2010–11 San Antonio Spurs season

NBA professional basketball team season

The 2010–11 San Antonio Spurs season was the 44th season of the franchise, 38th in San Antonio and 35th in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

In the playoffs, the Spurs lost to the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies in six games in the First Round, becoming the fourth number one seed in league history to lose a playoffs series against a number eight seed, following the Seattle SuperSonics in 1994, the Miami Heat in 1999, and the Dallas Mavericks in 2007.

Key dates

• June 24 – The 2010 NBA draft was held in New York City.^[1]
• July 1 – The free agency period started.^[2]
• July 12–18 – The Spurs took part in the 2010 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.^[3]
• September 28 – The Spurs began their annual training camp at their practice facility.^[4]
• October 7 – The Spurs opened their preseason schedule with an 87–90 defeat in a road game against the Houston Rockets.^[5]
• October 28 – The Spurs won their regular season opening game at home versus the Indiana Pacers with a final score of 122–109.^[6]
• February 18–20 – The 2011 NBA All-Star Weekend took place in Los Angeles.^[7]
• February 24 – Trade deadline, 3 p.m. ET.^[8]

Summary

Offseason

Draft

The Spurs entered the Draft with their two original picks.^[9] They used the 20th overall pick to select James Anderson, junior guard from Oklahoma State. Anderson had been named the Big 12 Player of the Year and a Second Team All-American by the Associated Press, averaging 22.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals in 33 games. With the 49th pick the Spurs chose Ryan Richards, a 6-11 forward from England.^[10] The Spurs went on to sign Anderson on July 23.^[11]

Free agency

Entering the offseason, four Spurs players were unrestricted free agents: Keith Bogans, Matt Bonner, Ian Mahinmi and Roger Mason.^[12] Additionally, Richard Jefferson exercised the early termination option on the final year of his contract and he too became an unrestricted free agent.^[13] Jefferson, however, re-signed with the Spurs to a less remunerative but longer deal shortly after.^[14] The Spurs also re-signed Bonner, which was considered a top priority by general manager R.C. Buford,^[15][16] while Bogans, Mahinmi and Mason signed with the Chicago Bulls, the Dallas Mavericks and the New York Knicks respectively.^[12] Following his performances as a member of their Summer League squad in July, when he led the team in scoring, the Spurs signed free agent Gary Neal. The 6-6 guard had gone undrafted in the 2007 NBA draft and spent the next three season playing in Europe.^[17]

Pre-season

The Spurs announced their training camp roster on September 27, one day before the start of the training camp itself. The 18-man roster included the additions of Marcus Cousin, Thomas Gardner, Bobby Simmons and the Spurs 2008 draft pick James Gist.^[4] The Spurs also announced an addition to their coaching staff, as former Spurs player Jacque Vaughn was named an assistant coach.^[18] Kirk Penney joined the training camp on September 28,^[19] while Gardner was waived two days later, leaving the roster size unaffected.^[20]

Regular season

Playoffs

After finishing the season as the #1 seed in the West, the San Antonio Spurs faced the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs. Little did everyone know how dangerous Memphis was in the postseason. The Spurs were forced to play game 1 without Manu Ginobili, as he sat out with a sprained elbow. As a result, Memphis won game 1, stealing home court advantage from the Spurs. The Spurs then rebounded in game 2 with a win. However, things deteriorated as the series shifted to Memphis for the Spurs, as the Grizzlies took both games 3 and 4, putting San Antonio on the brink of getting knocked out in the first round. Game 5 shifted back to San Antonio. A memorable moment for this game was when Gary Neal hit a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to end the game, forcing overtime, in which San Antonio got a needed win for game 5. However, game 6 went back to Memphis, and the Spurs faced their demise by being knocked in the first round in six games. This is the second time in NBA history that a #8 seed knocks off a #1 seed in a seven-game format.

Roster

Depth chart

Pre-season

Game log

Regular season

Standings

Game log

Playoffs

Game log

Player statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards, records and milestones

Awards

Player of the week/month

Tony Parker was named Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from December 13 through December 19 and again for games played March 7 through March 13

All-Star

• Manu Ginóbili was voted as an NBA Western Conference All-Star reserve. (2nd appearance)
• Tim Duncan was voted as an NBA Western Conference All-Star reserve. (13th appearance)

Season

• Manu Ginóbili was named to the All-NBA Third Team.
• Gary Neal was named to the All-Rookie First Team.

Records

On November 19, when San Antonio beat the Utah Jazz to go 10–1, it marked the best start to a season in franchise history.

Transactions

Free agents

Additions

Subtractions

References

1. "2010 NBA Draft". nba.com. National Basketball Association. Archived from the original on December 1, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
2. "2010 Free Agency explained". nba.com. National Basketball Association. June 30, 2010. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
3. "2010 Spurs Summer League team". nba.com. National Basketball Association. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
4. "Spurs announce training camp roster". spurs.com. San Antonio Spurs. September 27, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
5. Chris Duncan (October 7, 2010). "Spurs fall to Rockets". spurs.com. San Antonio Spurs. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
6. "Duncan, Ginobili push Spurs past Pacers in opener". spurs.com. San Antonio Spurs. October 28, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
7. "All-Star 2011". nba.com. National Basketball Association. Archived from the original on February 21, 2011. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
8. "2011 trade deadline tracker". nba.com. National Basketball Association. February 25, 2011. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
9. "2010 NBA Draft order". nba.com. National Basketball Association. May 11, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
10. "Spurs select Anderson and Richards in 2010 NBA Draft". spurs.com. San Antonio Spurs. June 24, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
11. "Spurs Sign 2010 Draft Pick James Anderson". spurs.com. San Antonio Spurs. July 23, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
12. "2010 free agent tracker". nba.com. National Basketball Association. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
13. "Spurs' Jefferson opts out of contract, becomes free agent". nba.com. National Basketball Association. June 30, 2010. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
14. "Jefferson back with Spurs after opting out of deal". nba.com. National Basketball Association. July 21, 2010. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
15. "Spurs re-sign forward Matt Bonner". spurs.com. San Antonio Spurs. July 13, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
16. Trey Kerby (July 14, 2010). "Matt Bonner inks deal with Spurs, looks to spend it all on meat". Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo! Inc. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
17. "Spurs sign Gary Neal". spurs.com. San Antonio Spurs. July 22, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
18. "Spurs add Jacque Vaughn to coaching staff". spurs.com. San Antonio Spurs. September 24, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
19. "Spurs add Kirk Penney to training camp roster". spurs.com. San Antonio Spurs. September 28, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
20. "Spurs waive Thomas Gardner". spurs.com. San Antonio Spurs. September 30, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2011.