/8/11 @ Detroit
- 2/9/11 @ Toronto
- 2/11/11 @ Philadelphia
- 2/12/11 @ Washington
- 2/14/11 @ New Jersey
- 2/17/11 @ Chicago

This is a good bye to a man who gave us Spurs fans one of the best Christmas presents we received in 2008. Today, Roger Mason has signed a one-year deal with the Knicks for $1.4 million. RMJ is heading back east, and will join Ama’re and the Knickerbockers to try and re-establish New York as a power in the east.

Unlike many players that leave the Spurs organization after staying for only a few years, I actually will miss (dare I say) “Money Mase.” The man hit some huge shots in the regular season, and without some of these key plays that set us up for victory we definitely wouldn’t have won the southwest division that year.

RMJ wasn’t perfect, but he brought back a three point spark that we hadn’t seen since Brent Berry and Robert Horry’s days. It was nice to have a guy who stepped up in clutch situations and delivered.

Even if you don’t think the regular season proves anything, it still puts you where you’re at in the playoffs. You can’t tell me you didn’t love Roger’s Christmas Day miracle against Phoenix. Or how about his game winning shot against the Celtics at the Garden. What about the Lakers when Roger drained a mid-ranger while drawing a foul off Derek Fisher.

The kid had his moments, and I enjoyed every time that “Money Mase” delivered a Spurs victory. Here’s to you Roger, thanks for your time and best of luck in the Big Apple.

Answering some twitter questions from two Spurs fans about San Antonio’s status as a championship contender and if Tiago Splitter will be in the lineup right away. Enjoy and I’ll be back to posting soon!

After a long week of watching Summer League basketball, it’s clear a few guys have earned a spot. In my latest video, I give you my opinion on the Spurs’ dominating performance, and who could have a job in the NBA rather than Homeland.

This dunk on the Grizzlies sums up the entire Summer League for San Antonio. Just another defender trying to deny a San Antonio opportunity, but can’t quite do it even with good pressure.

The Spurs beat the Grizzlies to end off Summer League with a perfect 5-0 record. San Antonio left Vegas with an impact, and might have left with some new players.

That post will come tomorrow in the podcast, and I’ll give you a breakdown of the past week!

Until then, Go Spurs Go!

It’s not normally something I’d say about summer league, but I must admit; San Antonio has made me proud. The Spurs improved to 4-0 after dominating victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

San Antonio took control of the game in the second quarter when they exploded for 27 points in the 10 minute period. Considering the Clippers usually (always) have much higher draft picks than the Spurs, you’d think they’d be able to put up more of a fight with a group of young, “talented” guys right out of college.

Well, you’d be wrong.

The Los Angeles Clippers failed to keep up with the Spurs, and couldn’t execute against a solid defensive group of guys in San Antonio. The Spurs had a combined 18 steals in the 40-minute exhibition, and were more than happy to have Los Angeles turn the ball over 24 times.

San Antonio was just as good on offense, and significantly outshot Los Angeles. The star on the offensive end of the game was a guy I’ve been talking about a lot this past week. Alonzo Gee ran the show at the Cox Pavilion; Gee put up 20 points and grabbed six rebounds.

Alonzo Gee easily creates opportunities for himself and his teammates. He’s kept a rhythm these four games, and no one seems to have an answer to stopping Gee. The D-League All-Star has convinced me that he’ll find a way into next year’s rotation.

San Antonio carries a 4-0 record now going into their last game against Memphis. Should they win, I’ll do a video for the podcast!

So the Red Rocket hit up Toronto, and was featured in a new video by The Basketball Jones. Bonner, also known as the Sandwich Hunter, prepared The Jones’ co-host Tas Melas a sandwich made with the works.

As you might remember, Bonner played his first two seasons in the NBA with Raptors. Matt was back in the city to attend the Hold Steady concert and will be raising money for The Boys and Girls Club.

Three games into the 2010 Summer League and San Antonio is still unbeaten. The Spurs and Lakers fought from beginning to end, but a second half surge put San Antonio over the top and defeated the Los Angeles Lakers by nine.

The Spurs took the court at the Cox Pavilion with an undefeated record on the line, but Gary Neal and Tyler Wilkerson delivered a fantastic one-two punch to claim a 3-0 record. Neal was once again hot from the perimeter and scored 20 points for the Spurs. Wilkerson duplicated that 20 point performance and grabbed nine rebounds.

San Antonio and Los Angeles played a very even first half. Both teams were aggressive down low and didn’t allow too many easy shots. San Antonio earned a small lead in the second quarter, but Los Angeles kicked it in to overdrive the last few minutes.

In fear of letting San Antonio walk away with another victory, LA pulled it together and took the lead at halftime. This didn’t last too long when the Lakers were outscored by the Spurs 23-12 in the third quarter.

San Antonio kept their composure in the fourth and held on to the small deficit to knock off Los Angeles.

Alonzo Gee didn’t match his previous 20+ point games, but his 10 points and 6 rebounds shouldn’t be a big blow to his chances of making the team. Gee still had an impact and made some key plays to keep the Spurs alive in the ball game.

Some injuries though prevented a few Spurs from playing. Garrett Temple has still yet to see the floor since his injury in San Antonio’s first Summer League game against Minnesota last Monday. Temple’s sprained ankle kept him from playing, but still reports say it’s nothing too serious.

DeJuan Blair still hasn’t played any minutes these past three games, and it still isn’t certain if he’ll play the last two games or just sit out. Blair’s presence would make things a lot easier for some of the younger guys. However, there isn’t much sense in complaining about a 3-0 record earned by a team of inexperienced players out of college and members of the D-League’s Austin Toros.

San Antonio will continue action on Saturday at 7 PM against the Los Angeles Clippers. Until then, Go Spurs Go!

It wasn’t exactly how I pictured it, but at least San Antonio won. The Spurs edged out the Hawks by five points to improve their summer league record to 2-0. However, I think this game could have gone a certain way that assured a Spurs win much earlier in the contest.

San Antonio had a very comfortable lead on Atlanta throughout most of the game. Though in the second half, their was a new spark in Atlanta that began to cut down the San Antonio’s lead.

Atlanta probably wouldn’t have been in that situation had they played less sloppy. For the record, Atlanta did shoot the ball very poorly. But looking back, the Spurs weren’t exactly hot from the floor either.

The biggest thing for Atlanta was way too many turnovers and giving the Spurs those extra shots. The Spurs did a great job of capitalizing on those Atlanta’s mistakes, and no one was more impressive than Alonzo Gee and Curtis Jerrells.

Gee for the second game in a row had the team-high of 24 points. Jerrells though was right behind him with 20 points. The two brought the fire power that San Antonio needed to brush off the Hawks.

Another guy that came to play was Gary Neal. Shooting daggers right into Atlanta, Neal yet again had a good showing from beyond the arc. Neal added a total of 16 points for San Antonio.

I realize I didn’t have much to say on this one, but I’m in a bit of a rush. Spurs have the Los Angeles Lakers next up on the schedule. Until then, Go Spurs Go!

Just like in a real game, the San Antonio Spurs killed the Minnesota T’Wolves. The final score is enough to tell you these young guys did a great job on the court, but let me give you a brief break down of the day in Las Vegas.

Like any well coached Popovich team, the game was won with a great effort on defense by San Antonio. Minnesota’s squad wasn’t prepared for the in-your-face type of guys like Garrett Temple, Alonzo Gee, and Carldell Johnson. The three combined for 10 steals, which most of those led to a fast break.

As a Spurs fan you don’t get to see this kind of stuff on a regular basis, and although not even half of these players will be on the team, San Antonio was attacking the basket and going up aggressive against a very weak Wolves defense.

San Antonio on the transition wasn’t anything too special. However, these guys had that college kind of mentality and were running the floor fairly well. Athleticism is a key thing San Antonio will need to compete with some of the up-and-coming teams in the West and we might have one or two guys to add that are able to help lead a fast break in the future.

Of course Minnesota isn’t the cream of the crop, well for that matter they’ve never been really that good (minus the KG era). So a majority of my observations are based off how much these guys show in potential. For right now San Antonio is good in my opinion, and I’m excited to see what they bring to the table on Wednesday against Atlanta.

The Spurs were led by Alonzo Gee with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Scoring seemed to be no problem for San Antonio in their first game. San Antonio shot 51% from the floor and went 6-11 from the three point line.

Taking a further look in to the box score, you’ll see DeJuan Blair didn’t play. Blair has already established himself in San Antonio and he’ll be back next season in a Spurs uniform. However, despite not being hurt, Blair took the day off to rest for the Hawks and Lakers coming this Wednesday and Thursday.

Another guy you’ve seen already in a Spurs uniform is Garrett Temple. Temple was signed late last year with the Spurs, and I’m hoping to see him more on the court next year. Temple is a pretty solid defender, and he can also score from various areas on the court. Some bad news though on Temple.

Temple injured his left ankle in the game, and according to Coach Pop, it’s only a sprain. He expects that it shouldn’t be anything too serious and he should be back after a few games.

That’s all I got to say for right now, but stay tuned for more Summer League updates right here.

**Also this really doesn’t have much to do with this post at all, but thank you to the guy who posted my “Tiago Splitter signs with San Antonio” video on spurstalk.com. I really appreciate the traffic sent my way and the new subscribers. Go Spurs Go!