Yay! While many NBA teams choose players like Ben Affleck chooses movie roles, the Spurs have always been careful about whom they commit to. And when they commit, they are faithful partners. Note that you did not find David Robinson subject to the same embarrassing coda Patrick Ewing suffered, stumbling around in bizarre uniforms. No, the chosen Spurs are revered, rejoiced, and retired nobly. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobli currently enjoy the Spurs' love, affection, and money, and their clear happiness in their relationship, as well as annual title contention, allows the team to successfully proposition prized free agents like Brent Barry, who declined more money and minutes with other teams in favor of the familial Spurs.
Boo! Other than Barry, a very solid addition to the team, San Antonio's bench is as shallow as it's been in the Duncan era. Devin Brown, Malik Rose, Tony Massenburg, and Linton Johnson are among the Spurs' primary backups, easily the weakest reserve unit of the league's legitimate contenders. While the team's top seven, including top reserves Barry and Robert Horry, is above average, that group will have to play very heavy minutes to fight off revamped division challengers Houston and Dallas and secure one of the West's top three playoff seeds. It will be hard for the Spurs to avoid entering the playoffs exhausted, or worse, injured, especially given the long summers for Duncan and Ginobli and the fact that Barry, Horry, and starting small forward Bruce Bowen are all in their mid-30s.
Houston Rockets
Yay! The obvious choice would be the combination of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, and, in my official capacity as Master of the Obvious, my choice is the combination of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. This will be a dominant pair, and Houston was wise to team the affable Yao with an aggressive scorer who can take over a game. The potential for fighting over the ball has been largely exaggerated: Yao is supremely generous, and McGrady is fully capable of sharing on the condition that he respects his teammates' abilities. Not to be overlooked is the presence of Jim Jackson, once a scorer near McGrady's caliber and the perfect veteran to suppress any lingering selfish instincts.
Boo! Asking Yao to rebound and block shots is like asking Tom Cruise to hold a boom mike. At this point in his career, Yao is not capable of dominating a game on both ends, and given the choice, the Rockets want him hitting turn-around jumpers and finding open shooters, not planting his forearm and elbows in opposing ribs. Houston needs a Charles Oakley-type - not the actual Oakley, mind you, just the type - to handle that unpleasantness. Unfortunately, only Dikembe Mutumbo offers such abilities, and a combination of Mutumbo and Yao would have difficulty guarding any two land mammals. Of its three departed starters, Houston may pine for Kelvin Cato above all.
