A few minutes after the season ended early for the injury-riddled Spurs against the Suns in Game 4 of the first round, Mario Elie said it best: "I wish we would have had our team all season, but that's the NBA."

	If you see Tim Duncan in this role a lot this season, the Spurs won't be winning a championship.

Indeed. There's no crying in basketball, and nobody felt sorry for the Spurs, who became the first defending champion to lose in the first round since Philly in 1984. But life isn't always fair. Do you think the Lakers would have won the title without Shaquille O'Neal? Of course not, but that's what the Spurs were forced to deal with those last few weeks of their season while Tim Duncan watched the games in street clothes.

With that, we give you Offseason Team Spotlight No. 24, the San Antonio Spurs. As always, we have our opinions, which are below, but we also appreciate yours. Your comments are posted on the right side of the page.

Why the Spurs were 53-29: We waited all season for the Spurs to usurp power and win the Midwest division, but they never could do it. And that was with Duncan, who upped his already lofty figures in scoring and rebounding to MVP-like heights. The Spurs could never match their insane stretch of the year before, when they lost only a few games in bombing the rest of the league and winning the first post-Jordan championship.

The main culprit missing was Sean Elliott, who soon after playing a hero role on the title-winning team needed kidney transplant surgery and was not expected to play ball again, yet alone return for the season. Elliott did come back in March for 19 games, but wasn't the same player. And who could blame him? Blame the Spurs for never replacing him. Terry Porter did a fine job, but he was no Elliott. Jaren Jackson is ... he's merely Jaren Jackson.

Despite the absence of Elliott, this team was still expected to make a playoff run. The team was generally the same as the season before. But when Duncan hurt his knee two weeks before the regular season ended -- never to return -- it didn't bode well. David Robinson played well vs. Phoenix but isn't the same player he used to be. The Spurs won six of seven late sans Dunc to earn the home court against Phoenix, but could only take one game in the series. In the final Game 4, new starting power forward Malik Rose tore up his knee. Jerome Kersey had dislocated his foot in Game 2. Robinson was the team's lone scoring threat. It was not a pretty series for the champs.

But as negative as the season ended, it's a new start in 2000 and it's mainly because Duncan, after being wooed heavily by Orlando, decided to stick around with Robinson and go for another title. Elliott's back and there's a two-guard now who can score and defend in Derek Anderson.

	Current projected top 6
	PG	Avery Johnson
	SG	Derek Anderson
	SF	Sean Elliott
	PF	Tim Duncan
	C	David Robinson
	6th	Terry Porter

Team MVP: Duncan averaged 23.2 points and 12.4 boards and if the Spurs had more talent around him and won 60-plus games (and if Shaq wasn't in the league), he might have been league MVP. Team LVP: How could Steve Kerr be this bad? All the guy has to do is shoot, right? He did it well in Chicago, and the Spurs brought him in to hit those open shots here. You say this was Kerr's second year in San Antone? Yep, and he was bad that year, too. Surprise! None. Everyone knew Duncan would get better and that everyone else would share. Perhaps Rose and Samaki Walker were supposed to do more. Up and comer: No help, literally, came in the draft. This team has its rotation set and there's no room for a kid to learn. Duncan will still get better, believe it or not, so he's the up and comer.

What they need: This team is better than last season, and personnel-wise it's better than the title-winning team. Of course, the Lakers and Blazers are better than they were in that lockout season as well. The Spurs do need Duncan to put up huge numbers at both ends, Robinson to produce the way he did last year, Elliott to give them double digit points and decent defense, Anderson to play the team game, and everyone else to fit in.

In terms of a rotation, Walker and Rose are the backup big men, along with former Cavalier Danny Ferry (insert joke here), who actually should help this team in his role. Ferry can shoot and help you in 20 minutes a night. Just don't ask him to cover Shaq. Jaren Jackson, who didn't have a particularly bad year because he shoots about 39 percent every year, is Elliott insurance while Porter and Antonio Daniels are good backup guards. Daniels is friends with Duncan, by the way. And Kerr's still got a job -- for now.

The Spurs aren't going to fool anyone when they win 60 games this season. However, they won't win these games unless everyone stays on the court. Duncan is a must, and it would be difficult for a team so dependent on not just Duncan but clutch defense and outside shooting to lose Elliott or Anderson. Let's remember that Anderson was an injury risk out of Kentucky and has missed 16, 12 and 18 games in his first three seasons.

It's amazing to think how close the Spurs came to being a lottery team this year. Duncan is a loyal guy, and his returning to the Alamo was the biggest news of the offseason. Playing with Robinson for three more years, and knowing that the Spurs did finally get a shooting guard certainly helped. Elliott claims he would have retired had Duncan signed with Orlando. "I wouldn't be coming back just to be winning 52 games or so."

Don't worry, Sean, you should have 52 wins sometime in March.

What the plan is: Gregg Popovich doesn't need to be a genius to get this group to the Western finals. He does need health, however. Not his health, but that of four members of the starting lineup, all of whom bring serious injury baggage with them. Only Avery Johnson, the underrated point guard, is a lock to stay healthy. In fairness to Duncan, there's no reason to think his knee injury is chronic. However, the Admiral's back problems are. And people will continue to cringe every time Elliott takes a hard hit and tries to pick himself up off the floor.

The Spurs figure to compete with the Lakers and Blazers for the top record in the West and the NBA all season, with home court advantage critical. The top seed in the West not only gets a likely breather out of the first round, but gets to avoid the other dominant team until the conference final. There will always be doubters to the Lakers championship last season that wonder whether a healthy Duncan in the second round could have changed things.

Direction heading: Is it presumptuous to say the Spurs have as good a chance as the Lakers or Blazers to get to the NBA Finals? Not really. It's a three-team race and Duncan and friends could certainly win it.