Where Will The Heat And Spurs Be In Six Years?

It's been six long years since LeBron James and the San Antonio Spurs met in the NBA Finals. (mysanantonio.com)

It's been six long years since LeBron James faced the San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals. James was with the Cleveland Cavaliers at a time before the burning of his jerseys, an owner's letter written in Comic Sans and the winning of a title.

A lot has happened in six years. The Spurs added to their dynasty argument with a fourth championship in 2007 and then hasn't been back since winning that series. James was being questioned if he could win in Cleveland, which led to The Decision and now he is looking to win his second straight ring.

Which brings Alex Skov and I to wonder, where will James, the Spurs' big three (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili) and the Heat and Spurs franchises be six years from now? Here's our best (OK, probably not) guesses.

The Spurs' Big Three: Duncan, already at 37, and Ginobili, 35 and now suffering from injuries, will have hung up the sneakers for several years. Ginobili will be resting with a luxurious head of hair(plugs), while Duncan will spend his time setting off-ball screens at second-tier celebrity charity games and yelling at a recently rehabbed Justin Bieber to use his freaking left hand. Parker will probably still playing in the NBA at 36 or 37, even if it will seem like he's closer to AARP age, dishing out assists for the Spurs to a young at heart but dinosaur-aged Tracy McGrady, who is allowed to use a Segway for the first halves of games to stay rested.

San Antonio Spurs: Gregg Popovich will still coaching the Spurs, but also teaching spacing philosophies to roadside garbage pick-up crews as a part-time corrections officer and coaching other NBA coaches on how to make sideline reporters cry. Eventually, Popovich gets bored and moves the team away from it's workman-like, fundamental and strategy-filled style of play in favor of a flashy, if-you-can-see-the-basket-it's-a-good-shot gameplan. Danny Green will go too far with the new freedom and shoot a record 32 shots per game, averaging a career high 13 points per game. Meanwhile, Tiago Splitter releases underground rap mixtapes under the name T. Spitter at the behest of his out-of-the-league former teammate, Stephen Jackson.

LeBron James: With Dwyane Wade getting out of the league after Kobe Bryant's recommended Germany medical trip goes wrong, LeBron makes a decision to play for the Washington Wizards (this time with a more tasteful 30-minute decision show) while wearing a headband twice the normal size in an attempt to retain his *ahem* youthful appearance. Determined to end the Michael Jordan comparisons, James went to Washington to prove he could put up better numbers at the end of his career than Jordan did with the team. Because of this, he makes John Wall only touch the ball to throw alley-oops to him. He is also looking into retiring and purchasing the Cleveland Cavaliers, making them a laughing stock until he comes out of retirement to save the day and win back the heart of the city.

Miami Heat: The Heat are no longer a title contender, making the 14 true, die-hard fans who have season tickets and stay for the whole game very upset. Erik Spoelestra loses credibility and is called Vinny del Negro v. 2.0, proclaiming to the media, "I promise you, I have at least two notebook pages' worth of plays!" Other players decide to leave with James, including Shane Battier, who retired and is offering in-studio NBA analysis while testing teams' interest in bringing him on as an assistant coach, and Mario Chalmers, who refuses to be yelled at by just Chris Bosh, causing him to fill the Irrational Confidence Guy role as an overpaid sixth-man for the New York Knicks and be yelled at by Carmelo Anthony.

Several key role players remain, including Udonis Haslem, who finally adds range to those mid-range jumpers just in time to have a consistent 3-pointer ready for all those times he needs it in retirement. Having matured, Chris Anderson will just go ahead and get the tiny spaces of open skin between his tattoos inked in an attempt to hide the mistakes he took as a young-ish man. Norris Cole? He is still rocking the flat-top. What else matters?

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The OKC Thunder a.k.a. San Antonio Spurs, Jr.

Serge Ibaka and the Thunder are catching up to the Spurs. (Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty)

As basketball has increased in popularity around the world, the NBA has experienced an influx of foreign players making hoops careers stateside. A record-tying 84 international players were on rosters when the NBA season tipped off last fall, with the San Antonio Spurs setting a single-team record by including eight such athletes. While the Spurs have long been a bastion in this regard, the Oklahoma City Thunder are quickly establishing themselves as a franchise that's not shying away from a reliance on talent from overseas.

Although Oklahoma City was nowhere near the top of the list at the season's start, rosters have changed and the ranks of NBA players is thinning even more as the playoff race heats up. Serge Ibaka, Thabo Sefolosha and Hasheem Thabeet continue to get meaningful minutes and they form one of the more domineering combinations of international players in the Association.

Three players isn't many, in the scheme of things, but considering the talent acquired by the Thunder, this trio is an exception to the rule. While Thabeet gets what is essentially clean-up time, that amounts to nearly one quarter of play each game. Sefolosha and Ibaka, who has quickly become one of the best shot blockers in basketball the world over, are both starters. Trotting out two of these players to begin a game puts Oklahoma City on par with San Antonio, where Tony Parker and Tiago Splitter are starters.

The Thunder haven't quite accrued the depth to rival San Antonio, but it is not out of the question. OKC general manager Sam Presti was once a part of the Spurs organization, working his way up to assistant GM from a video intern position. Having worked with the franchise for more than five years, Presti knows the inner-workings and machinations of prospecting foreign talent. He is also familiar with finding the specific players internationally to mesh successfully within a system, having been in the Spurs' front office during five division titles and three NBA championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007, respectively.

Shortly before the trade deadline, the Thunder acquired the rights to Georgios Printezis, a 27-year-old Greek forward currently playing overseas. Whether or not he will turn into an asset for Presti's resume is tough to call, as four other teams held Printezis' rights before the Thunder since his name entered the league in 2007. He was selected with the No. 58 overall pick in the 2007 draft by — you guessed it — the Spurs just a few months before Presti left the organization to join the Thunder.

More recently, Printezis dismissed a minimum contract offered by the New York Knicks last summer around the same time he buried a game-winning shot against the defense of Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved's CSKA Moscow to earn the first Euroleague title for his club, Olympiacos, since 1997.

With the success he is experiencing in Europe, Printezis could be satisfied playing out his career there. Or he could be taking the Ricky Rubio route and taking time to develop (or, in Printezis' case, to ensure his rights belong to a franchise of which he approves) before making the leap over the Atlantic. If he waits much longer, though, this could turn into the Pablo Prigioni route and we could see a 30-something-year-old NBA rookie.

Printezis' future cannot be predicted. He is playing in Europe right now, as Ibaka is swatting shots and improving his jumper in the red dirt of Oklahoma, being a key role player for Presti's highly regarded Thunder squad — one full of youth, and possibly soon, enough international talent to surpass the Spurs as the premier destination for players making their way to the NBA from overseas.

NCAA Investigates UCLA Freshmen Trio

Shabazz Muhammad and two other UCLA freshmen are being investigated by the NCAA (espn.com)

Ben Howland is trying to bring UCLA basketball back to prominence.

The past few years were a whirlwind of scandal and lack of leadership — which came out in a Sports Illustrated piece — disgruntled players (Reeves Nelson) and more losing than the Bruin faithful like or are used to.

This year felt like it could be different. With Howland on the hot seat, he brought in high school phenom Shabazz Muhammad, the No. 1-rated player in his class according to Rivals.com, as well as highly recruited players Kyle Anderson and Tony Parker. UCLA received immediate buzz after the signings, and the new additions were pegged to bring the Bruins back to the top of the PAC 12.

Those dreams might be placed on hold. CBSSports.com is reporting that all three recruits are being investigated by the NCAA. Muhammad's eligibility has been questioned throughout his recruitment with inquiries about his connection to financial advisors, and he was not allowed to travel with the team to China last month for exhibition games.

Now Anderson is on the NCAA's radar for his supposed relationship with agent Thad Foucher and Parker is being investigated to see if his family received improper benefits.

The UCLA trio aren't the only freshmen who have the NCAA looking at them closely. Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel's academic eligibility was initially questioned, but even after he was cleared to play, the investigation now turns to improper benefits.

Every team wants to recruit the best players. That's how it should be. But the hype players are given at such a young age makes them more vulnerable to the persuasion of agents. These recruits can turn your team around quickly, but it also seems like these top players are being investigated more often and eventually they will not all get cleared to play. Teams will still argue the players are worth it — just don't expect it to be a smooth ride.

UCLA was hoping their talented trio of freshmen would take it back to the NCAA Tournament, but they won't win any games if they are found ineligible and are forced to stay in street clothes. It would be yet another rough patch in Howland's up-and-down tenure in Southern California.


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