The link is for a long post over at Basketbawful, a solid blog about all things basketball. But scroll down to the video of Chuck Hayes manhandling Apostrophe. Is there any reason The Beast can't be beastly on both ends by using his strength and instincts with a little (or alot) of coaching? This video is strong evidence to me that Blair can defend well with the tools he has.

This isn't really Spurs related but at this point I am rooting EXTREMELY hard for Phoenix to take out LA. I hate the Lakers maybe more than any team in the league. Nash, Gentry, and Stoudemire react intelligently to some comments made by Phil Jackson.

3. Tim Duncan, San Antonio
The Phoenix Suns don't have an Achilles' heel. They have an Achilles' half-acre.

With Robin Lopez out, it's fair to ask if there has ever been a playoff team so unprepared to stop a quality big man in the paint. The Suns are terrible when Jarron Collins is on the floor, and Channing Frye and Amare Stoudemire play mainly for their offense. So with one of the most favorable matchups any NBA star has faced in the playoffs, Duncan should have been dominating.

Instead he was merely solid on offense, and a liability on defense. (Compare Duncan's offense to, say, the Hawks' Al Horford, who is playing against the defensive player of the year, and one of the NBA's best defenses. Horford has a much better true shooting percentage and a better rebound rate to go with lower usage and turnover rates.)

In Duncan's 12th postseason, he slipped badly. Steve Nash made layup after layup, and the vast majority of the time -- because of injury, age or something -- Duncan didn't even have the wherewithal to jump, let alone block the shot. Although Duncan did manage to briefly slow Nash with an inadvertent elbow to the eye in Game 4, Duncan's defensive shortcomings proved a key factor in one of the NBA's best teams bowing out in a second-round sweep instead of vying for a title.

CapHill's post on the levels of hell and Dante's Inferno reminded me of this movie I watched the other night about the Sonics. It's fantastic and if you haven't watched it, you should. It sheds light on everything that went on with Clay Bennett stealing the Sonics.

The "experts" over at BSPN have identified their preseason votes for ROY. Predictably, there is no mention of Blair and almost unanimous selection of Blake Griffin.

Additionally, if you click around (I figured extra links would be excessive) Manu gets some love in the 6th man voting and Pop ties with Flip Saunders and Rick Carlisle for COY.

From the SLAM online Top 50.

I'm ok with this ranking but his writeup was much shorter than those for the players before him.