Will Spurs Return Intact To Defend NBA Title in 2014-15?
by Bovada Sportsbook Staff | June 16, 2014
The San Antonio Spurs got the redemption they have been looking for since blowing Game 6 of last year’s NBA Finals. They beat the Miami Heat in the 2014 Finals on Sunday in Game 5, winning the franchise’s fifth title overall, and all since 1999.
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It wasn’t a particularly close series, and had the Spurs not missed a few free throws in Game 2, they likely would have swept the Heat. As it was, San Antonio outscored Miami by 14 points per game in the finals, which is the largest point differential in any finals series in history. The Spurs put on an offensive clinic, shooting 52.8 percent from the field for the series, the highest ever in the finals since the institution of the shot clock. Kawhi Leonard, just 22, was a very deserving finals MVP. He struggled during the first two games and then took over the series. He also gave LeBron James defensive fits.
Now the question is whether the Spurs will keep the band together and try for a repeat, which is something the franchise has yet to accomplish. The big unknown is whether Tim Duncan, perhaps the greatest power forward in NBA history, will retire. Duncan is 38 years old and certainly doesn’t need the money. He has never craved the spotlight, which is one of the reasons why he has stayed in San Antonio.
Duncan has until June 24th to notify the team whether he intends to pick up his $10.3 million player option for next season. There’s no chance he will go to another team; it’s just a matter if he wants to keep playing or go out on top like his former teammate, Hall of Famer David Robinson, did in 2003. Bovada lists Duncan’s chances of retiring as 7/4. He seemed to hint on Sunday night that he would be back but didn’t commit to anything.
Coach Gregg Popovich makes no secret of his success: it rests with
Duncan. Pop said he will sail into the sunset the day Duncan goes. On Sunday night, Popovich said he wants to keep coaching, and he’s healthy at 65 years old. Popovich is 4/1 to retire. The odds that both Duncan and Popovich call it quits is 9/4, with neither doing so at 2/1 on NBA betting odds. Perhaps the most likely scenario is retirement after next year because Duncan’s (assuming he opts in), Popovich’s, Tony Parker’s and Manu Ginobili’s contracts expire then.
The Spurs are not the early 2015 title favorites at Bovada. They are 6/1 along with Oklahoma City, behind the Heat (3/1). Assuming Duncan stays, the only main free agents on the Spurs are Boris Diaw, Patty Mills and Matt Bonner. Diaw is likely to stay as the system fits him perfectly, and Parker is his best friend; they speak only French to one another while on the court. Bonner is a minor piece. Mills played well enough in the playoffs and might get a big offer that San Antonio can’t match.
The biggest impediment to San Antonio repeating would be how loaded the Western Conference is. The Thunder is younger and more athletic than the Spurs, taking them to six games in the Western Finals. The Clippers (9/1) loom as a major threat assuming the sale of the team goes through to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. If Donald Sterling still owns the team next October, no player will take the court for the franchise. The Rockets (16/1), Warriors (25/1) and Trail Blazers (25/1) are all very good teams.
Miami’s biggest challenger in the East is likely to be Chicago (12/1), which presumably gets Derrick Rose back next season from injury. The Bulls also are likely to be major players for Carmelo Anthony, and the Indiana Pacers (12/1) also aren’t going anywhere.
