Most franchises would be excited to have a year like the Spurs did this season, but things are different in Texas. More specifically, the San Antonio Spurs were able to finish third in the tough Western Conference but then had to face an unpleasant round one elimination versus the Dallas Mavericks in the post-season.

Considering the circumstances of this year's season, one has to concede that Greg Popovich did a tremendous job of competing with the best in the league despite major injury problems. Firstly, former sixth man of the year Manu Ginobili missed both the start of the regular season as well as the end of it including San Antonio's brief playoff appearance. Moreover, franchise cornerstone Tim Duncan had to play banged up for the last month of the regular season as well as in their post-season series versus Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks. To make things even worse San Antonio lost Ian Mahinmi and Fabricio Oberto due to injury problems as well.

However, despite all these issues there were a few positive aspects in this disappointing season too. Firstly, French All-Star guard Tony Parker was able to demonstrate that he is one of the best scorers in the league and stepped up big time when the short-handed Spurs needed him. Likewise, rookie George Hill and recently acquired shooting guard Roger Mason Jr. both showed that they have a lot of potential and might be impact players in the future.

Taking everything into consideration one might come to the conclusion that the Spurs are still championship contenders provided they are healthy. Nonetheless, the fact that San Antonio is the oldest team in the NBA does not make it very likely that healthy core players will be a given in the next season. Thus, it might be reasonable to assume that the Spurs management will contemplate some options for change over the summer. For instance, offering Manu Ginobili on the market should yield its fair share of offers, yet it remains to be seen if anything would match San Antonio's requirements. Furthermore, it appears to be a likely scenario that the Spurs will go after a reliable veteran like Rasheed Wallace with their mid-level exception.

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