SPURS: Defending champions set to open training camp

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Web Posted: 10/01/2007 11:28 PM CDT
Jeff McDonald
San Antonio Express-News

In July, a potentially strange and frightening thing happened to Manu Ginobili. He turned 30.
For an NBA player, that's practically middle age.

For Ginobili, it's just a number. So, no, he didn't exactly spend his offseason picking out rocking chairs or retirement homes.

"I still feel like 29," he said.

In a sense, this could be a sobering thought for the Spurs: Their human pinball of an off guard just hit the Big 3-0, becoming the latest player on the roster to wave goodbye to his 20s.

Could be, but it's not.

The Spurs begin defense of their fourth NBA title today, as they open their 35th training camp with a pair of workouts at their northwest side practice facility. They will do so happily boasting a roster of many players nearly as old as the franchise itself — and some older.

For the first time, the Spurs brought back every significant piece that helped them earn their title. All 12 players who were active during the team's playoff run last season are in camp this week.

Such an offseason did not make the Spurs any younger, but that wasn't exactly the point.

"We've got the guys who have been through it, who have been through the wars, who know what it takes and what it's about," said Tim Duncan, who is set to begin his 11th NBA season at age 31. "That's got to be an advantage."

Of the top 13 players in Spurs camp, only three are younger than 30 — Tony Parker (25), Matt Bonner (27) and Beno Udrih (27).

On the other side of the age ledger, Robert Horry is 37. Bruce Bowen is 36. Meanwhile, the team's most notable offseason acquisition — forward Ime Udoka — turned 30 last month.

At the Spurs' annual media day Monday, coach Gregg Popovich made light of his team's uphill battle against Father Time, answering the "Grumpy Old Team" question even before it was asked.

"We'll get this out of the way right now," he said, grinning. "We're older than hell."

Such sarcasm, of course, serves to belabor Popovich's larger point: Sometimes, old can be beautiful.

The way the Spurs see it, "old" can also mean "experienced." It can also mean "battle-tested."

Or as Ginobili noted: "I guess experience mattered more than youth last year."

In fact, the Spurs returned from their summer break Monday still reminiscing about last season's triumph of age over inexperience, a reflective mood that apparently trickled down from their head coach. Popovich all but ordered his players to take time over the offseason to savor the franchise's most recent championship.

"This summer more than any other summer, we've really tried to appreciate it," Popovich said. "We talked to players, and reminded each other to try and enjoy it. Enjoy the hell out of it, and come tomorrow, forget it and start over."

For the Spurs, the process of starting over begins today. Much to the delight of their players, they do so without really starting over at all.

"This is not something that happens in the NBA very often," Ginobili said of keeping the title team together. "We appreciate that the front office trusts us, and we're going to try to respond."

And as for Ginobili, the team's most recent member of the 30-and-up club? He doesn't exactly seem like a man on the verge of a mid-life crisis.

"I'm feeling great," Ginobili said. "I think at 22, I was feeling better, but I still feel great."